12.12-12.19.18
Abandoned
From near ruins, this town has pulled itself up and continues to survive and thrive.
Part of that rock and roll spirit can be attributed to the Belkin family for helping to make this place the Rock and Roll Capital, as Fran Belkin’s new memoir outlines. You can hear all about it in our new CoolCLE PODCAST #12, also featuring an interview with the remarkable photographer Jeffrey Stroup about his book Abandoned Cleveland, and new music from two Akron artists: country singer Erica Dawn and power pop/rock quartet Librarians With Hickeys.
Don’t forget the kids this holiday season; bring them to BAYarts this Sunday for the personal shoppers on hand, or to the Happy Dog for their annual Pancake Breakfast with Santa on Saturday. Lakewood’s LEAF Market hosts their annual holiday market, as does the Cleveland Flea, the Screw Factory, and the Beachland’s Holiday Flea.
Retiring but not abandoning the community is Bob Navis, stepping away after an intense 25-year run as Near West Theatre’s artistic director. Stella’s Music Club launches its own record label, the Contemporary Youth Orchestra presents a holiday concert at BW, Laura Demarco tells stories of Cleveland Christmases past, and Cleveland’s longest-running improv ensemble is back with its “Very Last Call Christmas.” Don’t forget us. We won’t forget you. –Thomas Mulready
Subscribe to CoolCleveland here
Download our free mobile apps for Apple and Android
Get help receiving the CoolCleveland e-blast here
Photo by Anastasia Pantsios
CoolCleveland is dedicated to George Nemeth
Don’t abandon your online audience Consider CoolCleveland Sponsored Links, Sponsored Features and Sponsored Videos. Info@CoolCleveland.com
Why it took David Bowie a full seven years to score his first hit, Space Oddity, is beyond me.
But save for a few obvious (and successful) efforts to produce hit singles (“Starman,” “Let’s Dance”), Bowie’s real mission in life was to create concept albums, one diametrically opposed to the last. And along the way he left a trail of deep cuts, album tracks and abandoned projects that were, in our estimation, far superior to the hummable hits so familiar to generations of fans.
On Sat 1/12, we’ve got a brand new show, Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell: David Bowie’s Deep Cuts, digging up overlooked classics, epic suites too long for radio, and precious pretties that languished as deep album tracks if they were released at all. It all happens at the wonderful-sounding BOP STOP, 2920 Detroit Avenue.
But if you need to hear all the details about David Bowie’s entire life and artistic bounty from birth to his final album ★ Blackstar (and beyond), you need to also be there the night before, Fri 1/11, for An Evening With(out) David Bowie, freshly updated with newly released box sets and rarities, outtakes, demos and just-discovered gems.
Both nights you’ll enjoy rare video, hi-def audio, trivia and giveaways presented and directed by Thomas Mulready. And each evening is capped with a sizzling live music set by Cleveland glam punk superstars Vanity Crash. Get your tickets soon, as these shows will probably sell out. Photo of Bowie live in Cleveland 1974 by Janet Macoska.
Two Cleveland authors join the podcast this week to talk about their books. Jeffrey Stroup, a photographer, documents shocking and paradoxically beautiful images of decaying structures in his first book, Abandoned Cleveland. And Fran Belkin, author of Rock This Town!, recalls an awkward moment with Bruce Springsteen in her memoir of her years in concert promotion.
Plus music from two Akron artists: country singer Erica Dawn and power pop/rock quartet Librarians With Hickeys.
Being a roadie doesn’t sound like a glamorous life, but you never know. Kevin Dugan started hauling gear for local bands like Rainbow Canyon and the Raspberries right out of high school (Euclid HS, class of ’72). But in 1975, he headed to LA, not to “make it” as a rock star but to work behind the scenes with artists. Six years later, he got his “break”: he met Michael Anthony of Van Halen. He still works for him.
He’s got plenty of tales to tell about life on the road with Van Halen and others such as Fleetwood Mac (“They made Van Halen look like fucking nuns,” he says). He’ll be sharing them at a Cleveland Stories program at the Music Box Supper Club. Wed 12/19.
Why didn’t anybody listen? asks our columnist C. Ellen Connally. After carefully reviewing the evidence on Mason’s conduct, she tells us, three hearing examiners, acting on behalf of the Ohio Supreme Court Board of Professional Conduct, recommended Mason’s permanent disbarment.
The findings of the Supreme Court panel were accurate predictors of Mason’s future conduct, but nobody listened. Even the Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court cut Mason some slack, reducing the findings of the panel to indefinite suspension – a step up from permanent disbarment. And, Connally points out, that was just the first of many breaks Mason got that ignored signs he could be a danger to his ex-wife, whom he killed last month.
Changes have been happening at warp speed at Near West Theatre in the past few years, as the 40-year-old organization, which uses theater to build community, has opened a new state-of-the-art home in Gordon Square and lost its founder/executive director Stephanie Morrison-Hrbek to retirement. Now its other mainstay, artistic director Bob Navis, has announced his retirement after 25 years in the position. He’ll step down in February. As with Morrison-Hrbek, he’ll stay involved because his heart will always be there.
The gift shop at BAYarts has been expanded for the holidays, with items from more than 100 local artists, makers and craftspeople. Sun 12/16 is a special day for kids to shop, with personal shoppers who will help them pick out items for family and friends within their budget. And there’s free gift wrapping!
* Normally, the Happy Dog is a place for grown-up people. But you can bring the kids to its annual Pancake Breakfast with Santa so they can be grown-ups and kids at the same time. Sat 12/15.
Click here for more CoolCleveland Kids events
Lakewood’s LEAF Market is a mainstay of the summertime farmers market season. But it also hosts an annual holiday market at Lakewood’s Garfield Middle School so its patrons can stock up on goodies and gifts from its vendors. There’ll be baked goods, pasta, jams, honey, and lots of handmade products from its local artisans. Tue 12/18.
Read more of CoolCleveland’s picks for Eats and Drinks.
Classical Revolution Cleveland, which presents classical musicians performing in unusual formats and venues, is celebrating its 9th year of free monthly shows at the Happy Dog. There will be bassoons! Tue 12/18
Read more picks by Anastasia Pantsios here
WED 12/12
The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage’s Stop the Hate essay contest for youth in grades 6-12 has a second component “Youth Sing Out,” in which classes compete as teams with songs they’ve written about topics like bullying, the refugee crisis, racism and drug abuse. They perform them tonight at the Rock Hall with the winning class getting $5,000 for their school.
Click here for more events on Wed 12/12
THU 12/13
Last Call Cleveland, the area’s longest-running improv ensemble, is back with its “Very Last Call Christmas” tonight at the Grog Shop and Tue 12/18 at Pickwick & Frolic downtown.
Click here for more events on Thu 12/13
FRI 12/14
Justin Gorksi aka DJ Kishka gave up his monthly Polka Happy Hours at the Happy Dog in Gordon Square when his schedule got too hectic (He and his wife own Lakewood’s Cleveland Vegan). But he dons the beard again for a special holiday show at the Happy Dog called “How the Kishka Saved Christmas.”
Click here for more events on Fri 12/14
SAT 12/15
The 1960s AfriCOBRA movement, founded in Chicago, aimed to make work that explored black identity, culture and activism for black audiences. Two of the five co-founders. Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell, who now live in NE Ohio, will speak at the Akron Art Museum, where another co-founder, Jeff Donaldson, currently has a show.
Click here for more events on Sat 12/15
SUN 12/16
Cleveland’s Burning River Brass has travelled all over the world but it made its debut in 1996 at a concert for Arts Renaissance Tremont. Now its annual ART holiday concerts at Tremont’s Pilgrim Church are a beloved tradition. And they’re free. Also tomorrow.
Click here for more events on Sun 12/16
MON 12/17
While it’s set in Indiana, many of the exteriors in the 1983 movie A Christmas Story were filmed in Cleveland, and the city has adopted it as its own. The house in Tremont where the central family lived has been turned into a museum honoring the film. It’s open almost every day of the year, including all of December except the 25th.
Click here for more events on Mon 12/17
TUE 12/18
Art on Madison’s Monthly POETRY + series presents poet and speculative fiction writer E.F. Schraeder, whose work will be center stage in an extended reading intended for audiences to immerse themselves in a writer’s work.
Click here for more events on Tue 12/18
WED 12/19
Arnon Goldfinger’s film The Flat tells the story of the people who populate an apartment in Tel Aviv, starting with his grandparents who lived there after fleeing Germany in the 1930s. It screens tonight at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage with a post-film talkback with Jewish Genealogy Society member and filmmaker Natalie Bauman.
Click here for more events on Wed 12/19
Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com
We’ve had elected sheriffs in the past (Ralph Kreiger and Gerald McFaul) and under both of them, the County Jail conditions became so bad that investigations were launched. So obviously the sheriff isn’t the problem, or at least not the entire problem….
* Kevin Hart is a standup comic, and comics oftentimes say offensive things; that’s what he gets paid to do. But there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed, and in 2010 he crossed one of them with comments he made…
Read other stories from Mansfield Frazier here
A look back at the last week
Submit your own review or commentary to Events@CoolCleveland.com
THEATER REVIEW: Around the World in 80 Days @ Shaharazad Theatre Company by Roy Berko
THEATER REVIEW: Avenue Q @ PLACE DATE by Roy Berko
THEATER REVIEW: Shrek the Musical @ Beck Center by Roy Berko
THEATER REVIEW: Shrek the Musical @ Beck Center by Laura Kennelly
Read and comment here: http://www.coolcleveland.com/blog
With wild abandon,
–Thomas Mulready
Cool Networks LLC / 14837 Detroit #105 / Cleveland, OH 44107
All contents (c)2018 Cool Networks LLC all rights reserved