05.02-05.09.2018 We Urge You

05.02-05.09.18
We Urge You

CoolCleveland was never intended to be objective. We advocate for the people, events and causes that we believe in. We offer evidence of how cool Cleveland is, not happy talk.

So this week we urge you to get out and vote in the Tue 5/8 primary election, whether you’re voting Democrat or Republican. We recommend a YES vote on Issues 1 & 9, and our endorsements below explain why. Briefly, Issue 1 is an effort to help correct the gerrymandering that’s taken place in our voting districts, and Issue 9 is a renewal of the Health & Human Services levy that is a lifeline for our children, seniors and the mentally ill.

While we’re talking elections, CoolCleveland columnist C. Ellen Connolly offers her thoughts on the controversy surrounding the very helpful site Judge4Yourself.com. And both Connolly and Mansfield Frazier offer their thoughts on Bill Cosby’s demise.

We always suggest you check out emerging artists in our region. Lakewood High School senior Micah Inak has her first solo show at the Root Cafe. CoolCleveland correspondent Stephan Haluska takes a closer look at the collaborative group dotdotdot is bringing musicians, dancers, painters and performance artists together this weekend at the Magalen on Fleet Avenue.

We also recommended Bowieoke at BOP STOP this Sat 5/5 where I’ll offer a short history of Ziggy Stardust, and our band Vanity Crash will host 6 others (Sarah Arafat, 45 Spider, Frigid Touch, Emily Keener, Kiss Me Deadly and Nick Wilkinson), and the audience will get up and sing karaoke-style. VegFest is in its 4th year, CiCLEvia becomes Open Streets Cleveland, Underground Classical presents at Praxis Fiber Workshop, Eagle Fest lands at the Mentor Marsh, and the Best Record Ever is out this week by the Cleveland Steamers.

You’ll find poetry in Kent, folk music in Oberlin and Oddmall in Akron. But regardless of all this, we simply urge you to get out. And vote. –Thomas Mulready

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Primary Endorsements

Here’s what CoolCleveland is recommending you vote for on Tue 5/8. Even if you don’t take our recommendations (but we hope you do) be sure to vote!

Vote YES on Issue 1, to create a fairer and more balanced way of drawing Ohio’s congressional districts.

Vote YES on Issue 9, the Health & Human Services levy, to fund programs for children, senior and the mental ill and to give MetroGeneral the resources it needs to serve the community.

And if you are in Ohio state senate district 23 (Cleveland west-side wards and inner-ring western suburbs), please vote for Nickie Antonio, one of our most effective and hardworking public servants.

Judging the Judges

A group of local black pastors has pinned blame on Judge4Yourself – a project of four Cuyahoga County bar associations which rates judicial candidates – for the lack of diversity among county judges. CoolCleveland columnist Ellen Connally, herself a retired judge, says it’s not that simple.

Connally takes a look at a host of factors that impact judicial diversity, including that many voters don’t vote downticket races. She says, “In an election I am particularly familiar with, if the voters who went to the polls in the old 21st Congressional District and voted for Lou Stokes had stayed in the booth and voted for the downticket black candidates, they would have all won.”

SPONSORED: The Hooley on Kamm’s Corners^TM returns for its ninth year as “West Park’s Homecoming Celebration!” 100 vendors and two stages bring live music, great food, art and good old fashioned family fun to Lorain Avenue at Rocky River Drive. The Hooley^TM happens from Noon to 8pm on Sat 5/12. Visit KammsCorners.com.

The Future of Art

Lakewood High School senior Micah Inak won’t begin her full-time studies at the Cleveland Institute of Art until fall, but she’s already assembled an impressive resume as an artist. She won the Tri-C High School Rock Off poster contest, has had her work on area billboards promoting safe driving, and she’s in the Ohio Governor’s Youth Art exhibit. Oh, and she already has her first solo show, up at Lakewood’s Root Cafe through Sun 5/6.

CoolCleveland correspondent Nicole Hennessy talks to Micah as well as her mother to get the scoop on the creative background that led her to accomplish so much so young.

Ready for their Closeups

For the last three years Cleveland music photographer Joe Kleon has been going down to the Kitten Krazy rescue in Medina every couple of weeks to volunteer his talents as a pet photographer. As a result, adoptions have soared.

Now he’s upping his game. He’s had a special cat “purr-trait” studio built that will let him take even higher quality photos with interchangeable backdrops. Watch those kitties just fly out of there into their forever homes!

VIDEO: Behind The Scenes at The Music Settlement’s New Ohio City Campus

Rising triumphantly at the foot of Cleveland’s iconic Detroit Superior Bridge on the West Bank of the Cuyahoga River is a massive new mixed-use project serving as The Music Settlement’s Ohio City Campus, scheduled to open in a few months.

CoolCleveland’s Thomas Mulready caught a sneak peek with TMS’s Center for Music Chair Matt Charboneau to visualize how the nearly 20,000 square foot facility will serve the needs of the Near West Side with Early Childhood, Music Therapy and Music Instruction beginning at birth to 90 years old and beyond. Learn more.

Sundaes Onstage

Talespinner Children’s Theatre engages people of all ages with their colorful globally inspired productions. Come check them out and help them fund future projects at a low-dough family fundraised called “Sundae Sunday,” which features ice cream from Sweet Moses and creative activities. Sun 5/6.

* If your kid in grades 6-12 aspires to write, then sign them up for the Teen Writers Symposium at Loganberry Books. Sat 5/5.

Click here for more CoolCleveland Kids events

You won’t believe how delicious a vegetable-based diet can be until you go to VegFest, now in its 4th year in an even larger space at the downtown convention center. In addition to food, there are lectures, films and tons of booths promoting a healthy lifestyle. Sat 5/5.

* Learn to make tamales and tortillas with local organic ingredients at the Coit Road Farmers Market. Sat 5/5.

Read more of CoolCleveland’s picks for Eats and Drinks.

Best Record Ever!

Scott “Cheese” Borger has been kicking around Cleveland’s punk music scene for a long time. His current band is the Cleveland Steamers, where he shares vocals with his wife Meredith Rutledge Borger. They’ve got a new album out this week on Smog Veil Records, cheekily titled Best Record Ever.

“You can really hear the Cleveland sound in there, which started with punk coming out of the 70s and progressing,” says Borger. “We’re in tune with that for sure.” John Benson talks to Borger about the ideas behind the songs including “My Asshole Cousin” about that annoying relative with the MAGA hat.

SPONSORED: Tri-C JazzFest Outdoor Lineup Announced! Nearly 24 hours of live music showcasing the best of Northeast Ohio will take place at the summer’s hottest downtown music festival, the 39th annual Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland, presented by KeyBank. Check out the nineteen bands who were selected to perform this year.

Bowieoke at the BOP STOP will feature Vanity Crash and six other area acts performing (mostly) David Bowie tunes. Come celebrate, and you too can get up and sing your favorite! Sat 5/5

* Local musicians pay tribute to Beachland owner Cindy Barber with an evening of music. Sun 5/6.

* Film screening at Tower City Cinemas honors “Saxman” Maurice Reedus Jr. who died last week. Thu 5/3.

* The Oberlin Folk Festival features two days of free music indoors and out. Fri 5/4-Sat 5/5.

* The Akron Symphony is joined by an army of voices for Verdi Requiem. Sat 5/5.

Read more of CoolCleveland’s picks for Cool Events.

WED 5/2
Spend a midweek evening hanging out with the artists of 78th Street Studios at Watch It Wednesdays, where you can enjoy food and drink while observing and chatting with artists as they work on their current projects.

* The Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s Reel Science series screens 1997’s Starship Troopers at the Cedar Lee.

Click here for more events on Wed 5/2

THU 5/3
In 2008, while still a Yale undergrad, David Litt landed a job in the Obama campaign. Three years later, at the age of 24, he had a speechwriting job in the White House and worked his way up to senior speechwriter before he left in 2011. He’ll talk all about it at the Happy Dog.

* E Street drummer Max Weinberg & band play classic rock audience requests at the Winchester.

Click here for more events on Thu 5/3

FRI 5/4
Pro wrestling didn’t always have the high-tech sheen of today’s WWE but took place in bars and gymnasiums and places of low repute. The Olde Wrestling troupe recaptures some of that vibe at Speakeasy night at Mahall’s.

* Chuck Auerbach, father of Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, brings his own band to the Beachland.

* The Cleveland Chamber Collective plays Leonard Bernstein at the BOP STOP.

* Pittsburgh’s persevering pop rockers the Clarks are back at the Grog Shop with a new album.

* Underground Classical presents guitar/violin duo at Praxis Fiber Workshop.

* The Haiku Society of America holds its quarterly meeting in Mentor, through Sun 5/6.

* Dance to your own music at MOCA Cleveland’s Star Wars silent disco.

* Kalamazoo duo Red Ring Tail bring their traditional-style folk to Riverdog Gallery.

* Brooklyn drummer/composer Dan Pugach leads his nonet into Akron’s Blu Jazz + tonight, Nighttown tomorrow.

Click here for more events on Fri 5/4

SAT 5/5
Station Hope, at St. John’s Church in Hingetown, was started to build on the church’s history as an Underground Railroad Station. Now in its 5th year, it will feature more than 250 artists and performers doing work about human rights and social justice.

* Cat lovers celebrate Cinco de Meow at Lakewood’s Vosh to help rescues.

* Shop for the weird and wonderful at Oddmall in Akron. Also tomorrow.

* Kent poetry weekend honors recently deceased poet/KSU professor Maj Ragain.

* Carol and John’s Comics at Kamm’s Corners pulls out all the stops for Free Comic Book Day.

* Family Day takes flight at the Women’s Air and Space Museum.

Click here for more events on Sat 5/5

SUN 5/6
Remember the CiCLEvias of the last two years? They’re now Open Streets Cleveland, a name that doesn’t make people go “huh?” And for the first event of 2018 they’ll close off a mile of Detroit from Hingetown to Gordon Square for biking, walking and special activities.

* The Musical Theater Project and the Jewish Federation Honor Israel’s 70th Birthday with Milk and Honey at Tri-C East.

* Oberlin Frank Lloyd Wright house is open for first Sunday tours.

* Windsong feminist chorus tells stories in song at Lakewood Presbyterian Church.

* Cleveland rockers the Whiskey Hollow cap the weekend with a free show at the Music Box.

* Eagle Fest swoops into Mentor Marsh.

Click here for more events on Sun 5/6

MON 5/7
A trio of musicians will close the Rocky River Chamber Music Society’s season at West Shore UU Church, including Cleveland Orchestra First Associate Concertmaster Peter Otto, Cleveland Orchestra principal harpist Tricia Bourne and Hiram College professor pianist Randall Fusco.

* Animation author Marty Gitlin brings cartoon characters to life at the Westlake Library.

Click here for more events on Mon 5/7

TUE 5/8
As part of a series of wellness-related classes, MOCA Cleveland presents Mindful Qigong, a Chinese practice that cultivates life energy through a series of deliberate movements, accompanied by breathing and meditation.

* The Dark Room open mic at the Church at CPT gives aspiring writers a place to try out new work.

* Film at the Capitol Theatre looks back at the Black Power Movement of the 60s and 70s.

* Classical guitarist Jason Vieaux and vocalist Sasha Cooke perform at Plymouth Church.

Click here for more events on Tue 5/8

WED 5/9
Generations of kids (and adult kids) have gawked in wonder at the collection of vehicles at the Crawford Auto and Aviation Museum. Crawford curator Larry Davis will talk about how that collection came together at a Cleveland Stories event at the Music Box.

Click here for more events on Wed 5/9

Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com

VIDEO: Collaborative Arts Event with Music, Art, Dance and dotdotdot

Dancer/writer Irene Honora and visual artist/writer Alexandra Celeste both work independently in multiple art forms. They founded dotdotdot to encourage artists to reach beyond their own art forms to create larger multimedia works through collaboration. CoolCleveland’s Stephan Haluska met up with them to find out more.

Local artists from different backgrounds gather at the Magalen for the third dotdotdot Arts Collective event on Sat 5/5 at the Magalen. Musicians, dancers, painters and more collaborate across these disciplines united under the theme of resurrection, blurring the lines of where one art form ends and the next begins…

Cinematic History

Some of us remember the era of the old neighborhood movie palace, one within walking distance of nearly every home, where you could go and be transported to other worlds in a setting that was just as otherworldly.

They’re mostly gone now, but here and there one has been restored to its old glory and its old use as a movie theater. So the remodeled Capitol Theatre, which reopened in 2009, as every reason to throw a party each year to celebrate its continued role as a cornerstone of the Gordon Square neighborhood. Thu 5/3.

Reflecting on Cosby

The revelations about Bill Cosby came as a shock to many and were met by denial in some quarters as some people refused to believe that the beloved comedian/actor/father figure could be guilty of serial rape, even after his multiple trials and finally a conviction last week.

Our columnists Ellen Connally and Mansfield Frazier explore the narratives surrounding Cosby and why they don’t believe he’s deserving of the sympathy being showered on him. “The hell and embarrassment Cosby is going through is doubly deserved, for his crimes, as well as for his sanctimoniousness,” says Frazier. Connally says to Cosby, “It’s time for you to accept what you are, a low-life sexual predator.”

Getting Starbucked

I’m taking a well-known noun – the name on the most ubiquitous coffee shops in the world – and turning it into a verb. To wit: To get “Starbucked” is to be treated differently due to having melanin in one’s pigmentation…

* Why Cleveland? It was with mixed emotions that I read an article stating that rapper-turned-actor/producer Ice Cube, “will return to the big screen in the upcoming controversial thriller, ”Excessive Force.” Reports say the movie centers around the Cleveland Police Department’s racism and political corruption…

Read other stories from Mansfield Frazier here