Smile

02.20.08 – 02.27.08
Smile

In this week’s issue:
* Party You’ll smile at our Cool Cleveland party on 3/8
* Kids Regional musicians for the kids
* Straight Outta Mansfield We, The People
* BFD Improving high school performance is the most important factor in reducing poverty
* Eats Eco-friendly, sustainable flavors
* Emissions from the Blogsphere Kucinich, Cimperman, Plusquellic & more
* Sounds Dog Days by David Ullman
* Roldo Cuyahoga County Disaster Number One
* Cool Cleveland Kids podcast click here, CC podcast click here, Brewed Fresh Daily here

There’s lots to smile about this week in NEO. We’re coming up on a primary election that will most certainly have national implications— we’ll publish our endorsements next week. We celebrate local musicians that your kids will love right along with you. BFD blogs about the importance of high school proficiency in reducing urban poverty, and Emissions from the Blogsphere links you to blog postings on Kucinich & Plusquellic, as well as a recap of last week’s Meet The Blogger interview with Cimperman. Roldo outlines a couple of County disasters and adds some leavening to estimates of Euclid Corridor spin-offs. And if the music on David Ullman’s first full-length release doesn’t make you smile, the cover art certainly will. We’ll all be smiling at the upcoming Cool Cleveland party on 3/8, especially with the discount online tickets you can get only here. Need something to smile about this week? Read on, and click below. —Thomas Mulready

Smile for the cameras!
Be a star at our cool movie music party 3/8
Order here for 27% discount

We’ll keep you smiling as you listen to the coolest movie music ever written, synched to film clips of Hitchcock classics like Psycho, Vertigo, and North By Northwest, and performed live by the supercool Red, {an Orchestra} at the magnificent Masonic Auditorium on Sat 3/8 with an exclusive Cool Cleveland soiree pre-party from 5:30-7:30PM. Check out photos of our legendary Cool Cleveland parties here, and order your discount tix before midnight Thu 2/21 here.

Hard to believe you get all this:

Act now Open bar, movie clips, delicious food, and a delightful room full of Cool Clevelanders will enjoy this special event! Get your lowest price on a ticket by ordering online before midnight Thu 2/21 here: https://www.coolcleveland.net/tickets/030808/index.php

Own your own Apple iPhone or iPod

Win a new iPhone Or video iPod, just for doing the right thing. Pay it forward. Our readers are the reason for our success — we grew virally from people forwarding the Cool Cleveland e-blast to their friends and we’re asking you to help us again by forwarding this week’s issue to one person while becoming eligible to win one of several video iPods or the new iPhone! Send CC to your best friend(s), colleague(s) and family member(s), and you could both win a new iPhone or iPod by clicking here. Pay it forward and you could win! Winners to be announced in a future issue. Thomas Mulready of Cool Cleveland reviews the new iPhone here.

Win a free iPhone or iPod: http://www.coolcleveland.com/ipodgiveaway/index.php

SPONSORED: How Would You Like to be Dipped in Chocolate? Or win tickets to Paris – the chocolate capital of the world? See Chocolate: The Exhibition at Great Lakes Science Center and you can enter a drawing to win two tickets to Paris, France. The Exhibition will run from Sat 2/9 – Sun 5/4. See chocolate science at our Chocolate Bar – our chocolate experiments with a culinary twist include making chocolate ice cream with liquid nitrogen. Browse the Chocolate Store, where you can purchase luxury chocolates from around the world. Learn how to get complimentary chocolate covered strawberries at the exhibit and plan a Sundae on Saturday here. GLSC members get extra special treats. Details: www.GreatScience.com.

Local Musicians for the Kids

In those early days of new parenting, days filled with a mixture of uncontainable joy and wrenching loneliness, it was music that carried me through. It filled the silence of days home alone with a newborn, and later fueled many hours of silliness dancing through the kitchen as my children grew.

But finding children’s music that the kids love but parents don’t find annoying as hell is a tricky process of trial and error. In my last Mom’s Eye View, I shared some of my favorite children’s music from artists around the world. This week, I turned my focus to children’s musicians closer to home, and was pleasantly surprised by the talent I found. From the offerings of Chip Richter, Vicki McCrone, Robin Pease and Hal Walker I uncovered many more songs that will make my family’s list of favorites.

Allow me to introduce you…

Chip Richter

Think of Chip Richter as the family-friendly Jimmy Buffet. Best known for presiding over the family vacation mecca of Lakeside, Ohio, where’s he’s been an artist-in-residence since 1996, Richter delivers on his promise of fun, positive music for parents and kids. Close your eyes while listening to Richter’s “Live at Lakeside” tracks and you can almost imagine your vacationing self clapping and singing along to his energetic performances amid a crowd of adoring kiddos.

But Columbiana-based Richter insists he never planned to be a kids’ musician. Fifteen years ago, he says was doing “folksy stuff, playing in coffeehouses” until the Lakeside folks heard his music and asked him to come out for the summer to do seven shows a week for 10 weeks for vacationing families.

“I told them, ‘I don’t do music for kids,’ and they said ‘yeah, but we think you’d be good at it,’” says Richter, a married father of three kids, all now teenagers and older. “I was really desperate to work, so I said yes. I jumped in with two feet and realized I really loved it.”

When he’s not entertaining summering families in Lakeside, Richter can be found performing throughout Ohio and beyond in libraries, schools, churches and family concerts. He’s released five CDs – his latest is Chip’s Bits & Pieces – and he also produces jingles and other local artists in his own recording studio. Richter has attracted such a following by uncovering the right formula that appeals to kids and grown-ups.

“I think the key is just to make good music, not necessarily write it for kids but just make music kids will enjoy,” Richter says. “Just because it’s for kids doesn’t mean it has to be silly or ridiculous or mindless. It can have some depth and they will appreciate it.”

Adults will recognize some of the songs that Richter’s put a kid-oriented spin on, like “Jammy Day” to the tune of Bob Marley’s “Jamming”, about staying home in your pajamas on a snow day. Other songs on his CDs are originals – like his “Ice Cream”, which closes each of his Lakeside performances to the delight of screaming children – and some are covers, like James Taylor’s “Shower the People” and Paul McCartney’s “Put It There.” Three of his CDs are Christian-themed family albums.

To find an upcoming performance of Chip Richter and his band “The Munks” visit http://www.chiprichter.com, where you can also order any of his CDs. Digital downloads are also available at http://www.cdbaby.com.

Vicki McCrone

For 15 years, Vicki McCrone was a musical artist in a corporate software sales executive’s body. She’s a native of Cleveland’s east side who was living in San Francisco, playing music on the side for grown-ups, until a move back home to Cleveland to be closer to family also brought her closer to making music her full-time gig.

While working with Cleveland’s Positive Education Program doing pet therapy for autistic children with her yellow lab, she wrote a song for her students called “My Little Dog.” They loved it, so she wrote more songs, and eventually began traveling around to schools with a participatory program she calls “Little Songs” that gets kids singing and playing along. Her music is now available in two CD/DVD sets for families and teachers titled “Little Songs: Animals” and “Little Songs: Earth.”

Moms and dads who enjoy indie female vocalists will love McCrone’s contemporary style; she’s been compared to Shawn Colvin and Paula Cole, but she says she models her music after Carole King. It’s the type of music you’ll listen to in the car without a hint of embarrassment even when your kids aren’t around.

Most of McCrone’s performances are in schools and after-school settings through organizations like Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio, the Ohio Arts Council and Neighborhood Players, a non-profit McCrone co-founded that works with urban youth to record and perform rap music with positive messages.

McCrone’s music is available at Holcomb’s, or for digital download at iTunes or http://www.cdbaby.com. Her busy schedule in the schools prevents her from playing out much these days, she says, but interested parties can reach her at stella444@mac.com.

Robin Pease

Robin Pease’s instrument of choice is her powerful voice, which she uses to bring to life dozens of characters, create sound effects and take children away to another world through her stories and music. As artistic director for Kulture Kids, a non-profit organization that encourages cultural awareness for kids through the arts, Pease combines music and storytelling to bring to life folk tales from Native American, Latin American, African and other cultures that communicate important life lessons like sharing, listening and being humble. In 2005, she used her popular storytelling-and-music program for schoolchildren to create a CD that families can enjoy called “The Talkative Turtle and Other Tales.”

By training, Pease is an actor and teaching artist, with degrees in fine arts from the Boston Conservatory and Case Western Reserve University. But her current programming initiated with a request from her own son’s teacher when he was in elementary school.

“The teacher knew I was Native American” – Pease is descended from the Mohawk Nation – “and she asked my son to bring something in,” says Pease, who lives in Cleveland Heights with husband Tom Kerr and their two kids. “So I wrote a program with singing, games, dancing and storytelling and she really liked it. Then she came back asking for something for Cinco de Mayo.”

Pretty soon, she was offering her programs to a variety of teachers, who would come back to her asking for programs to fit with various lesson plans on world cultures or for assemblies. Through connections with Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio, the Beck Center for the Arts and Playhouse Square, Pease has become one of the area’s most popular performers for kids.

“The Talkative Turtle” features six stories performed by Pease with traditional music interspersed. She creates an amazing number of characters with her mesmerizing voice, and the subtle sound effects make the stories come alive. To order “The Talkative Turtle and Other Tales”, visit http://www.kulturekids.org or http://www.cdbaby.com.

Hal Walker

Hal Walker is one of those slippery musical artists who shrugs off any label you try to cloak him in. He calls himself a “one-of-a-kind one-man-band” who performs “original music using different instruments from around the world in an improvised way.” Walker’s not exactly a children’s artist, but he’s been a popular musician on the Ohio schools circuit for nearly a dozen years. He’s musical director for the Summit Children’s Choir and the Kent Bicentennial Children’s Choir, has worked with the Groundworks Dance Theater, and can be found each Sunday morning at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent as music director.

“I make music for myself, and I’m kind of like a big kid I guess,” Walker says. “I like to write songs that are singable. I don’t think of them as children’s songs, but they’re good for all ages.”

Music’s been a part of Walker’s life since he was a kid growing up in Kent, when he walked along the banks of the Cuyahoga River to piano lessons, playing a harmonica along the way. He bought his first guitar with the money he made working at Geauga Lake as a teenager. But it was 20 years ago, while studying history at Northwestern University in Chicago, that Walker says he “discovered a whole new world of music” and began writing and performing his own songs.

It was through working in the schools that Walker found a way to make a full-time living as a musician, and there, he says, “I found that I had a rapport with children.” One of his most popular kids’ programs, which he calls “Music That Fits in Your Pocket,” provides each child with a harmonica that he encourages them to use to create their own tunes.

His music is simple and complex all at once, with catchy, hummable melodies and lyrics with surprising depth. His stirring anthem “My Home in Ohio” is enough to make you want to go hug a buckeye tree and kiss a cardinal. Under Walker’s guidance, the 200 members of the Summit Children’s Choir performed the song for the governor during the state’s Bicentennial celebration. The recording I heard of “Underneath the Surface” – performed with his angelic-voiced 10-year-old daughter Hallie – encourages us to listen to the story waiting to be told in each of us.

To see Hal Walker in person, “keep your eyes open” for future performances, Walker advises; he does not yet have a website and he typically sells his CD only at gigs or by request to Halwalker3@aol.com.

And Many More…

Want more local opportunities to enjoy music with your family? Turn to any of the many Northeast Ohio arts organizations offering family-friendly performances and classes. To get started, look for kid-focused performances and programming sponsored by the Cleveland Music School Settlement (http://www.thecmss.org), the Cleveland Institute of Music (http://www.cim.edu), Playhouse Square Pals (http://www.playhousesquare.com), The Cleveland Orchestra (http://www.clevelandorchestra.com), The Beck Center for the Arts (http://beckcenter.org) and more.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Jennifer Keirn jenniferkATwowway.com
Comments? LettersATCoolCleveland.com

Jazz Across Generations Lakeland Community College’s Jazz Festival will showcase fusion-jazz master Larry Coryell and local and out-of-state high school jazz musicians Thu 2/21 – Sat 2/23. Over 25K middle and high school musicians from throughout the state have participated in the festival in the past; this year’s program includes two high schools traveling from Michigan to take part. Schedules of events can be found online at http://lakelandcc.edu/academic/arts/concerts.asp and http://jwpjazz.com/Lakeland_Jazz_Fest.html.

Elmo Makes Music Ya gotta love that little, red fuzzy buddy. Sesame Street’s Elmo, Zoe, Big Bird and all their friends share their love of music in Sesame Street Live production starting Thu 2/21 and running through the weekend. Features many a musical favorite from the Street! Part of the Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital Family Series at Playhouse Square. Palace Theater. http://www.playhousesquare.org. http://www.sesamestreetlive.com.

Budding Local Photographers This Red Brick Center for the Arts exhibit showcases tomorrow’s talent, celebrating the works of Bay Village High School seniors, Megan White and Chris Osborn! On Fri 2/22 at 6:30PM, check out a reception featuring the nature photography of White and Osborn, at Mojo’s Coffee and More, 600 Dover Center Rd., Bay Village. No cost, open to the public. Call 440-527-0627 or visit http://www.redbrickarts.org.

Peter and the Wolf The Cleveland Orchestra will perform Prokofiev’s engaging Peter and the Wolf as part of their 07-08 Family Concert Series on Sat 2/23 at 11AM and 1:30PM. The characters of this magical tale come to life with music and narrative in this spirited performance; works by Mozart and Dvoøák highlight the four families of instruments and round out the performance. Great for families with children age 7 and up. Severance Hall, 11001 Euclid Ave. http://www.clevelandorchestra.com.

HOT Young Leaders Telling Old Stories Restore Cleveland Hope presents this multicultural celebration of Black History on Sun 2/24 at 3PM at the Euclid Ave. Congregational Church, 9606 Euclid Ave. The program features a performance of history readings and music by area teens. No cost, open to the public; freewill offering suggested. For more info, call 383-1684.

HOT Arms & Armor The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) presents a varied selection of some of the finest surviving examples of European arms and armor with the arrival of Arms and Armor from Imperial Austria on view starting Sun 2/24 and running through the beginning of June. This exhibition is available for view during normal museum hours and is the Museum’s brilliant slice of history in Europe during the height of the Renaissance. Learn how arms and armor played a pivotal role in a rural society on the border of the Ottoman Empire. 11150 East Blvd. http://www.clevelandart.org.

Cool Cleveland Kids Podcast Weekly roundup of cool events for kids & families from 11-year-old Cool Cleveland Kids correspondent Max.

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

SPONSORED: See & Be Seen Mark your calendar and don’t miss the United Way of Greater Cleveland Annual Meeting on Fri 3/7 at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, from 11:45AM to 1:30PM. To reserve a table, individual tickets or secure a sponsorship opportunity, please contact Jessica D. Snyder at 216-436-2123 or jdsnyder@uws.org. For complete sponsorship information, visit our Web site at www.uws.org/annualmeeting.

To ensure you receive Cool Cleveland every week, take a moment now and add CoolCleveland@CoolCleveland.com to your address book, trusted sender list, or corporate white list.

Peter Lewis makes Slate 60 list of highest philanthropic donations with $54M. ACLU & Princeton get his love. Read
Moving the port and transforming the lakefront mark plans. Listen
Want tix to Clinton/Obama debate at Cle State U? Sign up for the Ohio Dem party lottery here
Foreclosure class action could spark copycats, according this piece. Read
Witness the Smash Day 2008 carnage that comes when lack of sun distrubs the souls in C-town. Hilarious! Watch
Abandoned homes in Ohio cost the state $64M. Listen
Not to early to think green with Lawn & Garden workshops at Tri-C. Click
Cle Botanical Garden launches new blog called (fittingly) “The Garden Variety” Read
Constantly craving sweets and can’t understand why? Maybe you have the Sugar Blues. Learn about it locally. Click
Cle City Council to reconsider its vote concerning the proposed 960-megawatt pulverized coal-fired power plant that would be built in Meigs County near the Ohio River? Petition

Kucinich & Penn at Beachland

Were you there? After patiently posing for hundreds of photos, and saying to everyone, “Hey, did you meet my friend Sean Penn?” 10th District rep Dennis Kucinich jumped up on stage last Saturday at the Beachland Ballroom and officially introduced the actor to the crowd. Penn returned the favor by offering, “I came to Cleveland to support my friend Dennis Kucinich and leave it to Dennis to be out supporting something else.” Both were supporting WJCU and college radio while whipping up support for Kucinich’s re-election bid. www.Kucinich.us, www.BeachlandBallroom.com

Need for food increasing in Cle, Cuy Cty. Click
CIM, Oberlin Csvty of Music students showcased at the Kennedy Ctr Wed 2/20, Mon 2/25 respectively. Catch the streams here
Reflections from an Antioch Obama rally attendee can be found by clicking here
Wicked breaks box ofc records at Playhouse Square last week by delivering the highest grossing 8-performance wk in venue history. Surf
Franz Welser-Möst hailed as the music critics’ No. 1 choice for the best performance or concert in Japan in 2007. Click
Bollywood at Cle Public Library Over 1000 Hindi DVD & VHS titles ready to rent. Volunteer for Issue 2 library renewal levy at 721-2385.
Who are these candidates we’re voting for? See how the five major bar assoctns in Greater Cle rated Cuy County candidates at non-partisan website http://www.judge4yourself.com
What Mayor Frank Jackson wants in a presidential candidate might have influence. Read
What’s UofA going to do with Quaker Square besides making the hotel rooms student living quarters? Read
Amanda Brosius of Cle Hts is a 6-year-old championing greener lifestyles! And she gets the USA TODAY treatment! Read
High-interest lenders tapping elderly, disabled according to author with NEO ties. Read

Pop-Up Leap Night

Leap Night will never be the same after 2008. Pop-Up City, a Civic Innovation Lab funded project of Terry Schwartz of the Kent State Urban Design Collective, is transforming the East Bank of the Flats in a winter wonderland, with a no-charge event on Leap Night, Fri 2/29 from 6-11PM, starting at 1100 Old River Road, between Main Avenue and Front Street. In addition to a multi-media performance by Cleveland’s SAFMOD and Mal Adjusted, they’re constructing an ice rink (you can rent sk8s), a snowboard ramp featuring a rail jam competition, and an outdoor Rock Band video game competition. Then, stick around for the snowsuit fashion show, various food & drink vendors and ample comp parking, not to mention it’s a short walk from the East Bank stop on the RTA’s Waterfront Line (the nation’s best public transit system). After-party at Anatomy in the Warehouse District. http://www.PopUpCleveland.com

Cool Cleveland Podcast Weekly roundup of cool events.

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

SPONSORED: The Snowman takes flight Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Raymond Briggs fabled children’s story, The Dancing Wheels Company presents two benefit galas on Sat 3/1 and Sun 3/2 accompanying the performances of The Snowman at The Cleveland Play House, where the ballet first premiered in 2000. Saturday evening starting at 6:30, party goers will enjoy an open bar, hors d’ oeuvres, silent auction, desserts and dancing plus the performance. On Sunday afternoon, The Frosty Family Fest will offer fun for the whole family with games, kid friendly food, prizes and an enchanting performance by an 18 member cast, playing 47 fantastical characters. Don’t miss this weekend Winter Land experience. For gala and performance tickets call (216) 432-0306 or for Saturday evening performance only tickets call The Cleveland Play House box office at 795-7000 x 4.

Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com

From Songwriters to Soundmen The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s 4th Floor Theater plays host to The People Behind the Hits with Al Bell, former owner of Stax Records this Wed 2/20 at 7PM. Part of the Rock Hall’s celebration of Black History Month. 4th Floor Theater. http://www.rockhall.com.

Arts-Related Business Symposium COSE’s Arts Network holds a half-day, multi-disciplinary symposium Wed 2/20 from Noon – 7PM. The begins with a keynote from Ali Pretty, founding member/ artistic director of Kinetika, a large-scale carnival arts and design company based in London. It ends with a networking session. Trinity Commons, 2230 Euclid Ave. Register online: http://www.cose.org/events or call 592-2203.

SPONSORED: WCLV 104.9 will be live again tonight at 8PM at the Cleveland Institute of Music’s spanking new recital hall Mixon Hall for a faculty recital by Cleveland Orchestra violinist Stephen Rose and guest pianist Christina Dahl in a program of Sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven and Faure. Next Monday, 2/25, at 8PM, WCLV presents a retrospective program celebrating the 75th anniversary of Baldwin-Wallace’s Bach Festival, with large helpings of Bach’s Mass in b from last spring. Complete details on all of WCLV’s classical music programming at http://www.wclv.com.

Strings Attached CityMusic Cleveland, the professional chamber orchestra and arts outreach organization, offers its next set of no cost, open to the public concerts beginning Wed 2/20 throughout NEO. Conducted by Music Director James Gaffigan, the program will be presented in six different cities, including Elyria, Westlake, Slavic Village, St. Clair-Superior, Cleveland Heights, and Willoughby. The program has a wide-ranging appeal, including the music of Grieg, Schoenberg, Schreker and Mozart. Locations and times at http://www.citymusiccleveland.org.

Winter Lecture Series at CBG Professional horticulturists shed light on the subjects of miniature orchids and mixed perennial beds during Cleveland Botanical Garden’s Winter Lecture Series, which launches Wed 2/20 at 6:30PM. Steven A. Frowineing is featured in the first lecture focusing on miniature orchids — with detailed info about the fascinating flowers, their origins, history and tips for ensuring success a part of the program. Attendees receive no cost parking, wine and cheese. Call 721-1600 x143 or visit http://www.cbgarden.org for more info on this and other CBG lectures.

SPONSORED: Thursday and Friday with The Cleveland Orchestra – full of surprises! Don’t delay — order your discounted tickets by noon tomorrow! The Feb. 21 and 22 concerts “Baroque and Beyond” are crowd-pleasers featuring Haydn’s famous “Surprise” Symphony and a virtuoso Flute Concerto by C.P.E. Bach. Take advantage TODAY of the exclusive Cool Cleveland “2 for the price of 1” discount for the concerts of Thursday, Feb. 21 and Friday, Feb. > 22, both at 8 p.m. Call the Severance Hall Ticket Office at 216-231-1111 or visit http://www.clevelandorchestra.com TODAY and order using promo code 4752. Offer expires at noon on Feb. 21, subject to availability.

A One-Act Play Festival Written by members of Tri-C West’s creative process class and directed and designed by Tri-C West students, this evening of one-act plays features Fatal Portraits (examining a single event through the perspectives of addiction, fidelity, and religion) and The Russian Comedy (aspiring artists who outwit Stalin to gain the love of Czarina Anastasia) written by Paul Warren, a local autistic playwright. Runs Thu 2/21 – Sat 2/23 at 8PM, with a Sun 2/24 matinee at 3PM. 11000 Pleasant Valley Rd. Parma. http://www.tri-c.edu/theatre/west.

Comedy Showcase w/ Last Call Cleveland The Powerhouse Pub offers an Improv Comedy Showcase series, presenting a different improv/sketch comedy group from the Ohio area! One group per month will be spotlighted and will perform two no-cost shows for the public! Their first showcase highlights the absolutely hilarious sketch comedy group Last Call Cleveland on Thu 2/21 at 8PM. The Powerhouse Pub in the Flats. Call 479-3353 for more. http://www.clevelandimprovinstitute.com. http://www.lastcallcleveland.com.

Charles Chestnutt in Cleveland Chestnutt was an African-American writer born in Cle in 1858. After a short time in the Big Apple writing for newspapers, he returned here to work in the accounting office of the Nickel Plate Railroad Company, and later its legal department. In 1887, Chestnutt passed the Ohio bar exam and became a stenographer with Henderson, Kline, and Tolles, a Cle law firm. He wrote short stories for newspapers and novels about racism and other social issues. Come learn more about Chestnutt’s interesting life and his books Thu 2/21 at 7PM at Loganberrry Books. A free Ohio Books in History poster will be given to forum attendees. Part of the N.O.B.S. Forums. Loganberry Books, 13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Hts. http://www.loganberrybooks.com.

Election Dissection The ACLU of Ohio hosts a panel of civic activists, including former Cle Mayor Jane Campbell, to discuss the implications of the presidential elections for the future of civil liberties in Ohio and across the US Thu 2/21 at 7PM. The non-partisan organization’s discussion will focus on civil liberties. Max Wohl Civil Liberties Ctr, 4506 Chester Ave. No cost, open to the public. http://www.acluohio.org.

SPONSORED: Tix on Sale Now for the Award-winning Best New Musical “The Break Up Notebook: The Lesbian Musical” showing at the Beck Center Fri 2/22 – Sat 3/22 in the Studio Theater. “Not since Reefer Madness has a production brought humor, spunk and creativity back to musical theater,” says Stacy Schupmann, Showmag.com, of the original L.A. production. Written by Patricia Cotter with music and lyrics by Lori Scarlett, Notebook received the 2006 LA Ovation Award for Best New Musical. Dive back into the dating pool with Helen Hill, a 33-year-old lesbian who has recently been dumped by her girlfriend. This is the first production of this new musical outside of California. For tickets to this hilariously insightful night of theater call Beck Center at (216) 521-2540, or visit their website at: www.beckcenter.org.

Rebuilding New Orleans The latest Our Place in the Urban Age Brown Bag lunch focuses on “Equity Planning and Social Justice in the 9th Ward” and features speaker Kenneth Reardon, Ph.D., Associate Professor in City and Regional Planning at Cornell University on Fri 2/22 at noon. Come and discuss a successful model for participatory planning and rebuilding in New Orleans’ 9th Ward that resulted in the allocation of $145M in available federal funds. No cost, open to the public. Bring your own lunch. Register by phone at 523-7330. http://urban.csuohio.edu.

Blue Soul Food A sharp poetry event and open mike night sponsored by the women of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. – Alpha Lambda Sigma Graduate Chapter of Cle hits A Better Place Fri 2/22 from 6 – 10PM. Hosted by Camouflage Finesse’s Erica Nicole and Chief Rocka Entertainment’s Ant Jones (Mad Poet), the night features Hip Hop and R&B music and an appetizer buffet. All proceeds will benefit the group’s annual Youth Symposium. 815 Superior Ave (off of Rockwell and E. 9th). Call 798-9025 or email bluesoulfood@sgrho-als.com for tix/info. http://www.sgrho-als.com.

Hot from the Oven, a la carte Eleven provocative, clever, never before produced one acts comprise this fast-paced fun festival launching Fri 2/22 at 7:30PM and continuing a run through early March. One-acts by playwrights from across the U.S., Canada and Australia were selected from more than 200 entries. There’s something on the menu for everyone; second helpings will most surely be wanted. Corning Auditorium at The Fine Arts Association, 38660 Mentor Ave., Willoughby. For a synopsis of each one-act, visit http://www.fineartsassociation.org.

HOT The Breakup Notebook: The Lesbian Musical Dive back into the dating pool with Helen Hill, a 33-year-old lesbian who has recently been dumped by her girlfriend beginning Fri 2/22 at 8PM in the Beck Center’s Studio Theater. With the help of her queeny best friend and butch/femme gal pals, Helen goes on a series of dates from hell as she searches for the girl of her dreams. This is the first production of this new musical outside of California or New York. Runs through late March on Fri and Sat evenings and on Sun matinees. Tix at 521-2540 or online at http://www.beckcenter.org.

Living Fountain Dance Company announces the “Simply Sacred” dance and piano concert Fri 2/22 at 7PM at Edgewood Community Ctr, 6852 Market Ave. N in N. Canton. The performance will feature the Living Fountain Junior and Senior Companies to the accompaniment of pianist, Adam Fehrenbach. Tickets by phone at 330-445-2717. http://www.edgewoodcommunitycenter.com. http://www.livingfountain.org.

HOT Theater Ninjas’ Mad World Step inside a world gone mad. Join Theater Ninjas for Mad World, a collection of plays that explore the way life can be darkly hilarious, hilariously dark and just plain crazy. Directed by Jeremy Paul and Faye Hargate, the program includes The Leader by Eugene Ionesco, Professor Taranne by Arthur Adamov and The Underground Lovers by Jean Tardieu. All will be performed at the former Centrum Movie Theater (2781 Euclid Heights Blvd., Coventry Village, Cleveland Heights) starting Fri 2/22 and running through Sun 3/2. Performances are at 8PM Fri and Sat; 3PM on Sun and there’s a special “late night show Sat 2/23 at 11PM. Run time is 60 minutes+. http://www.theaterninjas.com.

SPONSORED: Celebrated Native Cleveland Author Honored The Ohio Center for the Book at Cleveland Public Library celebrates Black History Month by hosting a no cost (open to the public) talk by educator Nathan T. Oliver about the African American author, Charles W. Chestnutt, Sat 2/23 on the 2nd floor Literature Department of the Main Library Building, 325 Superior Avenue at 2PM. A native of Cleveland, Chestnutt (1858-1932), was recently honored by the U.S. Postal Service with a commemorative Black Heritage Series stamp. He is the author of The Wife of His Youth, The House Behind the Cedars, The Conjure Woman, and numerous other novels, stories and essays reflecting African American life in latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century. For more information, call 216-623-2831 or go to www.cpl.org.

HOT Emerge: A Celebration EcoCity Cleveland and The Cleveland Museum of Natural History invite the public to join in a celebration of their merger Sat 2/23 starting at 8PM. The green party commemorates 15 years of EcoCity Cleveland’s efforts to make the city “a green city on a blue lake.” It will also celebrate the merger of the two organizations and help launch the new Center for Regional Sustainability at the Museum. Party until midnight with heavy hors d’oeuvres made with organic and locally sourced ingredients, a cash bar featuring organic wine selections, a Great Lakes Brewing Company beer-tasting, a raffle and live entertainment by Abby Normal. 1 Wade Oval Dr., University Circle. http://www.ecocitycleveland.org. http://www.cmnh.org.

Harlem Gospel Choir One of the preeminent gospel choirs on the scene today, featuring a collection of the finest singers and musicians from Harlem’s Black churches, hits the Ohio Theatre on Playhouse Square Sat 2/23 at 8PM. Foot stomping, hand clapping selections of blues, jazz and gospel spirituals and an overwhelming message of love, peace and harmony are on the bill of fare. African-American culture shines through on this dynamic night of gospel performance. http://www.tricpresents.com.

Tri-C/Praise 1300 Showcase Concert Part of a Black History Month Concert Showcase, this matinee features Cassandra, Estee, Marv and Malachi3. The celebration gets started Sat 2/23 at 1PM, also at the Ohio Theatre, hours before the performance above. http://www.tricpresents.com.

Rockin’ Pink Gala Northern Ohio Breast Cancer Coalition presents its 5th annual gala benefit supporting research, advocacy, education and assistance to end breast cancer Sat 2/23 from 7 – 11PM at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum. Enjoy live Motown music and dancing featuring the group Shout and a fabulous silent auction. Includes a tour of the Rock Hall! Gourmet dinner and dessert; black tie is optional (but certainly stylish). Cash bar, valet parking and more. Reserve a seat at http://www.nobcc.org.

February Emporium Auction Gray’s Auctioneers recently announced the catalogue for their February Emporium Auction, now online at http://www.graysauctioneers.com. The auction features an excellent array of Fine Arts, Antiques and Collectibles. The auction previews beginning Sat 2’23 at noon, with the auction commencing shortly thereafter. See their website for further details.

P.S (Pop Shop) I Love You This show involves 19 of the best Cle area artists, all who collaborated to create one giant breathtaking image that will be officially unveiled Sat 2/23 from 6 – 9PM. Artist Paul Jacklitch donated one of his photographs which was then cut into 24 pieces and disbursed to 18 artists. Each artist recreated their piece on an 8 x 8 inch canvas panel in their own unique style. The canvas panels are united at this reception, along with other works of all those artists. Stick around for an afterparty at Mullens (next to the gallery) following the reception. 17020 Madison Ave., Lakewood. http://www.popshopgallery.com.

Woolies and More with Heather Quinones offers participants a way to recycle scrap pieces of fabric into beautiful and useful items Sat 2/23 at 12:30PM. Penny rugs or woolies are an old form of recycling scrap pieces of fabric. Learn basic steps of how to prepare old wool clothes and stitches to enhance your designs. The only limitation to your creations in this class is your imagination. Peninsula Art Academy, 1600 W. Mill St., Peninsula. http://www.peninsulaartacademy.com or call 330-657-2248 to learn more about this and the myriad of other PAA classes and events. They’re definitely cool.

Lines Across Lines iPod Release Show You new it would happen someday. Local unsigned indie band Lines Across Lines releases their new, um, CD(?) with a leap of faith: a virtual release. Considering the state of the music industry and the recent Wired story by David Byrne, LAL’s move to sell their new EP release Octopussy DIY-digital is pretty revolutionary. Armed with laptops and song/art files, they will hook up your iPod, MP3 player or jump drive for a Lincoln before of after their show at the Grog Shop, which kicks off at Sat 2/23 at 8PM. Call 440-670-3592 for info. http://www.myspace.com/linesacrosslines. http://www.grogshop.gs.

SPONSORED: Pangea: Music inspired by Ghana and Uganda Cleveland Public Library celebrates Black History Month with an Afternoon of Music. The group “Pangea” will perform on Sat 2/23 at 3PM. This no cost (open to the public) concert will take place on the 3rd floor lobby of the Main Library Building, 325 Superior Avenue. Pangea was created as a traditional African music ensemble. The ensemble is primarily dedicated to gyil (xylophone) music of the Dagara and Sissala people from northwestern Ghana. As Pangea evolved, other music from Ghana and Uganda has enhanced its repertoire. The current members of Pangea are Tom Roblee, Tyler Carpenter, Mark Petelin, and Mark Halaiko. For more information, call (216) 623-2831 or go to www.cpl.org.

Our Wicked, Wicked Ways Had trouble getting those Wicked tix? On Mon 2/25 at 7PM, members of the National Touring Company give up their only day off to produce and perform a one-of-a-kind show. This song-and-dance cabaret benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland and will be held in the Westfield Insurance Studio Theatre at the Idea Center at Playhouse Square. A cash bar and silent auction round out the festivities. You could win a walk-on role in Wicked. How cool is that??? http://www.playhousesquare.org.

HOT Temporary Use Workshop The Urban Design Center of Northeast Ohio will be conducting a day-long workshop on temporary uses for vacant buildings and sites Wed 2/27. Local design practitioners, planners, community development corporation staff, artists, neighborhood activists and others are invited to this exploration of temporary use projects as a way to stabilize transitional areas, promote economic development, and enhance the quality of life in urban neighborhoods. Pop Up City, Urban Design Center, 820 Prospect Ave. Call 357-3430 for info.

Rock & Roll Night School The monthly program of educational, discussion-based classes features the legendary Stax Records as a subject Wed 2/27 at 7PM at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum’s 4th Floor Theater. The no-cost event features Jason Hanley, musicologist and Education Department Manager at the Rock Hall. Expand your rock and roll-related knowledge and learn about legendary recordings on Stax and examine inductees Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Booker T. & the MGs, and Isaac Hayes. http://www.rockhall.com.

SPONSORED: Cleveland Goes Psycho? Red {an orchestra}’s sixth season comes to an exciting conclusion with a concert featuring the music of film composer Bernard Herrmann, whose scores for classic films of Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo, North By Northwest and Psycho – are unmatched in their distinctive style. Experience film clips while Herrmann’s Hollywood suite is performed, with excerpts from his rarely produced opera, Wuthering Heights. This is perhaps the greatest unknown opera in the history of American music and it will feature the vocal talents of baritone Michael Todd Simpson and mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey. The opera is narrated by one of Cleveland’s most significant stage actors, Dorothy Silver. The concert takes place on Sat 3/8 at 8PM in the Masonic Auditorium in Cleveland’s Midtown neighborhood. Tickets are available starting at $15. Contact 216.361.1733 or www.redanorchestra.org.

Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com

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

NYC Behavorial health care co. Treatment Online planning Cle move. Read and Visit
Med Mart opinions are mixed especially on relevance. Read
Gov. Strickland and COSE stand together for regulatory reform. Click
Cle Biz Radio host raising money for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Donate
Boston Co. picks up the North Point complex. Click
New Progressive widget could solve commute headaches and roadrage. We’re guessing it’s so easy, a caveman could use it. Click
Midwest Health Care Startups raise $1.2B in 07; Ohio among the leaders. Read
Ganeden Biotech gains $12M investment. Click

Great Lakes reimagines the Hanna

A few years ago they were $1M in debt, and their actors were looking for real jobs. Now, Great Lakes Theatre Festival has raised 75% of the $19.2M they need to completely renovate the historic Hanna Theatre with the full cooperation of Playhouse Square, into a 550-seat flexible, hydraulic thrust stage, with enough left over to fund an endowment of $4.5M. Here producing artistic director Charlie Fee shows Cool Cleveland the reimagined intimate new seating arrangement, with no seat further than 11 rows from the new stage. A new street-flush lobby and cozy bar and lounge areas, banquette seating, private boxes and a totally redesigned balcony with only 3 rows will put ticket holders immediately into the theatre experience. Incredibly, they are on track to open Macbeth by Fee, and Into The Woods by Victoria Bussert in repertory for a grand opening on 9/27 of 2008. Is it too soon to get your tickets now? Check the virtual tour: www.GreatLakesTheater.org.

SPONSORED: Leaders Welcome Here There’s a good reason why Baldwin-Wallace College was ranked among the Top Schools in U.S. News “America’s Best Colleges” again in 2007. It’s the place where you can capitalize on your experience and expand your capacity to lead by discovering the new accelerated bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership designed for adults with demonstrated leadership ability. If you are 25 or older, with at least five years of work experience, come to the open house on Tue 2/26 at 6PM. This program, which can be completed in only three years without interrupting one’s career, honors adult learning styles. Students earn a bachelor’s degree with a major in Organizational Leadership and minor in Communication Studies. Classes held at B-W East in Beachwood. Admission Counselor: 216-595-0316. More information: www.bw.edu/academics/bweast.

How is advertising changing? Find out Wed 2/20 at 11:30AM w/ AAF networking at Windows on the River. Register
PRSA Ohio hosts a “Social Media” b’fast conf Fri 2/22 at 7:45AM. Shoreby Club, 40 Shoreby Dr., Bratenahl. http://www.prsacleveland.org
Cle Leadership Ctr’s Emerging Leaders Open House feat. Cle Bridge Builders, Cle Exec Fellowship and more Wed 2/27 at 5:30PM. Park Lane Villas. RSVP
Best Practices feat. Lessons Learned from Cleveland’s Best Business Leaders at CSU Wolstein Ctr Thu 2/28 at 8:30PM. Register
eVolution of Manufacturing Conference hits on Thu 2/28 at the MAGNET Innovation Ctr., 1768 E. 25th St. To register, email: dbaughman@sbnonline.com or call 440-250-7048.
Univ. of Akron’s Ctr for Research and Training in Info Security and Assurance hosts 6th ann. Symposium on IS Risk, Security and Assurance on Thu 2/28 & Fri 2/29. Register
Fight for the Lucite 2008 Addy show hits Fri 2/29 at Gray’s Armory. RSVP to 440-673-0020.
NEO Success Awards Luncheon hits Exec Caterers @ Landerhaven Tue 3/11 at 11:30AM. Register
Ohio-Israel IT Financial Trade Mission Mon 3/10 and Tue 3/11 starting at 7AM, Cle Marriott D’town at KeyCenter. Call 292-3399 for details.
Cleveland AMA Marketing Mixer and Bowling Night hits Winking Lizard Lakewood Wed 3/12 at 5PM. Call 440-646-9932.
Research ShowCASE 08 Scientists, scholars together for 2-day collaboration highlighting research done @ CWRU, OH Wed 4/16 and Thu 4/17. More
Networked Approach to Building Prosperity in Communities and Regions is a 2-Day Workshop at Punderson Manor Resort & Conf Ctr beg Wed 4/23. Details
Cleveland Opportunity + Expo 2008 is designed to provide small and mid-size businesses in Cle an opportunity to promote and introduce products or services and establish new relationships. It hits Fri 5/23 at 10AM at the Galleria. Click

SPONSORED: Join the Fun Volunteer for the WVIZ/PBS Televised Auction as a “Go-Getter” by helping collect donations of valuable items. Get information and training at the Go-Getter Kick-Off meeting Sat 2/23, 10AM, the Idea Center™ at Playhouse Square, 1375 Euclid Ave. Registration requested. Call the Auction Office 216-916-6100 or email ella.fong@ideastream.org.

We, the People

Superdelegates: So, you want democracy?
Voters: Yes, we think we’re entitled to democracy.
Superdelegates: You can’t HANDLE democracy!

The above paraphrasing of the 1992 movie A Few Good Men, is the situation Democrats could face going into their convention in Denver in late summer. Superdelegates are that 20 percent (members of Congress, governors and other high-ranking party officials) who hold the balance of power to decide which candidate becomes their party’s standard-bearer if it comes down to a brokered convention.

Some superdelegates, early on envisioning a slam dunk by Hillary Clinton, pledged themselves to her, and now are having buyers’ remorse. With Barack Obama now in the lead in the delegate count, and surging, some are now declaring themselves neutral until the voters have their say (which is what they should have done in the first place). But other superdelegates are essentially saying that they — not the voters — know what’s best for America… democratic processes be damned. They are vowing to stay with Clinton — no matter the will (or the vote) of the people who elected them…

While Ohio might prove to be the decisive state on March 4, it’s much more likely that the race will be so close the contenders will remain in a virtual dead heat, splitting up the delegates, and thus throwing the decision to the superdelegates to pick the nominee. How they handle this momentous decision will have enormous political consequences, in both the short and long term.

This race is proving to be exactly what America needs. It has energized young people — brought fresh, new blood into the political process — like no other presidential contest in history … and it did it just in the nick of time. Any country — but especially a participatory democracy — where the young people opt out of or lose faith in the political processes is doomed … it’s on the slippery slope to extinction, albeit it might take decades before the nadir is reached. Such countries are propped up only by their own hubris … and fading memories of past greatness.

In the countries where our enemies (be they real or perceived) reside, people — even young people — sit around a table — or oftentimes outdoors just gathered around a rock — and debate, argue, and otherwise engage passionately in politics. Believe it or not, it used to be this way in America, during our formative years. But what have our young people been doing lately? Gathering around a flat screen and immersing themselves in the trivialities and banalities of MTV culture.

But a confluence of circumstance and events — the emergence of the Internet, which gave rise to blogs — combined with candidates (a woman and a Black) that excite people with tantalizing possibilities of what America can at last be, has presented us with our best opportunity yet to regenerate ourselves, engage out youth, and perhaps maintain our worldwide prominence and hegemony.

With the rise of China and India as superpowers in a global economy we are going to be facing increasing challenges on all fronts; and to meet those challenges we have to be internally strong and externally perceived as being fair.

It’s critically incumbent upon us that the selection of the Democratic candidate is carried out in the fairest, most transparent manner possible. No back room deals, no power-brokering, no subverting of the democratic process by party bosses.

Faced with a Republican opponent that probably has as much chance of winning in November as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest, this is the Democrats election to lose … something they have been able to do all too often in the past: Snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But the surest way for the Dems to lose this time is for the superdelegates to “award” the nomination to a “favorite” candidate, in spite of how the party faithful have voted. They simply have no right to go against the will of the people.

If the person with the most delegates — no matter which candidate that happens to be — is not supported by the superdelegates, it will spell the end of the Democratic Party … and perhaps the end of America as we know it. Could either Democratic candidate be so selfish, so stupid, and so arrogant that they would stand in the way of the fulfillment of this real American dream?

From Cool Cleveland contributor Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com
Comments? LettersATCoolCleveland.com

SPONSORED: It’s a Lesbian Musical? Try a hilariously insightful night of theater that received the 2006 LA Ovation Award for Best New Musical. The Break Up Notebook: The Lesbian Musical, premieres at The Beck Center 2/22 – 3/23 in the Studio Theater. This is the first production of this new musical outside of California. “Not since Reefer Madness has a production brought humor, spunk and creativity back to musical theater,” says Stacy Schupmann, Showmag.com, of the original L.A. production. Written by Patricia Cotter with music and lyrics by Lori Scarlett. Dive back into the dating pool with Helen Hill, a 33-year-old lesbian who has recently been dumped by her girlfriend. Tickets and info: (216) 521-2540 or www.beckcenter.org.

This week’s most active post on BrewedFreshDaily.com

Ed Morrison suggests The Greater Cleveland Partnership needs to focus relentlessly on stronger high school performance as the most important factor in reducing urban poverty. From the comments:

Read and add your comment here

SPONSORED: A Sunny Vacation on a Sandy Beach will mean everything to your kids! And nothing to you! Because right now, kids 12 or under fly at no cost to Myrtle Beach aboard Southern Skyways, when accompanied by an adult. So if two adults are flying, that means two kids are going along at no charge! Your trip will begin at the family-friendly Akron-Canton Airport, where shorter lines and smaller crowds will send you off more relaxed and ready for fun. For tickets, just visit www.SouthernSkyways.com. But hurry, you’ve got to book by Fri 2/29. And, just think, with all the money you save, you’ll have plenty left over to invest in a shiny new pail and shovel for your children to get busy building those sandcastles!

Sprouting Eco-Friendly, Sustainable Flavors
An Old Corner Comes to Life with The Market Café & Wine Bar

With Euclid Avenue resembling a modern day dust bowl, the restaurant and dining options on the main drag are pretty bleak. Head one block north of the bulldozed path and the prospects look a lot more appetizing. The AmTrust Bank building’s Market Café and Wine Bar, at East 9th and Chester Avenues, is a phoenix amidst the otherwise meager choices amidst the ruins.

Speaking of choices, it was a series of thoughtful, ecological, and historical ones that brought the restaurant to life. AmTrust Bank’s Zac Ponsky, Director of Real Estate Investments and Community Affairs, wanted to “show some life on East 9th Street” and recreate a restaurant that fits with the company’s sustainability and eco-friendly philosophy. (AmTrust is recognized as offering the first paperless mortgage program.) Ponsky dreamed of building a restaurant that met bank’s business philosophy of committing to the community and doing the right thing. One of his right things involves making fresh food a staple, not a commodity…

In the process of building the dream, Ponsky took to visiting other cities and researching restaurants that fit with his concept. This included looking at others’ traffic flow, layout, and menu selections. The restaurant’s vision came into sight and Ponsky teamed with the nationally-based Bon Appetit Management Company to make it a reality. The companies share the eco-friendly and healthy philosophy and the desire to bring freshly prepared, locally grown and organic foods to Clevelanders. From this collective thought The Market Café came to be with open cases of fresh fruits and vegetables placed in around the room in scattered food-stations, each with its different menu that allow customers to drive their dining choices. The selections are broad and inviting and include: fresh cuts of meat, unique toppings from the salad bar, warm, fresh baked casseroles, and sandwiches. The food items are all clearly visible to the customer and accessible from long counters where the lines move quickly. Ponsky equates it to “the farmer bringing the food to the people.” His version of the West Side Market has something even more unique…a top-notch chef available to prepare the selection.

Chef Dean Diluciano is familiar with Clevelander’s palates. Having spent time at Classics and the Botanical Gardens, he understands how to approach Midwestern comfort foods with style. His selections include a range of fare from chilled butternut salad to made–to-order chicken kebobs, or a hot cassouleit to take off winter’s chill. The salad bar’s dressings are all homemade and compliment the health-minded toppings such as wheat berry and tofu. For those looking for more basic meals, old reliables such as burgers, chili, and turkey sandwiches are plentiful. The new twist here is the chicken is all anti-biotic, the meat grass fed, the Wonder bread is now crusty baguettes. Mainstays are available daily, such as a selection of quesadillas, pre-made salads, and pizza; all with meat-free options. There’s even peanut butter and jelly for those with a simpler taste. Diluciano fits the Market Café’s easy-going style and likes working with fresh ingredients and simple preparations that allow the ingredients to speak for themselves.

Ponsky’s ecological and sustainable approach goes beyond bringing in fresh food. The menu is complimented by its space, built with recycled and repurposed materials. Former barn wood makes up the tables with bench seating and cushions adorned with organic fiber covers. The serving counters are built from compressed paper and old milk bottles hang cleanly from the ceiling, giving much of the café its light. Ponsky believes this to be the first floor-to-menu sustainable restaurant in the city. He and his family even tracked down Amish carpenters to build the tables. The food alone will bring customers back and the natural materials and warm tones add texture to the comfortable experience, one which Ponsky hopes people will embrace. The long tables seat 8-10 and he envisions people joining strangers at an extra seat and experiencing their meals together…as a community.

The Market Café already boasts a steady lunchtime crowd. Accessible from the street and an underground tunnel from the neighboring Huntington Building, Downtown workers are quickly flocking and returning to this new find. This makes General Manager Giovanna Daverio, formerly of Little Italy’s Battuto, very happy. She has her own dreams for the café and hopes to generate an evening business for the after work crowd. It is then the bright, open space takes on a warm, cozy atmosphere. With strategic lighting changes and tables that easily move together, a bistro and wine bar comes to life. Featuring wine by the glass or bottle and small plate, tapas style food, the mood is much more demure. Daverio has planned promotions that include “Nothing to Do Days Tuesdays” and monthly wine tastings. Keeping with the casual feel, she often joins the guests at their table to answer questions and ask for feedback on the dishes composed just for these nights.

Why is so much emphasis being put on dreams and community-building? That is because, to talk about the Market Café and Wine Bar, one also has to understand what drives Zac Ponsky. As third-generation businessman, Ponsky is the grandson of a former fresh food market owner. An owner who then purchased the bank that provided him his first business loan. The former Ohio Savings Bank, now AmTrust, has gone on to become one of the top mortgage lenders in the country. These Clevelanders invested in the community, rather than lease space to another chain restaurant. AmTrust spent money, energy, and time on a city that is perpetually on the brink of coming back. With ideas more ideas like this, we surely have a chance.

Walking down or up East 9th Street, (this is always a topic true-Clevelander’s debate) it’s hard to miss The Market Café and Wine Bar, in its windowed, corner space on the AmTrust building’s first floor. Located slightly below street level, passersby now see life and activity. This in itself is an invitation to come inside. The basement Colonnade is gone and Ponsky’s Market Café and Wine Bar is truly not his grandfather’s cafeteria, but surely one in which he’d proudly invest.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Christine Young itsmecayATcox.net
Photo by Susan Chakerian
Comments? LettersATCoolCleveland.com

SPONSORED: The 3rd Annual LEC Idol will be held in the C.K. Rickel Theatre of the Smith Fine Arts Center on the Lake Erie College main campus in downtown Painesville on Thu 2/28, beginning at 8PM. Lake Erie College students, faculty, and staff will compete in a sing-off to win the title of “LEC Idol 2008” and a $100 prize. The audience will vote to select the winner. Admission for the event is $6 or $3 with LEC I.D. Patrons who donate a nonperishable food item will receive $1 off admission. Access more information by calling Richard Sax at (440) 375-7151 or email Tricia Lilliman at tlilliman@lec.edu or Kathleen Lawry at klawry@lec.edu. More info here.

Want to go for Baroque? Try Apollo’s Fire

We caught up with Apollo’s Fire music director and founder Jeannette Sorrell last week for a few minutes on the phone to ask about the language used to describe this week’s concert series: “Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ Rediscovered.” Why “rediscovered” in the title? “I would just say if people think they know the ‘Four Seasons’ already, they might not, ” Sorrell said. “We try to really bring to life all the different elements that Vivaldi indicated in the score–the barking dog and the rain on the roof. We’re not trying to make it pretty; we’re trying to tell a story with it. We have some plucked instruments, baroque harp, guitar and theorobo. Those instruments bring some extra color that people might not have heard.”

And what, we asked was meant by the Apollo’s Fire prepared press release statement that they would “shake the dust off beloved pieces” by “hit pop, rock n’ roll” composer Antonio Vivaldi? Does she think the 18th-century Venetian composer would be a candidate for Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Sorrell laughed, but pointed out that the bouncy feeling one gets after listening to a Vivaldi concerto (with its sprightly plucked strings, fast pace, and exuberant airs) can feel a lot like the high after a pop concert “Rock n’ roll music is energizing, with a lot about communication between performers and audience; there’s a very earthy and kind of driving approach and typically the harmonies are very simple.” Yes, we agree that makes sense. Anyone who’s been to an Apollo’s Fire performance has seen and heard the same kind of intense, physical (even sweaty) earthiness, and infectious energy from the ensemble.

So why did Vivaldi write “Four Seasons” that way? She’s got a simple explanation: “I think what it’s all about is that Vivaldi was writing the concertos to be performed by teenage girls.” She looked closely at his other scores, read histories of Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà (the orphanage where Vivaldi taught), and talked to other musicologists before she came to this conclusion. “What I see is that it’s only in his concertos that he has this kind of rock and roll quality; whereas in other types of music [operas and works written for liturgical services], he writes in a much more serious way. I think he was writing to appeal to teenagers because those were the girls who were playing the pieces.”

Why all-girl orchestras? “The girls, many [of them] were illegitimate; they didn’t know their parentage.” Abandoned at birth, the girls lived in a very competitive atmosphere at the Ospedale della Pietà, Sorrell said. “There were basically various levels [of placement]; the most talented would get into the orchestra.” There was plenty of incentive to practice because the musician’s life was a far better one than that of the soap-makers in the basement who had to stand over steaming iron pots all day.

“Music was their only [sure] hope of having a decent life,” she said, for these young women known only by the instruments they played. “They had names like Anna Maria dal Violin or Bernadina dal Violoncello.”

The teens had one other escape. Eighteenth-century Venice was an “anything goes” tourist destination (like Las Vegas). The girls played public concerts every Sunday. Wealthy men, often tourists, would hear them and sometimes a marriage proposal would be forthcoming, said Sorrell. It was a more difficult choice for the young women than might be imagined however; no matter how tempting it would be to be a wife, they were required to pay a high price. They were forced to sign a contract vowing that they would never play music again. “When you think about it, music had been their entire life up until this time, they were very serious musicians.” Many refused to leave. “We know that the very finest performers, the ones Vivaldi dedicated [some of] his work to, never left.”

Featured soloists in the Four Seasons are Julie Andrijeski (Spring), Miho Hashizume (Autumn), Cynthia Roberts (Winter), and Sorrell performing her harpsichord transcription of the Summer Concerto. The program also includes the Concerto for Two Cellos and the fiery La Follia, a rockin’ and rollin’ showpiece for the whole orchestra. Soloists in the Concerto for Two Cellos are René Schiffer and Mime Yamahiro Brinkmann.

Performances will be at Fairlawn Lutheran Church [Fairlawn] at 7:30PM on Thursday, February 21; at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church [Cleveland Heights] at 8PM on Friday & Saturday, February 22-23 ; at 4PM at Rocky River Presbyterian Church [Rocky River ]on Sunday, February 24, and at 7:30PM in Christ Presbyterian Church [Canton]] on Monday, February 25.

For tickets, call the Apollo’s Fire box office at (216) 320-0012 or (800)314-2535. Hear more about those teem age rockers at the Apollo’s Fire family concert, “Vivaldi & His Orphan Girls,” at 3PM Saturday (Feb. 23) at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights Tickets are $5

From Cool Cleveland contributor Laura Kennelly lkennellyATgmail.com

Sing a Song of Peace

In March of 2003, the United States sent armed troops to Iraq. Throughout the month of March, choirs around the world will be performing the ancient prayer Dona Nobis Pacem (or “Grant Us Peace”) as set to music by the great English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams, who died 50 years ago this year. As of Feb. 17, there are 59 concerts scheduled in venues around the world: 17 of the United States (some with multiple locations) plus six countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England and Israel. You can track these for yourself at http://www.songofpeace.org.

Cleveland’s contribution to this effort will be at 3 pm on Sunday, March 2, 2008 at First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland, on Fairmount Boulevard in Shaker Heights. The combined choirs of Fairmount Presbyterian Church, First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland and Plymouth Church of Shaker Heights, plus an orchestra of local musicians will be conducted by Robert Porco, Director of Choruses of the Cleveland Orchestra. Soloists will be soprano Sharon Shaffer of Plymouth Church and baritone Peter Bush of Fairmount Presbyterian…

Also on the program will be the Serenade to Music by Vaughan Williams. In addition, students of the Cleveland Institute of Art were invited to compete for a $1,000 scholarship to be awarded to the winner of a competition to design the program cover for the event based on the theme “Give Us Peace.” The award will be presented at the concert.

General admission for this very special concert is $16. for adults and $12. for seniors and students. Preferred seating ranges from $50. to $100. and reservations are required at this level. For more information or reservations, call 932-7480.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATroadrunner.com

Links to interesting NEO blogs

The CEO of 4Walls.com shares the secrets of his success with the Tech Czar.
Kucinich is going back to Congress. Get used to it.
Cimperman Meet The Blogger interview recap by Carole Cohen.
Mayor Don Plusquellic has proposed selling Akron’s sewer system to create a fund that would assist the city’s public high school graduates with education costs.
Myers U interim President Joyce Banjac blogs about her “resignation”.
43 things to do in Cleveland+.
A blogger eulogizes SAFMOD’s ED and incomparable talent, Zoe Schultz.

Dog Days
David Ullman
Dreaming Out Loud

There’s something familiar and comforting about David Ullman’s first full-length effort, Dog Days. And perhaps even something familial. Listening to his 11-track release feels like running into an old friend after many years and sharing a moment over coffee. With a decidedly Triple-A format sound (acoustic folk with poignant electric decoration) and an approach that summons Damien Rice and Dog’s Eye View frontman Peter Stuart, Ullman goes straight for the heart; his coffeehouse style is exquisitely flattering.

Deft wordplay, intimate introspection and a focus on relationships emerge early on, with Ullman crooning I need a secondhand heart/ Only slightly ripped apart/ I need someone who will always be around/ Unrequited from the start/ Feel I was born to play the part/ Give me someone who will never let me down. on “Secondhand Heart.” Ullman’s got a toasty voice, chock full of emotion and the musical arrangements and high-quality production do well to push it front and center. As a result, cuts like “Begin,” “Déjà Vu,” “Half-Light” and brilliantly silky, heartbroken “Coming To” simply smolder. More espresso than latte, Dog Days is deep, dark and intensely rich. Worth a refill, to be sure.

Hear a sample of Ullman’s “Déjà Vu” by clicking here.

David Ullman & the Sad Bastards celebrate the release of Dog Days with a CD release party and show Saturday, February, 23 at Musica, 17 Maiden Lane, Akron. Price of admission gets you a free copy of Dog Days — plus an evening of entertainment featuring sets by Abby Kondas (http://www.myspace.com/abbykondasmusic), The Facsist Puppeteer (http://www.myspace.com/fascistpuppeteer) and Ullman and his band.

Visit David Ullman online at http://www.davidullman.net and on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/davidullmanmusic.

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

Cuyahoga County Disaster Number One

Are we dealing in plain old political trickery or something a lot more sinister?

There should be a Federal grand jury to examine just how the County Commissioners came to buy the decaying Ameritrust Bank block (Euclid Avenue, East 9th Street and Prospect Avenue) from Dick Jacobs for a new central administrative headquarters, then decided the effort was beyond the County’s financial means, and finally turned it over to a single bidder who now wants to borrow from the County about half its bid price of some $35 million.

That’s the long way of saying something stinks real bad here…

The bid by K&D Group from the beginning struck me as a backroom deal made with at least two County Commissioners – Tim Hagan and Jimmy Dimora – to help them save face on a smelly deal that could have significant financial damage to Cuyahoga County and its taxpayers.

The K&D bid – $500 over the minimum sought by the County – always had the taint of a bid to cover the embarrassment of Hagan and Dimora bailing out Jacobs, a favored downtown developer. The properties had been left empty and abandoned for more than a decade by Jacobs. K&D, proposing other developments in the area, would naturally be seeking favor with the Commissioners, a fount of public subsidies and favors. Thus the bid that appears a counterfeit.

We have a real problem in this overwhelmingly Democratic-controlled County. There is no competition among local politicians to serve as a countervailing force to the well-ensconced Hagan and Dimora.

So they do as they please and laugh at us.

The County thus does favors for too many interests with little or no public examination.

Certainly, the local press, led by the Plain Dealer, offers very meager scrutiny of county government’s operations.

Both Democratic incumbent Commissioners – Hagan and Peter Lawson Jones (who offers some public responsibility) – on the March 4 primary ballot are running unopposed for re-election. In fact, only two of nine County Democratic office-holders have opposition, Treasurer Jim Rokakis because some people don’t like his independence and put a name in opposition, and Recorder Patrick O’Malley, opposed by Nelson Cintron, a former ally upset by O’Malley’s role in the recent Cleveland City Council recall vote.

Crain’s Cleveland Business quotes Hagan saying of the K&D $15 million request, it “needs to make a compelling argument” for him to agree to the loan. Oh, gee, you think?

The K&D bid, as phony as it always seemed to me, kicked the commissioners’ decision beyond the primary date, saving Hagan and Dimora, who both favored the offer, embarrassment. Now, a prolonged discussion of the loan could get the County past the general election and possibly into next year without resolution.

Maybe by then the sleepy citizenry – helped by the drowsy Pee Dee – will forget all about the financial fiasco created by Hagan and Dimora to bail out Jacobs with taxpayer money.

What is it going to take to wake up the public? I guess if the foreclosure and bank financial crunch gets as bad as some believe it will, we will be the first County to default or go bankrupt.

As citizens, we will have deserved it for our lethargic approach to citizenship.

Cuyahoga County Disaster Number Two

Is Squire-Sanders attorney Fred Nance negotiation WITH Merchandise Mart Properties (MMP) or FOR Merchandise Mart? I can’t tell.

MMP wants total control of the city’s proposed new convention center along with a medical mart.

Here’s Nance in the Pee Dee: “They (MMP) want to do everything from soup to nuts – build it, lease it out, manage the development.” (see story here)

Nothing said about paying for it, however.

They keep calling it a “public-private partnership.” Unfortunately, I know what that means, the “public” pays and the “private” takes. It’s not public-private partnership. It’s a shell game and we all should know in whose pocket the peanut ends.

What the public needs to know is where MMP’s money is and who will carry the losses, surely to come. So far, we see no MMP investment and we know exactly where the burden will lie – with the public sector.

This is another Hagan special, taking the public right down Sucker’s Lane.

Exaggeration Easily Taken

Memo to Steve Litt: You may have overlooked the fact that a couple living on Wade Park Ave. had the kitchen modernized in 2001 for $14,500. Please add that investment to the $4.3 billion count that resulted from – as you wrote in a Sunday PD piece Feb. 10th – RTA’s Euclid Corridor project.

I have to admire Litt for trying to lift the spirits of Clevelanders every so often with claims of vast development based on questionable accounting.

The last time he claimed such progress was from Gateway.

Litt usually doesn’t mention the public costs of these projects.

In his front-page Sunday piece, Litt went far afield to come up with his $4.3 billion of investment, much of which would have taken place without the Euclid Corridor project.

I find it a bit amusing that the RTA project, which should have most to do with public transit, especially in a city plagued by poverty, now is hailed mostly as a development tool.

Indeed, once we see the completion of the $200 million public transit project we very well could see a transit plan which inconveniences more of the transit-dependent customers than it helps.

Most of the investment – such as hospital and non-profit expansion in and around University Circle – would have taken place whether or not there was a new Euclid Avenue transit system. Indeed, the transit system – via buses – will be much like the present system – a bus along the main street.

A letter-to-the-editor by Bernard Scheidler said it as well as I could. In part, Scheidler wrote, “I believe it is erroneous to say that $1.3 billion in Cleveland Clinic projects were a result of the Euclid Avenue protect. The same goes for the $183 million Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center and the $258 million Cleveland Museum of Art projects. How can the Plain Dealer say that the $36.4 million John Hay High School came about as a result of the Euclid Avenue project?”

Litt waits until near the end of the long, two full-page piece to quote a public official with a view that casts doubt on the Litt thesis.

In the second to last paragraph (the last is used to cast doubt on the previous paragraph) Litt finally allows a short breath of caution, quoting County Treasurer Jim Rokakis. Rokakis notes that this “rebirth” would, as Litt summarizes, “have only limited impact on the city as a whole.” Rokakis also notes that much of the development is tax-exempt.

Indeed, Litt almost totally ignores the very substantial public subsidies and tax abatements given even to the profit-making aspects of the developments.

Also ignored is the fact that Tower City, the terminus or launch of the Euclid Corridor’s trajectory, has been sinking with the loss of retail outlets.

A question that remains in my mind is whether Cleveland can afford all the institutional venues – art museum, Severance Hall, et al – plus the hospital outlets and the sports facilities, all of which pay no property taxes. The jobs, particularly at the hospitals, do help significantly but the financial weight upon city services and lack of revenue make the value problematic.

With all the talk about regionalism, one thought presents itself.

Why don’t surrounding counties – Lake, Geauga, Mentor, Lorain and Summit – help pay the burden that essentially lies, not simply on Cuyahoga County, but on the City of Cleveland where most of these non-taxing entities exist? Certainly as the population has spread, many people from these outlying counties enjoy the benefits without paying the costs.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Roldo Bartimole roldoATroadrunner.com
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Joan Jett: Riot Girls & Rebels @ InterContinental Hotel 2/13 For a Joan Jett fan, it was a slice of heaven. The Rock Hall and Key Bank pulled out all the stops to have their first ever “Riot Girls & Rebels: A Celebration of Professional Women Who Rock!” event last Wednesday evening to benefit various educational programs at the Rock Hall. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts blasted their rock classics, with a few new ones. They opened with “Cherry Bomb,” exploded with “I Love Rock-n-Roll,” and thundered with the ever famous “I Hate Myself for Loving You.” At the age of 49, Jett is as vibrant and over-the-top as ever. She was definitely in the zone. The winner of the Riot Girl Award was Eliza Wing, president and CEO, Cleveland.com. Who can win a Riot Girl award? Any woman who steers her career along a non-traditional course – a great concept in awarding local business women. And the Rock Hall sure knows how to throw a party!
From Cool Cleveland contributor T.L. Champion tlATcoolcleveland.com

Bluebeard’s Castle: Cleveland Orchestra @ Severance Hall 2/14 Pierre Boulez is a wonderful tour guide—he always knows the most fascinating places to visit! This week, he took us to the Slavic countries of Moravia (Janácek) and Hungary (Bartok). Janácek’s Sinfonietta was inspired by a brass military band that he heard in an outdoor concert. It is positively resplendent with brass instruments! Twelve trumpets (yes, twelve!) not counting the two bass trumpets, 4 horns, 2 tenor tubas, 3 trombones and tuba. Wow. Combined with the lush strings of the orchestra, this was a superb example of festive and exuberant music. Janácek was noted for repeating a specific musical phrase over and over again, although seldom in the same way twice. It would be re-phrased, perhaps, or given to a different instrument, but it’s always identifiable as his work. This was a gorgeous presentation in every way…

The next and final stop on our tour was at a medieval castle. One owned by the famous (infamous?) Bluebeard, and made musically famous by Bartók in his one-act opera Bluebeard’s Castle. It is a huge stone edifice, and the great room in the center is graced by seven locked doors. It is to this room that he brings his new bride, Judith. Well, we all know that women are curious, and wanting to fix up their new home. This castle is dark and gloomy, and she wants it to be sunny and bright. Of course!

In order to accomplish this, however, she must first see inside these seven rooms. He protests, but cannot hold out against her for long. During the course of the hour-long presentation, Judith exerts every feminine wile known to history, I think, and discovers some things that are good, some that are interesting, and some that are evil. Or nearly so. It is a hair-raising story, and never more so than in Thursday evening’s performance.

Mr. Boulez paid meticulous attention to every note on the page. He drew incredibly riveting performances from the two soloists: mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung and bass-baritone John Relyea. Every emotion possible was evidenced in this concert version of the opera, which certainly could not have been improved by costumes or stage scenic setting. The voices easily soared over the full orchestra, while yet being understandable. On occasion, they whispered, and this, too, was clearly audible.

The opening four (or so) lines were expressively delivered (in Hungarian) by narrator Eörs Kisfaludy. Projected supertitles were a great help to the non-Hungarian speaking members of the audience. The music itself was amazingly expressive—the castle itself cried and sighed on occasion.

There might have been more romantic choices possible for a concert that took place on Valentine’s Day, but never any more unforgettable. The chills from this castle will stay with the visitor for a long time.

This week, it’s mostly Baroque, with conductor Ton Koopman and orchestra flutist Joshua Smith in music of Telemann, C. P. E. Bach and Haydn. A ‘surprise’ is promised! For more information or to purchase tickets, call the ticket office at 216.231.1111 or visit the web-site: http://www.clevelandorchestra.com

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATroadrunner.com

Bluebeard’s Castle: Cleveland Orchestra @ Severance Hall 2/14 Never take a first date to Hungarian composer Bela Bartok’s one-act opera, “Bluebeard’s Castle.” True, the spooky music, the sighs (produced by brass players breathing hard into their mouthpieces), and growing tension egged on by vibrating strings, and groaning organ, makes hand-holding seem a good idea. But the libretto by Bela Balazs encourages dropping that tender hand and swearing off love forever.

This is not to say that the Cleveland Orchestra (under the subtle baton of guest conductor Pierre Boulez) and the soloists didn’t produce the most magic of evenings in this concert production. It was fabulous. Bluebeard, darkly voiced bass-baritone John Relyea, and his latest bride, gorgeously lyric and hysteric (in the proper dramatic places) mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung cast a spell–needing neither scenery nor costumes to keep us in thrall. The point of this one-act opera seems to be that it’s dangerous to trust in true, impetuous love or delve into the dark recesses of a spouse’s mind.

Some things are best kept secret–at least in the Edgar Allen Poe-ish world of “Bluebeard’s Castle.” Narrator Eors Kisfalduy opened the opera with a few chilling words. He called to us in Hungarian (yes, there were surtitles) that sounded like poetry, but his voice and manner made it clear that tragedy was coming. (“The music sounds, the fire burns, let the play begin.”). [Note to self: learn Hungarian—gorgeous language.]

DeYoung as the bride, Judith, projects lyric freshness in dulcet tones of sweetness and light as the opera begins. Harps accompany her early questions as she teases her new husband to “open up that stuffy old castle” so she can make it “nice.” He’s just a “bad boy” and she will change him for the better–she’s sure. Later, the harp is quiet; her questions press, ratcheting up the tension meter as she faces the tragic consequences her error brings her. Relyea’s richly sonorous and sexy Bluebeard, who says “Kiss me” and “stop asking questions,” manages to simultaneously urge her to him and acknowledge that he knows there’s no saving her–from him. It’s said that violent dramatic action is more horrible when left to the imagination: this fine presentation proved it so, leaving memories of near-perfect singing and contemplation of searing psycho-drama.

To open the program, before all the zombie-bride madness, the orchestra played “Sinfonietta,” a charming work by Moravian composer Leos Janacek. It’s a light and lovely piece for brass and percussion (with good solo spots for e-flat clarinet, trombone and flute) that evokes the spark and polish and the charm of a village filled with folk music and band concerts. The “Sinfonietta” was charming, but it was “Bluebeard” that kept the post-concert conversation going all the way home.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Laura Kennelly lkennellyATgmail.com

Two Rooms @ Charenton/CPT 2/15
Spooky-good: Jacqi Loewy’s production about a “widow-in-waiting” dealing with her husband taken hostage by terrorists is intensely gripping, and her cast is superb. Sarah Morton is all raw nerve and sinew as Lainie, who clears her husband’s office of furniture in order to imagine his bare room and mat, and Jeffrey Grover has wonderful monologues as the bound, blindfolded Michael. Both Jason Markouc as the journalist who both helps and exploits Lainie and Mary Alice Beck as her State Dept. handler do well with roles that are more positions than characters, but it’s the couple’s play.
Backstory: Set in Lebanon, Lee Blessing’s drama is from 1988, but it could have been written this afternoon about Iraq. It’s full of memorable lines, from the government functionary spewing platitudes like “advised hope” to the hostage realizing “war isn’t the rent in the fabric of society, it IS the fabric.”
Details: Thru 3/8, Cleveland Public Theatre, http://www.charenton.org.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Linda Eisenstein LindaATcoolcleveland.com

Two Rooms @ Charenton/CPT 2/15 Here it is, Cleveland: the kind of theater so many people say they have to go to New York to see, in “Two Rooms”, at the CPT Bookstore Theater. CPT’s Raymond Bobgan and Charenton Theater’s Jacqi Loewy have done an extraordinary thing in combining to produce this play. Loewy’s ideas for the bare stage, the spare direction, and the sparer acting are terrific.

Sarah Morton, in what the program unfortunately announces as her “last theater gig”, plays Lainie Wells, the wife of a hostage taken in Beirut, like a shuddering charged wire of grief, her whole body the center of this play. Not a moment goes by when she’s onstage that pain and outrage are not clear either in a tight repression, a retreat into fantasy, or snarling out at either the journalist or the State Department functionary. The first time Morton’s big-cat rage leaps out is all the more startling for the way she cages it back up again. This is a woman nearly ripped asunder by the demands to keep her anger in and to let it out. Morton does a remarkable job. I hope she’ll decide that she needs only a little time off, and not an actual early retirement…

Jeffrey Grover, playing her imprisoned husband, descends from hope to resignation, his face and body going progressively from restless to nearly catatonic in an excellent piece of acting work. Grover starts the play with a large blindfold over his face. His voice is almost disembodied for all that he is there center stage. A brave actor who clearly isn’t into the major-ego thing, Grover understands that his Michael Wells is the increasingly negative energy pole against which Morton, Marcouc, and Beck can spark and flame. Grover’s is not a negative energy – he infuses enormous energy into Michael Wells’s increasingly hopeless stillness. It’s a really fine performance.

Jason Markouc, plays Walker Harris, a journalist who is trying to get Morton’s Lainie Wells to speak out publicly to put pressure on the US government to include her husband in “deals” to free him. Markouc gets the journalist’s the human-tone-deafness, his confused interests in the story (the people in the story, his own beliefs about government, and his own part in the story), just right. Markouc’s Walker is split between his own ambition and his sympathy for Lainie, and Markouc exactly captures Walker’s awkward inability to be both sympathetic and professional at the same time. It’s really hard to play this kind of moral and physical awkwardness because it often looks so real, but anyone who’s seen Markouc’s sinous, even lethal grace in other roles will recognize this as excellent acting.

Mary Alice Beck has to work the hardest, I think, in this production as Ellen Van Oss, the State Department functionary whose job it is to feed Lainie Wells disinformation about what the government is doing, or not doing, to free Michael. Every line in Beck’s body is up and down except those on her face as the functionary wars with the woman. As Jeffrey Grover’s face and body grow obviously more and more numb, Mary Alice Beck’s eyes grow more and more hollow in her face, and by the end of the play, she has a slight but perceptible slump. It’s a wonderful performance of an unsympathetic character.

See this play. It’s relevant, powerful, well-acted, and well-directed. The Detroit Shoreway area is well-lighted and easy to get to. What are you waiting for?

From Cool Cleveland contributor Marcus Bales marcusATdesignerglass.com

Two Rooms @ Charenton/CPT 2/15 Two Rooms, now in production by Charenton Theatre, is both a love story and a debate. Set in the turbulent 1980s, author Lee Blessing’s taut psychodrama was deservedly named by Time Magazine as “Best Play of the Year” in 1988. The action switches between two stark rooms. One is the windowless cubicle in Beirut, Lebanon where hostage Michael Wells, a history professor at that city’s American University, lies blindfolded as a captive of an unknown militant Islamic group. The other room is Michael’s study in the United States. As months turn into years and her husband’s fate hangs precariously, Mike’s wife, Lanie, strips the room to the bare walls in order to feel closer to him and his plight. For her, a thin mat she has dragged into his office represents “all the corners of the room,” and where she imagines she can speak with, and even touch, her missing husband…

In this staging, the same space serves for both rooms and is the locale for not only the imaginary conversations between the hostage and his wife, but also for the real talks between Lanie, a reporter and a State Department official.

Walker is the reporter. At the start he appears to be someone who hopes to develop the situation into a major personal accomplishment, maybe a journey to a Pulitzer Prize. Bby the end, we are not sure. Ellen is a coolly, efficient, dispassionate, State Department representative whose task is to keep Lanie off-balance and uninformed of the political machinations which include using her husband as a pawn.

Eventually, the wife speaks out against the government policy and in so doing triggers a series of events that brings the play to its unnerving conclusion.

The script is penetrating and powerful in examining the perspective of individuals, of the public, and of the government. In the end there are no winners, only losers, and the sense of futility and despair that comes when we realize that logic, compassion and fairness are meaningless when dealing with those who would commit barbarous acts with a totally different definition of what it means to be ethnical, and a government that apparently has no conscience or morals of its own.

Charenton’s production, under the keen directorial guidance of Jacqui Loewy, is outstanding. The deliberately slow pace makes the pain of not knowing excruciating. The cast is clear in their motivations, the messages of the story are well etched. Everything, from Michel Ostaszewski’s projections, to Nathan Tulenson’s sound effects, to the sparse set, works.

Jeffrey Grover is chilling in his controlled characterization of Michael. As the play progresses Grover’s eyes become deader and deader. By the end, when he matter-of-factly explains his fate, his eyes are hollow and lifeless.

Sarah Morton, as Lanie, holds her emotions in perfect check. The characterization develops clearly and her frustration and angst are well honed. In the hands of a lesser actress the believability level would have been destroyed as it would have been so easy to overact the role.

Mary Alice Beck is chilling as the State Department official who shows no emotion, is programmed to act like a robot, and is so loyal to the government that she almost appears to be brainwashed.

Though he is quite acceptable as Walker, Jason Markouc sometimes loses contact with the character. Some of his lines sound automatic, rather than meaningful.

The production is being staged in Cleveland Public Theatre’s newest performance space, the former bookstore next to CPT. Though the space is intimate and very appropriate for Two Rooms, it also has several handicaps. The street noises come through the entrance doors, the applause and laughter from the adjoining theatres leak through, and the sound of patrons coming to and exiting from the second floor Levin Theatre is distracting.

”Capsule judgement: Charenton’s two hour production of is one of the local season’s highlights. The production deserves sold out houses. Because of the subject matter, don’t assume the show is depressing. It will stimulate the senses and reveal a great deal of the “real” world of politics and the present state of the world.”

Two Rooms is being performed at Cleveland Public Theatre through March 8. For tickets to all CPT productions call 631-2727 or visit http://www.cptonline.org.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Roy Berko royberkoATyahoo.com

Big [Box]: vis-a-vis and De Vices @ CPT 2/16
vis a vis: This full-length evening of beautifully produced dance by Kalindi Stockton & Maree ReMalia had some terrific moments, especially the energetic scherzo section featuring 5 women in bright tutus like exotic birds. Both Stockton and ReMalia have a powerful stage presence, and they did strong work in their solos, especially ReMalia in her crouching movements. The 11-movement piece needed some editing, and sometimes felt more like a dance concert rather than a single piece, but the design was stunning and it was thoughtfully created.
De Vices: Set to James Brown songs by the African-American collective HyLife and choreographer Shenee King, this tongue-in-cheek Adam-and-Eve remix featured an upstanding young mama’s boy beset by shake-yer-booty temptresses. Though the morality play text was elementary, the dancing was energetic and fun and didn’t wear out its welcome.
Details: Cleveland Public Theatre, http://www.cptonline.org. Big [Box] concludes next weekend with Barbara Becker’s Ictus.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Linda Eisenstein LindaATcoolcleveland.com

Chagrin Light Orchestra @ Chagrin Valley Little Theatre 2/16 “Wow, they really went overboard tonight with all this top quality entertainment,” said one concert patron after listening to the Chagrin Light Orchestra’s Valentine’s Day concert. The “Light” Orchestra gave a “full-bodied” concert. Musical director Stephen Eva started by joking with the audience, singling out the large Grand piano on stage situated among the music stands and chairs, and how was he going to negotiate around it to conduct the orchestra. He then warmed up the audience with introductory preview remarks about the romantic music program…

A guest appearance by Don Edelman imitating French actor, Maurice Chevalier, added pizzazz and style to the Orchestra’s performance of the Broadway musical Gigi. The audience next heard the featured vocalists, Casey Braun and Dani Apple, singing with the Orchestra “Somewhere Out There” from the animated musical An American Tail. Their young voices were beautiful to hear, and the audience applause commanded a second curtain call. Pat Mazarino and Ryann Angelotti added their delightful voices to the Broadway musical No, No Nanette selections. We had a special surprise, a guest appearance by Romanian tenor, Ionel Constantin Solomon, who sang the “Flower Song” from the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet. Solomon demonstrated a strong operatic voice while he sang to a red flower caressed in his hand. The talented vocalists effectively wove their voices throughout the music contributing a unique vibrancy to the program.

To finish the concert with a flourish, renowned Steinway artist and Cleveland Institute of Music faculty member, Sandra Shapiro, performed the Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor op. 54 with passion and perfection. She has played with many notable orchestras both nationally and internationally, including the Baltimore Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Belgrade String Orchestra, and the Stuttgart Symphony.

The Chagrin Light Orchestra, founded in 2005 and part of the Valley Art Center, is dedicated to the advancement of and appreciation for live music from the perspectives of both performers and the audiences, while enriching and promoting the Chagrin Falls community. Chagrin Light’s performers, 40+ strong, strive to enlighten audiences to the live musical experience by incorporating stories, interaction, and fun in their performances. For more information, visit http://www.chagrinlight.org.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Susan Schaul susn1ATatt.net

Mozart M.U.S.i.C. @ Shaker Hts. 2/17 The music of Mozart is often referred to as ‘sunny’, and there are those who think that his Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581 is possibly the best thing he ever wrote. Small wonder, then, that early in the second movement of the performance on Sunday afternoon, the sun suddenly broke through the clouds and brilliantly illuminated the outdoors landscape as well as the room filled with five expert musicians and some fifty or so happy listeners.

There’s always a very special quality to hearing chamber music in a ‘chamber’ approximating the room (or at least the size of that room) in which it was meant to be heard. Jodi Kanter has been producing these intimate concerts for several years, and this performance has to rank among her better efforts. A large home in Shaker Heights was the setting for two Clarinet quintets (the other by Brahms) featuring two gifted young students at CIM and the local Athena Quartet…

Members of the quartet are Leah Goor and Donna Dehn, violins; Laura Shuster, viola and Julie Myers King, cello. They were joined by Emil Hudyyer (from Turkmenistan) and Stanislav Golovin (from Uzbekistan), clarinetists, both of whom study with Franklin Cohen at CIM.

Mr. Golovin was the soloist in the Brahms Quintet in B minor, Op. 115, a more autumnal work, but still the sun continued to shine, spreading golden color to match the golden sounds. The acoustics in the room were very resonant and lively, but the musicians adjusted easily to the added warmth, especially evident in the lower registers of all the instruments.

The closing work was Il Convegno for Two Clarinets by Ponchielli, which certainly demonstrates the agility and lyricism of the instrument to marvelous effect. The two young men had previously performed this work to great acclaim in the opening recital at CIM’s Mixon Hall in November. The audience at this recital was a good bit smaller than that earlier one, but could not be faulted for enthusiasm. A delightful ‘tea’ followed the performance.

To be added to the list for upcoming recitals produced by M.U.S.i.C. (Musical Upcoming Stars in the Classics) send an e-mail to: kanterM.U.S.i.C.08@gmail.com

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATroadrunner.com

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

1) Obama-Clinton debate scheduled at CSU on 2/26.
www.Cleveland.com

2) At Least We Have a Lake by Chris Whipple.
www.CoolCleveland.com

3) Can We Give You Anything Else? by Roldo Bartimole.
www.CoolCleveland.com

4) Two Winners and a Loser by Mansfield Fraser.
www.CoolCleveland.com

5) Pop-Up City does Leap Night and don’t miss the new video.
www.PopUpCleveland.com

Got Vertigo? It can happen, especially with all the amazing content our Hard Corps offer up every week. Stop, take a couple deep breaths and keep on reading. Thanks to Peter Chakerian, T.L. Champion, George Nemeth, Steve Copley, Christine Young, Mansfield B. Frazier, Susan Schaul, Roldo Bartimole, Marcus Bales, Kelly Ferjutz, Linda Eisenstein and Laura Kennelly. 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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