AMERICAN PATCHWORK
QUARTET 

 ONLY@OBERLIN 

GRAMMY®-nominated for Best Folk Album in 2025, American Patchwork Quartet, led by multi-GRAMMY® award-winning guitarist/vocalist Clay Ross, binds timeless American folk songs with jazz, country, West African, and East Asian musics. As APQ, Ross intertwines with artists: Harini Raghavan, a Chennai-born Carnatic violinist, singer and composer; Moto Fukushima, an internationally acclaimed Japanese bassist; and Clarence Penn, a drummer whose fibers were honed by African American church traditions.

Get your tickets now for Sat 9/13 at 7:30PM at Finney Chapel on the campus of Oberlin College. “A breathtaking confluence of heritage roots, jazz, and world music influences.” —Mix Magazine.

 SPONSORED 

 LAST TASTE 

 OF SUMMER 

Geneva-on-the-Lake, the little resort town tucked in NE Ohio, has evolved from a rough ‘n’ rowdy town to a family getaway, with old-fashioned fun (game arcades and mini golf) and lots of junk food. Its peak season is summer, but CoolCleveland columnist Claudia Taller shares what you can find once the summer visitors have left.

This week’s post-season event is Thunder on the Strip

, a four-day rally that amplifies the town’s already biker-friendly vibe. But the owners of those flashy Harleys parked on the Strip are older now, some have families, and they don’t brawl anymore. Some probably even enjoy tasting the wines the region is famous for.

 WRITERS
CENTER STAGE 

The diverse six-author William N. Skirball Writers Center Stage series hosted by Cuyahoga County Public Library returns to the Maltz Performing Arts Center on Friday September 26 with British author Ian McEwan (pictured), winner of the Booker Prize. His latest book, What We Can Know, will be out just in time for his September appearance, and all attendees at his talk will get a free copy included with their ticket.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of six New York Times bestsellers, will talk on October 28, and attendees will get a paperback copy of his book, The Revenge of the Tipping Point. Novelist Liz Moore will speak on November 3 and the series will continue into 2026 with fantasy/literary fiction writer R.F. Kuang on March 5; journalist/The New Yorker staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe on April 28; and N.K. Jemisin, an author of speculative fiction, on May 12. Subscription packages and single event tickets are now on sale.

 SPONSORED 

 OBERLIN’S NEW 

 MUSIC THEATER PROGRAM 

Oberlin Conservatory is pulling out all the stops to introduce its new music theater program which debuts with its first class of students this fall. It lured Victoria Bussert away from Baldwin Wallace University’s music theatre program, considered one of the best in the country, to head the department, and assembled a world-class facility to train world-class students.

They’ve just announced all the productions we can see this year featuring these future Broadway stars. Our theater critic Roy Berko fills us in on what we can expect to see.

 WATERLOO IS OHIO’S
TOP ARTS DISTRICT 

A website called Rivers Art polled more than 3,000 art enthusiasts to find out what their favorite art districts are. The top ten are mostly in major markets, but the #1 art district in Ohio is right here in North Collinwood. The Waterloo Arts District ranked #24 out of 140 districts named. You can check it out this Friday at Walk All Over Waterloo.

 PRIMARY ELECTIONS
THIS WEEK! 

Not every community has an election on Tuesday September 9, but if yours does, please vote. These are primaries, meaning that if your community has many candidates for a race, this election will pare them down to two. It’s more important than you think: these are the folks who fill the potholes and shovel the snow.