Cool things to do in Cleveland each week,
courtesy of CoolCleveland:
Week of September 1
Underground Classical: Oblivion Project
Fri 9/2 at 8PM
The Underground Classical concert series taking place at Praxis Fiber Workshop’s gallery, with a roomful of looms in the background, features the Oblivion Project playing the Nuevo Tango of Astor Piazzolla.
Since the Cleveland-based group, featuring graduates of the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Oberlin Conservatory, and the New England Conservatory, among others, was founded in 2003 that’s been its mission: to build its performance from the more than 3,000 of the Argentine tango legend’s works. It’s performed at Severance hall with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra and done a residency with the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, bringing the music to new audiences. It’s also toured throughout the midwest, expanding its reach geographically as well.
The show at Praxis is free, part of Underground Classical’s mission, to bring music to non-traditional venues and audiences.
Week of September 5
NewNOW at Tri-C
Tue 9/6 @ 6-8:30PM
Since 2014, the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve has sponsored its annual juried exhibition NEWNOW, which shines the spotlight on artists from northeast Ohio. This year, 55 artists were chosen to show 73 pieces of work, chosen from more than 450 submitted. Michael J. Beam, curator of exhibitions & collections at the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, served as juror.
In the show’s press release, he says “I consider NEWNOW 2016, and other regional exhibitions, a microcosm of current social and cultural inclinations — the emerging artistic Zeitgeist of the NOW. We, as a society, must continue to celebrate our artists’ tenacity for independent thought and their innate ability to reflect these trends through their own artistic endeavors.”
The show, which hangs in the gallery at Tri-C’s eastern campus, opens with a reception and awards ceremony on Tue 9/6 @ 6-8:30pm, with awards, including Best in Show, announced at 7:30. The exhibition is on display through Thu 10/6.
Week of September 12
FireFish Festival Returns
Sat 9/17 @ noon-midnight
The second annual FireFish Festival will take place in downtown Lorain on Sat 9/17. Once again, it will feature music, theater and dance performances, art installations and, rue to its name, acts involving fire.
Last year’s festival drew 10,000 attendees to downtown Lorain where it activated underused spaces and filled them with colorful, creative happenings. This year’s festival will have longer hours and an even more spectacular finale in the burning of the ceremonial fish.
“[Last year’s FireFish Festival] provided a glimpse of what is possible in the reimagining of downtown Lorain as a dynamic, artistic mecca,” said festival executive director James Levin. “We hope this highly acclaimed, unforgettable one-of-a-kind annual arts festival will continue to attract thousands of new visitors to this Northeastern Ohio hidden gem on the water.”
This year the festival will take place on Broadway Avenue’s Black river Lane, connecting it to Black River landing and the waterfront. Artists announced so far include Highlights Sammy De Leon y Su Orquesta; sound artist Jeremy Bible; aerialists the Jasmine Dragons, video artist Kevin Jackson and pianist Angelin Chang performing their synesthetic art installation, the Great Lakes Light Opera, blues singer Kristine Jackson, and fitness pioneer High Voltage kicking off the festival with her high-energy concert. Teen apprentices from the FireFish Arts Summer STEAM Academy in downtown Lorain will be creating the giant FireFish sculpture that comes to life spewing fire.
“The FireFish Festival is once again bringing its wonderful mix of creativity, economic activity, and community engagement to Lorain and the greater region,” said Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (Oh-09) who is a member of the Congressional Arts Caucus. “Congratulations to FireFish’s Joan Perch and James Levin and to City leadership for building an entertaining artistic event that showcases Lorain’s beautiful natural setting along the Black River and Lake Erie.”
The festival is free. Check out the website for more details as they are announced.
Lorain, OH 44052
Week of September 19
Louder Than Words at Rock Hall
Thru 12/31/16
It’s been many decades since political pop and rock tunes were mainstream, when every person of a certain generation knew the lyrics to Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” and could sing along with Country Joe, “And it’s one-two-three, what are we fighting for? Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn — next stop is Vietnam,” when Marvin Gaye’s guy-wrenching “What’s Going On” and his “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” were both top 5 hits.
Today that’s almost unthinkable despite the fact that the issues Gaye sang about — the impact of war and violence on society in the former, the trashing of our environment in the latter — are even more timely today. Today you’ll find strong political messages only on the fringe (most people couldn’t cite a word of what Pussy Riot have recorded), while mainstream pop artists limit themselves to veiled, innocuous “You’re beautiful the way you are” anthems adoptable by the LGBT community.
But there’s a lot of musical history there. So the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum has partnered with the Newseum in Washington D.C. for an exhibit called Louder Than Words: Rock, Power and Politics that looks at how popular music has impacted attitudes about peace, civil rights, patriotism and freedom. And it’s coming to Cleveland first, to be open during the Republican National Convention, which will undoubtedly be attended by people who at one time condemned or called for the banning of some of the exhibit’s contents.
Some of it will be fairly benign, of course, such as a replica of the hat that Aretha Franklin had made to perform at President Obama’s first inauguration in 2009 (pictured). It will include other artifacts as well, along with video, photos, publications, posters and multimedia displays. It will most likely have a strong tilt toward the civil rights and Vietnam War era of the ’60s and early ’70, featuring artists such as Bob Dylan and John Lennon. But it also promises to include the potent early hip-hop music of the ’80s when groups like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five — the first hip-hop act to be inducted into the Rock Hall, in 2007 — pushed back at the pathologies inflicted on their community instead of glorifying them like many of today’s rappers.
The exhibit opens this week and runs through the end of the year, when it moves to the Newseum. It opens there 1/6/2017. It’s free with regular Rock Hall admission.
rockhall.com/louder-than-words-rock-power-politics/
1100 Rock and Roll Blvd, Cleveland, OH 44114