The region shimmers with holiday fun: Deck the Hall at Stan Hywet, sing Hallelujah at Trinity Cathedral, celebrate Kwanzaa at CPT, re-live Nutcracker with Cleveland Ballet, enjoy a cup of cocoa at West Creek Reservation, jazz it up with Tracey Thomas & Tim Longfellow at Jilly’s, get down at the Holiday Hootenanny at the Grog, help hurricane-ravaged Jamaica with Packy Malley, jam along with the Solstice Music and Art Festival, experience Missile Toe live in concert, catch the holiday drag brunch with Veranda L’Ni, and do your last-minute shopping at Cleveland Bazaar, BAYarts, Heights Arts and Big Fun’s pop-up.Tickets make the best gifts, and the music lover in your life would love to hear how Billy Bass and Denny Sanders made David Bowie popular in Cleveland and influenced radio stations around the US. Get tix now for David Bowie in Cleveland on Fri 1/10 at BOP STOP, Sat 1/11 at Jilly’s Music Room and Sun 1/12 at Beachland, and light up someone’s night.
Holiday offer alert! Use promo code WCSHoliday24 through January 3 for 20% off 3-event ticket bundles to the William N. Skirball Writers Center Stage series at the Maltz Performing Arts Center.
Authors coming to the 2024-2025 season include Bridgerton creator Shelby Van Pelt (Remarkably Bright Creatures), Pulitzer Prize finalist Tommy Orange (There, There), National Book Award finalist Kaveh Akbar (Martyr!) and Erik Larson (Devil in the White City, Demon of Unrest). Presented by the Cuyahoga County Public Library Foundation and its academic partner Case Western Reserve University. Get the discount here.
The Fifth Wheel, one of the area’s most prominent alternative rock band of the ’90s, reunited in 2015 with four of the original members and more music in the pipeline. In the wake of a new single called “I Miss You Christmas,” the group is hosting a holiday blowout at Akron’s Rialto Theater with a flock of musician friends, old and new, on Fri 12/20. Read more.
Akron-based alt-country/honky-tonk band the Shootouts have had a momentous couple of years, with three hot albums and six appearances on Nashville’s legendary radio show, the Grand Ole Opry, in the past two years. Now they’ll be part of the Opry’s 100th anniversary celebration at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on January 4. They’ll also teasing a special announcement they’ll be making onstage that night. Read more.
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo has transformed into a holiday wonderland for Wild Winter Lights presented by NOPEC! With more than 1.5 million lights across holiday-themed zones, guests of all ages and abilities can enjoy these dazzling displays now through Dec. 30.
Admission includes a dynamic musical light show, unlimited rides on the carousel, a holiday movie in the cozy 4-D Theater and a photo op with Santa and his helpers in Santa’s North Pole Lodge. Read more.
If anyone was responsible for popularizing David Bowie outside the UK, it was WMMS radio, and specifically program director and DJ Billy Bass, and music director and DJ Denny Sanders. Even before Ziggy Stardust was released, WMMS was playing Hunky Dory day and night, while influencing other radio stations around the country. Recent video interviews with each will tell the back story at David Bowie in Cleveland, appearing on Fri 1/10 at BOP STOP, Sat 1/11 at Jilly’s Music Room and Sun 1/12 at Beachland.
Tickets make great holiday gifts! Hear the stories, dance to live original music and Bowie classics and deep cuts by Vanity Crash, catch the exhibition and sale of rare historical Bowie photos by Anastasia Pantsios, and enjoy special guests. For the music lover in your life, even if it’s you! Get tickets now.
TUE 12/24 For the Procrastinators
You waited this long? Luckily, both Heights Arts’ and BAYarts’ holidays stores are open today with tons of handmade artist gifts, and Big Fun’s pop-up store on Coventry is open until 5 packed with unique and fun gifts for all types of people.
