07.14-07.21.10
Civic
Is summer really half over? Still, our minds are on the civic sphere: read our feature on the Design District’s first industrial design fair, our interview with artist Joe Ayala, Roldo’s take on the medical mart, and Mansfield’s take on LeBron. Meanwhile, we mourn the passing of Harvey Pekar, and celebrate his spirit. A true civic spirit if there ever was one. –Thomas Mulready
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I get more excited every day about what’s happening in Cleveland. Downtown residency rates are way up, we have downtown farmer’s markets, chefs create innovative eateries, and downtown is no longer a ghost town at night. And now we have the Furniture and Millwork Fair Wed 7/14 and Thu 7/15. Small Amish furniture operations from Holmes County, larger Cleveland-area furniture manufacturers, and artisan wood workers will come together to share ideas and innovations.
Cleveland’s Design District is centered around Euclid Avenue to elevate local design and manufacturing industries. Those who decry the loss of downtown retail in the form of mega department stores like Halle’s, May Company, and Higbees, should take heart that innovative art and design is alive and well in Cleveland. Cool creativity is already taking place at the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative at Euclid and E. 13th Street. Isn’t that better than downtown Cleveland being known for its department stores? Read more from Claudia Taller here
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SPONSORED: Wanna try bluegrass on steroids? (Cherryholmes on Thu 7/15) Or an evening of piano magic with a consummate storyteller and a daring, innovative singer-songwriter? (Robin Spielberg & Susan Werner on Fri 7/16). Both are BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE at Cain Park this week, 216-371-3000, http://www.CainPark.com “Choose wisely bluegrass hopper!”
Phoenix Coffee: Bring yr own cup! Phoenix Coffee introduces new biodegradable & compostable to-go cups, but you gotta pay extra to use one. Consider it a friendly nudge to “green up” and bring a reusable cup.
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Cool Cleveland Podcast Weekly roundup of cool events, in an easy-to-digest 3 minute audio format, for playback on your computer or iPod.
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SPONSORED: Family friendly fun at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History! Join us for the Wild Music Family Fun Festival, Fri 8/6 at the Museum. Kids and their parents can make music, see dance demos, enjoy light snacks and check out the Wild Music exhibit. For more information or to register, visit www.CMNH.org
Peninsula Python Day Spend a day honoring a wacky local legend where, in 1944, pythons were seen slithering throughout Peninsula… believe it or not. Either way, Sat 7/17 is python mania w/ live snakes, themed storytimes, snake crafts and even a python parade.
Click here for more Cool Cleveland Kids events
SPONSORED: 3 More Weeks: Gilbert & Sullivan’s hits Iolanthe & Patience are in rotating rep thru Sat 8/7 at the Ohio Light Opera on the beautiful College of Wooster campus, along with Kalman’s The Gypsy Princess, Lehar’s The Count of Luxembourg, and Sousa’s El Capitan. Just an hour drive from Cleveland, enjoy the finest professional talent performing musical masterpieces. Good tix still available for all 5 shows. 330-263-2345 http://www.OhioLightOpera.org
Coffee Up!
Cravings Cafe Reinvented
If you haven’t been there in a while, Cravings Cafe in Rocky River has taken on a new life.
Watch the video featuring Paul Sykes, the international art dealer who founded the Beck Cafe 18 months ago, and partner Lorelei Suehrstedt took over Cravings Cafe this year, transformed the interior into an art gallery, and are now adding breakfast, lunch, and soon, a live music program. Don’t forget to try their new aebleskivers (Danish pancakes stuffed with fig, fruit or Nutella). Yum! Read more here.
SPONSORED: RENT School Edition rocks the stage at Near West Theatre, Fri 7/23 thru Sun 8/8. 34 teen actors bring new life to Jonathon Larson’s hit Broadway musical, taking the audience through a year in the lives of a small circle of friends living their dreams, battling their demons and celebrating life in New York City. See how ordinary people are creating extraordinary theatre in Cleveland: visit http://www.NearWestTheatre.org.
WED
Water|Craft Release Party Join the book release bash for CUDC’s newest collection of cutting-edge essays on Wed 7/14 on the Superior Viaduct. The book examines urban water issues & new design approaches. Get stunning city views & party w/ Cle’s hottest thinkers.
Click here for more events on Wed 7/14
THU
Great Lakes Cities: Urban Laboratories Activists and change-makers from all over the region converge in Cle for the Urban Labs conference starting on Thu 7/15. Brains will be a stormin’ for ways to reinvent our industrial roots and put us on a sustainable path. Got ideas? Be there.
Click here for more events on Thu 7/15
FRI
Everything is Terrible! Spend the midnight hour on Fri 7/16 with a collection of 7 furry internet monsters [pictured] who live in a cave and solve mysteries. Show up at the Capitol and they’ll show you DVD compilations of forgotten VHS tapes, peppered w/ inside jokes. We can’t make this stuff up.
Click here for more events on Fri 7/16
SAT
Lakewood STREETWALK Park yr car at home and bike, board or walk Lkwd’s main drag on Sat 7/17. The street will be filled w/ bellydancing, running, music, dancing and ppl having fun the healthy way.
Click here for more events on Sat 7/17
SPONSORED: The Saturday afternoon Opera broadcasts resume this week on Sat 7/17 at 1PM with the first of a series of performances from the Los Angeles Opera – Rossini’s Barber of Seville. The following four weeks will feature that operatic blockbuster, Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Saturday evening at 8PM, Saturdays from Severance offers a concert by the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra conducted by James Feddeck. Music by Berlioz, Copland and Brahms. Complete details of all of WCLV’s programming at http://www.WCLV.com.
SUN
Cultures collide @ the 21st Ann’l International Folk Festival in Wade Oval on Sun 7/17. Travel ’round the world w/ Indian folk dancing, Japanese Taiko drumming, Russian folk songs, polka & other performances. Yummy food, too.
Click here for more events on Sun 7/18
MON
Flavor Tripping Taste insane food concoctions created by the Stove Monkeys crew @ the B-Side Lounge on Mon 7/19. Food served w/ live beats on the side.
Click here for more events on Mon 7/19
TUE
Old 97’s @ Beachland These Texans have perfected the sound of alt-country. They take country standards and add a dash of Pixies, the Beatles, and other rock legends. See ’em w/ The David Wax Museum on Tue 7/20.
Click here for more events on Tue 7/20
WED
Viva L’Italia Hear the stylish Apollo’s Fire play selected works from Vivladi on Wed 7/21. Also hear works that highlight the improv talents of the string players. It’s classical music on the fiery side.
Click here for more events on Wed 7/21
Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com
Ground-breaking graphic novelist Harvey Pekar died early Monday 7/12/10 in his Cleveland Heights home. His wife, Joyce Brabner, with whom Pekar published the monumental novel-length comic Our Cancer Year found Pekar early Monday in their home. The book chronicled, in painful and sometimes hilarious detail, Pekar’s year-long struggle with cancer in 1990. Cause of death has not yet been determined.
Watch the Cool Cleveland video here as Pekar, in a rare good mood, talks (on 01.26.09) with Cool Cleveland’s Thomas Mulready about his libretto for the jazz opera Leave Me Alone!, a rumination on the state of the avant-garde in the arts. Read more here
Shakespeare’s Othello, in the clutches of deep depression over the state of his relationship with Desdemona, describes himself as “one that loved not wisely, but too well.”
Sound familiar?
It should, because it describes the collective “us.” We Greater Clevelanders are modern-day Othellos, guilty of loving, adulating and putting on a mile-high pedestal a young man who neither asked for – nor was ready to handle – such worshipping….
Read this story from Mansfield Frazier here
Read other recent pieces by Mansfield Frazier here
Joe Ayala MMIV – MMX
Artistic Attention Deficit Disorder takes over Wall Eye Gallery
Artistic Attention Deficit Disorder, is the term Joe Ayala coined to describe his collection of paintings, drawings and prints produced between 2004 and 2010, which are the feature of his first solo exhibition in five years: Joe Ayala: MMIV-MMX, at Walleye Gallery Fri 7/16 thru Sun 8/8.
From classical portrait drawings to color-filled pop art and abstract paintings, each piece in the show serves as an individual episode to the artist’s freedom of expression and experimentation… Read more and watch the video by Julie Cajigas here
The cash kitty for MMPI has gone over the $100 million mark as of the end of June. MMPI will build and control the County Medical Mart and Convention Center.
Presently, the Plain Dealer, Steve Litt and MMPI are seeking to extend the tax – my reading of the PD stories on the Group Plan panel – to expand or extend the tax originally voted by the County Commission for development of the Medical Mart, a private business, and the Convention Center, under MMPI of Chicago.
The drum beating has begun. The panel is to advise on future development associated with the Med Mart. So a tax proposal will be following.
Will the lame duck County Commission do the dirty deed? Or will our new REFORM government show who runs the reform…?
Read this story by Roldo Bartimole here
Read other recent pieces by Roldo Bartimole here
Quick previews & reviews of recent eventsSubmit your own preview, review or commentary to Events@CoolCleveland.com
Review: Cleveland Orchestra @ Blossom 7/11/10 by Thomas Mulready
Comment on our blog here: http://www.CoolCleveland.com/blog
On Mansfield’s Small Victories I posted your column on my Facebook site because I’m originally from Ottawa, Canada, where Lee Valley is headquartered. It has already been picked up by some friends, and all the comments commend you, Mansfield Frazier, for your patient, understanding yet firm approach. As you say, many race-related problems stem simply from a lack of consideration. You have made Lee Valley consider this issue!
Read the comment from Carrie Buchanan here
Read and comment here: http://www.coolcleveland.com/blog
Most clicked
Here are the Top 5 most clicked links from last week’s issue, with one more chance for you to click.
1) Ohio City: A neighborhood that feeds a city.
2) Do we know how to sell Cleveland or what?
3) Worm Farm fights for its life.
4) Looking for a job? Cleveland Orchestra is hiring, and so are other majors.
5) Need a Rain Barrel? Here’s where to get info.
Keeping an eye on the civic space is the mission of our brilliant writers: Roldo Bartimole, Julie Cajigas, Mansfield Frazier, Claudia Taller, and Sarah Valek. And lastly, though certainly not least, thanks to our readers and everyone who partners with us. Want to volunteer and contribute your writing to Cool Cleveland? Send your reviews, articles, or story ideas to: Events@CoolCleveland.com.
Your humble citizen,
–Thomas Mulready
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