01.30-02.06.19
Embrace The Seasons
Don’t fight it. And don’t give in. The weather is awesome around here, and then it changes. Keep your eyes open and find ways to have fun every single day. Maybe we can help.
Indoor adventures await. Cleveland native Arron Bound captures performing artists as they embody the spirit of their music. CoolCleveland contributor Claudia Taller is inspired by a visit to CMA. Get ready for spring with Let’s Grow Akron’s workshop at First Congregational Church. The Twosdays perform at the BOP STOP, Blax Museum holds its 2nd annual performance at the East Cleveland Public Library, and artists talk about art and spirituality in a round table discussion at SPACES.
Prefer to enjoy the outdoors? Learn to ID the leafless trees on a hike in Cleveland Heights. Join Brite Winter Fest as they partner with Ingenuity to help create visual and performance elements in pre-festival workshops.
Planning their trip to Austin for SXSW, Mourning [A] BLKstar is featured in this week’s CoolCLE PODCAST, along with music from Gretchen Pleuss and an interview with wedding planner Covesa Gregg of Covesa Kelly Events.
You should be thinking ahead for the festival season with our Very Preliminary Festivals Guide, usually our most popular posting, expanded this year to begin in February with Lake Erie Folk Fest and running all the way through the Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Festival in October. Start dreaming. –Thomas Mulready
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Photo by Anastasia Pantsios
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Love is in the air this week as we learn about what’s hot and what’s not in weddings with Cleveland wedding blogger and event organizer Covesa Gragg of Covesa Kelly Events. She also details her upcoming Brides in the City mobile wedding exhibition that helps brides take the stress out of vendor shopping for their wedding.
And we have music from the Cleveland band chosen to play at this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival, Mourning [A] BLKstar, along with details on how to support them in getting to Austin. Also, you can hear the latest single from singer-songwriter Gretchen Pleuss.
We know, we know. This week it feels like summer will never arrive, and all those fun outdoor festivals seem very far away. But the folks who plan them are busy right now, and more than 2/3rds of the festivals on our list already have their dates nailed down. So we’re giving you an early look at some of what’s on the summer calendar. We’ll publish a full list later on.
Meanwhile, for those who don’t mind the cold, we have two great outdoor festivals coming up in just the next month. Brite Winter will once again fill the West Bank of the Flats with music and art on Sat 2/23. And those furry kurents will be dancing down St. Clair to the National Slovenian Home for the Kurentovanje festival on Sat 3/2. That should whet your appetite for more to come.
SPONSORED: Indoor Lineup Announced for Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland, Presented by KeyBank! The 40th anniversary celebration features nine ticketed concerts in Playhouse Square’s historic theaters, with a lineup that includes tributes to Cleveland music legends Bobby Womack and Tadd Dameron. Check out the complete lineup and get your passes now.
Cleveland native Arron Bound is a newcomer to photography, although he says he’s always been artistic. Living in Ohio City, he found himself dropping into the BOP STOP a lot and aiming his camera at the musicians that play there. Now patrons will have a chance to check out his work when his show Proxy A Photo Exhibition opens at the BOP STOP Fri 2/1 with a lineup of musicians and spoken word artists helping celebrate.
“I try to get the emotional shots of people where they’re kind of like in the groove, into what they’re doing and the relaxation of embodying whatever the spirit of the music is,” says Bound.
“When I observe the offerings at the Cleveland Museum of Art,” writer Claudia Taller tells us, “my creative expression is awakened. For example, I think about how I’d like to see that mountain behind Georgia O’Keefe’s property and color it with pastels. The art infuses my writing, for I can create a aphoristic poem by observing a Hindu goddess and writing down all I see and feel on paper.”
She describes how the adult studio classes offered make her eager to get out the materials in her home studio, and shares some of the engaging exhibits, films and events CMA has to offer during the dark white days of winter. “On this January snow day when I am thoughtful and reclusive, art sustains me,” she says. “Now I’m going to go create some art.”
SPONSORED: Addiction: A Problem of Motivation, Free Will, or Self-Destructive Behavior? Dr. Roy Baumeister has answers at Baldwin Wallace University’s free Harrington Psychology Lecture on Thu 1/31. One of the world’s most influential psychologists and author of more than 30 books and 500 scientific papers, Baumeister is renowned for his work on willpower, self-control and self-esteem, and how they relate to success. Info here.
There may not be much truth to the story of Groundhog Day- we’re probably going to get anther six weeks of winter no matter what the groundhog sees. But it’s a great excuse for the Cleveland Museum of Natural History to bring out Thistle the Whistlepig (i.e. groundhog) to greet visitors on its Groundhog Fun Day. Once the runt of the litter she’s now a superstar at the museum. Sat 2/2.
* Barberton’s Magical Theatre Company presents Harriet Tubman: An American Moses, telling the story of a former slave who made it her mission to lead other slaves to freedom. Kids 12 and up should be inspired by this story of a woman who came from nothing and impacted thousands of lives. Fri 2/1-Sun 2/3.
* Ten teens, ages 13-19, compete in the One Mic Open Grand Slam final to Cleveland Public Theatre for the chance to be one of five representing Cleveland at a national event in Las Vegas. Sun 2/3.
Click here for more CoolCleveland Kids events
VIDEO: Experience Thousands of Orchids at Orchid Mania 2019
The Cleveland Botanical Garden is displaying over 1500 orchid plants representing over 100 varieties in their halls and glasshouses for the 2019 edition of Orchid Mania, now through Sun 3/10. According to Glasshouse manager and gardener Mark Bir, over 100,000 new varieties of orchids are created each and every year. Labels and signage explain how and why these colorful and fragrant blooms attract insects and appeal to the eye.
Orchid Mania also features a collaboration with Kent State University fashion students, Fashion Meets the Botanicals, an exhibition of silk orchid paintings by Gunter Schwegler, and extended hours every Wednesday till 9PM with Orchids After Dark, Ask The Orchid Doctor and a special Orchid Tour.
Are you ready to get growing? If so, and you’re in the Akron area, sign up for Let’s Grow Akron’s workshop at First Congregational Church, with information on everything from prepping your soil to controlling weeds to attracting pollinators to extending the growing season. Plus free seeds! Learn everything you need to know about joining the burgeoning community gardening movement. Sat 2/2.
Read more of CoolCleveland’s picks for Eats and Drinks.
When sax player Norman Tischler passed away on MLK Day, Cleveland lost one of its busiest and most beloved musicians. Norm arrived in Cleveland 50 years ago, jumped headlong into the area music scene and never paused for a break. The list of bands and musicians he played with is nearly endless and touches almost every corner of Cleveland music.
He was also known for his warmth, humor and kindness, and his dedication to building a better world – he came to Cleveland as a VISTA volunteer, the 60s-spawned anti-poverty effort. But mostly he was known for his willingness to play anywhere, any time. If you needed a sax player and he wasn’t already booked, he’d be there. A memorial service takes place at The Temple-Tifereth Israel in Beachwood Sun 2/3 at 2pm.
Once again, Tri-C JazzFest brings three days of music to Playhouse Square, with free music outside and ticketed concerts in the theaters. Who’s playing in those theaters? They’ve just announced the lineup, so it’s time to grab your tickets. Thu 6/27-Sat 6/29
Read more picks by Anastasia Pantsios here
WED 1/30
The two women who comprise The Twosdays met when they were students at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory. Now they mix their classical training with jazz and pop music. They’ll show off their range at the BOP STOP tonight.
Click here for more events on Wed 1/30
THU 1/31
If you think Brite Winter is just a big outdoor music fest in the cold, you need to explore further. It’s partnered with Ingenuity to follow that event’s blueprint for engaging the community in helping create visual and performance elements in pre-festival workshops. There’s one tonight where you can join in making brilliant coral sculptures with recycled materials.
Click here for more events on Thu 1/31
FRI 2/1
Mexican-American artist Raul de Nieves learned the Latin American crafts of sewing and beading as a boy in Mexico. Now he uses them to create his spectacular and intricate installations such as the ones that go on view this week at the Transformer Station, his first solo museum show, in view through Sun 4/28.
Click here for more events on Fri 2/1
SAT 2/2
Secondhand Mutts takes castoff dogs and does whatever it takes to make them adoptable. Its annual Barkfeast, at Lakewood Congregational church, features a hearty meal and custom omelets by celebrity chefs, with proceeds providing canine medical care.
Click here for more events on Sat 2/2
SUN 2/3
The current show at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern, explores how the legendary artist created what we would now call her “brand” though her clothing and work with photographers on her image. The show’s curator talks at CMA today, giving more background on how she did this.
Click here for more events on Sun 2/3
MON 2/4
Theater/performance artist Donna Oblongata is known for her challenging, interactive pieces that occupy a unique space between social practice, performance art, pageantry and American musical theater. She’ll perform her new work All 100 Fires at Maelstrom Collaborate Arts in Gordon Square.
Click here for more events on Mon 2/4
TUE 2/5
The Happy Dog Takes on the World series tackles the topic of terrorism. Order a hot dog and a beer, then sit back and learn from an expert who the enemies of America are and what needs to be done to keep us safe. Hint: not build a giant wall.
Click here for more events on Tue 2/5
WED 2/6
The 1954 film Them! revolved around ants grown to giant size because of radiation. The film screens at the Capitol Theatre tonight as part of the REEL Science series where a real scientist from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History talks after the film about just how plausible its premise is.
Click here for more events on Wed 2/6
Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com
OK, so I’m about to air some of my race’s dirty linen in public, not for the sake of self-embarrassment, but for the sake of amelioration. Hopefully, via a better understanding of a certain aspect of black culture, positive change can be brought about…
* BOOK REVIEW: The Peculiar Institution by Kenneth Stampp “The rise of slavery in the South was inevitable only in the sense that every event in history seems inevitable after it has occurred,” writes Stampp. Will we be reciting this profound statement in some distant – or perhaps not too distant – future as we look back on the ash heap that once was our great nation?…
Read other stories from Mansfield Frazier here
A look back at the last week
Submit your own review or commentary to Events@CoolCleveland.com
THEATER REVIEW: Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. @ Dobama Theatre by Roy Berko
THEATER REVIEW: A Raisin in the Sun @ Ensemble Theatre by Roy Berko
PHOTOSTREAM: After the Answer Bridal Boutique @ Lake Affect Studios by Dru Thompson
Read and comment here: http://www.coolcleveland.com/blog
With warm wishes,
–Thomas Mulready
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