10.17-10.24.2018 Modern Female Rockstars

10.17-10.24.18
Modern Female Rockstars

Don’t be afraid. It’s time for women in our region to step up. And it’s time for men around here to help them do just that.

CoolCleveland’s newest video correspondent Megan Alves goes looking for the strangest things in Cleveland, and meets up with Clement Kunkle of Lakewood’s Cleveland Curiosities, your one-stop shop for mortuary paraphernalia, religious antiques, vintage medical equipment and anatomical specimens. You’ll dig her video.

And CoolCleveland’s youngest commentator, CSU sophomore Jenna Thomas, breaks down the upcoming governor’s race, attends the debate, and spells it out: on health care, education, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, and more, Thomas confronts Mike DeWine, and lays out a devastating case for supporting Richard Cordray. Mansfield provides all the good reasons we are ENDORSING a YES vote on Issue 1 to reform drug laws and increase treatment. CoolCleveland readers are implored to get out and vote.

Listen to the fourth installment of our new PODCAST featuring an all-female cast of characters, from women-fronted local bands Niights, The Sonder Bombs and Mimi Arden, to a new festival of education and empowerment for women called Empower U. Listen up. Then you can Grab ‘Em By The Midterms at Lakewood Civic, featuring Betty Sutton, Marcy Kaptur and three woman congressional candidates.

So can I be honest for a moment? If you’re a member of the status quo, I implore you to engage more women, more young people, more talented people with more diverse backgrounds, and put them in charge, so we can step into the light together. Oh, and don’t forget to vote. –Thomas Mulready

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Photo by Thomas Mulready from the recent Reap The Benefit 2018: Feed The Land
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CoolCLE PODCAST #04: Modern Female Rockstars

During this week’s episode of the CoolCLE Show, we learn about an event called Empower U that brings a festival of education, panel discussions, music and businesses all aimed at female empowerment and inspiration on Sat 10/20.

To complement the topic, you can listen to new music from three Cleveland, female-fronted bands, starting with Dandelions from Mimi Arden’s new summer release. The band’s lead singer, Michelle Gaw, will be performing at Empower U. Plus some brand new music from Ohio City’s Niights and locals The Sonder Bombs with a track from their new album Modern Female Rockstar.

Dark and Dazzling

It’s not like NE Ohio guitarist Neil Zaza doesn’t have enough on his plate with his international touring schedule. For instance, he’s just returned from China – again. But somehow in the middle of all that traveling, he’s managed to put together an elaborate new show called “One Dark Night …” that ups the ante on his popular “One Silent Night …” Christmas shows, exploring the dark side of human nature.

The new show, which rocks up classical music, features an orchestra, choir and a huge video wall, as well as jaw-dropping music. “I can easily say that this is the most difficult music I’ve ever played in any context,” says Zaza. “It’s so beyond anything that I have ever done with One Silent Night… And not just musically, but presentation as well.” It debuts at the Akron Civic Theatre. Sat 10/20.

VIDEO: Cleveland Curiosities, The Oddity Emporium

Looking for a mummified piglet? Or a human skeleton, perhaps? How about a 1920s wicker casket? Billed as Cleveland’s premiere oddity emporium, Cleveland Curiosities was founded in 2014 by owner/manager Clement Kunkle in Lakewood’s boutique retail district on Madison Avenue.

Cleveland Curiosities specializes in taxidermy, mortuary paraphernalia, religious antiques and vintage medical equipment- not to mention anatomical specimens (both animal AND human). CoolCleveland video correspondent Megan Alves visits this unusual boutique. Whether you’re looking to level up your macabre decor or simply seeking a spooky outing for Halloween, Cleveland Curiosities is a must-see October destination in our cool city.

Why Cordray Is Right and DeWine Is Wrong for Ohio by Jenna Thomas

Our writer, Cleveland State sophomore Jenna Thomas, went to the debate between the major party candidates for governor at CSU. As a younger voter, she wasn’t impressed by what she heard from Republican Mike DeWine – on protection of minorities, LGBT rights, voter rights, women’s rights, health care, the loss of public school funding to the ECOT for-profit charter schools – he struck out on all her issues.

“I feel hopeful when I think about how inclusive my generation is,” she says. “When I look at you, Mr. DeWine, I feel frightened for what my LGBT friends could face against the Republican Party’s bigotry. She was impressed with Democrat Rich Cordray’s strong defense of LGBT rights, among other positions, and urges other young people to vote for him.

Yes on Issue 1

There’s one statewide issue on your ballot this November: issue 1, which would decrease penalties for low-level, non-violent drug offenders, keeping them out of prison and redirecting the money saved to treatment facilities instead.

While some are opposing the measure because they believe it should’t be a constitutional amendment and others are using scare tactics, our writer Mansfield Frazier feels that much good could come of passing it. He asserts that citizens are putting such measures on the ballot due to the inaction of elected officials “are all too often bought and paid for by lobbyists from various industries.”

BOP STOP Celebrates Four Stellar Years

It seems like yesterday that Anita Nonneman and Ron Busch gifted the BOP STOP to The Music Settlement. However, this October the club celebrates its four year anniversary as a nonprofit affiliate of the 106-year-old community music school. In that time, the BOP STOP has presented nearly 1,100 concerts and 85 Grammy winners or nominees. Although the club is partying all month long with 27 concerts, the club’s upcoming anniversary week is especially unique.

April Verch, a nationally recognized fiddler and step dancer brings her enchanting mix of regional Canadian, American old-time, bluegrass, country and Americana to the club on Thu 10/18. Then Fri 10/19 features Pittsburgh’s funky brass band, Beauty Slap, followed by the club’s bi-monthy jazz jam session. To close out the weekend on Sat 10/20, Jamey Haddad’s (drummer with Paul Simon/Sting) Under One Sun, presents their original blend of world music and jazz.

The Boo-tanical Bash is Back

The Cleveland Botanical Garden’s all-time favorite kid-friendly Halloween tradition continues. Kids can come in costume to tour the decorated gardens and hit all the trick-or-treat stations. Sat 10/20 & Sun 10/21.

* There’s magic happening onstage at Talespinner Children’s Theatre’s annual Harlequinade benefit and get a first look at its new touring production and its 2019 season. Sat 10/20.

* The Greater Cleveland Aquarium’s Hauntaquarium offers pirate-themed trick or treating, a magic show, science demos, a dance party and more, Fridays and Saturdays through Sat 10/27.

* Cleveland Museum of Art’s Family Game Night offers a variety of fun challenges. Fri 10/19.

Click here for more CoolCleveland Kids events

Think and Drink at CMNH: Murder at the Museum

Raise a glass and increase your knowledge of the natural world at Cleveland’s brainiest happy hour!

Each #ThinkandDrink event highlights a different science topic and offers exclusive access to professional staff and researchers, unique experiences and interactive demonstrations. Enjoy a drink from our beer and wine bar, and grab a bite to eat at Exploration: A Zack Bruell Restaurant located off Wade Oval lobby. This month’s theme is Murder at the Museum and takes place on Thu 10/18.

Think & Drink with the Extinct is from 6 to 10PM on the third Thursday of the month from October through May (with the exception of November which will take place on the second Thursday). The event is free for members.

Ohio city has been on the forefront of the urban farming boom in Cleveland with numerous community gardens and small farms, as well as the area’s largest urban farm, the Ohio City Farm. Bring your chair to the lawn of St. Patrick’s Church to hear from those doing the growing. Tue 10/23.

* Slavic Village’s 2nd annual Kielbasa Cookout invites people to bring their sausages to cook over a fire; local restaurants will also have food (and beer) for purchase. Live music and s’mores fixings for the kids round out this neighborly gathering on Fleet Street. Fri 10/19.

Read more of CoolCleveland’s picks for Eats and Drinks.

Glory Denied at BW and Red Space

An opera experience like no other… The Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music presents the regional premiere of Glory Denied, an intimate chamber opera that tells the powerful story of Jim Thompson, longest-held prisoner of war in US military history, as he tries to re-assimilate into American life after nine years behind enemy lines in Vietnam.

Performed at Cleveland’s Red Space on Fri 10/19 and at BW on Sun 10/21, Glory Denied is fully-staged with costumes and lighting, presented in two acts (77 minutes,) and accompanied by a 9-piece chamber orchestra. Featuring professional baritone Gregory Gerbrandt in the role of Jim Thompson and post-performance audience talkbacks with composer Tom Cipullo. Directed by Scott Skiba. Tickets here.

Cranking Out the Sounds

Lamont “Bim” Thomas, known to many listeners as the “band” Obnox, is one of Cleveland’s most productive musicians. He became known to audiences as a member of Columbus’ Bassholes and Cleveland’s This Moment in Black History, but Obnox is his outlet for his multiple musical interests and stylistic diversity. In the past several years, it’s been hard to keep up with his string of releases, which have earned him critical kudos.

He’s just dropped two new releases: Bang Messiah, which he describes as a “more black look at rock ‘n’ roll with the hip-hop influence,” and Templo del Sonido, “the noisy, experimental improv rock record.” He says, “I like to think people still follow music, follow bodies of work made by artists, real artists, not just people that are popular now.” He’s making sure people have a significant body of his work to follow.

Home Movie Day at the Rock Hall

Come view a compilation film of rock performance footage assembled from local home video and film donations on Sat 10/20 from 2 to 4PM in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Foster Theatre!

Clips will include the Dead Boys, the Beatles at Public Auditorium, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band at Richfield Coliseum, the World Series of Rock, and much more! Some of the film and video donors will be on hand to share their behind-the-scenes stories about the bands and performances featured. Attendees will receive a limited edition Home Movie Day poster by Cincinnati poster artist Brian Methe, whose work is pictured here.

Cleveland singer/songwriter Meganne Stepka debuts a new multi-media project called A Light in the Distance, featuring synergistic film and soundscapes, at Forest City Brewery. Fri 10/19

* The BOP STOP celebrates four years as a part of The Music Settlement and more than 1,000 shows booked with a show by jazz/funktronica band the Beauty Slap and a late-night jam session. Fri 10/19.

* Cleveland’s Whiskey Daredevils survive Europe and come home to debut new CD at the Grog Shop. Fri 10/19.

* Beachland hosts memorial for 60s/70s Cleveland music groundbreaker Brian Sands. Tue 10/23.

* Midiopolis at Mahall’s brings back the halcyon days of the 80s. Sat 10/20.

* Oberlin’s Soul Proprioters roll out new CD to close the barn season at Riverdog Retreat. Fri 10/19.

Read more of CoolCleveland’s picks for Cool Events.

WED 10/17
NE Ohio Magician Jim Kleefeld is known for his interest in vintage paraphernalia used by psychics and mediums a century ago. He’ll be bringing some of that gear to his program, “The Spirits Speak: An Oral Presentation and Display of Antique Spirit Artifacts,” at the Akron Summit Library’s Portage branch.

* Learn about the importance of seeds in agriculture when seed-saving documentary SEED: The Untold Story screens at Forest City Brewery.

* Twenty-pound nutria star in Rodents of Unusual Size, screening at the Capitol Theatre.

* Parma Snow Library hosts author of 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die.

Click here for more events on Wed 10/17

THU 10/18
Join area Democrats at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium as they prepare to “Grab ‘Em by the Midterms.” Lieutenant governor candidate Betty Sutton, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur and three woman congressional candidates headline this rally which focuses on women’s rights. But all genders are welcome!

* Fiddler/vocalist/step dancer April Verch brings her Canadian folk music to the BOP STOP.

* Yards Project’s Art Bar screens film about Cleveland outsider artist the Rev. Albert Wagner.

* Three artists inspired by nature show their work at the Harris-Stanton Gallery.

* Akron Art Museum hosts panel on collecting art.

* Scheherazade’s exotic sounds top Cleveland Orchestra concerts. Also Friday and Saturday.

Click here for more events on Thu 10/18

FRI 10/19
In Annie Baker’s John, which has its midwest premiere at the Dobama Theatre, a young couple, already on each other’s nerves, stops at the inn in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where they find more eerie situations to unsettle them. it runs through Sun 11/11.

* Popular mystery novelist Sara Paretsky talks at the Parma-Snow library.

* Community Greenhouse Partners hosts a wine-tasting benefit.

* ARTneo holds an “underground” costume party.

* Burning River Baroque explore “Destructive Desires” in Cleveland Heights & Lakewood concerts, through Sunday.

* NY artist Alexis Rockman looks at threats to the Great Lakes in paintings at MOCA Cleveland.

* Ensemble Theatre stages NE Ohio premiere of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. Through Sun 11/11.

* Wide-ranging singer/songwriter Mark Erelli performs at G.A.R. Hall.

* Artist Josh Usmani draws on money in Altered Values at Tregoning Gallery. Through Sat 12/1.

* convergence-continuum theater looks at relations in the era of same-sex marriage. Through Sat 11/3.

* The Musical Theater Project celebrates the music of Jerome Kern. Also Sun 10/21.

* UK’s Marian Consort pays tribute to the Blessed Virgin at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

* David Bowie’s “lost film” of 1974 examined at Youngstown State University.

Click here for more events on Fri 10/19

SAT 10/20
Lakewood’s Spooky Pooch Parade is fun for dogs and owners. Both can dress up in costume, march in the parade and enter contests at Kauffman Park. There’ll be vendors onsite and – uh oh! – rescues with adoptable animals, so you might go home with more pets than you came with.

* Learn a better way to do business at the fair trade teach-in and expo at John Carroll University.

* Northeast Ohio Homeless Coaltion gets ready for winter with NEOCH-TOBERFEST benefit.

* The Rock Hall screens amateur films of old Cleveland concerts at Home Movie Day.

* Downtown Kent overflows with apple cider and live entertainment at the annual Cider Fest.

* Cleveland Drafts kickoff features author readings all over Tremont.

* Three years in the making, Everything Is OK has its world premiere at Cleveland Public Theatre.Through Sat 11/10.

* Cleveland Jazz Orchestra looks back at 1968 at Akron’s Blu Jazz + tonight and the Ohio Theatre tomorrow.

* Celebrate Halloween early at All City Candy’s Spooktacular in Mentor.

* Wallow in 12 Hours of Terror movie marathon at the Capitol Theatre.

* Croatian guitarist Ana Vidovic returns to play for the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society at Plymouth Church.

Click here for more events on Sat 10/20

SUN 10/21
Ohio-born Clarence H. White was one of the better known photographers to come out of the early 20th century Pictorialist movement, producing dreamy, introspective images that focused on mood and atmosphere rather than realism. His work goes on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art today.

* Johnny Cash tribute act Terry Lee Goffee performs at the Beachland to raise money for Roots of American Music.

* Create the Kurbisleichenstein Monster with pumpkin carving at Forest City Brewery.

* Cleveland Pops Orchesta musicians play Great American Songbook faves at Solon Center for the Arts

* Beachwood High School hosts Cleveland Bluegrass Orchestra.

Click here for more events on Sun 10/21

MON 10/22
The Legal Aid Society provides services in civil lawsuits to those too poor to use the legal system. Its Libra Party taking place at Nighttown, with lawyers performing comedy, music and other entertainment, raises money for this important work.

Click here for more events on Mon 10/22

TUE 10/23
To get people fired up for the upcoming midterm elections (two weeks from today!), a veritable army of NE Ohio musicians is gathering at Jilly’s in Akron to perform their favorite protest songs.

* White party at Chicago Chicken and Waffles benefits Toys for Tots.

* Folksinger Charlie Mosbrook and friend liven up a Tuesday night at the Grog Shop.

Click here for more events on Tue 10/23

WED 10/24
Belgian vocal ensemble Vox Luminis is a relative newcomer to the early music scene, but already making an international splash. They’ll be at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium with a program of Bach motets.

Click here for more events on Wed 10/24

Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com

The Missing Ingredient

Tough love, to be sure, but the best way to solve the problems at the juvenile justice complex is to empower stable, caring black and brown men who can talk the talk because they’ve walked the walk to go into that place of little hope and wrap their loving arms around our young brothers….

* Going Kanye While I’m not technically inventing a new word, I am taking the name “Kanye” and using it as a synonym for “crazy,” as in, “Don’t go all Kanye on me!…”

* An Absurd Prediction? What if, in the upcoming 2020 presidential election, Trump loses? Will he declare that the vote was rigged against him over and therefore he’s not going to vacate the presidency?…

Read other stories from Mansfield Frazier here