09.25-10.02.2019 Activism

09.25-10.02.19
Activism

Personally, I’ve shifted almost 100% to a plant-based diet, many of our staff made the move decades ago, we are pushing our suppliers to address pressing issues, and with our business and personal investments, we engage in shareholder activism to hold businesses accountable for environmental, social and governmental criteria (ESG). There are simple, effective strategies you can employ to fight the global climate crisis. Do them.

Activism is nothing new to the life of artists, from activist singer/songwriter John McGrail, appearing at Mac’s Backs this week, to Leonard Bernstein, featured in a new exhibition at the Maltz. Trinity Cathedral is always on the front lines, and the 42nd year of their free Brownbag concert series kicks off this week with the Amethyst String Quartet.

There’s plenty of activity at the 15th annual IngenuityFest, now permanently housed at the Hamilton Collaborative. Who could have guessed when James Levin and I started that ball rolling in 2005? We’ve got PHOTOSTREAMS and REVIEWS of recent shows and performances, and listings of dozens of live events that could change the world. And what will you be starting this week? –Thomas Mulready

Subscribe to CoolCleveland here
Listen to our free weekly PODCAST anywhere: Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube, TuneIn, and Soundcloud
Get help receiving the CoolCleveland e-blast here
CoolCleveland is dedicated to George Nemeth
Photo by Jennifer Gleason, Mastchstick Island, IG: @j.gleasonphoto, courtesy Cleveland Photo Fest

Get active with your online advertising Consider CoolCleveland Sponsored Links, Sponsored Features and Sponsored Videos. Info@CoolCleveland.com

A Life of Music and Activism

Composer/conductor/pianist Leonard Bernstein was quite possibly the best-known and most influential classical musician of the 20th century, known as well for his musical theater works such as West Side Story. But he was also a cultural and media celebrity who was immersed in the civil and human rights struggles of his era.

Leonard Bernstein: The Power of Music, which opens at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage this week and remains on view through Sun 3/1/20, explores in photos, videos and a multimedia interactive display how Bernstein used his musical celebrity to address issues of conscience and how his Jewish heritage formed his ideas and his ideals.

The Black Keys: From Flats Dive to Arenas

When the Black Keys emerged in the early ’00s, the Akron duo played to a few dozen people at Pat’s in the Flats, a funky little workman’s bar. Their slow-but-steady rise to star status over the last 18 years has seen guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Pat Carney (now based in Nashville) release nine albums, including this year’s Let’s Rock.

And they do rock a lot more than they did when they were just a duo with a traditional blues-based sound. Now they tour with additional musicians, and play big arenas such as the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, the former Q Arena, which they’ll officially re-open Mon 9/30.

When Fashion & Culture Divided

Prior to the 60s, high-end fashion designers and society matrons who bought their expensive clothes started style trends and ordinary women wore knockoffs. But by the mid 60s, youth and young designers dominated fashion. By the end of the decade, there was a distinct fashion divide, which reflected the era’s generational, political and cultural divide.

The clothing on view at the Kent State Museum’s new exhibit Culture/Counterculture: Fashions of the ’60s and ’70s is a visual representation of that divide, with the freewheeling, eclectic, improvised and often homemade garments of the counterculture contrasted with the more upscale, traditional designer fashions.

Visit Merwin’s Wharf Restaurant For Clam Bakes This Fall

Visit Merwin’s Wharf restaurant for clambakes this fall. Located on the Cuyahoga River’s Irishtown Bend, Merwin’s Wharf features stunning views of water and wildlife with nearby connections to recreational opportunities. Open year round, Merwin’s Wharf connects guests to urban greenspace while enjoying fresh, seasonal and locally sourced menu items.

Don’t miss Clambakes at Merwin’s Wharf this October. One dozen steamed clams, a cup of clam chowder, half chicken, corn on the cob and sweet potato for only $28. Available Oct. 12, 13, 19 & 20 from 4PM until sold out. Merwin’s Wharf is located at 1785 Merwin Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44113. For more information call (216) 664-5696.

The mural Love Letter to Cleveland by local artists Gary and Laura Dunn once graced a wall in Ohio City before the elements tattered it. A remake, depicting a gang of beloved Cleveland icons, has found a home in the hall outside the library at CSU where it will be dedicated with a free public reception on Thu 9/26.

* Akron Soul Train is an organization that awards residencies for visual, performing and writing artists to create projects that interact with downtown Akron. The deadline for applying for a 2020 residency is Mon 9/30.

Les Delices baroque ensemble travels back to 18th-century France for a series of programs to open its 11th year, including a benefit, an open rehearsal, a kid’s program and a couple of free concerts. Wed 9/25-Sun 9/29

* Vocalist/harmonica player Tim Gartland joins Blue Lunch as special guest at the BOP STOP. Thu 9/26.

* Apollo’s Fire celebrates its new season & 25 years in Akron with Vivaldi program at Bath Church UCC. Tue 10/1.

* Activist singer/songwriter John McGrail brings his social consciousness to Mac’s Backs on Coventry. Fri 9/27.

* Trinity Cathedral kicks off its 42nd year of Brownbag concerts with the Amethyst String Quartet. Wed 10/2.

WED 9/25
The Cleveland Print Room’s annual juried Peer Show features 35 works by both local and national photographers. Some of the local ones will be talking about their work and what inspired it tonight at CPR in a panel discussion.

* Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith reads her work on Lake Erie’s shore.

Click here for more events on Wed 9/25

THU 9/26
SPACES’ current exhibit looks at the ways various American cultures have viewed guns. Tonight it hosts a discussion called Outgunned, talking about whether it’s possible to reverse our country’s love affair with these weapons of death.

* Two Morgan Conservatory artists-in-residence talk about their work.

* Queer, black, androgynous vocalist Kyle Kidd performs at the Transformer Station.

Click here for more events on Thu 9/26

FRI 9/27
IngenuityFest’s sixth and permanent location in the Hamilton Collaborative has proved reviving for the three-day orgy of performances, installations and interactive projects that draw from both the arts and technology. Through Sun 9/29.

* Apollo’s Fire sextet performs Italian Renaissance street music at the Cleveland Museum of Art today, Montrose Mustard Seed tomorrow and the Music Box Sunday.

* Akron’s none too fragile theater produces These Mortal Hosts by NEO playwright Eric Coble, through Sat 10/12.

* Tonight is the final Night Market in AsiaTown for 2019.

* Mad About the Arts at McDonough Museum benefits Youngstown cultural institutions.

* BAYarts hosts a Friday night block party with food, drinks and music.

Click here for more events on Fri 9/27

SAT 9/28
Mulberry Creek Herb Farm in Huron celebrates the harvest bounty and local food producers with its food & wine weekend, with classes and workshops on topics such as garlic growing, iced coffee recipes, herbal wellness, apples and micro greens. Also tomorrow.

* Hipster Assasssins play skronky jazz at the BOP STOP.

* Local author/work coach Jack Rucchiuto offers free workshop at Visible Voice Books.

* Cleveland Jazz Orchestra holds benefit concert in Gates Mills.

* Tremont Arts & Cultural Fest is back in Lincoln Park for the 21st year. Also tomorrow.

* Have lots of fall fun at Heritage Farms’ Pumpkin Pandemonium, through Sun 10/27.

Click here for more events on Sat 9/28

SUN 9/29
The new Euclid Beach Park is beautiful and it sits on hallowed ground, once home to one of the city’s most beloved amusement parks. Remembering the Sights and Sounds of Euclid Beach Park is a tribute to the rides, food and memories.

* Niger’s Les Filles de Illighadad, led by rare African woman guitarist, play at the Music Box.

* The Ohio City Street Festival is a day of family-friendly fun on West 25th.

* Get up close and personal with reptiles at Geauga Park District.

* Lithuanian folk-based musical with cast of 50 to be performed at Willoughby’s Andrews Osborne Academy.

Click here for more events on Sun 9/29

TUE 10/1
Cleveland’s Jessica Rosenblatt (at left, with her wife Diana Chittester) has been named executive director of the 60-year-old Columbus-based Ohio Arts Professionals Network. Come meet her and learn what the group does at a networking event at Nighttown.

* Brexit and European politics are the topic at this month’s Happy Dog Takes on the World.

Click here for more events on Tue 10/1

WED 10/2
The 10th Chagrin Documentary Film Festival will feature 83 films in five days, from Cleveland and around the world, on topics ranging from giraffes to rock concert promoters to dementia to cat shows to black & white photography. It runs through Sun 10/6 at various locations in Chagrin Falls.

* Balinese music & dance ensemble performs at Tri-C’s eastern campus.

Click here for more events on Wed 10/2

Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com

Candace Owens Is a Ho

There are sex workers who prostitute their bodies, but Candace Owens falls into another class: She’s a mental prostitute, she sells her mind, and white Republicans are her biggest tricks. They eat up her rhetoric as if it were gospel and attempt to hold her up as some kind of spokesperson for black Americans…

Read other stories from Mansfield Frazier here