Flash Forward

01.28-02.04.09
Flash Forward

In this week’s issue:

Now we’re moving in the right direction. As usual, we suggest you ignore the cynics and stay focused on doing the right thing. Mansfield is ready to build a 1st class winery in Hough, and he’s not letting the naysayers get him down. They picked a site for the Medical Mart & convention center, and I put Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones on camera for his illuminating comments. We’ve even got a tale of outright civic sabotage by a leading law firm, courtesy of Roldo’s lucid research. Merce Cunningham’s back after 23 years, and Ma Rainey is at The Beck. The inauguration was awesome; ask Warren Keeton, who was there. It’s spring training year ’round with the SABR folks. And even Harvey Pekar is smiling as I interview him about his new jazz opera at Oberlin this weekend. All in all, we’re flashing forward pretty fast. –Thomas Mulready

Harvey Pekar is in a rare, upbeat mood. He’s talking with Cool Cleveland’s Thomas Mulready about his new jazz opera, “Leave Me Alone!” presented at Oberlin College’s Finney Chapel on Sat 1/31 and is once again amused by the public’s interest in his work. The graphic novelist’s first-ever opera libretto, with music by jazz saxophonist Dan Plonsey, is a rumination on the state of the avant-garde and the lack of public appreciation for art. “It’s like the dogs that can hear sounds that we can’t…” What should we expect from this free performance? “Not to pay!” Does he think he may write another opera? “If they pay me, yeah!” Get a custom comic strip, a limited edition print, even a ringtone with Harvey phoning comics artist Robert Crumb, and watch the opera streamed live: http://www.LeaveMeAloneOpera.com. Enjoy Harvey enjoying himself, and watch the video here.

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HOT This satellite image of the Inauguration of Pres. Barack Obama is pretty stunning
Keep tabs on the Cle Orch Miami Residency by visiting this website. Click
Zach Bruell of Parallax and Table 45 fame offers a new chic eatery in Univ. Circle called L’Albatros Brasserie + Bar. Very French, oui?
HOT The future of E-Check is up in the air according to this story here
Are we in information Nirvana or Overload? This is a great article that splits the uprights on the subject. Read
Maltz Jewish Museum’s online auction features some really cool swag and for a great cause. Learn more here and here
Are you hip to the Glass Bubble Project? If not, perhaps you should consider a click here
GREEN Make ODNR ensure that a coal waste spill doesn’t happen here in Ohio! Click
Skating championships planners get positive feedback and you can read about it here
1 Million Trees to Be Planted in U.S. National Forests thanks to Progressive Car Insurance Customers? Click
Kent Stage schedule is rocking with Rusted Root, Todd Snider, Joshua Radin, Leo Kottke and more. Click
Washington DC demonstrates importance of cycling on it’s Big Day last week. Look
HOT Read a couple great blog posts by our ever-intrepid Roldo Bartimole by following the links here and here
U of Akron’s “Rethinking Race” programming for Black History Month looks spectacular. Details
Cool Cleveland contributor Claudia J. Taller’s Artist’s Way workshop is coming up this weekend. Learn all about it here
Is your milk on drugs? If you don’t know, then think about a click here
Cle Foundation teeing up 2009 Summer Intern program for undergrads, graduates and post-grads students. Details here and partners listed here
The new Ohio City Argus newspaper launches and you can follow along online by clicking here
Former Cle Mayor Jane Campbell becomes chief of staff for US Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana)
This blog post morphs quickly into a meditation about Cleveland and it is simply an awesome read. Click

Expat Clevelander Philip Watts (now living in New Jersey) just finished post audio work (dialogue, sound, mixing) for a film in competition at last week’s Sundance Film Festival. Big Fan, which stars offbeat comedian Patton Oswalt (pictured, left), is still getting huge post-Sundance buzz. Directed by Robert Siegel (who has gained noteriety from his last box-office success The Wrestler) was culled from nearly 4,000 films submitted. Find out how Big Fan measured up (natch) by checking Watts’ blog on his website, http://www.philipwatts.com.

HOT A Minister of Arts/Culture in the U.S.? Musician/producer extraordinaire Quincy Jones has started a petition to ask President-Elect Obama to appoint a Secretary of the Arts. Many other countries around the world have had Ministers of Culture for centuries, but the U.S. has never had such a position. We need this and the country needs the arts — now more than ever. Check out the petition and then pass it on to all of your friends and colleagues. Sign.

The 18th Annual Black Heritage Concert featuring ensembles from the Cleveland School of the Arts, is Sun 2/8 at 4PM at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Kulas Hall. The R. Nathaniel Dett Concert Choir, with director William B. Woods and the Chamber Orchestra, with director Diana Richardson, will perform works by Robert Morris, Charlie Parker, R. Nathaniel Dett and more. Seating passes are required for this event and are available by calling 791-5000 one week prior to the event. Got all that? http://www.cim.edu.

SPONSORED: Artists: Your art work is worth up to $20,000 Community Partnership for Arts & Culture invites you to learn about a new opportunity for professional artists in Cuyahoga County: the Creative Workforce Fellowship. Find out if you qualify to apply for this $20,000 fellowship, generously funded by Cuyahoga Arts & Culture by attending one of five upcoming informational meetings. Click here for details! http://www.cpacbiz.org/business/CWF.shtml

Cool Cleveland Podcast Weekly roundup of cool events, in an easy-to-digest 3 minute audio format, for playback on your computer or iPod.

Click here to subscribe to the Cool Cleveland Podcast in iTunes.

HOT Help a child succeed! Be a tutor in the “Saturday Tutoring Program,” which provides no-cost tutoring for students in grades 1-12 from school districts throughout Greater Cleveland. Volunteer when it fits your schedule; an every-week commitment is not required. Sessions are held on Saturdays from 10AM – noon at the Church of the Covenant (11205 Euclid Ave.) in University Circle. Materials, training, supervision, and no charge parking are provided. Details are at http://www.covenantweb.org/tutoring. To volunteer, e-mail saturdaytutoring@gmail.com or call 421-0482 x281.

Arcadia What happens when the lives of modern-day researchers intersect with that of 19th Century poet and adventurer Lord Byron? A ravishingly comedic mystery ensues! Beck Center Teen Theater presents Arcadia, written by famed British playwright Tom Stoppard, in the Studio Theater, starting Fri 1/30 and running through early February. Showtimes are 7:30PM Fridays and Saturdays; 3PM on Sundays. Nominated for three Tony Awards, Arcadia takes us back and forth in time between 1809 and the present, as a writer, a literature professor, and a post-graduate student in mathematical biology investigate a mysterious chapter in the life of Lord Byron. http://www.beckcenter.org.

“Pos Abilities” Art Exhibition The paintings by children and young adults enrolled in the Creative Arts program of The Hattie Larlham Center for Children with Disabilities will be celebrated in a closing reception Thu 1/29 from 7 – 9PM at the North Water Street Gallery, 257 N. Water St., Kent. Explore the world in the works of these vibrant student artists and see the positive abilities and possibilities in what they’ve achieved. Call 330-673-4970 for more info; exhibition ends Sat 1/31 with showing from 1 – 5PM. http://www.standingrock.net.

Winter Fun Run Join Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association on Sat 1/31 at 9AM at Kendall Lake Shelter, for the Winter Fun Run in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This no-cost, non-competitive trek will take runners through some of the most beautiful parts of the CVNP The format is flexible (based on weather conditions) and participants will have the choice to run, snowshoe, or cross country ski on routes varying from 3 to 6 miles. Kendall Lake Shelter, 1000 Truxell Rd., Peninsula. visit http://www.cvnpa.org or call 330-657-2909 for details.

Hand-made Valentines Children ages 12 and under are invited to join the exceptionally talented artists from Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio to create (you guessed it) a hand-made valentine for someone special in their life. A theater artist will entertain the kids with a special storytelling segment and games will round out the fun. Runs Sat 1/31 and again Sat 2/7. For details visit the Young Audiences’ link here.

SPONSORED: Triceratops horridus (tri-SAIR-ah-tops hor-id-us), which means “Horrible three-horned face,” is one of the new, fun, fact-filled collectible cards for kids at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History. (It’s the January card. February will be T rex) The cards are a complimentary gift for every child visiting the Museum, with a new card featured monthly. Collect them all! Info here: www.cmnh.org/site/JustForFun/DiscoveryCards.aspx.

Cool Cleveland Kids Podcast Weekly roundup of cool events for kids & families from 13-year-old Cool Cleveland Kids correspondent Max.

Click here to subscribe to the Cool Cleveland Kids Podcast in iTunes.

A hot selection of tech and business news & events from around the region. Got business news? Send it to: EVENTS@CoolCleveland.com

Is the Med Mart a highly stylized classical Japanese dance-drama? This blog post seems to suggest it

Mayor Jackson sez Cleveland is open for business in 2009 and you can find a link to his figures here

Speaking of Jackson, is there a ‘bully pulpit’ theory afoot regarding his tenure as Mayor? Trickey’s blog post is a good one

Cleveland is 26th most wired city in latest Forbes list here, illustrated with a nice photo of Chicago

Is CSU on edge of blowing it? $24M in grants and reputation as research school on the line? Details here

2009 World Class Customer Service Award call for nominations via SBN is here

GREEN Can ODOT be reformed? GCBL’s David Beach asks the question in his blog post here

GREEN Cleveland Green Energy Network Mtg looks promising; includes weatherization workshop, drinks and light apps. Turn Over a New Leaf

This is what Cleveland might have looked like if people like Peter Lewis had gotten their way. The Cool History of Cleveland blog posts photos of major skyline-changing building projects that never quite happened, including the Progressive Tower (pictured), designed by Frank Gehry and slated for Public Square. http://CoolHistoryOfCleveland.blog.com

Cle 20/30 Club’s 25 Under 35 Movers and Shakers awards hits Thu 1/29 w/ registration at 6PM. Details
Summit on Leadership Cle Business Leaders of The Union Club present their 2nd annual affair Thu 1/29. Details, registration and guest speakers here
Harnessing Social Network Tech is subject of Lake Communicators luncheon Wed 2/11 at 11:45AM the Pine Ridge Country Club, 30601 Ridge Rd. (SR 84). Feat. Tamera Brown, VP, Mktg/Comm, Positively Cleveland. Call 255-8932 or e-mail wolfeshirley@yahoo.com to RSVP
NorTech Innovation Awards program hits on Wed 2/18 at Windows on the River and feat. Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan. Click for tix
GREEN 2009 Evolution of Man’fg Conf Join the Green Revolution at this event at Hyland Software in Westlake Thu 2/19. Features town hall discussion, plenty of great info for everyone. Register here

HOT The “Big Idea”: Technology Entrepreneurship in NEO Web Assoc. luncheon forum hits Wed 1/28 at 11:30AM at Windows on the River’s Bridge View Room. Moderated by Jason Therrien of thunder::tech, panelists include Michael “Tech Czar” DeAloia, of FITtechnologies. Register

County Government Reform Senator Jon Husted (6th District of Ohio) will discuss County government reform particularly Cuyahoga County reform noon on Fri 1/30 at The City Club of Cleveland. As Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, Sen. Husted played a major role in the recent debate over Cuyahoga County government reform. http://www.cityclub.org.

Peter Lawson Jones is in the middle of a storm, but he keeps smiling. He and his fellow County Commissioners have accepted Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc.’s suggestion to locate the controversial Medical Mart and convention center at the Mall location where the current center sits. In this frank discussion with Cool Cleveland’s Thomas Mulready, Jones talks about the issues that face the chosen site: the need to purchase surrounding land from private owners, the water table under the below-ground convention center, and connectivity to public transportation, Hopkins Airport and nearby hotels. As our leaders finalize the details, read Characteristics of a Successful Convention Center, a useful white paper by Positively Cleveland here And while you’re at it, don’t miss politico, playwright and actor Peter Lawson Jones starring in the intense new play A House With No Walls, at Karamu House through February 15. See one of our region’s leaders face the press and watch the video here.

SPONSORED: Three young literary icons: Colson Whitehead, Myla Goldberg, and Jonathan Lethem – will be interviewed by Seattle book expert Nancy Pearl at the Ohio Theatre on Tue 3/3 at 7:30PM as part of Cuyahoga County Public Library’s William N. Skirball Writers Center Stage series. These three contemporaries will talk about themselves and their award-winning books. Whitehead is a MacArthur genius and Anisfeld-Wolf award winner, Myla Goldberg wrote Bee Season which was adapted for film, and Lethem has written seven novels, including Motherless Brooklyn. Don’t miss this chance to meet these bright young authors. For ticket information, visit http://www.WritersCenterStage.org.

Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com

2009 Cleveland Clinic eXpressions This exhibit on display through February 2009 at theInterContinental Hotel (9801 Carnegie Ave.) showcases a collection of 130 paintings, sculptures, poems, photographs, essays, and videos interpreting the scientific research of Cleveland Clinic high school interns. These award-winning works of art and literature were selected by a jury — consisting of teachers, scientists and artists — from among more than 600 submissions from 37 high schools in Ohio and Florida. Located in the hotel’s third-floor foyer, the eXhibition of Science, Art, and Language is no cost, open to the public from 7AM – 8PM seven days a week, except during hotel conferences. Call the InterContinental Hotel at 707-4100 for more info. ClevelandClinic.org

Dido & Aeneas The tragic tale of Queen Dido and her love for the Trojan hero Aeneas has inspired audiences for centuries. Now Purcell’s celebrated gem of baroque opera comes to life in this special and intimate staged production Thu 1/29 at 7:30PM. Apollos Fire’s 1998 staging of this masterpiece earned the highest praise. Come and find out why. Akron First United Methodist Church, 263 East Mill Street, Akron. http://www.apollosfire.org.

The International Market in Ancient Art and Artifacts Returning art treasures to their home countries and international discussions over ownership have made recent headline news. The international art market and the legal aspects of the return of art objects will be among the topics discussed by DePaul University Professor of Law Patty Gerstenblith on Thu 1/29 at 4:30PM as part of the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities’ year-long “museums” series. The no-cost public talk takes place in Clark Hall, 11130 Bellflower Rd., on the Case Western Reserve University campus. http://www.case.edu.

Cunningham Technique Master Classes will be held in the Cleveland State University Dance Studio with members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (performing later in the week). These classes run Thu 1/29 at 10AM and Fri 1/30 at 5PM at the CSU Dance Studio, PE B 71. Courtesy of DANCECleveland, these classes are no cost and open to the public — but class size is limited. It is necessary to reserve a space for these classes via email at dance@csuohio.edu.

HOT Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at the Beck Center for the Arts is playing from Fri 1/30 through late February. Written by the late, great August Wilson, this play is a powerful theater experience about the blues singer (portrayed at left), one not afraid to be as funny and lyrical as it is angry, even enraged. It promises to pick you up, make you laugh, and make you cry. The Beck honors this year’s passing of Wilson and the 25th anniversary of the Broadway production. Details, tix and showtimes at http://www.beckcenter.org.

HOT Flash Forward SPACES Gallery on the Superior Viaduct presents a showcase of 12 twelve artists who are in on a secret about the Rust Belt: It is a vibrant place for creative thinkers to work and live. NEO college grads arae features in Flash Forward, an exhibition featuring local college graduates who jump creative fences in the contemporary art scene while continuing to live and work in the region. The exhibition opens with a free public reception on Fri 1/30 from 6 – 9PM and will be on view through early April. Admission to the gallery during hours of operation is no cost, and open to the public. http://www.spacesgallery.org.

HOT Nearly Nude: Deconstructing Beauty Part of the CPT Big [BOX] series, this dance experience runs Fri 1/30 – Sun 2/1. MegLouise Dance ignites excitement and dialogue with “a different, more honest take on women’s culture” (CityBeat) exploring evolving and conflicting roles of women via scattered imagery. Pop culture references like Barbie, Miley Cyrus and clutch purses abound in this meditation on beauty, femininity and body image. Performance includes 8 dances created by three NEO choreographers: Megan Pitcher, Sara Whale and Kalindi Stockton. Tickets.

Momma’s Man Part of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s First Run Friday’s premieres, this film screens Fri 1/30 at 7PM. Directed by Azazel Jacobs, with Ken and Flo Jacobs, this fresh, funny, acclaimed drama focuses on a young L.A. father and husband who stays at his parents’ downtown loft — his childhood home — while on a business trip to New York. But his parents (played by the filmmaker’s real-life mom and dad) grow concerned when he keeps postponing his return home to his own family. “[I]ndependent cinema defined,” says The New York Times. http://www.kino.com. http://www.clevelandart.org.

Nightmares on Wax is the stage nom de plume of DJ/musician George Evelyn (left) — also known as DJ EASE. The Leeds, UK native’s chillout blend of electronic, acid house, trip-hop and downtempo is legendary; this is a rare appearance and a 20th anniversary tour celebration (of sorts) as well. Most of the time, you’d find a gig like this in NYC, LA, or Detroit — a mecca for electronic music — but Nightmares on Wax’s live music graces the Grog Shop Fri 1/30 for a rare and intimate shindig. Get a taste of the downtempo sound of one of Evelyn’s absolute classics “Les Nuits (“The Nights”) by clicking the YouTube video here. Is he the “future sound of jazz,” as he’s been hailed? Could be. But few have a sound quite like his. http://www.nightmaresonwax.com. http://www.grogshop.gs.

Rainy Day Saints celebrate the release of their new CD Reflected on Fri 1/30 at 9PM at the Beachland Ballroom. They’ll be opening for a band called Magic Christian, which features Cyril Jordan (Flamin’ Groovies), Clem Burke (Blondie) and Eddie Munoz (Plimsouls). In other words, it’ll be one rocking evening out! http://www.myspace.com/magicchristian. http://www.myspace.com/rainydaysaints.

HOT A Harvey Pekar Opera You read that one correctly. Leave Me Alone!, a “Jazz Opera” by Pekar and Dan Plonsey. The American Splendor icon focuses his sardonic wit on the everyday struggles of avant-garde artists, with music from Cle-born composer and saxophonist Plonsey in an Oberlin Conservatory Of Music premiere Sat 1/31 at 8PM. Presented in cooperation with Real Time Opera, this no cost, open to the public performance at Finney Chapel will also be streamed live to an international audience online at http://www.leavemealoneopera.com. 90 N. Professor St., Oberlin. http://www.oberlin.edu/con.

HOT Merce Cunningham Dance Company Returning to Cleveland for the first time since 1986, the troupe performs in The Cleveland Museum of Art’s acclaimed VIVA! & Gala Around Town series Sat 1/31 at 8PM at the Ohio Theatre, PlayhouseSquare. The first CMA/DANCECleveland collaboration puts a spotlight on the latter organization’s dedication to bring world class contemporary dance to NEO. http://www.merce.org. More details available at VIVA!

A House With No Walls by Thomas Gibbons, and directed by Karamu Artistic Director Terrence Spivey, continues to grace Karamu’s Arena Theatre Sat 1/31 and will run through mid-February. Inspired by real life events in Philadelphia, the play dramatizes conflict between a conservative African American academic and an ultra-liberal, Afro-centric political activist as they battle over a proposed site for a new American Liberty Museum, which happens to be on the grounds of George Washington’s Philadelphia home and slave quarters. Call 795-7077 for tickets/schedule or visit http://www.karamu.com.

Chelsea Williams currently makes her living playing on the street for tips and selling a homemade CD. She’s sold over 40K copies to date — one CD at a time — on her own on the street. She’s locked up a date at the Beachland Ballroom Sat 1/31 at 8PM and you’ve got to hear what she’s got going. NO ifs ands or buts, Williams has simply great hooks. http://www.myspace.com/chelseawilliams. http://www.beachlandballroom.com.

Towns on the Edge WVIZ/PBS ideastream presents a special documentary detailing stories of how ordinary Ohioans are coping in tough times. It debuted last night and it is a must-see. The numbers are numbing — plant closings idle hundreds, sometimes thousands of workers. The ripple effect through the economy; the latest figures have Ohio’s unemployment rate at over 7%. The human stories behind these cold numbers are detailed again Sat 1/31 at 6PM and Sun 2/1 at 9:30AM. http://www.ideastream.org.

SPONSORED: The Cleveland Orchestra is back in Miami this week, and WCLV 104.9 takes you there live on Sat 1/31 at 8PM for a concert that features soprano superstar Measha Brueggergosman in Wagner’s ‘”Wesendonck'” Songs, followed by Shostakovich’s dramatic “Leningrad” Symphony. Franz conducts. Complete details on WCLV’s 24/7 classical music at http://www.WCLV.com.

Mark Morrison-Reed The African American pioneer visits Mac’s Backs, 1820 Coventry Rd., Cleveland Heights this Sun 2/1 at 1PM. Morrison-Reed’s story (In Between: Memoir of an Integration Baby) details his own powerful story and gives voice to the unspoken story of those Afro-Americans who were among the first to bring racial diversity to their neighborhood, school, church or workplace, to the increasing number of partners in interracial relationships and those blessed with and yet struggling to raise multiracial children in a polarized world. Sounds like a really engaging program to us. http://www.macsbacks.com.

Pianist Gerardo Teissonniere will perform in CIM’s Kulas Hall on Sun 2/1 at 4PM He will perform Schumann’s Kinderszenen, Op.15, the Cleveland premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Levante, Chopin and more. Teissonniere is a CIM graduate who studied with Vitya Vronsky Babin and will also perform works from Schumann, Piazzolla and Ginastera. http://www.cim.edu.

The Rose Ensemble On Mon 2/2 Chapel, Court & Countryside: Early Music at Harkness presents the group offering a program called “Cantigas from the Land of Three Faiths: A Celebration of Ancient Mediterranean Vocal Music.” The concert features medieval works from the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions. Centuries of dedication and folklore in the chapels, synagogues, and courts of early Italy, Spain, and Portugal produced music with rhythms that reverberated across the Mediterranean; this performance spans four centuries of music. http://music.cwru.edu/ccc.

Love, Cleveland On Mon 2/2 at 7PM, Dobama Theater and The Lit present an evening of readings by local poets in the Literary Cafe on the second floor of the main branch of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Library, located at 2340 Lee Rd. Poet Bonnie Jacobson, editor of Cleveland in Prose and Poetry, headlines an evening of heartfelt, heart-throbbing, heart-warming and maybe even heart-shaped poetry just in time for Valentine’s Day. Bring your sweetie or celebrate your single ever loving self. http://www.dobama.org. http://www.the-lit.org.

CIM Pianofest Paul Schenly will host this Cleveland Institute of Music event Tue 2/3 at 7:30PM. The musical salon combines performances by gifted CIM students with insightful commentary by Schenly, bringing the great piano literature to life. Schenly holds the Reinberger Chair in Piano and is head of the piano department at CIM. He also holds a Master of Music degree from CIM and serves as artistic director of the Cle Int’l Piano Competition. http://www.cim.edu.

Meet Peter Lawson Jones Join a lunch and conversation with Peter Lawson Jones, Board of Cuyahoga County Commissioners, as a part of the 2009 Black History Month Speakers Series Tue 2/3 at 11:30AM. This program of Mayor Frank G. Jackson’s “Art in Everything!” Cleveland initiative hits the Doubletree Hotel, 1111 Lakeside Ave. Registration begins at 11AM; limited seating available. RSVP by calling 664-2444 ext.5586 or email: philena_seldon@clevelandwater.com.

Rock n’ Roll Mardi Gras Cowboy Mouth has embraced, embodied, preached and shouted at the top of their lungs the joys of New Orleans. Sharing a slice of Mardi Gras heaven with fans around the world; they’re bringing a little NOLA to the Beachland Ballroom on Tue 2/3 at 8PM. Not familiar? Their lead singer John Thomas Griffith’s old band Red Rockers might ring a bell for some of you new-wavers. http://www.cowboymouth.com. http://www.beachlandballroom.com.

HOT Follow the Leaders The OddyFestival goes historical/ comical this time around with their sixth festival launching Wed 2/4 at 7PM (repeats Wed 2/18). Through three plays and associated music/ poetry pieces, the influence of immoral kings and amoral corporations “in the lives of us sheep.” Matt Greenfield and company deliver the goods! Heights Arts Studio, 2340 Lee Rd. (on the west side of the Cleveland Heights Library). Call 926-8641 for details. http://www.oddyfestival.com.

Stand Up to Stand-up If you’ve ever watched a stand-up comic in a club or on TV and thought, “Hey, I can do that,” well, now, you can. Twice a year, the Tri-C Western Campus offers non-credit continuing education called The Stand-Up Comedy Experience. The class meets eight Wednesday evenings; the next class series begins Wed 2/4 at 6PM and runs through early April in two-hour evening blocks. The class culminates with a graduation performance at the Cle Improv Comedy Club and Restaurant in the Powerhouse on the west bank of the downtown Cleveland Flats. http://www.tri-c.edu/enrichment/fun.

Arana Lynch The longtime Call & Post writer and editor will be discussing & signing The Street Chronicles: Volume 1 on Wed 2/4 at 7PM at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lyndhurst. Lynch has compiled an interesting series of articles that give a detailed account of his experience on the streets and describe how African Americans survive, live and make it day-to-day in the community. http://www.josephbeth.com.

Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com

Nay Sayers and No Shows

A few weeks ago I wrote about Château Hough, a first-class winery I’d like to see established right in the heart of Ward 7. Farming all kinds of crops on vacant inner-city lots is something I’ve been advocating for quite a while, and the movement is picking up speed nationally and has a ton of supporters locally. Wine grapes perhaps can be among the crops locally grown.

To push the idea forward I hosted an informal, exploratory meeting a few weeks ago, and it was very well attended by some dedicated foodies and forward-thinkers from all over the city. Michael Loos of the Ohio State Extension Service was insightful and very informative, while my new friend, Giancarlo Callicchia (who owns vineyards in Lake County) set out a grand vision of what can be.

Others, however, were conspicuous by their absence, and still others have characterized the effort as an attempt to open a bar, rather than what it’s going to be — a factory that bottles and ships wines (while employing locals in the process) hopefully all over the country after the facility is up and running a few years…

Read more from Mansfield B. Frazier here

This week’s most active post on BrewedFreshDaily.com

Cleveland flirts with the number one position as the City with the Highest Poverty and no one bothers to show up to the Aviation and Transportation Committee council meeting where Kevin Kelley invited ALL OF COUNCIL to hear Mayor Frank Jackson’s top aides discuss the city’s request for federal economic stimulus dollars on time? Is this a chronic problem for the City’s leadership? Are we going to continue to be late to the game? Can we afford to continue to leave money on the table?

Read and add your comment on the BFD post Polensek and Federal Transportation Money

Merce Cunningham Dance Co. Returns after 23 Years

The Merce Cunningham Dance Company (left) is coming to PlayhouseSquare this Saturday for the first time in 23 years, which might require a reintroduction for some of our readers. Cunningham is the last living member of the founders of American modern dance, yet he remains among the most innovative and forward-looking of contemporary choreographers. In presenting this concert, Cleveland Museum of Art’s Viva! & Gala Around Town performing arts series is collaborating with DanceCleveland for the first time, an innovation both groups attribute to Cunningham’s unusually close relationship with the visual arts…

Read more from Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas here

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom @ Beck Center

Playing at the Beck Center for the Arts, in Lakewood starting Friday, January 30, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is a play by the late, great August Wilson. This powerful theater experience is not afraid to be as funny and lyrical as it is angry. In the play, Gertrude Malissa Nix Pridgett Rainey, better knownn as Chicago blues legend “Ma” Rainey sets out to record her latest album. The scene is in Chicago in the 1920s, and Ma Rainey and her band are facing the historic exploitation of black recording artists by white producers. Generational and racial tensions escalate among Ma Rainey’s band and producers…

Read more from Marcus Bales here

The Obama Inauguration: “I Was There!”

“I just HAD to go,” declared Warren Keeton, apartment manager for the Goldberg Companies here in Cleveland. A tall, proud African American, Keeton has been an ardent Obama supporter since the beginning of his campaign. “I never thought I would actually see a presidential inauguration in my lifetime, but I had to go. I just wish my mother, a southern woman, could have been here to see this,” he added. Keeton was but one of thousands of Northeast Ohio residents who ultimately made the journey to the nation’s capitol.

To start his journey, Keeton boarded a bus in Akron Monday night at 11PM. The bus, filled to capacity with 56 passengers, re-played Obama speeches on the DVD monitors while zooming southeast over the highway. His bus arrived at the RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. at 6:30AM Tuesday morning. An estimated 15,000 buses from all over the country carried people to this historic event. From the RFK athletic field, free shuttle buses were available to transport people three miles to the National Mall, the heart of the celebration. “I was walking through a maze of vendors,” described Keeton. “They had everything there including Obama water bottles and bobbleheads.” There was an ocean of people converging on the Mall, all to see the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama…
Read more from Susan Schaul here

Did YOU attend the 44th Presidential Inauguration? Send us a letter to Letters@CoolCleveland.com and tell us about it.

Jonesing for Spring Training? Rattle Your SABR!
The Answer to Your Off-Season Baseball Fix Is Right Here in Cleveland

Baseball great Rogers Hornsby was quoted as saying that during the offseason he would “stare out the window and wait for spring.” Cleveland resident John Zajc doesn’t have to wait until spring training to indulge his love of baseball. As Executive Director of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), his job is to manage a nonprofit dedicated to fostering the study of baseball past and present and providing an outlet for educational, historical, and research information about the game. Even among sports fans, however, SABR is still one of Cleveland’s best-kept secrets.

The office is tucked away on the seventh floor of the historic Caxton Building, just a fungo hit away from Progressive Field. It can be challenging to head a nonprofit whose purpose may not be as straightforward as say, combating diabetes or planting trees. Zajc notes, “The elevator speech is tough for SABR because there are thousands of ways for people to enjoy membership, but my quickest explanation is that SABR’s purpose is to help people do baseball research and to share it with others. You don’t have to be a researcher or even like doing research to be a member — if you like baseball history, it’s the best organization you can belong to…”
Read more from Susan Petrone here

Links to interesting NEO blogs

27 Dresses PSA to men: do NOT use these pickup lines.
Tim Hagan’s words are why we need new leadership and a new form to our county government.
Highlights of Medical Mart: Behind the closed doors. Sounds like an expose.
Red Light Special opened at the Vision Gallery in North Collinwood. Images at the Cleveland Art Project.
“It’s time to shoot some ducks.”
Who actually wants to live downtown?

The Curse of Winter
Kong Sauce

I’m not exactly sure what Kong Sauce is named after but I’m in love with the band. With careening song structures, clever lyrics and themes, and an unmistakeable blend of ’70s rock, new wave surf and indie rock/post rock, the foursome’s The Curse of Winter might just be the cure for it. Critics have likened the band’s sound to everything from Iggy Pop and Skip Spence, to The Flaming Lips and The Velvet Underground. And while those elements are certainly there, Kong Sauce’s sound is an utterly original menagerie. I remember feeling the same way after hearing the now defunct Humphry Clinker out of Cleveland Heights. The group’s sonic palate is diverse (from guitars to viola to synthesizers) and the forboding, minor chord stomp-and-sweep on “Green Clouds” has high dramatic effect with a female vox counterpoint. Winter is all original, it’s hooky, distorted and offers some memorable choruses. “Say no more,” you say? “Sign me up!” Yeah, me too. With a slate of guest musicians that includes Don Depew (Breaker, Guided by Voices), a raw pop sound in just the right places (“Buy An Island,” “Photoplay,” “Poison Pacifier”) and a beefy shot of weirdo lo-fi (“Ginnungagap,” “Coconuts and Crabs”) this disc is just too damn compelling to shut off. Never seen them live, but I can’t wait… I can’t imagine what this sounds like on stage.

Catch Kong Sauce live at the Beachland Ballroom this Thursday, January 29 when they open a rare live date for the group Mumiy Troll (from Russia!!). Learn more about Kong Sauce and listen to clips at http://www.myspace.com/kongsauce Details on the show can be found at http://www.beachlandballroom.com.

From Cool Cleveland Managing Editor Peter Chakerian peterATcoolcleveland.com

Wanna get reviewed? Send your band’s CD (less than 1 year old) to: Cool Cleveland, 14837 Detroit Avenue, #105, Lakewood, OH 44107

Squire-Sanders and the Sabotage of Cleveland

This is a story of civic sabotage.

The desire for the private sector to damage, destroy and take over the Cleveland’s public electric power system reveals an important lesson in how power works in this or any community.

It also is instructive in the sense that you can apply these past lessons to today’s events and Squire-Sanders’s role in the Medical Mart.

This piece continues my attempt to review aspects of power that have been used in the community and to suggest how it is used today.

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, Cleveland’s second largest law firm at the time, was a key player in this assault on public government. Oddly, Squire-Sanders represented the city at the same it represented CEI, the private electric company. Guess whether the city or CEI got the best representation…

Read more from Roldo Bartimole here

Quick reviews of recent events
Submit your own review or commentary to Events@CoolCleveland.com

Prints and Drawings from the Karamu Workshop: 1929-1941 @ Cleveland Artists Foundation 1/19 Take a look back in time at genuine expressions from our region’s African-American artists at the Cleveland Artists Foundation exhibit of visual works (left) from the early part of the twentieth century created by a group of artist sometimes known as Karamu Artists. Inc. On display are linocuts, watercolors, oil paintings and sketches. Fred Carlo and William E. Smith created gritty linocuts of local city scenes; the factories, neighborhoods, tool sheds, streetscapes and working-class people of their experience. The irregular lines and over-all dark tone of these pieces depicts a life of struggle and hard work. Some sketches by these two artists and others are less inspiring, more straight forward…

Read more from Carol Drummond here

Frost/Nixon @ Palace Theatre 1/13 Peter Morgan’s fascinating play — which seems more like a hybrid between a documentary, a History Channel special and a 1970’s-era network sitcom — opened this past Tuesday at PlayhouseSquare’s Palace Theatre. It was recently made into a movie directed by Ron Howard and starred the two original leads of the show on Broadway. If you are interested in the story or saw the film and liked it, this production would certainly appeal to you. The storytelling is alternately funny and thrillingly fast-paced; brilliant performances are given by the two leads, who really provide the best part of the evening. Despite looking more like William Howard Taft than Richard Nixon himself, Stacy Keach offered a commanding and realistic performance. In the hands of a lesser actor, the role of Nixon could easily become nothing more than a caricature…
Read more from Drew Factor and the STAR Reporters here

Cleveland Orchestra @ Severance Hall, 1/15 & 1/22 In its last two concerts, The Cleveland Orchestra laid out choice pieces from the glittering assortment it will offer on tour this month. For the most gorgeously done award, first on the list must be the two piano concertos and the jarring Slavic Mass. In separate concerts Radu Lupu (1/15) and Leif Ove Andsnes (1/22) offered compelling performances of Bartok’s “Piano Concerto No. 3” and Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No. 3,” in that order. (Why does musical tradition label these amazing beauties with such drab names such as “Number this” and “Number that”? Call the Bartok, “Space Music” and the Rachmaninoff “Vampire Love.”) Neither pianist seemed aware that both works present legendary difficulties as they translated emotion to keyboard with apparent ease…
Read more from Laura Kennelly here

Cleveland Orchestra @ Severance Hall 1/22 Leif Ove Andsnes is a Norwegian pianist we Clevelanders can claim as well as any other part of the world. After all, it was here in 1990 (at Blossom, actually) that he made his US debut with our orchestra. He is a tall, lean and elegantly muscular gentleman who commands the piano to do as he wishes, without extraneous body English or other outward displays of emotion. His playing is anything but cold, however. Every note is carefully wrought and perfectly attuned to its mates and accorded the proper dynamic, rhythm and any other quality necessary. The result is nothing short of astonishing…
Read more from Kelly Ferjutz here

A House with No Walls @ Karamu 1/23 I love it when a theatrical production ends before my concentration begins to falter. A House with No Walls, now at Karamu through February 15, held my attention so thoroughly on opening night (even at close to 2 1/2 hours, including intermission) that I really did not want it to be over. It’s as close to a perfect production as I’ve seen in several years. Everything works as it should. The play itself, by Thomas Gibbons of Philadelphia, has some meat on its bones. Mr. Gibbons found a historical ambiguity and not only embraced it but enhanced it with relevancy to today’s world. Of course, the fact that Terrence Spivey, Artistic Director at Karamu had the prescience to schedule the play for the week of the inauguration of America’s first black president, only added extra piquancy to both the play and the events in Washington…
Read more from Kelly Ferjutz here

Klaus George Roy Birthday Bash @ St. Paul’s Church 1/25 Yesterday was the 85th birthday of the irrepressible, witty and erudite Klaus George Roy, annotator of the Cleveland Orchestra program books for some 30 years (along with multiple other duties) and a composer for probably more than 60 years. How fitting then, that this afternoon, a goodly gathering of his friends and fans gathered at St. Paul’s Church in Cleveland Heights for a festive birthday party/concert. It may have been frigid out-of-doors, but inside, it was all sunny and warm! Karel Paukert started this tradition five years ago with a concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Eric Kisch of WCLV-FM (and elsewhere) remembered that event, and so, together, the two of them cooked up this splendid occasion, and opened it to the public…
Read more from Kelly Ferjutz here

Most clicked
Here are the Top 5 most clicked links from last week’s issue, with one more chance for you to click.

1) What I’d do with 15 minutes of “face time” with Barack Obama by Brynna Fish, who actually met him.
CoolCleveland.com

2) Cleveland’s Burdensome Past Remains With Us by Roldo Bartimole.
CoolCleveland.com

3) Doug Katz, the catalyst behind Fire Food & Drink, tackles Suze Orman with some sensible advice.
Oprah.com and Doug’s response here

4) Cabin Fever Trains Cuyahoga Valley National Park will liven up your winter.
CVSR.com

5) Will Jazz 28 steal some thunder from Bop Stop?.
Jazz28.com

Jam-Packed with great links and ideas. That’s our issue this week, thanks to the Hard Corps. They’ve got PDAs on their nightstands and rack their brains at night so yours are better. Cheers to Peter Chakerian, T.L. Champion, George Nemeth, Susan Petrone, Susan Schaul, Kelly Ferjutz, Mansfield B. Frazier, Jeannie Fleming-Gifford, Claudia J. Taller, Roy Berko, Marcus Bales, Roldo Bartimole, Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas. 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.

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