06.20-06.27.2018 Speak Up

06.20-06.27.18
Speak Up

For your community. For your values. For those around us who need our help. They are calling, if we can only hear them. Listen, act. Don’t wait.

A remarkable community conversation is taking place this Sunday in 100 locations across Cuyahoga, Lake & Geauga called Common Ground: find one and join in. And now’s the time to speak up and stand up for our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQ+ community.

Ingenuity lit it up at their Bal last weekend – check our PHOTOSTREAM below – and now they’re partnering with Shaker Hts on the Come, Play! Fest. Make Music Day is back, as is Wade Oval Wednesdays: catch our PHOTOSTREAM and preview. The Scottish Games are in Lorain, and there’s an herb fest at Mulberry Creek. Take a hike at Doan Brook or screen films by, for and about women at LUNAFEST in Canton.

The best way to get your voice heard is to vote, as CoolCleveland columnist Ellen Connally, fresh off a political campaign of her own, urges us. And Mansfield offers an ode to his father and a prediction about who might be the next to speak up in the circus that has become our presidency. –Thomas Mulready

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Photo by Anastasia Pantsios
CoolCleveland is dedicated to George Nemeth

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The Buzz About Akron Honey Company Market Day

Brent Wesley rocketed to local celebrity as soul singer Wesley Bright. But he’s got a whole other identity as a beekeeper and honey maven. A few years back, he started buying vacant lots in Akron and putting hives on them. Now he’s expanding his line of honey-based products.

He’s also helping celebrate local entrepreneurship with his Akron Honey Company Market Days, where he gathers up food and drink purveyors, musicians and artisans for an afternoon of low-key eating, drinking, shopping and hanging out in the sunshine. Sun 6/24.

Community Conversations

Last year, the Cleveland Foundation’s day of community conversations called Common Ground hosted 2,000 people at 42 locations around NE Ohio. Now the event is back for its second year, and they’re expecting as many as 90 businesses, organizations, churches, schools, neighborhood groups and individuals to host events.

The events invite people to gather for a Sunday midday meal and engage in a discussion around the question “Why does place matter?” You can check out the Common Ground website to find a take on this that piques your interest and register to attend. Sun 6/24.

SPONSORED: Here Comes the Come, Play! Fest Everyone is invited to play games, sip a summery drink, and simply soak up some sun at this community-centered, summertime street fair and field day in Shaker Heights, in partnership with Ingenuity Cleveland on Sat 6/23. Bring your friends and family and join in the fun of old-timey lawn games, races, crafts, music, and food. What better way to spend a summer weekend? Details.

VIDEO: Celebrate Local LGBTQ+ Composers at St. John’s Ohio City

St. John’s Ohio City has long been a symbol of social progress and acceptance in Cleveland. Located just two blocks east from the original location of Cleveland’s LGBT Center, St. John’s is the perfect place to celebrate the contributions of this city’s vast LGBTQ+ music community.

Composer Buck McDaniel curates a program to celebrate the diversity of LGBTQ+ composers and musicians with performances by Windsong Chorus, Kyle Kidd of Mourning A BLKstar, Alyssa Boyd, Blazing River Freedom Band, Dylan Glover of ITEM and times10, Matt Jones, Kristine Caswelch, Nathanael Minor and Buck McDaniel. An offering will be taken in support of the vital work of our current LGBT Center.

Asian Highlands Opens at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo welcomes you to visit all new Asian Highlands. The immersive addition is home to Amur and snow leopards, red panda and a new species to the Zoo, takin. The new destination includes significantly larger and more complex habitats including climbing structures, elevated platforms, cooling caves and more. Included in the new destination is an education plaza, highlighting the conservation issues these species face.

Later this summer, the Zoo’s new snow leopard cub triplets will move from their current home at the Primate, Cats and Aquatics building into a specially designed cub yard at Asian Highlands.

Whatever Else You Do, Vote!

In one of its most anti-democracy decisions yet, the U.S. Supreme Court decided recently that Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s purge of voters simply for not having voted for a while and not returning a postcard querying their whereabouts was perfectly valid, despite it clearly being a tactic to disenfranchise people in more transient living situations i.e. poorer people and often people of color.

CoolCleveland columnist Ellen Connally takes a look at the decision and says that, while it’s likely Husted’s motivation was more than just a matter of administrative clean-up, we have to live with this bad decision and “As a society and a nation, we have got to get off our collective rumps and figure out how we can instill the importance of voting into our fellow citizens.”

PUBLIC SERVICE: Protest, Donate and SPEAK OUT In our name, the administration is separating children from their parents, keeping children in cages, and lying about it. Here’s a list of organizations you can support that are fighting. Donate at this ActBlue page to support groups acting to protect kids. And here’s how to contact your representatives and make your voice heard. It’s time to speak up.

VIDEO: Melt Skips the Straw

We all live in the Great Lakes Region, along the beautiful Lake Erie coast. Unfortunately, there is a ton of plastic garbage that makes it into the water. Melt Bar & Grilled is doing its part to help reduce this waste by asking its patrons to please, Skip the Straw.

In partnership with Sustainable Cleveland, the new environmentally conscious campaign Skip the Straw encourages people to simply just sip out of the side of the glass. When presented with your beverage at Melt, you will not be given a straw. But if you still want one, no problem, just ask. Help Melt, help the environment and Skip the Straw!

One Huge Street Party

The family-oriented Come! Play! festival in Shaker Heights’ Moreland neighborhood features more games, races and creativity activities from art-making to dance lessons than anyone could possibility do in one afternoon. You and the kids will have to prioritize! Sat 6/23.

* Akron Symphony members will introduce people to dance music through the ages and orchestral instruments at “Classical Music Is for Everyone” at the Hudson Library. Sun 6/23.

* There’s a week of activities for kids at the Hudson Library revolving around Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic sleuth Sherlock Holmes. Mon 6/25-Sat 6/30.

Click here for more CoolCleveland Kids events

VIDEO: Tri-C JazzFest Gets Sexy & Soulful

On Sat 6/30 at Playhouse Square, Grammy-winning rapper and actor Common will perform as part of the 39th annual Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland, presented by KeyBank. Expect a show that’s sexy and soulful complete with a powerful band and backup singers.

Jazz singer Jose James will open the show with his latest project called Lean On Me: Jose James Celebrates Bill Withers. The project features Withers’ top hits as well as soul ballads and rare grooves. Check out a preview here. Show begins at 8PM and tickets start at just $35. Call 216-241-6000 or click here for tickets and info.

Make Music Day is back, when musicians of all types, from topnotch professionals to sing-in-the-shower types, play music – from opera to hip hop to marches to jazz – in public spaces all over the city. Thu 6/21

* Lakewood’s Front Porch concerts kick off with Becky Boyd & the Groove Train. Fri 6/22.

* Wade Oval Wednesday’s biggest evening features Carlos Jones and fireworks. Wed 6/27.

* Akron’s Samuel Salsbury shares classical music from northern India at Kent’s North Water Street Gallery. Sat 6/23.

* Apollo’s Fire plays the greatest hit concertos of the 1720s at Bath Church Thu 6/21 and CIM Fri 6/22.

Read more of CoolCleveland’s picks for Cool Events.

WED 6/20
The Musical Theater Project brings a new version of its multimedia evening For Good: The New Generation of Musicals to Cain Park, spotlighting such post-2000 shows as Wicked, Hamilton and the 2015 musical Waitress (pictured).

* Learn how a play goes from page to stage at a discussion at the Euclid Tavern.

Click here for more events on Wed 6/20

THU 6/21
Demonstrating that it has nothing in common with the usual summer theater, Dobama is presenting a special summer show – the American premiere of award-winning Israeli play On The Grill that deals with personal and larger conflicts. 89-year-old across Dorothy Silver (pictured) plays a pivotal role. Through Sun 7/8.

* Local zydeco band Mo’Mojo plays a free party at Cedar-Fairmount’s Nighttown.

* Blues guitarist Doug MacLeod does a workshop tonight and concert tomorrow at Heights Music Shop.

* LUNAFEST film night at the Canton Palace features films by, for and about women.

Click here for more events on Thu 6/21

FRI 6/22
The Scottish Games at the Lorain County Fairgrounds offer some serious sporting competition between men in kilts. But there are also Scottish crafts, tartan-clan ancestry charts, highland cattles and dogs, and activities for wee bairns. Also tomorrow.

* CAN Journal hosts a beer tasting at MOCA Cleveland to preview next month’s CAN Triennial.

* Sarah’s Vineyard in Cuyahoga Valley National Park celebrates the solstice with a three-day festival through Sun 6/24.

* Come dressed up for superhero night at North Ridgeville’s Aut-O-Rama drive-in.

* Cleveland History Days offer the lowdown on C-Town at numerous events and locations through Sun 7/1.

* Author Brian Hassett visits Visible Voice Books with his tome about Jack Kerouac.

Click here for more events on Fri 6/22

SAT 6/23
The planting season is winding down and that’s when Mulberry Creek Herb Farm in Huron holds its annual herbfest. This year’s “Party in the Garden” features vendors, food, drink, dancing, tai chi, music and workshops in how to use all those herbs you buy. Also tomorrow.

* Planned Parenthood and its supporters celebrate women’s rights at a beach party at Edgewater Park.

* North Royalton’s Stay a While cat shelter hosts Birthday Pawlooza to fete all cats.

* Bonfoey Gallery opens show of work by op art star Julian Stanczak and sculptor Barbara Stanczak.

* Ashtabula Harbor’s Beach Glass Festival features glass artists and others along Ashtabula’s main drag. Also tomorrow.

* The ladies of the Burning River Roller Derby compete in a triple-header at Euclid’s CE Orr Ice Rink.

* The Rough and Tumble and the Soul Proprioters co-headline the annual Solstice show at Riverdog Barn.

* Doan Brook hike returns with Dr. Larick leading the way.

Click here for more events on Sat 6/23

SUN 6/24
Local pop/klezmer band Yiddishe Cup changed its name to Funk-a-Deli to reflect the increasing amount of soul music it’s incorporating into its sound. But they’re still klezmer enough to headline the annual Workmen’s Circle Yiddish concert at Cain Park, a free evening of music, dance and humor for all ages.

Click here for more events on Sun 6/24

MON 6/25
As part of Cleveland History Days, the Music Box Supper Club in the Flats hosts a special evening with three authors of books about Cleveland history who will talk about how they have preserved and commemorated the city’s past in their writing.

* Bela Fleck returns to town with the Flecktones at the Music Box.

Click here for more events on Mon 6/25

TUE 6/26
The 2013 Supreme Court case U.S. v. Windsor was an important step on the road to marriage equality. The film, To a More Perfect Union, tells the story of the plaintiff edie Windsor and her legal team. It screens at the Capitol Theatre as part of their Pride Month series.

* Go Factory’s 1Way series offers another evening of local experimental music.

Click here for more events on Tue 6/26

WED 6/27
Gordon Square’s annual Hip 2B Square fundraiser, now in its 8th year, honors the neighborhood’s emergence as one of Cleveland’s top arts destinations with music, film, visual art and theater. It takes place at the Battery Park Lofts.

* Cleveland pop rockers the Chestertons play free oWow radio Happy Hour concert at the Music Box.

Click here for more events on Wed 6/27

Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com

Manafort Now Has Time to REALLY Consider Options

For a powerful and wealthy man, one who has gotten his way his entire life, being told what to do and when to it by some jail guard (who probably doesn’t earn as much as his doorman, chauffeur or butler) is a kick in the nuts. And having to stand in line behind some big dude named Bubba…

* Coming of Age in the Ghetto: A Father’s Day Tribute I would see my father stand up for himself – and for others – many times in the rough and tumble Cleveland neighborhood where I grew up, but it was this incident that marked the beginning of my personal journey to manhood. …

Read other stories from Mansfield Frazier here