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C A C
AT TA C K
The fight over how Cuyahoga County’s arts funding is given to artists By Sam Allard
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| clevescene.com m | January 11 - 17, 2017
| cl cclevescene.com eves escene.com m | January Januaary 111 - 17 117,, 20 2017 0177
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JA N UA RY 11 - 17, 2 017
Publisher Chris Keating Editor Vince Grzegorek
Upfront
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Feature
gets a little grungy at the Beachland on Sunday
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Advertising Senior Multimedia Account Executive John Crobar, Shayne Rose Multimedia Account Executive Kiara Hunter-Davis
A look at how the Cuyahoga Arts and Culture tax is changing how local artists work in Cleveland
Creative Services Production Manager Steve Miluch Layout Editor/Graphic Designer Christine Hahn Staff Photographer Emanuel Wallace
Get Out!
Business Asst. To The Publisher Angela Lott Sales Assistant/Receptionist Megan Stimac Staff Accountant Kristy Dotson
All the events you should check out this week
Euclid Media Group Chief Executive Offi cer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Offi cers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner Human Resources Director Lisa Beilstein Digital Operations Coordinator Jaime Monzon Chief Financial Offi cer William Mickey
NO 2 8
Margaret Glaspy
Mayor Frank Jackson doubles down on terrorism threats in Public Square, and more
Circulation Circulation Director Don Kriss
VOLU M E 48
CONTENTS 44
Dedicated to Free Times founder Richard H. Siegel (1935-1993) and Scene founder Richard Kabat
Editorial Managing Editor Eric Sandy Music Editor Jeff Niesel Staff Writer Sam Allard, Brett Zelman Writer-at-large Kyle Swenson Dining Editor Douglas Trattner Contributing Dining Editor Rachel Hunt Stage Editor Christine Howey Visual Arts Editor Josh Usmani Copy Editor Elaine Cicora
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Art
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Spaces opens its new location in Hingetown, signaling a new era in the local arts scene
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A winter theater preview
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Film
Cleveland Scene Magazine is published every week by Euclid Media Group.
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A chat with director Stacy Title, who shot her new film in Cleveland
Verifi ed Audit Member Cleveland Distribution Scene is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader
Dining
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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, selfaddressed envelope. All editorial, advertising, and business correspondence should be mailed to the address listed above.
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UPFRONT JACKSON’S FOLLY
THIS WEEK
THE EMBARRASSING POWDERkeg spectacle of the Public Square controversy continues its sold-out run: Last week, while Scene’s eyes were turned briefly elsewhere, letters changed hands, legislation was promised, and official voices were raised, all in connection to the looming $12 million debt that the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has demanded be repaid by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) before Jan. 19. Instead of the obvious solution — opening Superior Avenue to buses — Mayor Frank Jackson has doubled down on his preferred rhetoric (the threat of terrorism), accused both RTA’s Joe Calabrese and the FTA of failing to negotiate in good faith and of failing, in FTA’s case, to abide by its own safety mandates. He also accused the media, in a testy press conference held on the Friday before New Year’s Eve, of misinterpreting his stance, which he said has been consistent. Since its first discussions with RTA after the Republican National Convention, the city has always wanted two things, Jackson said: (1) a demonstration by RTA of the operational and financial burden caused by Superior Avenue’s closure through Public Square, and (2) a safety plan which addresses terrorism. “We don’t want RTA to be fined $12 million,” Jackson said, “but I don’t want 20, 30, 40, 50 people to be run over by a vehicle in Public Square.” RTA doesn’t want to be fined $12 million either, and though Jackson said that it was Calabrese who called him, “out of the blue” the day before the Nov. 15 press conference announcing the closure to align himself with the Mayor, RTA has now quietly abandoned Jackson’s vision and talking points in light of the FTA debt. RTA general counsel Sheryl King Benford sent a letter to the city on Dec. 27 advising that the city, not RTA, would be required to pay back the FTA money, or else reimburse
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RTA for the cost. “The breach was triggered by the City of Cleveland’s continued decision that the exclusive bus lanes on Superior Avenue through Public Square remain closed to GCRTA bus traffic,” Benford wrote. Furthermore, wrote Benford, the payment of $12 million would be much more than a “burden”; indeed, she said paying the debt would lead to “irreparable harm” for the cashstrapped RTA. But Jackson continues to cling to the belief that a traffic study will persuade FTA that the $12 million debt need not be collected. As before, Jackson said that the intention is to show how traffic might be mitigated using things like dedicated lanes and traffic signal prioritization elsewhere in the downtown transit zone. The FTA has shown no inclination that it will entertain such a study. In its Dec. 20 letter, the agency made clear that due to the city’s unwillingness to change its position and open the Square (as it is legally obligated to do under the stipulations of the 2004 federal grant) it must initiate debt collection. In one of his more far-fetched allegations, Jackson hinted that FTA is merely raising the specter of the $12 million debt as a kind of diversionary tactic, to distract from the the fact that it hasn’t fulfilled certain safety obligations. Jackson, suggested, furthermore, that the $12 million debt collection was not only “irresponsible” (because: terrorism) but without cause. “Any of you ever been sued?” Jackson asked the small gathering of reporters. “Any of you ever been told you owed money but not been told what you owed money for? What specific thing has the RTA or the City of Cleveland done that we are in breach of? Tell us what the breach is!” FTA already has told them, and in quite specific terms. In its August 10 letter, FTA warned RTA that “a permanent closure of
Superior Avenue through Public Square would constitute a breach of the [Full Funding Grant Agreement.]” In an October letter, FTA reiterated that point and “stated specifically” that RTA would owe the $12 million debt “arising from the breach.” The breach is literally the closure of Superior Avenue. Nothing more needs to be divined or analyzed. The Dec. 20 letter gave RTA 30 days to pay the debt in full or request a review of the validity of the amount, a dispute which would require “factual information, arguments, citation to authority,” etc. Instead, Jackson wants to present the FTA with a study. The firm Parsons-Brinckerhoff is now being paid $60,000 by RTA to conduct it. Representatives will assess traffic flow on Public Square Jan. 10-12 and then will submit findings to FTA on or by January 18, one day before the $12 million bill is due. Cleveland.com’s Content VP Chris Quinn, on WCPN’s Reporter’s Roundtable Friday morning, held up the traffic study as the ultimate determinant of Public Square’s fate: “The fact is, nothing has really happened,” said Quinn in the program’s first segment. “There is a study outstanding that will be finished in two weeks that will pretty much dictate what happens next.” Quinn speculated that the idea of a full $12 million repayment was “kind of silly” because a settlement would likely be reached, but that there was another factor to consider. “There is one wrinkle that keeps not getting addressed,” he said. “For
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Cleveland Clinic disciplines physician who published anti-vaccination op-ed on Cleveland.com. CEO Toby Cosgrove also sent stern email to Troy Smith for spoiling recent episodes of The Walking Dead.
Browns fire defensive coordinator Ray Horton. Head Coach Hue Jackson later admitted his surprise when he found out that Horton was a member of the coaching staff, rather than a concessions employee at “Dawg Pound Deli.”
Donald Trump helps install sycophant Jane Timken as state GOP chair, ousting Kasich loyalist Matt Borges. He also went on a long tirade comparing Borges to actress Meryl Streep, while Kasich lauded Borges’ acting career.
| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
the city, it’s a non-starter. The Mayor [in the press conference mentioned above] said again that there is a Federal statute that requires the FTA to do a safety assessment of the Square. And in light of the fact that big vehicles have killed people in France and Germany and what happened at OSU, he wants that study done. He said it’s very prescribed steps. Now, I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know if the law actually requires that, but the FTA really hasn’t addressed it, and until the FTA either does that study or shows that the city’s misinterpreting the law, even if the study shows that this is damaging to RTA, he’s not going to open it.” Based on our reporting, we’ve found no federal statute meeting the above description. In fact, based on Jackson’s own correspondence, the “mandate” to which he has continually referred might actually be a piece of the United States Code which deals with the creation of a national public transportation safety plan. In an October letter from Jackson to the RTA, he references “49 U.S.C. Section 5392”and “49 U.S.C. Section 5329.” The former turns out to be a typo. The latter is indeed the relevant section: It stipulates, in (d)(1)(b), that transit agencies establish safety plans which include “methods for identifying and evaluating safety risks throughout all elements of the public transportation system; (d)(1)(c) says that safety plans must also include “strategies to minimize the exposure of the public, personnel, and property to hazards and unsafe conditions.” These seem to be the “mandates”
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that Jackson is talking about, though the city’s media liaison said that the information was not public. The mandates say nothing about what the FTA must do. They say nothing about speciďŹ c projects. They certainly say nothing about terrorism. The October letter from Jackson also referenced the FTA Safety Management Systems Framework, but again: this is merely the basis of the FTA’s overall safety plan, one intended to “improve public transportation safety and provide transit agencies with a structure for understanding and addressing safety risks.â€? The framework does not impose hard and fast obligations upon the FTA itself. And it does not mention terrorism even once. For the record, an RTA spokesperson conďŹ rmed that safety is built into everything it does -- it’s one of the agencies foremost priorities; they have a safety department -and that it went a thorough safety certiďŹ cation process with the FTA when the Health Line was built. But Jackson refuses to deviate from this safety message (a message that was conjured up by Michael McGrath and the safety department in October, 2016), even when a person has already died due, at least in part, to Superior Avenue’s closure. When Jackson was asked about the woman who was hit by a bus turning left around the Square, he said, out of respect for the family, that he wouldn’t even attempt to have a conversation to mitigate the family’s sorrow. “What I will say, however,â€? he said, “is that we’re reviewing that to see whether or not there were some other circumstances that caused that to happen, as opposed to just making a left-hand turn.â€? The larger question for citizens, the local media, and City Council is whether or not the Mayor even has the authority to close the Square. The city has said that Jackson has the authority to close streets generally, as he oversees the department of Public Works. But late last week, the local advocacy group Clevelanders for Public Transit released a statement asserting that the Mayor does not have that authority. The 2004 interagency agreement between the City and RTA, the one which preceded the Federal Grant for the Euclid Corridor, is now codiďŹ ed in city ordinance 893-03. Its says that “the provisions of this agreement may be modiďŹ ed or amended only after receipt of legislative authorization of Cleveland City Council and the GCRTA Board of Trustees consenting to such modiďŹ cation or amendment and in
conformity with the Charter of the CITY and the bylaws of GCRTA.â€? In other words, City Council action would have been required to close the Square in the ďŹ rst place. Clevelanders for Public Transit urged city council to “immediately assert their legislative authority,â€? to override Mayor Jackson and restore transit access to Superior Avenue. City Council, instead, might be embroiled in arguments about another piece of legislation. Last week, Councilman Zack Reed said he intended to introduce legislation to restrict the city from paying any portion of the $12 million federal debt. That jolly debate was scheduled to take place Monday evening.
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GETTING WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER Like much of Northeast Ohio, Lorain County saw an unprecedented increase in fatal overdoses in 2016. The coroner’s ofďŹ ce is awaiting ďŹ nal test results — which are due in three weeks or so, we’re told — but the year’s tally could reach 140. Without a doubt, the number will be higher at the end of 2017. “In light of the life-saving availability of Narcan, that the number of opiate-related deaths continues to increase is a disturbing and scary indicator of the deadly potential of this drug,â€? Judge John Miraldi tells Scene. “Imagine if we didn’t have Narcan. There’d be thousands of people dying from this.â€? Miraldi runs the Lorain County Drug Court, and he’ll see another four people graduate from that program in late February. All told, graduates must remain sober for 13 months; their felony charges will be dropped and, as Miraldi puts it, they can enjoy the lives that they’ve been rebuilding over the past year or so. But drug courts, hailed nationally as a worthy antidote to our public health crisis, offer only a sliver of hope. Before a defendant reaches Miraldi’s courtroom — or the drug courts in any other county — they must ďŹ rst be up against drug-related felony charges and they must want to pursue this goal. It’s voluntary, and it’s difďŹ cult. Miraldi’s drug court docket started up in the fall of 2015, and it’s been a unique learning process. There’s cause for hope, and cause for despair. “We haven’t lost anybody in drug court to an overdose death,â€? he says. “That may seem like a low bar, but that matters.â€? Miraldi is careful to distinguish between the work of drug courts and the addition crisis writ large. Zooming out, there’s only so
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the infrastructure to meet the problem. In Lorain County, there are no government detox facilities, unless you count the county jail. Waiting lists for treatment beds stretch out for weeks or months. Narcan is freely available, but medication like Vivitrol costs more than $1,000 per month (depending on particular insurance coverage). And on the Narcan note, Gov. John Kasich signed a bill last week that will increase access to the overdosereversing drug naloxone (Narcan is the brand name). The law will now make naloxone available to schools, homeless shelters, halfway houses and treatment centers, the AP reports. Broadly speaking, the law will strengthen partnerships between county boards of mental health and addictions services and those types of agencies or organizations. This follows an earlier law that allows pharmacists to dispense naloxone without a prescription. Also included in the bill signed by Kasich is a requirement that pharmacy technicians register with the state of Ohio — something that historically has not been happening. Still, though, the web of dead-end problems tying up this disease isn’t loosening. Not yet.
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CLEVELAND CLINIC UP IN ARMS OVER ANTI-VACCINATION OP-ED
much that a drug court can accomplish. Places like Lorain County, Cuyahoga County (663 fatal overdoses in 2016) and Summit County (nearly 250 fatal overdoses in 2016) — places where this public health crisis is hitting hardest — simply don’t have
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Dr. Daniel Neides, the medical director and COO of the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, penned a ďŹ ercely anti-science and anti-vac opinion piece. There are, at least, two big problems with that. First, that he believes anything that he said and disseminated, without authorization from the hospital, the myths to the
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general public. The second, that Cleveland.com casually published the piece on Friday afternoon, lending authority and a megaphone to the nonsense. In the rambling piece, which reads like a chain letter or a sub-Reddit conspiracy screed, Neides tees off on a wide range of debunked theories, including a nod to the fear-mongering and disproven link between vaccines and autism and a half-dozen or so other generally misinformed opinions — again, from the mouth of a Cleveland Clinic doctor through the region’s largest media outlet. The post quickly spread over the weekend and attracted nearly universal scorn from the medical community. The Clinic issued a blunt statement in the aftermath: “Cleveland Clinic is fully committed to evidence-based medicine. Harmful myths and untruths about vaccinations have been scientiďŹ cally debunked in rigorous ways. We completely support vaccinations to protect people, especially children who are particularly vulnerable. Our physician published his statement without authorization from Cleveland Clinic. His views do not reect the position of Cleveland Clinic and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.â€? Neides, for his part, apologized and retracted his statements, though they remain online in the original article. On Monday, Quinn posted a lengthy “Q &A explainerâ€? on the subject. In short, Neides’ history with Cleveland.com goes back to 2014. At that point, he began writing a column called “Words on Wellnessâ€? and contributing to what seems like a network of “trusted usersâ€? on Cleveland.com.
Quinn explained that these trusted users are able to publish content directly to Cleveland.com, with no editors reviewing the copy ahead of time. In Neides’ case, the Clinic’s corporate communications staff “handled� the actual publishing of the columns. As far as this most recent column, the person who literally published the piece on Cleveland. com did not alert anyone at the media company that he was doing so, and, Quinn argues, editorial leadership were unaware that there were any controversial viewpoints to discuss before “the thing� went viral. The four-paragraph explanation of the process is fairly complex, traveling far beyond the bounds of most traditional newsroom decision-making structures. “If we had noticed the column soon after it was published, I’d like to think we would have had a conversation about it, both internally and with the Clinic,� Quinn wrote. Regardless, the column was republished online after it had initially been taken down by a Cleveland Clinic employee. “This column has become the topic of a widespread conversation,� Quinn wrote. “At cleveland.com, we strive to be the center of conversation, so we are loath to remove something that has become central to a debate. “As I said, if we had learned that Neides was pushing discredited antivaccination arguments before the column had become part of a bigger conversation, we might have asked him or the Clinic for revisions. By the time we knew of it, the conversation was raging.�
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FEATURE
The fight over how Cuyahoga County’s arts funding is given to artists By Sam Allard THERE NOW EXISTS A fundamental disagreement about how the Arts should be funded in Cuyahoga County; namely, the people passing out the money disagree with the people getting it. The most recent, most public, disagreement has revolved around individual artist funding (as opposed to operational support for big organizations like the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Museum of Art and others). Specifically, the Creative Workforce Fellowship program, which has awarded grants to local artists each year since 2009, will be scrapped. What will take its place, no one yet knows. Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC) is the quasi-governmental agency pulling the strings. It’s a grantmaking organization that was created to oversee the funds generated by the 30-cents-per-pack tax on cigarettes, initially passed in 2006 and extended by a landslide vote in 2015 (the heavily promoted “Issue 8”). CAC has indicated the direction it intends to go with individual artist funding. That direction was loosely charted on a 10-year strategic “roadmap” that CAC voted on without feedback — in the face of widespread opposition, in fact — from one of the key constituencies it ostensibly serves: artists themselves. CAC’s five-member board of trustees and its executive director, Karen Gahl-Mills, want a new grant program that will disseminate dollars to “community change-makers.” They want a program in which supporting art is secondary to supporting impact. They want a program that might not even be for artists anymore at all, at least not explicitly: In the words of Gahl-Mills, the money will be awarded to “creative thinkers and entrepreneurs and other people who have ideas about
using art to make their communities better” (italics added). GahlMills told Scene that that might include people working in the fields of film, media, nature, science and “all kinds of things related to the environment.” “Those folks need to be eligible for these individual artist dollars as well,” she said. In a wideranging interview on the controversy, Gahl-Mills stressed that the new orientation for individual artist funding should not be viewed as a radical shift, as it’s being viewed by many artists in the region. Rather, she said, it should be seen as a belated alignment with the organization’s mission, which was “tweaked” in 2011 to make “community benefit” the center of every grant program CAC runs. Gahl-Mills’ plan was that Cleveland would adopt a localized version of a something called the Creative Community Fellowship, created and managed by an organization called National Arts Strategies (NAS), in Washington, D.C. Gahl-Mills has worked with NAS before; she helped review the work of their fellowship’s national participants in January 2015. And, she told Scene, she had “a lot of conversations” with NAS about bringing that model to Cleveland.
“This is a very well-respected program from an extraordinarily well-respected national organization with deep roots in Cleveland, going back to work they did with the Cleveland Foundation in the early 2000s,” Gahl-Mills said. (Note: CAC’s board vice president, Steven Minter, was the Cleveland Foundation’s president and executive director from 1984-2003). “They were willing to bring this to us, and we were excited about the possibility.” But that excitement wasn’t shared by vocal contingents within the artist community, most of whom found out about the proposed new relationship with NAS in a Nov. 11 story by the Plain Dealer’s Steve Litt. That was three days before CAC’s November board meeting. The two largest concerns
expressed by artists and other opponents at the time were the alleged secretive nature of the decision — “The unpopular idea seems to have become a sudden reality, implemented without warning or public discussion,” wrote CoolCleveland — and the irony of CAC championing “community benefit” while shipping local tax dollars to a nonprofit in the nation’s capital. Some context, briefly: Individual artist funding accounts for less than three percent of CAC’s total funding pool. The cigarette tax generates somewhere between $14 and $15 million per year, and the lion’s share of those dollars goes to operational support for arts organizations in the region, from behemoths like Playhouse Square and the Rock Hall all the way down to community theaters in the suburbs. In November, CAC announced 2017 grants totaling $12.7 million in operating support to 57 nonprofits. An additional $1.9 | clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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million in project support was also announced. That money will be distributed in chunks of $35,000 or less to 184 organizations. On the individual artist front, the Creative Workforce Fellowship has awarded funds to 161 working artists in the region since 2009. It was disbursed in grants of $20,000 until the most recent funding cycle, when the amount was reduced to $15,000. The dollars were always meant to be flexible — they are not “project-based” — and were premised on the idea that supporting artists benefits the community: Artists do creative things; a region where creative things are happening is a vibrant one; vibrancy is good. Due to stipulations in the Ohio Revised Code, CAC may not distribute funds directly to individuals. So since 2009, it has worked with an intermediary to administer the Creative Workforce Fellowships. That intermediary has always been the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC), which helped conceive the program at the outset. CPAC is a local non-profit with a mission readily surmised by its name: to “strengthen, unify and connect” the region’s arts and culture sector. Back to the news: CAC severed ties with CPAC in a meeting on Nov. 8 (three days before Litt’s article, six days before the board meeting), a move that CPAC executive director Tom Schorgl told Scene was unplanned. He had been trying to set up a meeting with CAC since late August and thought, when it was finally scheduled, that it would be to discuss the next iteration of the fellowship. “Instead, [Gahl-Mills] and her staff came over and said, we appreciate all you’ve done, but we’re going to move in a different direction,” he said. Gahl-Mills has said many times that ending the relationship with CPAC was necessary due to CPAC’s inability to sufficiently align with CAC’s new communityfocused mission. Artists have asked what exactly that means. So has the media. But Gahl-Mills has not answered that question, not in public meetings nor in two interviews with WCPN, one with arts reporter David C. Barnett and another with Sound of Ideas host Mike McIntyre. She was equally vague when Scene pressed her to
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Photo by Michael Gill
FEATURE
Artists gather to discuss the turmoil. Panelists, from L-R: Sean Watterson, Liz Maugans, Christine Mauersburger, RA Washington, Darius Steward
get more specific. “We were not aligned. They did not meet our expectations. That’s as far as I’m going to go,” Gahl-Mills said. From Schorgl’s point of view, CPAC did everything CAC asked. The fellowships were “paused” in 2014 to allow CAC to “take a closer look” at individual artist funding. (Gahl-Mills contends that the fellowships were never “suspended”; CAC merely wanted to give CPAC time to conduct an internal evaluation, though CAC made the decision to pause the program in June of that year. CPAC’s findings were released in March.) At any rate, in 2015, CAC invited CPAC to apply once again to manage the 2016 round of Creative Workforce Fellowships. This time, specific guidelines were attached.
| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
In light of refinements made to its other programs — recall the mission’s “tweaking” — CAC wanted to apply the same community-centeredness to individual artist funding. CAC instructed CPAC that the Creative Workforce Fellowship program must now 1) create a public benefit, 2) support artistic and cultural vibrancy, and 3) ensure stewardship. The guidelines asked that specific elements be incorporated in the program, including the attraction of a “diversified applicant pool.” CPAC revised its application based on these requirements. Even at this shift (which seems minor in retrospect), artists balked. “It sounded as if artists were expected not just to be artists but also teachers and social workers,”
wrote CoolCleveland’s Anastasia Pantsios (a Free Times and Scene alum), “roles not every artist was comfortable with or qualified for.” Nevertheless, community benefit was prioritized. Every applicant was required to articulate the ways in which their work would engage the community. It was a portion of the application that many artists found challenging or even absurd to complete in good faith. A ballet dancer dances; a playwright writes plays; a painter paints. Outside the content of the work and, naturally, performances of it, specific community benefits seemed outside many artists’ purview, and indeed, perhaps outside CAC’s. At a recent panel discussion on the topic at the Happy Dog’s Euclid Tavern location, 2014 grant recipient RA Washington noted dryly that, in this portion of the application, he merely wrote: “I thought this was a merit-based award.” (He won, of course. But presumably that answer wouldn’t have cut it in 2016.) CPAC managed to convey measurable progress in the 2016 Fellowship year. In a memo on the subject, Tom Schorgl said that fellows made more than 500 presentations or performances of their work, coordinated more than 700 workshops, and reported 130,000 “cultural encounters,” which included ticketed events and distribution of published work. Moreover, artists engaged disadvantaged populations throughout the city, including “communities with limited exposure,” the visually impaired and youth. But for reasons still unclear, CPAC “failed to align” with CAC’s community-centered mission. Gahl-Mills has said more broadly that the Creative Workforce Fellowships had come to function “more like a prize for the winners” and less like “an investment in the arts that would provide direct community benefits.” The above is more or less the “false binary” that has come to characterize this debate. Moving to “direct community benefits” is perceived as a weird departure from the default philosophy, which was that investing in artists was itself a community benefit. In the conversations, this is what’s being termed “Art for Art’s Sake.” The problem with the new philosophy is that beyond the buzzwords, no one’s able to describe what it is: What is “change”? What is “impact”? And how does it differ from the fruits of
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“The CAC does fabulous work. This is a big disappointment, because none of this I heard before November.â€? – Zygote Press’ Liz Maugans “NAS wants to ensure that its work can be positive and productive,â€? CAC posted to its website on Dec. 6, “and given the disagreements that have surfaced in the community, they have decided to step back. We are disappointed by the decision, but respect it.â€? Gail Crider, executive director of NAS, conďŹ rmed to Scene by phone that the relationship had never gone beyond the point of conversation, and that local malcontent would hinder the organization’s ability to
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Artists were still displeased. They arrived in force at CAC’s Dec. 12 board meeting at Ideastream, nearly 200 of them, and stretched a pre-meeting public comment period to two hours. Zygote Press’ Liz Maugans, who has become a de facto spokesperson for artists, spoke from a statement about the lack of transparency: “I hope you really take this opportunity to get the community to weigh in,� she said, “to talk to people and to have the process be
really, really transparent. The CAC does fabulous work. This is a big disappointment, because none of this I heard before November.â€? Others lashed out in harsher terms at CAC. Many expressed dismay at the “coded languageâ€? of CAC’s new direction and, among other things, that transparency was no longer a speciďŹ cally enumerated core value in the strategic roadmap, which was voted on but not made publicly available prior to the meeting. (For the record: “Trustâ€? is now an enumerated value, which includes operating “transparently and openlyâ€? in its description.) Tom Schorgl from CPAC presented his side of the story. Others wanted to know why the smallest portion of CAC’s funding was being thus steered and shaped. Would recipients of operational support, organizations like the Museum of Art and the Orchestra, which every year receive more than all of the individual artist funding combined, be required to produce community beneďŹ ts? How would those beneďŹ ts be tracked? One of the biggest threads emergent in the public comments, and in later discussions, was the question of equity. The Creative Workforce Fellowship, though
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work effectively on the ground in Cleveland. “We work in partnership with others to build programs,� Crider said. “As you know, Cleveland has a wonderful creative community, but there has to be an agreement with the community. And so when it became clear that there was local disagreement, we declined to submit a proposal.�
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The intent was to talk about the NAS proposal at the November board meeting and ratify it in December. But due to “good and pointed questions� from the board and public commenters and ongoing “discussion and concern� from a “small group of artists,� said GahlMills, NAS elected not to pursue the management of the program in Cleveland.
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the Creative Workforce Fellowship as administered in 2016? To paraphrase Sean Watterson, owner of the Happy Dog and a CPAC board member: Artists are good at using tools; they don’t like being used as tools. The NAS program that GahlMills envisioned bringing to Cleveland is indeed nationally recognized. It was designed for “individuals igniting change through arts and culture in their community.â€? Via the fellowship description, the program seeks “curious, open and collaborative individuals who are interested in learning and sharing what they learn ‌ who are dedicated to creating healthy neighborhoods and who will recognize and seize opportunities for change.â€? Unlike in years’ past, applicants to the new program would no longer be evaluated on the merits of a body of artistic work, but on “how [they] will use their artistic practice to imagine a different future and help transform their community for the better.â€? But the NAS plan went south. As is CAC standard operating procedure, decisions of a certain magnitude aren’t discussed and voted on during the same meeting.
| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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Photo by Michael Gill
FEATURE
Concerned artists crowd the Euclid Tavern.
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| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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cherished by artists, has been woefully deficient in accurately representing the demography of the region. Tom O’Brien, program director at Neighborhood Connections (with whom CAC is partnering to support 26 “grassroots arts and culture projects” in 2017) was bothered by much of the commentary at the Dec. 12 meeting for precisely this reason. “I’m sitting here getting angry because I think [this change] is being taken as a personal affront to the artists,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a personal affront … I think it’s saying, how do we break this open so more people benefit, especially people who have been historically left out?” When Scene followed up by email, O’Brien echoed previous comments made by Gahl-Mills. Because these are public dollars, he said, they must be used for public benefit. He said he saw the change in direction as an attempt to make community benefits more explicit in the grant expectations. But he went further: “[The fellowship] is exclusionary to many people as it currently exists,” he wrote. “It could be for a number of reasons: the criteria, implicit bias ... . Fellowships like this need to be made to create ‘easy on-ramps’ for all people in the community. It needs to better reflect the community.” O’Brien also said he suspected CPAC had been told as much, but that movement in that direction didn’t happen, or at least not quickly enough. CAC board member Gwendolyn Garth attended the Happy Dog
panel discussion on Dec. 28 and spoke directly to the racial disparity in award recipients. So is that what Karen GahlMills has been dancing around? Is that where CPAC had failed to align? We asked her directly about coded language and attempts to achieve greater diversity. She responded definitively. “We are not using coded language here, in saying ‘community’ means we need more people of color,” Gahl-Mills said. “We’re saying — full stop — that the work needs to connect artists and community. As the field moves toward making sure that the arts are sustained at all levels throughout our country, one of the things that everybody’s realizing is that the arts have to connect in ways that are real and relevant to the lives of the citizens and residents in our communities. It is also true that the recipients have not reflected the demography of the county. As a public agency, we absolutely have an obligation to think about that. “That is a place we weren’t able to make progress working with our former partner,” she continued, “but this is not a sneaky way of us trying to say we want this program to serve different kinds of people. First and foremost, the program needs to connect artists and community in real and meaningful ways.” But for heaven’s sake, what does that mean? The majority of artists seem to agree that equity is a worthy and commendable goal. “But they clearly don’t agree,” wrote Michael Gill, editor of CAN Journal (another Free Times and
Scene alum) in a blog post on the subject, “that giving preference to certain types of artistic practice is a good way to achieve it.” Now that NAS has backed out, it falls to CAC to create whatever idealized program it wants and to find the partner (local or national) to manage it. The schedule for that process is now delayed. Gahl-Mills said she’s hoping that artists will be able to apply for funding in 2017, but admitted coming up with the program won’t be a priority until after the first quarter. For now, all that’s in place are six “key elements” that a new program will include. They are: flexible funding, i.e. not “project grants”; a broader definition of “artist” that now includes “archaeology, history, natural history and the natural sciences”; equity, by “seeking out artists of color and emerging artists”; supporting “excellent art that actively engages and impacts the community”; offering a supportive “cohort model”; and offering learning opportunities. When Scene asked Gahl-Mills if, in light of the hubbub, CAC was committed to finding a local partner to manage the new program, she said not necessarily. “We are committed to having the best organization we can find run this. I think that there are plenty of local organizations that might be the best fit, but it’s premature for me to say that that’s our commitment. We want the best.” On a final note, Gahl-Mills rejected the idea that artists hadn’t had the opportunity to weigh in. She noted that CAC’s online survey went out to nearly 9,000 people and that they’d hosted a gathering in May which all current and former Creative Workforce Fellows were invited to attend. “We want more voices at the table, always.” she said. “Artists were included in the conversation. Whether or not they chose to participate is a different question. But the other thing that’s really important — and this group of artists are losing track — is that we’re a public agency. We don’t just answer to artists. We don’t just answer to arts organizations. We answer to the residents of Cuyahoga County.” Gahl-Mills has repeated a version of that line in every interview she’s given. The board of trustees, appointed by county executive Armond Budish, have done so as well. Sympathetic non-profits folks like Tom O’Brien have repeated it too. CAC board chair Joseph Gibbons,
a lawyer at Schneider Smeltz Spieth Bell — one of three practicing attorneys on CAC’s five-member board — emailed a statement to Scene featuring the same rhetoric. “Because we’re using public dollars,” he wrote, “it’s imperative that there is defined community impact in all of our grantmaking.” This is taken as axiomatic, a self-evident truth that artists and skeptics have maybe just forgotten. But in fact it’s not. If anything, it’s abnormal in Cuyahoga County, where public dollars are often used for causes not expressly in the public interest, and sometimes to the
public’s great detriment. The ballot language is specific. In November 2015, Issue 8 asked county voters to renew an excise tax on cigarettes “for the benefit of Cuyahoga Arts and Culture for the purposes of making grants to support operating or capital expenses of arts or cultural organizations in Cuyahoga County, to defray the costs of acquiring, constructing, equipping, furnishing, improving, enlarging, renovating, remodeling or maintaining an artistic or cultural facility, and to meet operating expenses.” It says nothing about the
centrality of community benefits. One of the fears coursing through the local arts community is that CAC, tasked by voters with what amounts to a boring job — handing out money to arts and cultural organizations — is itself getting creative, pulling levers that are really not within its rights to pull. “Think of the sin tax,” said the Happy Dog’s Sean Watterson, in an evocative comparison. “Nobody siphons off that money for social change.”
sallard@clevescene.com t@scenesallard
| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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SCENE Magazine presents
UNITED WE BRUNCH There’s no better way to chase away a hangover than brunch with friends. And SCENE is once again bringing together the best restaurants in town with one mission: unite to cure Cleveland’s hangover. Brunch tastings, Bloody Mary’s, mimosas, beer, wine and champagne - all in the historic, newly-renovated Galleria & Tower. It’s the ultimate cure for a Friday night party — and a great start to another night on the town! General Admission tickets are $40 in advance and include 5 drink tickets, unlimited brunch tastings and commemorative glass. VIP tickets are $60 in advance and include early entry, 8 drink tickets, unlimited brunch tastings, commemorative glass, VIP seating and access for full bar. Limited availability. Saturday, January 21, 2017 Galleria & Tower at Erieview scenebrunch.com
MARK YOUR CALENDARS January 21 .......................................................United We Brunch March 4 .....................................................................Vodka Vodka March 11 ........................................................ Shamrock Bar Crawl May 13..................................................... Best of Cleveland Party May 20-21 .................................................................. Rib Burn Off May 27-28 .......................................................... Taste of Summer July 29................................................................................Ale Fest September 29-October 1............. THE Downtown Oktoberfest October 14-15 .......................................................................MAIZE November 10 ................................................... Whiskey Business December 1 ........................................................Holiday Bar Blast December 14 .................................................................... FLAVOR *Dates and events subject to change
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| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
everything you should do this week
GET OUT WED
01/11
SPOKEN WORD
Cleveland Stories Dinner Parties Earlier this year, Music Box Supper Club launched Cleveland Stories Dinner Party, a weekly series that pairs fine food with storytelling. The series aims to help raise awareness of the mission of the Western Reserve Historical Society’s new Cleveland History Center. The club’s owners consider the Cleveland History Center to be “one of the most interesting museums in Cleveland” and “an unknown gem that Clevelanders should know more about and support.” The goal of the Cleveland Stories Dinner Party is to “bring to life some of the fun, interesting stories about Cleveland’s past — from sports, to rock ’n’ roll, to Millionaires’ Row.” Each week features a guest speaker and a custom prix fixe menu — a full three-course meal for only $20. The popular series resumes tonight at 7:30 with local writer Peter Chakerian, who’ll discuss Cleveland’s contribution to popular culture. The special menu features popcorn bisque, Dr. Pepper braised pork and an Orange Crush float. Admission is free. (Jeff Niesel) 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com. WORKSHOP
Grantseekers’ Workshop Neighborhood Connections offers small grants from $500 to $5,000 twice a year to groups of Cleveland and East Cleveland residents for projects that improve the quality of life in their communities. If you’d like more information before the Feb. 10 deadline, attend Neighborhood Connections’ Grantseekers’ Workshop from 6 to 8 p.m. today; it will be held at the Neighborhood Connections’ office on Euclid Avenue. Any resident-led or community group in Cleveland or East Cleveland may apply, even if it is not officially recognized as a nonprofit organization. However, applicants without nonprofit status must have a fiscal agent. Further, each grant must be matched dollarfor-dollar, but the match may be in cash, volunteer labor or donated goods or services. Learn about the guidelines, application process and more at tonight’s workshop. Can’t’
Evelyn Wright will perform at the Maltz Museum as part of its MLK Day celebration. See: Monday.
attend tonight? Metro West hosts another Grantseekers’ Workshop at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 17. These workshops are free and open to the public. (Josh Usmani) 5000 Euclid Ave., Suite 310, 216-229-8824, neighborhoodgrants.org. BEER
Hoppin’ Frog Hoppy Hour Much like the Fat Head’s tasting room in Middleburg Heights, the Hoppin’ Frog Tasting Room in Akron is in a nondescript strip of storage facilities and warehouses. But step inside and you’ll find a cozy tasting room with a huge array of the brewery’s wonderful libations. The place features “hoppy hour” every weekday from 3 to 7 p.m. Tonight, the brewers visit the tasting room from 5 to 7 p.m. While they don’t fill growlers, you can drink bottles on site or take ’em to go. The place also offers a “Hoppin’ Frog Rare & Vintage” list as well as a guest bottle list. And you can order from a limited food menu too. (Niesel) 1680-F Waterloo Rd., Akron, 234-525-3764, hoppinfrog.com/tasting-room.
SPOKEN WORD
Life, the Universe and Hot Dogs Tonight’s installment of Life, the Universe and Hot Dogs, the regularly scheduled lecture series that takes place at the Euclid Tavern, features Case Western Reserve University’s Darin Croft, who will discuss some of the “weird and wonderful mammals” that roamed South America millions of years ago. Expect to hear about “armored” mammals with tail clubs, saber-toothed marsupials and sloths as big as elephants. Croft has spent nearly 20 years searching for mammal fossils throughout South America; he also recently published Horned Armadillos and Rafting Monkeys: The Fascinating Fossil Mammals of South America, a book inspired by his research. The talk begins at 7 tonight and it’s free. (Niesel) 11625 Euclid Ave., 216-231-5400, happydogcleveland.com.
THU
01/12
MUSIC
Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony When composer Richard Wagner died way back in the late 1800s,
Anton Bruckner, an admirer of his opera “Parsifal,” turned his own Seventh Symphony into a memorial that featured soaring melodies both epic in scale and grand in design. Tonight at 7:30 at Severance Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra performs the piece along with a piano concerto by German composer Jörg Widmann, with Yefim Bronfman as soloist. Rose Breckenridge, a lecturer and administrator for Cleveland Orchestra Music Study Groups, gives a pre-concert talk at 6:30. The program repeats Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $29. (Niesel) 11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com. ART
A Curve of Color Did you know that American Greetings’ new world headquarters at Crocker Park has a fine arts gallery that’s open to the public? Gallery W’s latest exhibition opens tonight with a reception from 5 to 7. A look back to the 1960s and ’70s, A Curve of Color pairs Samuel Butnik’s paintings with Bonnie Cashin’s fashions designed for Coach. The exhibition features items from the permanent | clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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GET OUT collections of both the Western Reserve Historical Society’s History Center and the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve. A Curve of Color remains on view through Feb. 23. Gallery W is on the first floor of the American Greetings building, below the giant rose, off Main Street. Admission is free. (Usmani) 1 American Blvd., Westlake, 216-252-7300, americangreetings.com.
to lose weight via Jenny Craig. But when he ate all the food they gave him in one sitting, he realized the truth: Jenny herself is never around because she’s off eating biscuits at Popeye’s. Love’s jokes span topics like the First Amendment, how being fat is the new black and the three phrases you need to keep your Southern wife happy. Love seems like a big, tough guy, but he’s really a gentle giant. Even his most offensive
“A
COMEDY
Joey Diaz Vulgar, loud and proud, comedian Joey Diaz isn’t an act you want to bring the young ones to. Diaz delivers passionate stories about his life and Cuban upbringing. He holds nothing back and nothing is off limits — including tales about fighting with the nuns in school back in New Jersey. He loves to entertain the crowd, putting everything into his performances. Maybe you’ll even recognize him from his role in the 2013 film Grudge Match where he starred opposite Robert De Niro, Kevin Hart and Sylvester Stallone. Diaz performs tonight at 8 at Hilarities. Tickets are $28 to $30 and performances are scheduled through Saturday. (Martin Harp) 2035 East Fourth St., 216-2417425, pickwickandfrolic.com.
FILM
One Piece Film: Gold The Straw Hat Pirates return in One Piece Film: Gold, the animated Japanese fantasy-action-adventure flick based on the manga series of the same name. Released theatrically last year, the film makes its U.S. and Canadian debut this week. It takes place in Gran Tesoro, an independent country that’s become home to pirates and mercenaries. The Straw Hat Pirates
Experience a Divine Culture
MUST SEE!
”
-- Broadway World
COMEDY
Faizon Love Comedian Faizon Love once tried
18
FRI
01/13
THEATER
Flanagan’s Wake Now in its fifth year in Cleveland, Flanagan’s Wake transports the audience to a wake in Ireland where villagers tell tales and sing songs for their dearly departed Flanagan. Finding the humor in life and death, the wake acts as a dark backdrop to an otherwise hilarious show in which alcohol fuels the humorous reminiscing. A sort of tragic Tony ’n’ Tina’s Wedding, the interactive and improvised show engages the entire audience as the guests are treated as the friends and family of the deceased. The show starts at 8 tonight and plays again tomorrow night at 8 at Kennedy’s Theatre. Tickets are $26. (Patrick Stoops) 1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org. NIGHTLIFE
“A visually dazzling tour of 5,000 years of Chinese history and culture.” c lltt rree ” – San Francisco Chronicle
FAMILY FUN
Disney on Ice Presents Follow Your Heart In what’s become a tradition for this time of year, Disney on Ice storms into town to take over Quicken Loans Arena for 10 days, sending the Cavs and Lake Erie Monsters out on long road trips so parents can bring their toddlers and tweens to the arena for some family entertainment. Expect to see familiar figures such as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Disney princesses. There will be singalongs to songs from films such as Finding Dory, Frozen, Toy Story and more. Tonight’s performance begins at 7, and shows continue through Sunday. Tickets start at $17. (Niesel) 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, theqarena.com.
2163 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights, 216-321-5411, clevelandcinemas. com.
Goth Prom Billed as “a formal event of decadence, despondency and darkness,” the Goth Prom that takes place tonight at Mahall’s offers the opportunity for patrons to “put on a sad face and some shoplifted eyeliner and make the most of it.” Guest DJs MX Silkman and Justin Carver will spin the dark tunes, and there will be a Goth Prom photo booth. Goth attire is encouraged but not required. The event starts at 9, and tickets are $5. (Niesel) 13200 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216-521-3280, mahalls20lanes.com. COMEDY
February 4-5, 2017
Playhouse Square 216-241-6000 ShenYun.com
jokes will have you rolling in laughter. He takes the stage at the Improv at 7:30 tonight and has more appearances scheduled through Sunday. Tickets are $20. (Liz Trenholme) 1148 Main Ave., 216-696-IMPROV, clevelandimprov.com.
| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
find themselves up against a powerful emperor who seeks world domination. The movie screens tonight at 7:30 at the Cedar Lee Theatre where it also screens at 7:30 tomorrow night and at 1:30 on Saturday and Monday. Regular admission rates apply. (Niesel)
Last Call Cleveland: Michael Stanley Superstar The local comedy troupe Last Call Cleveland once again turns its attention to local rock star Michael Stanley with a weekend’s worth of Michael Stanley Superstar. Billed as “the unauthorized autobiography of the Cuyahoga messiah,” the production promises to take you through the life of Cleveland’s “favorite part-time rocker and full-time badass.” Catch it tonight and tomorrow night at 8:30 at the Outcalt Theatre on Playhouse Square. Tickets are $18. (Niesel) 1407 Euclid Ave., 216-640-8669, playhousesquare.org.
ART
Likeness The artists in Heights Arts’ first exhibition of 2017 capture a deeper sense of personality and character in their portraiture through a wide variety of media. Organized by guest curator Sharon Grossman, Likeness showcases the work of portrait artists from Northeast Ohio. The exhibition includes Sarah Curry’s paintings, Susan Gallagher’s ceramics, Bernadette Glorioso’s paintings on repurposed fabric, David King’s mixed media drawings, Daniel Levin’s photography and Mary Ann Tripple’s fiber arts. Additionally, one wall of the gallery is dedicated to the artists’ self-portraits. Opening with a reception from 6 to 9 tonight, Likeness remains on view in Heights Arts’ main gallery through Feb. 26. Admission is free. (Usmani) 2175 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights, 216-371-3457, heightsarts.org. ART
Love Library: Let’s Talk About Love Chido Johnson’s Love Library is an ongoing, collaborative art project inspired by romance novels that has traveled to venues in Rochester, Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Indianapolis and Lawrence, Kansas, as well as Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. In each city, Johnson collaborates with a local “Love Librarian” who selects the artists. Opening with a reception from 6 to 8 tonight, Johnson’s latest Love Library is hosted by Zygote Press. Love Library: Let’s Talk About Love remains on view at Zygote Press through Feb. 25. Admission is free. (Usmani) 1410 East 30th St., 216-621-2900, zygotepress.com. ART
Women in Reverie: Painting Women Through the Decades If you’ve ever had a caricature drawn in Cleveland, it was probably by someone from Kaman’s Art Shoppes. This local staple has been owned and operated by its president Tricia Kaman for 35 years. Today, Kaman’s Art Shoppes are in over 30 major theme and amusement parks throughout the U.S. and Canada. It is estimated that she has trained more than a thousand portrait artists, who have sold more than half a million portraits, caricatures and silhouette cutouts. In addition to running this creative company, Kaman is an internationally
CLE New Wave Connection
renowned artist, with a studio on Murray Hill Road in Little Italy. Wasmer Gallery at Ursuline College celebrates the life and work of Tricia Kaman with Women in Reverie: Painting Women Through the Decades. The exhibition features a collection of Kaman’s portraiture and figurative paintings from direct observation. Meet Tricia Kaman during an opening reception from 5 to 8 tonight at Ursuline College. Women in Reverie remains on view through Feb. 17. (Usmani) 2550 Lander Rd., Pepper Pike, 440-449-4200, ursuline.edu.
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01/14
Valentine’s
ART
A Gallery Talk In conjunction with the Cleveland Museum of Art’s current exhibition, Albert Oehlen’s Woods Near Oehle, artist and writer Jordan Kantor leads a gallery talk at 2 p.m. today. The exhibition is the largest and most extensive collection of Oehlen’s work, dating back more than 30 years. The exhibition also features the artist’s most recent work, including a new multimedia installation that will debut in Cleveland. Through this gallery tour, Kantor will discuss Oehlen’s work and lasting impact on contemporary art. Kantor studied in Germany before earning his bachelor’s degree in history and studio art from Stanford University and a doctorate in the history of art and architecture from Harvard University. This presentation is free, and no registration is required. Guests are asked to meet outside the exhibition in the KeyBank Lobby. (Usmani) 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org.
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Roman Ricci Eyelash Studio 11810 Madison Ave. Ste 2 | Lakewood, OH 44107 | 216-225-6695
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DEATH OF A
SALESMAN
ART
Heavy the Sea In its first exhibition of 2017, Transformer Station hosts the first public solo show of Londonbased artist Esther Teichmann. A multimedia exhibition, Heavy the Sea includes large-scale still and moving images, found objects, video, music, cyanotypes, layered photographs, paintings and threedimensional sculpture. Raised in southern Germany, Teichmann earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in fine art from the Royal College of Art. Her practice explores the relationships between loss, desire and the imaginary,
BY ARTHUR MILLER
JANUARY 13 - 29
FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS AT 7:30 PM AND SUNDAYS AT 3 PM TICKETS: $10-$18 | (440) 949-5200 OR WWW.METROPARKS.CC/THEATRE SPONSORED BY: | clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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LIVE AREA= 19.25 X 12”
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| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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GET OUT blurring autobiography and fiction. A monograph of her works and a book of essays will be published by Stanley/Barker later this year. Heavy the Sea opens today with a public reception from 7 to 9 p.m.; it remains on view through April 30. Admission is free. (Usmani) 1460 West 29th St., 216-938-5429, transformerstation.org. THEATER
SOULmate? A True Love Story Actress-singer Taral Hicks stars as Sabrina and singer-songwriter Alvin Frazier stars as William in SOULmate? A True Love Story, a play about two lovers who meet in high school but quickly find that their paths in life lead them in separate directions. The drama centers on a secret that Sabrina must reveal to William. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7 at the Hanna Theatre. Tickets are $21.50 to $36.50. (Niesel) 2067 East 14th St., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
SUN
01/15
BRUNCH
Gospel Brunch at HOB The monthly Gospel Brunch has been a spiritual Sunday staple for years at the House of Blues. Curated by famed gospel singer Kirk Franklin, the recently reinvigorated show puts a bit more emphasis on the music. This week, the local artist Lafayette Carthon and Faith performs. The all-youcan-eat musical extravaganza features Southern classics like chicken jambalaya, biscuits and gravy, and chicken and waffles. It takes place at 11 a.m. Tickets are $40. (Niesel) 308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com. MLK DAY
WJW.CLEVELAND
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| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
Celebration Events at Severance Hall To honor the legacy of the late, great civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., the Cleveland Orchestra will host the 37th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert at 7 tonight at Severance Hall. Thomas Wilkins will conduct the sold-out program that will feature the orchestra along with the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Chorus, a volunteer community chorus that
brings together a wide range of choristers from local churches as well as members of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Blossom Festival Chorus. If you haven’t already snagged tickets, you can catch a live broadcast of the concert on WCLV Classical 104.9 and 90.3 WCPN ideastream. The celebration continues tomorrow from noon to 5 p.m., with the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Community Open House featuring performances by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus, Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus, El Sistema@ Rainey, Cleveland Inner City Ballet, and Councilman Conwell & the Footprints, all taking place in the Concert Hall. There will also be family activities such as the “I Have a Dream” Wall and a Martin Luther King Jr. book display by Cuyahoga County Public Library in Smith Lobby, as well as Rock the House featuring a DJ and line dancing in the BogomolnyKozerefski Grand Foyer. No tickets are required for tomorrow’s free Community Open House. (Niesel) 11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com. COMEDY
Cleveland Improv Jam The Angry Ladies of Improv has hosted the Cleveland Improv Jam for four years now. A few years back, Scene described the show as “fierce, formidable and very funny.” The women have some serious experience too. Katie White-Sonby is an actress who’s performed at Clague Playhouse, Karamu and Kennedy’s Cabaret. Marjorie Preston is an alumna of Something Dada and Rockwell 9 improvisational comedy troupes. The event begins with a short-form set of improv games, followed by a longform improv set. It begins at 5 p.m. at Coffee Phix. Arrive early if you want to sign up and perform. Admission is free. (Niesel) 4485 Mayfield Rd., South Euclid, 216-381-5706, coffeephixcafe.com. THEATER
No Man’s Land Two of the U.K.’s finest actors, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, share a love for iconic playwrights such as Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter. They famously worked together in an adaptation of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, and they’ve teamed up again for Pinter’s No Man’s Land, a play about a place “which never moves, never changes, which never grows
older, but which remains forever, icy and silent.” Today at 11 a.m. at the Cedar Lee, you can watch them perform together as the theater broadcasts the National Theatre’s production of the play. Tickets cost $20. (Niesel) 2163 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights, 440-717-4696, clevelandcinemas. com.
MON
01/16
MLK DAY
Hear Our Voices: A Free Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement, the current exhibition at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, shows how civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and everyday citizens risked everything to change America. At today’s free event to commemorate Martin Luther King Day, you can hear the Roots of American Music and the Evelyn Wright Quartet perform as part of a day-long celebration that runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Niesel) 2929 Richmond Rd., Beachwood, 216-593-0575, maltzmuseum.org.
Unfortunately, additional charges apply for 3D movies. (Alaina Nutile) clevelandcinemas.com. BRUNCH
Industry Brunch Brunch isn’t just a Saturday/ Sunday thing. Over at Mahall’s, you can grab a great brunch on Mondays as the club caters to industry folks who have the day
off. Not that you have to work in the restaurant industry to indulge. The menu features items such as Chicken and Donuts, a
dish that features three pieces of fried chicken along with two Old Hushers doughnuts. Other staples include the Everything Pretzel and the Creamy Egg Sandwich. A live DJ from WCSB will be on hand to spin cool tunes too. It runs from noon to 4. (Niesel) 13200 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 216-521-3280, mahalls20lanes.com. FOOD
Wing Ding Doodle Blues icon Howlin’ Wolf famously covered “Wang Dang Doodle,” the old blues tune penned by Willie Dixon. Prosperity Social Club in Tremont has adopted that slogan, calling its wing night Wing Ding Doodle. The weekly event features specials on Buffalo wings and cold brews. Prosperity will not only serve up substantial, $1 whole wings, but it’ll also offering meatless Monday “wing” baskets for vegans. Discounted drafts and a playlist of vintage-electric blues and soulful R&B curated by local musician Clint Holley will be on tap as well. Wing Ding Doodle takes place every Monday from 6 p.m. to midnight. (Niesel) 1109 Starkweather Ave., 216-9371938, prosperitysocialclub.com.
NIGHTLIFE
Monday Night Trivia Do you have tons of obscure music knowledge? Are you a student of fast food menus and their nuanced histories? What say you about the geographic evolution of Scotch whisky? Tonight’s your chance to wow your friends, make yourself instantly more desirable to someone you’re newly dating, and hang with Cleveland’s headiest hipsters and hot dog lovers. It’s the Happy Dog Monday Night Trivia. Starting at 8 p.m.Obviously, have a hot dog and a craft brew while you’re at it. And arrive early. The tables fill up quickly. (Sam Allard) 5801 Detroit Ave., 216-651-9474, happydogcleveland.com. FILM
Movie Mondays Every Monday, Cleveland Cinemas hosts $6 Movie Mondays, where film fans can catch up on the latest Hollywood flicks for significantly reduced prices. Bring your friends and family and make Movie Mondays a weekly tradition — many theaters even offer discounted concession stand items. Participating theaters include Apollo Theatre, Capitol Theatre, Cedar Lee Theatre, Chagrin Cinemas, Shaker Square Cinemas and Tower City Cinemas.
TUE
01/17
MUSIC
Vinyl Night While sales of CDs continue to decline, vinyl has seen a resurgence. In fact, the recent Jack White album became the fastestselling vinyl album since Nielsen Soundscan began compiling vinyl sales figures in 1991. Jukebox owner Alex Budin has described his 1,350-square-foot, musicfocused bar in Hingetown as “a place where people can expect to hear and learn about music of multiple genres, all of which is concentrated in a constantly evolving jukebox.” In keeping with that spirit and recognizing the burgeoning popularity of vinyl, the club hosts a vinyl night every Tuesday as a listening party for new releases. The place has partnered with Loop in Tremont so that patrons can hear a new album on vinyl. You can bring your own vinyl and spin it too. It all starts at 7 p.m. (Niesel) 1404 West 29th St., 216-206-7699, jukeboxcle.com.
Find more events @clevescene.com t@clevelandscene | clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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MARDI GRAS 8th Annual
Saturday, February 4, 2017 % 6:30pm – 11:00pm Windows On The River 2000 Sycamore Street, Cleveland, OH 44113 To make reservations or for more information, visit ncmchorus.org or call (216) 556-0590. The George Gund Foundation
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ART GRAND DEBUT Spaces opens its new location in Hingetown, signaling a new era in the local arts scene By Josh Usmani AFTER MONTHS OF ANTICIPATION, Spaces is finally ready to open the doors to its new location in the former Van Rooy Coffee building at 2900 Detroit Ave. Although its first exhibitions won’t open to the public until later this month, Spaces is hosting several events this weekend designed to celebrate its grand opening and introduce the public to its new location. More than a dozen local artists, performers and musicians will take part in this weekend’s grand opening celebration. The design of the interior and exterior of the building, now owned by art patrons Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell, was overseen by John Williams, principal of the awardwinning architecture and design firm Process Creative Studios. Spaces occupies 9,300 square feet on the building’s ground floor. The new space allows the organization to increase its programming schedule, art production areas and educational resources, including a dedicated classroom for engaging the community. The space also includes two galleries with 13-foot ceilings, a screening room for video and sound art program, the Vault, individual studios for resident artists, communal workspaces and rooftop access with an inspiring view of Lake Erie. Spaces plans to program performances, film screenings and social gatherings with this new rooftop access. “Our new location places us front and center in a bustling neighborhood,” says Spaces executive director Christina Vassallo. “Now we’re in a position to serve as an easily accessible cultural convener, where different points of view can be expressed through the art on display and our educational initiatives.” The celebration officially begins this Saturday, Jan. 14, with a soldout roving dinner for VIP guests and sponsors. But don’t worry: It is immediately followed by a general admission Super Hot Housewarming party from 8 p.m. to midnight. The festivities include a dance party with DJ Genna Petrolla, art installations and several special performances. Spaces solicited proposals from the local art community for site-specific art installations and performances for the grand opening. During Saturday
SPACES GRAND OPENING CELEBRATION 2900 Detroit Ave., 216-621-2314 spacesgallery.org
evening’s event, nearly two dozen artists will present new, exclusive work. “The grand opening is structured like a housewarming, where guests are encouraged to poke around and see parts of our space that they normally wouldn’t see during our public events,” says Vassallo. “There will be art and performances all over, and each piece will activate the building in some way, as well as highlight our new neighborhood, key moments in the history of Spaces, or the artists’ personal connection to the organization. The housewarming
is very much in line with the artistdriven focus of Spaces programming.” Participating artists include Amber Anderson, Christopher AuerbachBrown, Christi Birchfield, Catherine Butler, Susan Danko, Lauren Davies, Dana Depew & R Ferris, John G, Kevin Hogan, Lori Kella & Michael Loderstedt, Christine Lewis, McKenzie Merrimen, Kristina Paabus, Steven Simmons, Stephen Yusko, and MengHsuan Wu. Saturday evening’s performances include Jeffry Chiplis’ reprise of his 1983 portable pipe organ dedication performance, originally performed at
Spaces on West Sixth Street, Cosmika’s Space Age lounge lizard act, as well as a singing-in-the-shower performance by Adam Tully and Sheffia Randall Dooley. General admission is $25. The celebration continues from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 15, with a free, public open house. The afternoon includes tours of the new Spaces lead by Vassallo and project architect Williams. Guests can enjoy light refreshments and a drop-in performance by members of new-music ensemble Zeitgeist, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, presented by No Exit. Grand opening committee members are Laura Ruth Bidwell, Pita Brooks, Alex Budin, Carrie Carpenter, Julia Christensen, Patricia Mintz, Rita Montlack, Kristin Rogers, Marika Shioiri-Clark and Corrie Slawson. The celebration is sponsored by Ahola, William Busta & Joan Tomkins, FORM, McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co., Swagelok Foundation, Ulmer & Berne, Margaret W. Wong & Associates and Wood-Lee International Art Handler. In-kind sponsors include Bonbon Pastry & Cafe, Fire Food & Drink, Marigold, Jukebox Cle, Cleveland Bagel, Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Great Lakes Brewing Co. For more information on these events, visit bit.ly/SPACES-Grand-Opening. Later this month, Spaces debuts its first exhibitions in its new location. Opening Jan. 27 with a free, public reception from 6 to 9 p.m., these initial exhibitions include Philadelphia’s Imani Roach, Cleveland’s Anthony Warnick and Australian collective Soda_Jerk. In its nearly 40 years, Spaces has presented the work of more than 9,000 artists in its three venues: Playhouse Square (1978-1981), Warehouse District (1981-1990) and Superior Viaduct (1990-2016). During its time on the Viaduct, Spaces established itself as a sanctuary and laboratory for contemporary artists seeking safe places to experiment with new ideas and media. Its unique programming brings artists to Cleveland from throughout the U.S. and around the world, and still allows local and regional artists an opportunity to showcase their talents as well.
jusmani@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene | clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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Photo by Joan Marcus
STAGE A WINTER THEATER PREVIEW No, not nuclear winter. No chance of that, right? Right? By Christine Howey AS WE TEETER ON THE BRINK of living in a country that, as of Jan. 20, will be essentially owned and operated by the Republican Party, you may feel a bit queasy. You may not be sure if you should go out to see plays when huddling in a corner and weeping sounds like a much more attractive alternative. Don’t be silly! The chances of us all living through the next four years intact are probably around 5050! So here are the stage shows that await us, month by month, from now until spring. JANUARY It is highly unlikely that the new president will actually start or stumble into a thermonuclear war during his inauguration speech, so why not consider a jaunt Into the Woods (now through Jan. 29 at Playhouse Square). This popular Stephen Sondheim musical is sure to get the full Broadway touring show treatment. At Dobama Theater, they will be presenting The Night Alive (Jan. 20), a slightly otherworldly drama by Conor McPherson, who has been called “a true poet of the theater.” And the Cleveland Play House will trot out another offering from Ken Ludwig — Baskerville, a Sherlock Holmes Mystery which opens Jan. 21. So drag out your deerstalker hat and calabash pipe (better leave the cocaine at home). FEBRUARY By this time, Congress and the president will have certainly eliminated Obamacare. The good news: You can take the time you might have spent accessing necessary medical treatment and go to the theater instead! On Feb. 3, Ensemble Theatre opens Radio Golf, a work by the esteemed playwright August Wilson
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Lisa Helmi Johanson as Little Red Ridinghood and Anthony Chatmon II as the Wolf in Into the Woods.
that is less about golf than about race-based real estate shenanigans in Pittsburgh. Also opening on that day at None Too Fragile Theater is The Whale by Samuel D. Hunter, which involves a 600-pound recluse attempting to eat himself to death while simultaneously searching for redemption. That same weekend The Bridges of Madison County, a musical based on the novel by Robert James Waller, will debut at Lakeland Civic Theatre. The King and I tour comes to Playhouse Square on Feb. 7, replete with Rogers and Hammerstein’s gorgeous score and a bald, we trust, King of Siam. And on Feb. 10, Repairing a Nation by Nikkole Salter kicks off at Karamu, dealing with a family’s reaction to a race riot. That’s the same day Bring It On, the Musical takes the stage at Beck Center. With music and lyrics co-written by Hamiltion creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, it delves into the mysteries of high school life and the agonies and ecstasies of cheerleading. Here’s a play that really does seem ripped from the headlines: A young Middle Eastern man is roaming a city that is paralyzed with fear after a bombing. It is titled I Call My Brothers by Jonas Hassen Khemiri and opens Feb. 17 at Cleveland Public Theatre. Also on that Friday, Great Lakes Theater opens the classic Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott, lifting the lid on suspense involving a young blind housewife. And on Feb. 24, CPT is back in the game with Barbecue by take-no-prisoners playwright Robert O’Hara. It involves a confrontational family gathering
| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
touching on a drug addict’s intervention and racial politics. MARCH In all likelihood, clean air and water regs will have been axed by this month, so take a shower under a big bottle of Aquafina and go out for a nice evening of theater! Opening March 3 is A Great Wilderness at Beck Center, by Samuel D. Hunter, in which a leader of a Christian retreat devoted to “curing” gay teens comes up against reality. That same night, Dobama presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Flick, about three underpaid movie theater employees who mop and mope with insight and humor. How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel slips into gear at the Cleveland Play House on March 4. It’s a ride back to the 1960s and the playwright’s complicated relationship with an older man. Then on March 17, None Too Fragile presents A Skull in Connemara, a dark comedy by Martin McDonagh about two grudge-bearing brothers. A dazzling production is promised when The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime lands at Playhouse Square on March 21. This “Best Play” Tony winner centers on 15-year-old Christopher who is on the Asperger/autism spectrum and is accused of killing the neighbor’s dog. And on March 25, ConvergenceContinuum Theater offers Harm’s Way by company favorite Mac Wellman. It’s about a very angry person trying to make sense of law and order in a world of other angry people. If that last play doesn’t seem like
a fitting end to the winter of 2017, then nothing does. So forget about Washington D.C., go see these shows and try to take your mind off it all.
Beck Center, 17801 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 216-521-2540, beckcenter.org. Convergence-Continuum, 2438 Scranton Rd., 216-687-0074, convergence-continuum.org. Cleveland Play House, 1407 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, clevelandplayhouse.com. Cleveland Public Theatre, 6415 Detroit Ave., 216-631-2727, cptonline.org. Dobama Theatre, 2340 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights, 216-932-3396, dobama.org. Ensemble Theatre, 2843 Washington Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-321-2930, ensembletheatrecle.org. Great Lakes Theater, 2067 East 14th St., 216-241-6000, greatlakestheater.org. Karamu House, 2355 East 89th St., 216-795-7070, karamuhouse.org. Lakeland Civic Theatre, 7700 Clocktower Dr., Kirtland, 440-525-7134, lakelandcc.edu. None Too Fragile, 1835 Merriman Rd., Akron, 330-962-5547, nonetoofragile.com. Playhouse Square, Connor Palace, 1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
scene@clevescene.com t@christinehowey
“ABSOLUTELY THE
NO. 1 SHOW IN THE WORLD!”
— Kenn Wells, former lead dancer of the English National Ballet
“A MUST-SEE!” — Broadway World
AN ALL-NEW SHOW WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA
“Really out of this world! There is no word to describe it...If I have to, the words might be ‘divine,’ ‘reborn’ and ‘hope’. You have to see it to believe it.” — Christine Walevska, “goddess of the cello”, watched Shen Yun 4 times
“5,000 years of Chinese music and dance in one night!” — The New York Times
FEB. 4-5
STATE THEATRE
SECURE YOUR BEST SEATS TODAY!
PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT
216-241-6000
Order today!
More info: 888-974-3698
Sh ShenYun.com/Cleveland Y /Cl l d | clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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SHEN YUN
“The ancient Chinese wisdom will benefit the whole world.” —Ted Kav Kavanau, founding producer of CNN Headline News
A GIFT FROM THE HEAVENS
T
he people of China have long held that their magnificent culture was a gift from the heavens. Art was primarily a means to explore the connection between humankind and the higher universe. Through the universal
language of music and dance, Shen Yun waves a wondrous tapestry of heavenly realms, ancient legends, and modern heroic tales, taking you on a journey through 5,000 years of genuine Chinese culture. Its stunning beauty, purity, and tremendous energy leave audiences greatly uplifted and deeply inspired.
Experience Heavenly Realms Travel to the Heavenly realms to experience the exquisite, magical and magnificent kindoms, where flowers of blessing for all of humankind are scattered by heavenly maidens. Their beauty, purity and celestial grace will touch your heart and soul with joy. 28
| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
A Shen Yun performance features 100 world class artists, over 400 sets of exquisite hand-made costumes, a unique orchestra blending East and West, and dazzling animated backdrops - creating a spectacular performance beyond imagination. Shen Yun cannot be seen in China today, where traditional culture has been nearly lost. Yet the nonprofit Shen Yun has become an international phenomenon, bringing the wonders of 5,000 years of civilization to millions across the globe.
Travel Back to Grand Dynasties The 2-hour Shen Yun performance consists of about 20 pieces, moving from one story, region and dynasty to the next. Stunning animated backdrops, exquisite handmade costumes, high flying leaps, thunderous battle drums, transport you to another world.
What Does “Shen Yun” Mean? “Shen Yun” is an elegant Chinese name that can be translated as “the beauty of heavenly beings dancing.”
Myths & Legends Come to Life Timeless stories from ancient records and classics are not only fun to watch, but also celebrate the traditional values-like loyalty, filial piety, compassion, selflessness, and tolerance, and bring joy and inspiration to children and adults of all backgrounds.
SHEN YUN
“It’s a new realm of dance! A lot of depth to it, and a lot of meanings.” —Vanessa Harwood, former Principal Dancer of National Ballet of Canada
A VAST DANCE SYSTEM TEMPERED OVER THOUSANDS OF YEARS
C
LASSICAL CHINESE DANCE is at the heart of what Shen Yun
does. It is one way in which 5,000 years of Chinese culture have been passed down and retained. It is a dance form built on profound traditional aesthetics. Over thousands of years. this art was continually refined, eventually developing into the vast, systematic, and distinctive Chinese dance form that we know today.
“This is special, it is uplifting, it’s ethereal. I almost felt I could fly like a bird when I saw the performances. The whole thing is inspirational! It reaches your heart and your head. I just feel like a child again. I don’t want to leave the theater. I am just re-living the wonderful sensations, it’s amazing. I have not seen
anything like that in theater.”
DISCOVER A BREAKTHROUGH IN CLASSICAL MUSIC
S
HEN YUN’S ABILITY to intergrate Chinese instruments in a
Western orchestra on such a grand scale is unprecedented. It is an achievement that requires command of both musical traditions, as well as unparalleled collaboration among composers, conductors and musicians. With original compositions crafted exclusively for this one-ofa-kind orchestra, Shen Yun delivers a breakthrough in classical music.
—Rich Massabny, 25+ years as an art and theater critic “This has elevated classical western music to a new realm with a new soul! It’s a breakthrough in the world’s music history, an unparalleled brilliance since the Renaissance.” —William Liu, seasoned music critic, NY
“Even though I have been studying music for many years, after seeing this show. I felt like a newborn infant, as I have
just experienced a new realm of music... After many years of waiting, I finally get to hear the real music.” —Robert-Hisland Hiestand, Director of the Geneva Higher Institute of Music, Switzerland | clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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Inspiring & Captivating “Thank you so much for doing this as it’s enormously important, and if
heaven is the way we saw it tonight, count me in!”
—Nathaniel Kahn, Academy and Emmy Awards nominated filemmaker
“I have reviewed over 3,000 shows, none can compare
to what I saw tonight. Five Stars! Mind blowing!...You
should go back and see it about six times.” — Richard Connema, renowned Broadway critic
“Mesmerizing! Reclaiming the divinely inspired cultural heritage of China...
I encourage everyone to see and all of us to learn from.”
— Donna Karan, creator of DKNY (New York)
“The cares of the world were shed from my shoulders. I was uplifted, I was filled with hope...The world is a
better place because of SHEN YUN.”
“Domonstrates th the ddeep,
deep, deep artistic soul of China. I am very
touched, feeling thrilled.”” — Anthony Daniels, Star Wars actor
— Richard Swett, former US Congressman of Connecticut
Sat. February 4, 2:00pm Sat. February 4, 7:00pm Sun. February 5, 2:00pm
moment to pause and reflect in eternity and a celebration of what happens in that wonderful bliss, beautiful eternal realm where heavenly beings rejoice and celebrate.” —Earl Stuckey, Jr., two-time Grammy award nominee singer
SECURE YOUR BEST SEATS TODAY! STATE THEATRE, CLEVELAND
“A moment momentt iinn et eternity terniity—a
PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT TICKETS: $150 $90
$120 $80
$100 $70
ORDERING 1. PlayHouseSquare.org 2. ShenYun.com/Cleveland 3. Hotline: 888-974-3698
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DON’T MISS IT!
| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
4. Box Office: 216-241-6000 5. Box Office: PlayHouse Square 1501 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44115
ShenYun.com/Cleveland
888-974-3698
MOVIES HEAD GAMES Northwest Ohio provides the setting for The Bye Bye Man By Jeff Niesel WHEN DIRECTOR STACY TITLE and her screenwriter husband Jonathan Penner came across an early draft of a script for The Bye Bye Man, the new horror flick that arrives in theaters areawide on Friday, they realized it just didn’t work. So they retooled it. “We saw a different way in and we went back to the source material and left out what wasn’t realized and did our own version of it,” she says in a recent phone interview. “I supervised him and he wrote it as a sole credit so we could split the credits. I’m the director, and he’s the screenwriter.” Based on a chapter in Robert Damon Schneck’s book The President’s Vampire, the movie centers on the turmoil that takes place when a group of students move into a haunted off-campus house. Once the movie’s antagonist, the Bye Bye Man, gets into the students’ heads, he controls their minds and causes them to commit “unthinkable crimes.”
Though the story is set in Wisconsin, Title shot the movie in Northeast Ohio. “Ohio is not overshot yet,” she says when asked about the decision to film here. “It’s fresh. It’s incredible. It’s varied. It’s reasonable. I got gorgeous, gorgeous stuff and because of the train accident in the movie — I don’t want to spoil it, though the trailer did that already — we couldn’t use an STX train [from the production company], and we had to do it carefully and the prep and planning for that was a year in the making. We had support from Cleveland and Independence, where we did it. There were police officers that helped us and we really, really had a productionfriendly experience, which is really unusual.” Title thinks her movie, though it centers on a character who might be described as a boogie man, still offers a fresh take on the theme. “Freddy, Jason and Mike Myers
work very differently from the Bye Bye Man,” she says, referring to other notable horror movie bad guys. “They are psychopathic machines with unusual nasty weapons, and that’s not the Bye Bye Man. I was attracted to this because it’s psychological and trippy and intense. When he gets in your head, you can’t get him out. It’s like a virus. He makes you see things that aren’t there. He preys on your weaknesses. How are you made up? Are you a jealous or angry person or needy person? He plays on that stuff. You see things that aren’t there and then you do terrible things. It’s very intense in that way. I wanted to do these psychological set pieces that are very real. I didn’t shoot them with special filters. I made sure they looked real.”
And yet, the film follows a pattern familiar to many horror film enthusiasts. It presents a clear line between good and evil. “We don’t want to have too much complexity in our heroes,” Title says. “We want them to be people we’re rooting for because we want them to beat the Bye Bye Man. The world is a scary place, and you put your kids out there into it. What are they going to do? What’s going to happen is that they’ll find things that are really overwhelming, and that they’re illequipped to deal with them. That’s what The Bye Bye Man is about.”
jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel
INVITE YOU TO THE FIRST MUST-SEE FILM OF THE YEAR
TUESDAY, JANUARY 17 7:30PM REGAL CROCKER PARK For your chance to win a pass to the advance screening, visit tinyurl.com/ SplitCleveland SPLIT has been rated PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned – Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Children Under 13) for disturbing thematic content and behavior, violence and some language. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. While supplies last. One entry per person. Seating at the screening is first-come, first-served and is not guaranteed. Please arrive early. Winners will be chosen at random. Winners within the past 30 days are ineligible.
IN THEATERS JANUARY 20 SPLITMOVIE.COM | clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CHICKEN AND OUR 14 GOURMET SAUCES
★★★★★ “Worth the stop & future excursions from the Near West Side in the future.I can’t find one thing wrong with V’s and the woman taking care of us was just the nicest and personable person ever. For all the food we ordered it was very reasonably priced and held up well on the ride home/ Stopping here in the near future is in order as it puts lousy KFC’s, Popeyes, etc to shame in terms of quality, price, and customer service.” - Jesco D. ★★★★★ “I went here after the good reviews and I was impressed. I had the regular/mild batter. The chicken was light, crispy and delicious. The rice and greens is ingenious! They have a little kick to them but quite tasty. They were buttery and lightly sweet. I enjoyed my meal and will return in the future.” - Ladonna G.
★★★★★ “This is some Seriously delicious chicken. I have lived very close, and almost drive by there daily. Thought it was part of the convenient store, so I would not go there. After reading the reviews and being extremely hungry, I took the plunge, and I am more than glad I did. I will be coming here so much more.” - Stephanie L. ★★★★★ “It’s no joke, best fried chicken in Cleveland. They’ve got plenty of sides, but don’t kid yourself, it’s all about the chicken. While there’s a variety of flavors the staff might not give you many clues past identifying the individual flavors. Luckily there’s a brief explanation of them at the restaurant.” Noah F. ★★★★★ “Oh my gosh this place has the best food.The chicken is superbly trimmed and seasoned to perfection. Normally I always get the fried chicken but tonight I went with the fish dinner for the first time and can’t stop jumping up-and-down with joy. Make sure you get the honey biscuits and at least try the greens and rice. Thank you for such great service and the culinary gift you’ve given us.” - Sarah J.
“Five Stars aren’t Enough! This is 10 STAR FOOD!! LOVE THOSE HONEY ROLLS!! It’s my dinner tonight shrimp, slaw, fries and corn muffin. SO YUMMY” Lonnie R.
“I absolutely love the food here! Best fried chicken I’ve ever had. People should stop in and grab a family chicken dinner instead of spending cash at KFC or any other fast food chicken chains. Best chicken ever!” - Bunny Marie L. “I absolutely loved this place! I will be back soon!” - Lori M.
“Such a delicious choice for Fried chicken” - Nicole Elaine T.
To Place Catering Order Contact Us At vsgourmet@yahoo.com
CALL US: 216.738.7000
15418 LAKESHORE BLVD. | CLEVELAND vsgourmetchicken.com
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| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
Photos by Emanuel Wallace
EAT
Ribsticks BBQ
Barabicu Smokehouse
A TALE OF TWO ‘CUES Different approaches to barbecue at two new joints tell us a lot about the game By Douglas Trattner IF THERE WAS A BETTER WAY to produce the seductively smoky, juicy and tender qualities of barbecued meats that so many of us obsess over, I’m certain that the technique would have been unearthed during the past couple hundred years that modern American barbecue has been kicking around. And if somebody did discover a better mousetrap, I’m pretty sure plastic bags would not have anything to do with it. Jay Lee, who recently opened Ribsticks BBQ in University Heights, approaches his “barbecue” process very differently from the great pitmasters of the American South and West. His method involves placing various cuts of meat in vacuum-sealed bags and pre-cooking them in a temperature-controlled water bath. “I love to cook barbecue in my home and when I began playing with molecular gastronomy I thought, maybe I can make the barbecue really tender,” Lee, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, told me. “That’s the best approach so far I tried.” Not me. During a recent visit I found few similarities between the foods Ribsticks is offering and those served at other barbecue joints near and far. Lee explained that after parcooking the meat he smokes and later grills them. I didn’t detect any smoke flavor in the brisket, pulled pork or spare ribs on my tray. None of the
meats arrived with any trace of bark — that gorgeous dark crust that forms on the exterior of slow-smoked ’cue —even the so-called “burnt ends.” Worse, those burnt ends actually are dry nubbins of pork and not the typical gloriously charred bits of fatty beef brisket. The pulled pork was tender, but neither juicy nor exceedingly flavorful. The ribs were so soft and squidgy that the bones slid right out like a piston. And for some reason, the brisket in my sandwich was shredded into long, obstinate cords. If you, like me and many others, prefer to sauce your own meats, announce that when placing your order at the counter. The irony of the setup at the “fastcasual” Ribsticks is that the process actually results in slower service than at full-service barbecue joints. That’s because Lee’s process requires a final grilling, whereas other spots simply need to slice and serve. A three-meat trio with two sides costs $16. A brisket sandwich is $9.95. EVERY PITMASTER CAN HAVE a good day; it’s the bad days that keep Jon Ashton up at night. That’s why he and partner Danny Cassano start every day at 1 a.m. to smoke all the meats that will be served at Barabicu Smokehouse on that day and that day only. And when they’re gone, they’re gone. “We work our tails off here to put
out a consistent product above all else,” Ashton says. “I want people to come in and have the same kind of experience every time. Keep it simple, keep it juicy, keep it memorable.” Memorable indeed. I’m still thinking about that jiggly brisket, mouth-watering beef bombs beneath a dark-as-night cap of spice and succulent fat. Barabicu’s meaty, firm yet yielding, and flavorful baby back ribs are kissed by mild fruitwood smoke and glazed with a thin, sweet crust. Billed as “chicken cupcakes,” boneless smoked chicken thighs are blasted to order with a Searzall, leaving the skin hot and crisp and the meat juicy as a waterfall. Barbecue should be an absolute joy to eat (until you’ve eaten too much, which is most of the time). When it comes to the how-to, there is simply no substitute for cooking meat low and slow in a moist, smoky environment. Done right, the process results in meat that needs no sauce to shine. Ashton serves all of his meats naked, leaving it up to the diner to choose between a thin and tangy mustard vinegar sauce, a sweet and smoky rib-sticker, or nothing at all. In addition to the combo platters ($10-$22), there are pulled pork and chopped beef brisket sandwiches ($10), served
on fresh-sliced On the Rise bread. Barabicu’s sides include deliciously smoky braised greens, memorable smoked potato salad and creamy pasta salad. Specials like smoked meatloaf, smoked meatballs, assorted daily sausages and smoked chicken chili pop in and out of the lineup. The Parma operation adheres firmly to the KISS principal: for now, it is carry-out only, but some dinein seating might be added down the line. If you park in the lot immediately behind the small plaza, you’ll quickly spot a beefy trailer-mounted Southern Pride offset smoker with a plume of white smoke rising high into the gray winter sky. That’s usually — but not always — a sign that real barbecue isn’t too far away.
RIBSTICKS BBQ 13892 CEDAR RD., UNIV. HTS. | 216-202-4105 RIBSTICKSBBQ.COM
BARABICU SMOKEHOUSE 5767 RIDGE RD., PARMA | 440-481-3057 FACEBOOK.COM/BARABICUSMOKEHOUSE
dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner | clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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EAT COMING TOGETHER Prep Kitchen Cle will bring entrepreneurial cooperation to the West Bank of the Flats by Rachel Hunt
22799 Lorain Road Fairview Park
440-716-1961 Mon-Thu 11a-9p Fri 11a-10p Sat 12p-10p | Sun 12p-9p Join us for the finest in Colombian and Salvadorian food in Cleveland! Come in for lunch or dinner and try one of our delicious arepas, pupusas, empanadas and more! We’re a little place with BIG flavor!
HAPPY HOUR
M-F • 2PM-6PM ALL BEER $1.99 JUMBO MARGARITA $7.99 Enjoy A Selection From Our Full Bar
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| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
TAKE A WALK DOWN THE sloping streets of the Flats West Bank and you’ll notice the old brick storefront, formerly home to Spaces, is getting a new lease on life. Purchased by Rafid Fadul in 2013, the building is being readied to become Prep Kitchen Cle (1305 Washington Ave., 330-774-8933, prepkitchencle.com), a shared kitchen and culinary incubator. Plans of grandeur exist for the modest Superior Viaduct location. Two retail spaces, a 2,100-squarefoot industrial kitchen, and 11 luxury apartments are in store for the four-story building, expected to be complete in spring of 2017. Since moving to the neighborhood, Fadul’s specialty has become multitasking; he also owns Tenk West Bank, a nearby multi-use facility on Center Street housing co-working space, Six Shooter Coffee, and Knockout Fitness. “I would say this is a passion project for him,” says Sarah Halko, one of a small handful of Prep team members committed to Fadul’s plans. “I absolutely love this neighborhood,” she gushes in the middle of Prep, which at the moment is a dusty construction zone. “Personally and professionally, this area has done a lot for me, and I think we all feel the same, that it’s time for us to do something for the community.” Focused on product startups, mobile food businesses, and industry incubation, Prep Kitchen Cle’s goal is to guide entrepreneurs through the process of conception, branding and marketing until they feel confident selling or expanding for themselves. “We have so many companies in the area who have already reached out to us to team up and work with people,” says Halko. With a new vanguard of roving, food-based festivals popping up each summer, the need for eateries to be as transient as their marketplace is clear. On top of the cost of renting commercial kitchen space comes equipment and all the paperwork that gets piled on. It is
often too much for one startup to handle before any capitol has been made. “There’s a real shortage for commercial space for people just starting their businesses,” confirms kitchen manager Emily Thomas. “There are a lot of people working out of churches or their mom’s kitchen and they just need a place to kick-start their business. It’s really going to set them up to succeed on multiple levels.” Roberto Rodriguez of Orale Contemporary Mexican Kitchen became a part of the Prep Kitchen Cle project early on after closing his kitchen and eatery in Ohio City in September. He didn’t need the dining room, but he still needed a kitchen to prepare foods for Orale’s West Side Market stand. Inspired by their location and mission, Rodriguez will play an active role at Prep. One way Prep Kitchen Cle hopes to differentiate itself from similar concepts, such as Cleveland Culinary Launch & Kitchen, is by making a commitment to connect entrepreneurs with investors through heightened visibility of their products in their retail space, special tasting and networking events, and a chef’s table that can be rented out by corporate entities and private parties alike to showcase what’s being worked on in a casual, classy setting. The West Bank remains economically disparate, but the mission to serve the entire community, from residents at nearby Stonebridge to those in low income housing, is encapsulated by a non-profit division that will focus on job training for under-served populations and refugees along with free use of their kitchen and classes. “Collectively, the main goal here is to see people succeed,” Halko says just before her phone begins to ring with another investor on the line.
scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene
EAT NUEVO CLEVELAND Amazing Views of Cleveland’s Lakefront
Behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 1000 East 9th St., Cleveland, OH 44114 (216) 737-1OOO
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NOBLE BEAST
JOIN US FOR BRUNCH EVERY SUNDAY
Brewery to bring craft beer to the edge of downtown By Douglas Trattner THINGS ARE COMING TOGETHER quickly at Noble Beast Brewery, the craft brewery and taproom from Shaun Yasaki. In just a handful of years, Yasaki has moved from wedding photographer to cellar rat at Fat Head’s, to opening brewer at Platform Beer where he worked for a year and a half. He left that post to open up a place of his own. That place turned out to be a 4,800-square-foot craft brewery at 1470 Lakeside, on the northeastern edge of downtown. The rectangular brick warehouse is open and uncluttered, with high ceilings and an industrial disposition that comes with age and purpose. Most recently the space was used as a storage facility and mechanics’ garage. Soon the space will feature a custom-designed, 10-barrel brewhouse from Portland Kettle Works. Both it and a battalion of stainless fermenters will be visible from any seat in the house. Behind the bar, a large walk-in cooler will hold the bright tanks, from which fresh beer will flow directly through the taps and into glasses. “A direct draw system gives you the best quality with less loss, and it’s easier to clean,” Yasaki explains. Yasaki says that he was on the hunt for the perfect space for more than a year before he found this building. Though it is just blocks from the heart of downtown, its location on Lakeside feels like an entirely different neighborhood, where views of the lake and sturdy brick warehouses dominate the landscape. A pair of glass-paneled garage doors were added to the front and rear of the building, bringing in
some much needed daylight. “I think the industrial building speaks for itself in a lot of ways,” Yasaki notes. “Apart from the shiny brewhouse, it’s really the centerpiece. That and the bar and lighting.” The lengthy bartop will be fabricated from a single stretch of cold-rolled sheet steel, with a waterfall edge that brings the top right down to the floor at the end of the bar. The front will be constructed from perforated steel, which will be back lit. Above, Yasaki has designed a light feature that will consist of Edison bulbs on vintage wires that all emanate from a single junction box above and drop down at varying heights and positions. “It will be like this firefly look with a canopy of wires over the bar,” Yasaki says. Yasaki plans to open in May with a lineup of five beers and grow from there. The name Noble Beast, he explains, is an allusion to the style of beers he intends to brew. “It will be a split between noble, classic beers like traditional German and Belgian styles and the crazy American styles.” Noble Beast will operate almost exclusively as a 100-seat taproom with little to no distribution. “The idea is to sell as much as possible right here,” he says. “One of the biggest struggles of the socalled bubble is distribution: getting shelf space. Opening up a $3-, $4- or $5-million brewery when you don’t have a brand and you’re trying to find shelf space. You’re competing with the rest of the country — the rest of the world — on that scale.” Chef James Redford, who has
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| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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EAT CUSTOMER APPRECIATION
Party
Friday, January 13th Featuring....
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Sit down with your guests. Advertise with SCENE. Call 216-241-7550 for more information.
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| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
spent the past four years working for Ben Bebenroth and Spice Catering, will preside over the 300-square-foot kitchen. The setup will be casual counter service, with guests ordering food at the bar. “It will be locally sourced pub fare,” the chef says. “In my career I’ve been working so closely with local farmers, I don’t think there’s any going back at this point.” He’ll utilize not just local produce, dairy and meats, but also locally produced food products and condiments. And he’ll use what’s produced in the brewery itself. He might make vinegar from beer, or turn spent grain into a corndog batter. Don’t expect a straight roster of heavy pub food, Redford says. To cater to the lunchtime crowd that exists all around them, there will be lighter fare like salads and sandwiches. “This is going to be a pretty simple operation,” Yasaki adds. “I don’t feel like I’m opening a brewpub. This is a taproom with a kitchen.” As for the location, Yasaki could not be more pleased with the building and its address. “It’s super-easy to get to from anywhere, and you’re downtown without having any of the hassles of being downtown,” he says, adding that the building sits next to a massive parking lot. “I look at this as more of a neighborhood pub. There are a lot of people who live downtown and not all of them want to hang out on East Fourth every night. Plus, you have a lot of residential pushing this way and it’s only going to grow. It’s the easiest way to build. Where else are you going to go?” Follow Noble Beast on Instagram to stay up to date on construction. If all goes well, we’ll be celebrating with fresh beer in May.
ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT SUNDAY BRUNCH COMING TO CROP BISTRO This weekend, Crop Bistro will be rolling out an all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch. The high-end spread will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and feature all the things we love about these waistband-expanding endeavors. Did we mention that it was all-you-can-eat? A carving station will be, well, carving house-roasted prime rib and ham. Omelets will be stuffed and folded to order at an omelet station, with choices including crab, shrimp, lobster, meat and a variety of veggies and cheeses. A chilled seafood section will be festooned with shrimp cocktail, snow crab, mussels, crawfish salad and lobster salad. A dozen hot dishes will satisfy all the major food groups, including eggs, bacon, maple sausage, waffles, pancakes and more. A cold antipasto section will be outfitted with domestic and imported cheeses, charcuterie, smoked fish, fresh fruit and vegetables, and salads. A bread station will be stocked with breads, pastries and accompaniments. There will be a dessert station too, folks. For the first three months, guests will receive a complimentary mimosa or bloody Mary. Soon, mimosa and bloody Mary stations will be added to the buffet. The fun starts on Sunday, Jan. 15. Adults are $39, children ages 5 to 12 are $20, kids ages 4 and under eat for free. For reservations, call 216-696-2767.
dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner
1293 WEST 9TH | CLEVELAND OHIO TOMOHIBACHIANDSUSHI.COM | 216.242.7992
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PRIVATE PARTY ROOMS AVAILABLE Multiple Rooms Available Can hold parties from 50-600
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VETERANS, MILITARY MEMBERS, POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS
GET 20% OFF ALWAYS.37 | clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
Photo by Justin Hustle
MUSIC
CLEVELANDFEELGOOD Marcus Alan Ward opens the year with a sentiment we could all use By Eric Sandy THE SONG BEGINS WITH A simple, beach-combed riff and the squirming high end of vocal melody and, soon, Marcus Alan Ward’s own words. From there, we dance. Ward is greeting 2017 with something that we could all use: a groovy, upbeat soul number called “BodyFeelGood,” one of plenty more singles to come this year. The tune
will be officially “released” at his Grog Shop show on Jan. 13. Right now, Ward happens to be one of the most buzzed-about artists in Cleveland. We put him on the cover of our magazine last summer, and we caught up with him again as the calendar flipped anew to discuss the song and his upcoming plans. “BodyFeelGood” is the first song
he wrote among his current batch, the incremental followup to last year’s Little Sunshine. It’s also the first song that Ward has played live bass on in the recording studio. “I’ve been playing bass for years,” Ward says. “I started off in electronic music, and progressed into, you know, what it is today. I think focusing on bass as an
instrument made it more upbeat and funky and visceral. You can feel it in your bones.” Indeed, listeners will catch cascading lead guitar riffs against Ward’s steady, thumping bass work. It’s sure to add to the repertoire that he’s been building for the past few years here in Cleveland. You can call it what you like | clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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SAT. JANUARY 28
THIS SAT. JANUARY 14
Stompin’ Country! R&B Chart Topper
BUCK NAKED BAND
Freddie Jackson FRI. FEBRUARY 3
FRI. FEBRUARY 10
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& The Boneshakers
DAVID ALLAN COE SAT. FEBRUARY 11
VALENTINE SHOW/ BUFFET Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons Tribute
FRI. FEBRUARY 17 Smooth Jazz at it’s Finest
KIKO THE JERSEY BEAT MATSUI BAND Featuring
FRI. MARCH 10
Foreign Affair Tour Featuring
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SUN. APRIL 2 R & B Hitmakers
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MICHAEL LINGTON ALEX BUGNON MARC ANTIONE SUN. MAY 6 Back by Popular Demand R & B Legend
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DOM and
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FRI. MAY 19 One of the Best Soul & Funk Bands Ever!
AVERAGE WHITE BAND SHOW TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE! BANQUET FACILITIES AVAILABLE FOR EVENTS 532 W. MARKET ST. | AKRON, OH | 330-376-7171 | www.thetangier.com
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| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
MUSIC — “progressive pop” “art pop,” et cetera — but Ward hails from a rich variety of musical traditions locally. Perhaps you’ll recall the stuff he released under the moniker Freeze-Tag. But even through that creative outlet, picking up shows all across town and getting that name recognition that’s sometimes so elusive in a saturated local market like ours, Ward was seeking something more. He dropped the pseudonym and returned to the bass. What Cleveland received was Little Sunshine, an album that threw Ward’s vision on the table and told the city to make of it what it will. Ward’s audience grew in size with each show — and grew more active, dancing and dancing — and he found that people were digging it. He also picked up a licensing deal and, late last year, sold out a show at the Beachland and performed at the House of Blues. This weekend sees his first headlining show at Grog Shop. Onward, upward. While Ward began playing guitar at age 14, the story of his success really begins at a show in Detroit a few years back — a show he attended. He was there, entranced, watching a DJ spin funk
older vibes like garage rock (White Stripes) and moodier post-rock stuff (Interpol). This hybridization is a motif in Ward’s creative pursuits. “I’m blessed to have parents who let me do anything I wanted,” Ward told us. “And especially as an African-American, a lot of times I saw my peers and kids I grew up
with be super limited because they felt they had to be a certain way or listen to a certain type of music — or live up to an image that’s been sold to us by someone from outside our culture.” And so Ward has set about his career in Cleveland, designing the image and perspectives that he wants to put into the world. “BodyFeelGood” is the latest incarnation, and there’s much more to come, he says proudly. Along with the strategy of releasing singles after that last
MARCUS ALAN WARD WITH THADDEUS ANNA GREENE AND SAMFOX 8 P.M. FRIDAY, JAN. 13, GROG SHOP, 2785 EUCLID HEIGHTS BLVD., CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, 216-321-5588. TICKETS: $8 ADV, $12 DOS, GROGSHOP.GS
tunes all night. “I just remember dancing by myself all night — and I dance by myself all the time, because I like to — but I remember dancing by myself, people looking at me, and I’m like, ‘Wow, this shit is awesome,’” he told Scene in an interview last year. “There was a moment when a song came on, and it was an old funk song from the 1970s, and the dude was like, ‘My name is Marcus! And I’m a Capricorn!’ That was in the song. And I’m Marcus and I’m a Capricorn. It was a moment of synergy, and I felt like I needed to be there in that moment in time.” From there, Ward took a deep dive into the funk world and began blending his new influences with
record comes a focus on “release shows” — like this weekend’s gig — and videos to accompany them. Another thing that Ward’s particularly excited about for this Grog Shop show is the partnership with visual artist Kevin Jackson, that ubiquitous force of lighting and imagery at electronic shows all over Cleveland. The show promises to be a sensory cornucopia. (The day after, Ward plans on releasing the “BodyFeelGood” tour, so tell your out-of-town friends to keep their eyes peeled for that. He mentioned, also, a stop at SXSW this spring.)
esandy@clevescene.com t@ericsandy
FOLLOW
308 EUCLID AVE. CLEVELAND, OH 44114 216.523.BLUE Complete listing at houseofblues.com/cleveland
US:
@HOBCLEVELAND
NEW SHOWS
FEB. 10 ON SALE FRI. 10AM
FEB. 11 ON SALE NOW
TROPIDELIC
MARCH 18 ON SALE FRI. 10AM
UPCOMING
w/ BLAIRE HANKS
MARCH 26 ON SALE FRI. 10AM
JANUARY 20
W EE K
Zydeco Kings Duo | Thursday, 1/12 Erin Rossi | Friday, 1/13 Tongue Thrust | Saturday, 1/14
JANUARY 13
w/ Broccoli Samurai • Carlos Jones & the PLUS Band Drunken Sunday
TH IS
RED SUN RISING JANUARY 6
ON SALE NOW
G. LOVE & SPECIAL SAUCE w/ RIPE
MARCH 30 ON SALE FRI. 10AM
APRIL 2 ON SALE FRI. 10AM
JANUARY 21
SIMPLE PLAN
w/ SET IT OFF APRIL 4
TRIBUTE TO NEIL DIAMOND APRIL 13 ON SALE NOW
JANUARY 27
Featuring Lafayette Carthon & Faith With special guest, Cleveland jazz legend, Ernie Krivda
COMING SOON
APRIL 26 ON SALE FRI. 10AM
Jan. 12 Jan. 14 Jan. 15 Jan. 25 Jan. 28 Jan. 30 Jan. 31 Feb. 01
MAY 9 ON SALE FRI. 12PM
August Burns Red ‘Messengers 10 Year Anniversary Tour’ w/ Protest the Hero, In Hearts Wake, ‘68 Run the Jewels w/ The Gaslamp Killer, Gangsta Boo, Nick Hook, Cuz SOLD OUT Gaetano Letizia & The Underground Blues Band w/ Dog Friendly, Sam Hooper Group Tom Chaplin (voice of Keane) Cambridge Room Breaking Benjamin w/ Wilson Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox Datsik w/ Crizzly, Virtual Riot Badfish (Tribute to Sublime) w/ Fayuca, Shrub
BUY TICKETS AT
FEBRUARY 14 Feb. 02 Feb. 4 Feb. 7 Feb. 09 Feb. 14 Feb. 15 Feb. 16 Feb. 19 Feb. 23 Feb. 23
DNCE Paul Fayrewether Lacey Sturm w/ Palisades, Stitched Up Heart, Letters From The Fire Cambridge Room The Cadillac Three w/ Aubrie Sellers Pop Evil w/ Badflower LOCASH w/ Michael Tyler Switchfoot & Relient K Chippendales Dorothy w/ The Georgia Flood Cambridge Room John Mark McMillan & Josh Garrels
Buy tickets at HOUSEOFBLUES.COM/CLEVELAND Order By Phone: 800.745.3000 • House of Blues Box Office
| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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MUSIC A SELF-TAUGHT SUCCESS Singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy gets a little grungy on her full-length debut By Jeff Niesel NEW YORK-BASED SINGERsongwriter Margaret Glaspy is proof that you can make a great sounding album with nothing more than a laptop. She recorded her first EP, 2012’s Homeschool, at her Brooklyn apartment. The tender songs show off her fluttering vocals and poetic sensibilities, setting the stage for a
members introduced her to a variety of music. “My siblings and mom and dad were both big music fans,” she says. “I had a lot of records growing up. I was a big Michael Jackson and Joni Mitchell and James Taylor fan. Those are records I got from my parents. My siblings were fans of music that Photo by Ebru Yildiz
moved to New York to pursue her musical interests. “I was in Berklee very briefly and kept writing songs and was learning how to play the guitar,” she says. “It was a natural progression to want to live in a bigger city where the standards were higher. I craved to be in New York for sure.” She’d been living in New York for nearly six years and “just playing locally like crazy” when the folks at ATO caught wind of her. She signed with the label, home to acclaimed acts such as Alabama Shakes, My Morning Jacket and Benjamin Booker, and began to assemble the tunes for Emotions and Math. “There are a few songs I had held on to a very long time, like ‘No Matter Who’ and ‘Anthony,’” she says. “Those are six or seven years old. The rest of them I wrote closer to the release. There were some songs that I decided wouldn’t go on the record until I had a proper release because I knew they were good, and I wanted to wait. I started to demo things more and more and got really into that process. That was right around when ATO got
that helps give the songs sonic depth. A touch of organ gives “No Matter Who” a real rootsy, vintage feel and “Pins and Needles” features squealing electric guitars that complement Glaspy’s half-spoken vocals. “We were at a historical venue in Hell’s Kitchen; Sonic Youth and Yoko Ono and a bunch of bands have recorded there,” she says of the studio experience. “It’s more of a jazz studio now, but monumental rock bands and avant-garde stuff has been recorded there. I just liked the room a lot. We did it quickly. It was three days with the band and then one 12-hour day for vocals.” Glaspy’s upper-register vocals have a distinctive, almost jazz-y feel to them. That’s something she says has evolved over the years. “When I was a little girl, I would yell when I sang,” she says. “I didn’t have that much control over my voice. As I’ve gotten older, it’s about understanding subtlety and dynamics and knowing how to be silent and also understand where things need to go and when things need to happen. I’m keen on
MARGARET GLASPY, BROOKE ANNIBALE 8 P.M. SUNDAY, JAN. 15, BEACHLAND TAVERN, 15711 WATERLOO RD., 216-383-1124. TICKETS: $12 ADV, $15 DOS, BEACHLANDBALLROOM.COM
terrific full-length debut, last year’s Emotions and Math. “I taught myself how to record music on my own,” says Glaspy via phone from Northern California, where she was visiting friends and family over the holidays. She performs on Jan. 15 at the Beachland Tavern. “That very first record was the first time I ever released anything, but it was monumental for me in my own way. I liked making music at home and making demos and that’s what that first EP is.” Born in Sacramento, Glaspy grew up in Red Bluff, a small town between Redding and Chico. Family
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was popular at the time. They had good taste. They were listening to No Doubt and Weezer and Lauryn Hill. My brother was a big rock ’n’ roll fan. He had Deftones, NOFX and Rage Against the Machine and liked bands like Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones too. Music was a priority for all of us. That trickled down to me. Elliott Smith was a huge influence; I got his records from my brother.” Glaspy found her way to the East Coast in a rather roundabout manner. She moved to Boston in 2007, where she attended Berklee College of Music for a spell and then
| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
in touch. My process had changed. To me, there’s a different sound for the older songs. ‘No Matter Who’ or ‘Anthony’ — those are nostalgic for soul music or Motown. The ones that were closer to release were inspired by Elliott Smith since I was listening to so much of his music and soaking in that music. The album’s more compartmentalized but works as a whole even though it’s different inspirations from different times.” Glaspy embraces a “grungy, raw aesthetic” on the album’s title track, a mid-tempo pop/rock tune that puts her woozy voice up front. “You and I” features a chunk-y guitar riff and raspy vocals as Glaspy sneers, “You and I have been a mistake/I’ve let it linger too long.” The album benefits from some sophisticated production
staying in shape vocally. I’ve never had proper lessons. I’m thinking about getting vocals lessons more regularly. I think you can never stop learning. I have a ways to go. I want to learn how to get quieter.” As far as the songs’ meanings go, Glaspy likes to leave that up to the listener. “I don’t like to talk about the song meanings, but I think ‘emotions and math’ is a good title track for the record,” she says. “Those words fully encompass everything. My brain works on that level. I learned that about myself while making the record. It’s not all analytical or all emotional. It’s a mixture of both.”
jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel
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| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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Photo by JoshuaBlack-Wilkins
MUSIC SON OF AN EARLE Singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle talks about his eclectic influences By Jeff Niesel MOST KIDS DON’T START listening to hard rock until their teenage years. Not singersongwriter Justin Townes Earle, who performs at Music Box Supper Club at 7 p.m. on Sunday. Not that you’d know it from listening to his alt-country music, but he developed an appreciation for the heavy stuff at an early age. “When I was 7 and most people my age were listening to kids’ music, I owned every AC/DC record on cassette tape,” he says during a recent phone call. Then he discovered soul and R&B, and his musical interests broadened substantially. “I remember being out with friends one day and we were standing in the parking lot of a gas station on 12th Avenue in Nashville,” he says. “It’s long gone now. This Cadillac pulled out. These two old black guys in white suits and white hats had Al Green’s ‘I’m So Tired of Being Alone’ bumping on their system. I was 11, and I knew my taste would go in that direction. When I went home and told my mom I had an interest in Al Green, that blew her mind.” Ultimately, growing up in Nashville as the son of alt-country icon Steve Earle and his third wife Carol-Ann Hunter (whom he would divorce) meant that the younger Earle would absorb country and roots music too. “There’s two worlds in Nashville: There’s the music world and there’s a working-class world that’s filled with all kinds of bitter middleaged women who are raising kids on their own because their crazy dreamer musician knocked them up and ran off,” says Earle “There’s an aversion to being a musician. It was the last thing I was going to be. Musicians had screwed up everything around me, but in everybody’s house, there was a guitar and some connection to country or the whole blues and jazz thing on the north side. You couldn’t avoid music and it was, from the beginning, a very big interest to me.”
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Those varied influences can be heard on his most recent albums, 2014’s Single Mothers, and the companion disc, 2015’s Absent Fathers. Single Mothers commences with “Worried About the Weather,” a tender ballad punctuated by humming slide guitar. The album also touches on blues (“Single Mothers”) and rockabilly (“My Baby Drives”). Absent Fathers is just as eclectic. A consummate songwriter, Earle writes with the same kind of finesse as his father. In fact, his dad gave him a key bit of advice when he started recording and touring. “My dad looked at me one day and said, ‘You don’t get the chance to make bad records. You don’t get the chance to stumble. You need to come out of the door swinging and keep swinging,’” he says. “He was being a bit dramatic there, but he knew people were going to be dissecting my songs. I wasn’t going to get away with ‘I love that catchy little melody.’ Critics would pare everything down, from the music to every little word. I knew that, but like my father, I have that ‘fuck you, I’ll show you’ mentality too.” Originally, Earle was going to scrap Single Mothers after a record label squabble left the album in limbo. He recorded the followup, the equally poignant Absent Fathers, and intended to put it out instead. But at the behest of his wife, he decided to release Single Mothers, and both albums came out
‘fuck you’s went back and forth. I took it to another label. It took some time to get everything sorted out, so in the meantime I wrote Absent Fathers, also to be a record. The plan was that Absent Fathers was going to come out, and Single Mothers was going to be shelved. I was just sick of it by that point. My wife talked me into putting it out.”
JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE 7 P.M. SUNDAY, JAN. 15, MUSIC BOX SUPPER CLUB, 1148 MAIN ST., 216-242-1250. TICKETS: $25 ADV, $28 DOS, MUSICBOXCLE.COM
a few months apart to wide acclaim. “They were both written separately to be records,” he explains. “They’ve all been written to be like that. I don’t have extra songs. Everything that I’ve written, pretty much everybody has. That’s the way I operate. Single Mothers was slated to go to one record label. Some complications arose and some
| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
He says the albums’ themes stem from the attempt to understand the complexity of a middle-aged man’s relationship with his parents. “I think it’s more about figuring about how to not explore those themes,” he says of the discs’ concepts. “They’re so central to everybody. You’re going for the mother and father angle, and it’s
essential to who we are and what we’ve become. I dare anyone to say, ‘I’m 35 and completely at peace with my parents.’” The ever-prolific Earle has also just finished recording a new record that will come out in the new year. “I haven’t worked with producers very often at all,” he says. “It was an interesting thing working with somebody from outside my group [on the forthcoming album]. That’s the other thing. When you’re from Nashville, why would you fly a producer into Nashville? That’s like flying a hooker into Vegas. But for the next album, I went to Nebraska and spent two weeks with Mike Mogis [Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley] to make this record. It was a great experience. I’m really excited about it. I’m back to my bluesier and countrier roots.”
jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel
| clevescene.com m | January 11 - 17, 2017
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LIVEWIRE WED
all the live music you should see this week 01/11
Melissa Etheridge: Husky voiced singer-guitarist Melissa Etheridge, who grew up in Leavenworth, Kansas, likes to say that her voice always had a raspy quality. “I remember my choir teacher used to put me in the back row because I had such a strange voice,” she told us in a 2014 interview. Her experience notwithstanding, she gravitated toward country music, and when she was a teenager, she cut her musical teeth playing with local country groups. After a short stint at Berklee College of Music, she moved to Los Angeles and hit the coffeehouse circuit. Her 1993 album, Yes I Am, became a huge hit, and she’s never looked back. Her latest effort, Memphis Rock and Soul, features covers of classic tunes from the days when Stax acts ruled the charts. (Jeff Niesel) 7:30 p.m., $45.50-$78. Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park. Greensky Bluegrass/Front Country: Within the revitalized American bluegrass scene, Greensky’s discography is formidable, with live albums and studio stuff marking each step in their progress. The band released its latest album, Shouted, Written Down & Quoted, on Sept. 23, adding to an impressive lineup of albums nestled in what could be called “Greensky 2.0” — the era following a handful of live albums that has heralded bigger stages, bigger typefaces on festival bills. It’s a worthy album among that set. (Eric Sandy) 8 p.m., $20 ADV, $25 DOS. House of Blues. 10 X 3 Singer Songwriter Showcase: Hosted by Brent Kirby (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Dirkschneider: 7 p.m., $25 ADV, $30 DOS. Agora Ballroom. Godhead Silo/Corey J Brewer/ Swindella: 9 p.m., $13 ADV, $15 DOS. Grog Shop. The Social Animals/Northern Whale/ Wildcard Leader: 8 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Beachland Tavern.
THU
01/12
August Burns Red Messengers 10 Year Anniversary Tour/Protest the Hero/In Hearts Wake/’68: 7 p.m., $25 ADV, $27 DOS. House of Blues. Christopher Black/Ray Flanagan/ Holden Laurence (in the Supper Club): 7:30 p.m., $10. Music Box
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The acclaimed hip-hop act Run the Jewels plays House of Blues. See: Saturday.
Supper Club. Debbie Darling Duo: 7:30 p.m., $10. Nighttown. Chris Hatton’s Musical Circus (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Hiram-Maxim/Chomp/Tomorreaux/ Yellow House (in the Locker Room): 9 p.m., $5. Mahall’s 20 Lanes. Jam Night with the Bad Boys of Blues: 9 p.m., free. Brothers Lounge. Money Laundering/Terrorism Finance/Corruption, Oh My!: 7 p.m., free. The Euclid Tavern. Owl Creek Singers: 7 p.m., $8. Mahall’s 20 Lanes. Soleo EP Release Party with Soleo/ Who Hit Me/Anchor the Moon/ Sweaty Mammoth: 8 p.m., $5. Beachland Tavern. Tongues Unknown/The Brothers Band/The Dreemers/Water Witches: 9 p.m., $6. Grog Shop.
FRI
01/13
An Evening With(Out) Bowie Parts I and II: A couple of years back, local Bowiephile Thomas Mulready began hosting “An Evening With(out) David Bowie,” featuring rare video clips, “needle drops,” obscure cuts and recently surfaced details regarding the Thin White Duke. The show offers “a multitude of factoids and little-known background informed by a framework of themes the artist mined at every stage of his career right up to his untimely passing and beyond.” Part 1 concentrates on “the early years,
| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
from Davy Jones to the Thin White Duke.” Part 2 features material from “the mid-to late period: from Berlin to Blackstar.” Each presentation concludes with live music by local heroes Vanity Crash. Part 1 begins tonight at 7:30, and Part 2 follows at 9:30 p.m. The entire program repeats tomorrow. (Niesel) 7:30 p.m., $15-$25. Bop Stop. Winter Bash 2017 with Blue Moon Soup/Dave Katz & Eric Sargent/ John Welton & the Awakening/ Dead Roses: Hailing from Yellow Springs, Ohio, Blue Moon Soup has been holding down the Buckeye State’s bluegrass scene for several years now. They’re mainstays on regional festival bills, and their shows in Cleveland are always a good time. Check out last year’s Luna for a dose of back-porch acoustic music. It’s a nice album, and the band makes good use of quick interlude-type pieces to keep the sense of flow. “Why My Lady,” for instance, showcases Blue Moon Soup’s knack for rhythm, and you can surely hear how capable this band is of turning any venue into a summertime dance party, no matter the time of year. (Sandy) 9 p.m., $10. Beachland Ballroom. Capricorn Party with the Bug Hounds and Local Color: 8 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. House of Blues. CIM Jazz Trio: 9:30 p.m., free. The Euclid Tavern. Sammy DeLeon Latin Jazz Sextet: 8:30 p.m., $15. Nighttown. Disco Inferno: 9 p.m. Vosh Club. Willy Kopp’s Friday the 13th Fundstacular with Diva Cup/
Rubber Mate/Prison Moan: 9 p.m., $5. Now That’s Class. No Exit Ensemble with Zeitgeist: 7 p.m., free. The Euclid Tavern. Anthony Orio with special guest Gringo Stew: 7:30 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Ozzy Osbourne & Black Sabbath Tribute by the Crazy Train: 8 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Music Box Supper Club. Sinatra CLE (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Moss Stanley: 10:30 p.m., free. Nighttown. Surround Sound Countdown: 7 p.m., free. Agora Ballroom. Swing City Big Band: 7:30 p.m. Vosh Club. Jo Louis Walker (in the Supper Club): 8 p.m., $13 ADV, $15 DOS. Music Box Supper Club. Marcus Alan Ward BodyFeelGood Release: 9 p.m., $8 ADV, $12 DOS. Grog Shop. Yellowstone Apocalypse/Cereal Banter: 9 p.m., $5. Happy Dog.
SAT
01/14
Run the Jewels/The Gaslamp Killer/ Gangsta Boo/Nick Hook/Cuz: One of the most compelling hip-hop groups performing today, Run the Jewels dropped their third album on Christmas Day, and it’s a knockout. With Killer Mike and El-P trading verses, RTJ has given the American hip-hop scene the sort of politically charged, angry, retribution-seeking music that it’s been needing (more and more, in fact, as this country slips into a more troubling era). On the third album, the beats are deeper and the vocals are more introspective than ever (see “Thursday in the Danger Room,” for example). This show sold out ahead of time, but do what you can to lock down some tickets: This is guaranteed to be one of the heaviest shows in Cleveland all year. (Sandy) 8 p.m., $25 ADV, $28 DOS. House of Blues. An Evening With(Out) Bowie Parts I and II: A couple of years back, local Bowiephile Thomas Mulready began hosting “An Evening With(out) David Bowie,” an indepth presentation featuring rare video clips, “needle drops,” obscure cuts and recently surfaced details regarding the Thin White Duke. The show offers “a multitude of factoids and little-known background
| clevescene.com m | January 11 - 17, 2017
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informed by a framework of themes the artist mined at every stage of his career right up to his untimely passing and beyond.� Part 1 concentrates on “the early years, from Davy Jones to the Thin White Duke.� Part 2 features material from “the mid-to late period: from Berlin to Blackstar.� Live music by local heroes Vanity Crash follows. Part 1 begins tonight at 7:30, and Part 2 follows at 9:30 p.m. (Niesel) 7:30 p.m., $15-$25. Bop Stop. Blackalicious/Lushlife/Simon Sed/ Peerless! Featuring Dirty Jones/ Kosha Dillz: 9 p.m., $17 ADV, $20 DOS. Grog Shop. David Bowie Video Dance Party: 11 p.m., $10. Bop Stop. CloZee & Psymbionic: 9:30 p.m., $12 ADV, $14 DOS. Beachland Tavern. Disco Paradiso Vol. 4 (in Club Atlantis): 9 p.m., $7. Now That’s Class. The Gaslamp Killer/Trackstar the DJ: 10 p.m., $10. B-Side Liquor Lounge & Arcade. Grateful Dead Tribute by JiMiller Band/Sergeant Pepper’s Kids (in the Supper Club): 7:30 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Music Box Supper Club. Hotel California — A Tribute to the Eagles/Shivering Timbers: 8 p.m., $29. Akron Civic Theatre. Carlos Jones & the Plus Band/ Jim Donovan & the Sun King Warriors: 9 p.m., $10 ADV, $14 DOS. Beachland Ballroom. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band — Celebrating 50 Years of Dirt: 8 p.m., $12$60.50. The Kent Stage. Paper Morning/Trios/The Tom Katlees: 9 p.m., $5. Happy Dog. Pianos Become the Teeth/The Grievance Club/If Only: 7 p.m., $12 ADV, $14 DOS. Mahall’s 20 Lanes. School of Rock: 8 p.m., free. The Euclid Tavern. That 80’s Band: 7:30 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Toast and Jam (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Jackie Warren: 10:30 p.m., free. Nighttown.
| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
01/15
The Bold and the SanctiďŹ ed Featuring Ruben Studdard: 6 p.m., $35-$55. Akron Civic Theatre. Justin Townes Earle: 7 p.m., $25 ADV, $28 DOS. Music Box Supper Club. Margaret Glaspy/Brooke Annibale:
8 p.m., $12 ADV, $14 DOS. Happy Dog. Gaetano Letizia & the Underworld Blues Band CD Release/Dog Friendly/Sam Hooper Group: 4:30 p.m., $14 ADV, $16 DOS. House of Blues Cambridge Room. Mike Petrone (in the Wine Bar): 5:30 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Sevyn Streeter/Alonzo Bereal/ FreshProduce: 9 p.m., $20. Grog Shop. Nancy Wilson: The Song Stylist by Laurin Talese (in the Supper Club): 7:30 p.m., $15 ADV, $18 DOS. Music Box Supper Club.
MON
01/16
Bash & Pop/The So So Glos: Way back in 1992, Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson formed the thrashy garage pop band Bash & Pop in the wake of the Replacements’ breakup. The band issued an acclaimed debut, Friday Night is Killing Me, and toured in support of it. Now, decades later, Stinson has returned to Bash & Pop and released the followup record, Anything Could Happen. He and the band — lead guitarist Steve “The Sleeveâ€? Selvidge (The Hold Steady), Joe “The Kidâ€? Sirois (Mighty Mighty BossTones) on drums and Justin “Carlâ€? Perkins on bass guitar — will hit the road in support of the disc. Their show tonight at Now That’s Class represents their ďŹ rst gig in town in decades. (Niesel) 9 p.m., $15 ADV, $18 DOS. Now That’s Class. Skatch Anderssen Orchestra: 8 p.m., $7. Brothers Lounge. IAN Sweet/Acid Dad: 8:30 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Beachland Tavern. Velvet Voyage (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge.
TUE
01/17
Colorful Cleveland (in the Supper Club): 8 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Music Box Supper Club. The Delta Bombers/The Lords of the Highway: 8:30 p.m., $10. Beachland Tavern. Outlab Session: 9 p.m., free. Bop Stop. Rebirth Brass Band/Daddy Longleg’s Homegrown Revival: 8 p.m., $17 ADV, $22 DOS. Beachland Ballroom. Soular Flares Presents Sights, Scent and Sound: 8 p.m., $7 ADV, $10 DOS. Grog Shop. Two-Set Tuesday Featuring Sean Benjamin (in the Wine Bar): 7 p.m. Brothers Lounge.
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| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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BAND OF THE WEEK
CHRISTOPHER BLACK By Jeff Niesel MEET THE BAND: Christopher Black (vocals, guitar) A CASE STUDY: A former music student at Case where he studied violin and viola, Black also plays guitar and writes songs. He’s pursued singing and songwriting since he was a youth. “I was pursuing solo stuff even when I was in [the local indie rock band] Bethesda,” says Black, who grew up in Connecticut before moving to Northeast Ohio for college. “I would call [my upbringing as a musician] a family business. My parents are amateur musicians and my grandparents are music professors. It’s been passed down through the ages.” He started writing songs at Case. He played his first solo show at the now-shuttered Barking Spider. “It was incredibly awkward,” he says of the gig. “It was a happy hour thing that they squeezed me into. It was good. It was trial by fire. I didn’t forget any words, so that was good, but I didn’t really make eye contact with anyone.” He also opened for the Black Keys, the Akron-based indie rock band that would evolve into a national act. AN IRISH INFLUENCE: Black says he thinks of singer-songwriter Van Morrison as his favorite songwriter, but his influences aren’t all rooted in the past. “I like more modern stuff like Glen Hansard and Damien Rice,” he says. “I love Springsteen and recently I’ve been listening to soul and R&B, lots of D’Angelo. Those are the big ones.”
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WHY YOU SHOULD HEAR HIM: Black recorded the drums, bass and acoustic guitar on his new self-titled album with his drummer Cass Jewell. Then he recorded the other pieces with local producer Jim Stewart. Those sessions took place about two years ago. “Some of the songs are five or six years old,” Black says. “Things came together at the right place and right time. If I had only had a week in the studio, it wouldn’t be as complete and as good as it is. I tried to take it back and find people who could do those things better than I can. The soul and R&B stuff made me open to horns. Being in Cleveland, there’s great musicians who just want to help out.” Black’s quivering vocals give a song such as “We’re Not Home” a real intensity — think Antony and the Johnsons — and a twangy guitar riff runs through the soaring “Where the Earth Meets the Sky.” Black says he’s so focused on getting this record done that he hasn’t written much in the past year or two. “I’m heading more toward finger picking and Americanatype stuff. I learned that it’s okay to take your time and if it’s not good, it’s not done.” WHERE YOU CAN HEAR HIM: facebook. com/christopherblackmusic WHERE YOU CAN SEE HIM: Christopher Black performs with Ray Flanagan and Holden Laurence at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 12, at the Music Box Supper Club.
jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel
C-NOTES BIGGER THAN EVER Cleveland Metal Holiday Food Drive draws record crowd AN ANNUAL TRADITION THAT generates some serious cash and donations for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank and Friends of the Cleveland Kennel, the Cleveland Metal Holiday Food Drive that took place on Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern featured 12 original bands, burlesque performers, a Metallica tribute act, a rafe and a Playboy model. The event set an attendance record, as more than 800 people donated some 6,706 pounds of food and close to $6,000 in cash. “The annual food drive was bigger than ever this year,â€? says Beachland owner Cindy Barber in a press release that organizer Bill Peters sent out. “We at the Beachland are so proud to host this and were reminded once again that heavy metal fans are the best. Bill Peters’ annual efforts shine a big spotlight on how generous the Cleveland music community always is.â€? “We fell short of 2015’s unbelievable record breaking numbers of 8,803 pounds and $6,001, but our event was still an incredible success,â€? adds Peters, who hosts a metal show on WJCU and runs the local metal label Auburn Records. “The turnout was our biggest ever! Working together we are making our community a better place to live. I can’t thank the fans enough for their support.â€? A writer for the German underground heavy metal webzine Metal Rules, Iron Ingo StĂźhrenberg returned to host the 2016 event. “I want to say thank you to all people that helped,â€? he says. “Again it proved that metal fans are the most generous when it comes to help out not only people but also animals in need. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I look forward to seeing my Cleveland friends again soon. Until we rock again!â€?
U2 TO PLAY FIRSTENERGY STADIUM When U2 released The Joshua Tree in 1987, Rolling Stone proclaimed, “The title beďŹ ts a record that concerns itself with resilience in the face of utter social and political desolation ‌ . The Joshua Tree is an appropriate response
Photo by Jon Lichtenberg
By Jeff Niesel
Revelers at the Cleveland Metal Holiday Food Drive.
to these times, and a picture bleaker than any U2 has ever painted: a vision of blasted hopes, pointless violence and anguish ‌ music of great sadness but also of unutterable compassion, acceptance and calm.â€? To celebrate the album’s 30th anniversary, U2 will play select stadiums this summer as part of the U2: The Joshua Tree Tour 2017. Each show will include a performance of The Joshua Tree in its entirety. The band performs July 1 at FirstEnergy Stadium. One Republic will open the show. “It seems like we have come full circle from when The Joshua Tree songs were originally written, with global upheaval, extreme right wing politics and some fundamental human rights at risk,â€? says guitarist the Edge in a press release. “To celebrate the album — as the songs seem so relevant and prescient of these times too — we decided to do these shows, it feels right for now. We’re looking forward to it.â€? The tour marks U2’s ďŹ rst stadium tour since 2009-2011’s U2 360° Tour, reportedly the most successful tour in history. An exclusive priority presale for U2 subscribers continues through 5 p.m. on Friday. Public ticket sales begin at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17.
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SAVAGE LOVE CLUBBING by Dan Savage Dear Dan, My partner and I have been playing with male chastity devices. We’ve been considering going to a strip club while his cock is caged up and getting him lap dances. Is there some etiquette for this with the dancers? Do we let the dancer know before she is on his lap? Or do we not mention it? Is it rude to get a dancer involved at all? I’ve not yet found an etiquette guide for this situation. — Letting Our Cage Kink Show “I think I speak for most dancers when I say I don’t care what’s going on underneath a customer’s pants,” said Bobbi Hill, a lap dancer based in Portland, Oregon, strip club capital of the United States. “Grazing over a stiff object in the crotch region is not an uncommon experience when giving a lap dance, and depending on the texture of the device, I might not even give it a second thought.” While your concern for lap dancers is commendable, LOCKS, the person most at risk of injury is your partner. Nothing is more fun than inducing an erection in someone who’s locked in a male chastity device — a necessarily painful and punishing erection — but the devices are unyielding (ideally) and the cock flesh is weak (even when hard). A dancer who grinds down on your partner’s crotch is likelier to hurt him. That said, lap dancers don’t like surprises. If a dancer grinds down on your partner’s crotch and feels something hard, clunky, and uncock-like in his pants, “she might go into air-dance mode,” said Hill, “which is essentially a lap dance where you make as little contact with the customer’s crotch as possible. Of course, you can never go wrong investing in a stripper’s patience and well-being — try handing her a benjamin as you explain your situation.” Just in case you’re not interested in dancers who are hers, LOCKS, I ran your question by a male stripper. “I don’t think most dancers would mind if a customer was wearing a male chastity device as long as it caused no physical harm or discomfort,” said Aaron, a dancer at Stag PDX, Portland’s new male strip club. “If all parts of the device
are safely tucked away between your legs while you receive the lap dance, there should be little to worry about. But if the device has parts that protrude — and could possibly harm an overzealous dancer while they grind up on you — you may want to be more cautious. It also never hurts to ask the dancers what they’re comfortable with.” Strippers! They’re just like us! You can ask them questions! They will answer them! They respond positively when you take their comfort into account! They also appreciate large tips! And good personal hygiene! And clients who aren’t completely shitfaced!
Find your happy hour.
Dear Dan, I met my boyfriend at a gay night in a club. I thought he was gay because he was dancing shirtless. But he loves going down on me, the PIV sex is the best I’ve ever had, and I believe him when he says he’s straight. He’s got an above-average cock, but he likes me to tell him it’s small and compare him unfavorably to men I’ve been with who had bigger cocks. I’ve had bigger and I don’t mind degrading him like this. (It’s a nice change of pace to be with a guy who doesn’t want me to pretend like I’ve never seen another cock before!) So that’s not the reason I’m writing. This is: He likes to be called a “faggot” when he’s fucking me. It makes him incredibly horny, but I feel guilty for using an antigay hate term while we’re having straight sex. Is this okay? Is it fucked up? Should we stop? — Female Anxiously Grants Slurs It’s not okay, it’s completely fucked up, and you don’t have to stop. And if you feel the least bit guilty about calling your boyfriend a fag when he’s fucking you, FAGS, an hour on gay Tumblr will make you feel better about that. The number of gay men out there who think it’s hot to call their own assholes or other men’s assholes “cunts” will both surprise you and make you feel less conflicted about calling your straight boyfriend a fag.
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| clevescene.com | January 11 - 17, 2017
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