08.21-08.28.2019 Double Down

08.21-08.28.19
Double Down

It’s time to partner up and see if one plus one actually equals three.

I started thinking about how Lou Reed and Andy Warhol got together and started changing the world. Lou and the Velvet Underground with their seminal music that’s acknowledged to be some of the most influential ever. And Warhol with his live show The Exploding Plastic Inevitable that ripped the lid off live performance. So I’m putting together a show, When Andy Met Lou at BOP STOP in Cleveland on Fri 9/13 and Sat 9/14, and then debuting at Jilly’s Music Room in Akron for a Velvet Brunch at noon on Sun 9/22. Vanity Crash closes each show in inimitable style.

Sometimes putting two different things together makes all the sense in the world. So this week Maelstrom Collaborative Arts pairs artists from different disciplines to create new work, we’ve got Garlic and Tomato festivals, this year the Rubber City Jazz & Blues Festival includes an appearance at the Akron Civic Theatre and Angie Haze brings gypsy and folk to the Kent Stage.

Akron Pride and Pagan Pride celebrate diversity this week, Cleveland’s Burning River Baroque ensemble launches its 8th season with ”A Mad, Burning Desire,” One World Day spotlights our region’s ethnic roots, and you can even catch a live reading of the Mueller report. Pair up and have some fun this week. –Thomas Mulready

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Photo by Marc Saxe, courtesy Cleveland Photo Fest

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When Andy Met Lou

Andy Warhol, Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground

The titanic clash of two great figures in 20th Century art, Lou Reed and Andy Warhol found each other just as Warhol was giving up painting for film and The Velvet Underground were creating what would become some of the most influential music in decades. Warhol became their manager, “produced” their first record, and along the way invented a live touring multi-media extravaganza called The Exploding Plastic Inevitable that changed live performance, rock concerts and the concept of spectacle forever.

Thomas Mulready presents the latest in a series of assiduously researched shows on seminal figures in music and art, this one focusing on 1966-67 as Warhol inserts Nico into the band as “chanteuse,” invites various “superstars” to invent frenetic performance technique, flashes his films on the walls, and oversees the creation of sound and light show that were the model for everything from raves to performance art to EDM concerts. The presentation includes rare video, demo tracks, needle drops, first-person quotes, and contests, followed by a sizzling live music set by Cleveland’s own Vanity Crash, featuring a new chanteuse of their own, Virginia Plain Crash.

Limited seating available at BOP STOP in Cleveland on Fri 9/13 and Sat 9/14, then debuting at Jilly’s Music Room in Akron for a Velvet Brunch at noon on Sun 9/22. Don’t miss it.

Jazz Takes Akron

Akron is more of a hotbed for jazz than you’d think. Two Summit County musicians, trombonist Chris Anderson and pianist Theron Brown, set out to prove it when they launched the Rubber City Jazz & Blues Festival in 2016. And it keeps growing. This year it will close with a first-time concert inside the Akron Civic Theatre, featuring Texas jazz/r&B singer/pianist Robert Glasper.

For three days, various venues around downtown Akron will host both professional and student musicians, with the goal of exposing listeners to high-quality music and showcasing up-and-comers, while supporting music and arts programming for underserved youth in Summit, Lorain, Erie, and Cuyahoga counties. Fri 8/23-Sun 8/25.

Garlic & Tomatoes in the Spotlight

It may seem like we’re writing a lot about food festivals lately, but the window to celebrate peak harvest in northeast Ohio is small. That’s why you’re seeing events like last week’s celebrations of corn and peppers, and this week’s tribute to garlic and tomatoes. The Cleveland Garlic Festival returns to Shaker Square for the 10th year, with garlic to eat and plant, plus plenty of other produce, a cheese tent, a Top Chef Grill Off and yes, the garlic ice cream is back. Sat 8/24-Sun 8/25.

Over at Cavotta’s Garden Center in Collinwood, known for the more than 100 varieties of tomatoes it grows from seed, the 4th annual Cleveland Tomato Festival is happening, with plenty of tomatoes to taste, along with foods made from tomatoes by a dozen local chefs and tomato-based cocktails. Sun 8/25.

From Hemp to Church Van

Cleveland’s Fund for Our Economic Future awarded prizes (and money) to three area organizations to provide transportation to connect city residents to jobs in inaccessible outlying suburbs including by using church vans that sit unused during the week. But there’s a hitch in this noble-sounding idea, reports columnist C. Ellen Connally.

“My initial reaction to the announcement was very positive,” she says. “But when the name Aaron L. Philips appeared as the key player and contact person for the project, my antennae went up.” Some may recall that Phillips was one of the key players in selling an ill-fated idea to create a hemp factory in Glenville that turned out to be a scam, leaving a trail of broken promises.

Cleveland artist Hadley Connor is a devotee of old-fashioned film-and-darkroom photography, something she teaches to students at Brush High School. Now, as part of Cleveland Photo Fest, which will encompass exhibits at multiple galleries in September & October, she’s put together Take a Good Look, featuring the work of 20 of her students, using photographer to explore a range of subjects. It opens at Parma’s Prama Gallery with a reception Fri 8/23 and runs through Wed 9/18.

There’s also still time to volunteer to spend a few hours working at one of the galleries during the nonprofit festival, in its first year. Go here to fill in a volunteer form to indicate your interest and availability.

Cleveland’s Burning River Baroque ensemble launches its 8th season with “A Mad, Burning Desire,” looking at the 17th-century fascination with women & madness, and how it connects with contemporary views. Wed 8/21-Sat 8/24

* The Angie Haze Project plays gypsy/global folk at the Kent Stage. Fri 8/23.

* Cleveland trio Kombilesa Ase closes Tremont’s Arts in August series with their African Diaspora music. Sun 8/25.

* Addiction and recovery are the subject of an afternoon of free music on the Rock Hall Plaza. Sun 8/25.

* Cleveland Opera Theater presents free “Opera for All” concert at Dunham Tavern Museum. Sun 8/25.

WED 8/21
If you’re hungry for still more discussion of the famous 1969 Cuyahoga River fire that helped spur the environmental movement, stop in at Artists Archives of the Western Reserve for a talk called “After the Burn,” which explores that impact.

* Rush fans will gather at the Cedar Lee Theatre for screening of concert film with previously unseen footage.

* Three women comics take the stage at the BOP STOP for Women & Wine, with two glasses of wine included in the ticket price.

Click here for more events on Wed 8/21

THU 8/22
The Greek Festival at Saints Helen & Constantine Church in Cleveland Heights is one of the biggest church ethnic festivals in the area, with four full days of food, drink, folk dancers and musicians, vendors of Greek paraphernalia, a huge flea market and church tours. And more food. Through Sun 8/25.

* Last chance to see work by Hillary Gent, Todd Leech & Stephanie Craig at closing reception at Westlake’s Gallery W.

* Maelstrom Collaborative Arts’ Bricolage series pairs artists from different disciplines to create new work. Through Sat 8/24.

* Arts and Culture Night offers NE Ohio’s creative community the chance to meet and mingle.

* Abby the Spoon Lady brings her street-honed sounds to Riverdog Barn.

Click here for more events on Thu 8/22

FRI 8/23
More than 100 teams from across the country are expected at the Cleveland World Cup of Bocce at the Wickliffe Italian American Club, competing for $23,000 in prize money. If you’re not into bocce, it’s also a festival of Italian food and culture, music and kids’ activities. Through Sun 8/25.

* Everyone can join in a drum circle at Euclid Beach Park.

* Blank Canvas Theatre opens NYC-based drama Lobby Hero, through Sat 9/7.

* Burlesco brings glamour to the Alex Theatre at the 9.

* Near West Theatre hosts a community open house in Gordon Square.

* Whiskey for Whiskers in Peninsula helps wild and domestic animals.

* Drumplay offers global jazz at the Lakewood Library’s free Front Porch concert series.

Click here for more events on Fri 8/23

SAT 8/24
Akron Pride is one of Ohio’s younger pride celebrations, launched in 2017. It was overdue: the first two editions attracted thousands to Hardesty Park, following the parade from Highland Square. This year, they’ll be honoring the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.

* Pagan Pride celebrates a decade of diversity in downtown Bedford. Also tomorrow.

* Ethiopian Cultural Garden is dedicated, the first from an African nation.

* Enjoy one of the last days of summer outdoors at Shaker Lakes’ Take to the Lake.

* Public participation reading at the Glenville Arts Campus honors Lorain-born, Nobel Prize-winning writer Toni Morrison.

* The Cleveland Orchestra and the Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre program join forces for South Pacific in concert at Blossom Music Center.

Click here for more events on Sat 8/24

SUN 8/25
Sociable dogs will be in ecstasy at Cleveland Metroparks Hinckley Reservation’s annual Dog Paddle and Pet-a-Palooza, when hundreds of dogs will take over the Ledge Pool for a swim and the opportunity to make lots of new friends.

* Cleveland Cultural Gardens’ One World Day spotlights the area’s many ethnicities with a parade, a naturalization ceremony, food and performances in the various gardens.

Click here for more events on Sun 8/25

MON 8/26
Local nonprofit Roots of American Music’s mission is to send professional musicians out into the community to work at institutions such as schools. Tonight it invites the community to share its music at one of its periodic bluegrass jams at the Beachland Ballroom.

* Ava Mendoza’s Unnatural Ways brings experimental noise to the Beachland Tavern.

Click here for more events on Mon 8/26

TUE 8/27
It’s the final week for Playhouse Square’s summer-long Dancing Under the Stars, a series of free events that feature short classes followed by dancing to live music. It winds down with salsa’ing to one of the area’s best Latin jazz ensembles, Sammy DeLeon y su Orquesta.

Click here for more events on Tue 8/27

WED 8/28
Inspired by a similar event in NY, Nighttown is hosting an 11-hour open-mic reading of the Mueller Report. Anyone can come sign up for a ten-minute slot. “I think it’s important that citizens know what is in the Mueller Report,” says event producer Christine McBurney. Money from the $10 door donation will go to immigrant support group RAICES.

* Local experimental duo Night Terrors plays at the BOP STOP with guest guitarist Chris Bober.

Click here for more events on Wed 8/28

Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com

Judge Gaul Has a Lot of Gall

OK, I couldn’t stop myself from using this smarmy rhyming title, but Common Pleas Judge Daniel Gaul really does sometimes engage in behavior that is galling. This time he granted early release to a former high-powered Washington, D.C. lawyer who was convicted of molesting a child, in spite of the protestations of the victim’s family members…

Read other stories from Mansfield Frazier here