CPT mounts a pro-choice play, Apollo’s Fire tackles Bach, Ohio Shakespeare Festival follows the yellow brick road, Silkroad Ensemble performs at Oberlin, Dominick Farinacci returns to feature young jazz musicians, and the graduating BW Musical Theatre seniors premiere the showcase they’ll be taking to NYC. Con brio!Learn about Cleveland’s protected bikeways, catch a fine arts fair at CMA, pull weeds at Shaker Lakes, share creativity at PEACE Pops, groove on books and more at To Books and Beyond at Mahall’s, receive guidance as an emerging artist from Valley Arts Center, listen to artist Ed Raffel talk about his work at BAYarts, and join elected officials on an informal bike ride. Spunky!
CoolCleveland.com theatre critic Roy Berko has been named one of the most important and influential critics in the region, Cleveland Burlesque star Bella Sin is headed to Vegas, the Cleveland Arts Prize has a new director, and CoolCleveland commentator Anastasia Pantsios, who has been photographing and writing about rock and roll since the 1960’s, has a few spirited words for this year’s Rock Hall inductees (“muddled and mediocre”) and walks us through a well-reasoned dissection of the categories that artists are placed under. That’s the spirit!
It’s no secret that Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders hails from Akron. Photo by CoolCleveland’s Anastasia Pantsios.
But there’s more to the story of rock & roll women from Cleveland and Akron. The Poni-Tails, an all-girl trio from Cleveland suburb Lyndhurst, went to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958. In 1963, Ruby and The Romantics hit #1 with Our Day Will Come, later covered by Amy Winehouse. The Secrets, an all-girl group from Cleveland, took their hit, The Boy Next Door, all the way to #18. Tracy Chapman, Rachel Sweet, The Waitresses and a slew of 70’s women all made their mark.
Our Day Will Come, presented by Thomas Mulready and Vanity Crash, features these stories and more, showcasing more than a dozen local women artists and bands performing those historical hits (and more) live, plus their own original material in three different shows: Fri 5/10 at Jilly’s Music Room, Sat 5/11 at Beachland, and Sat 6/22 at BOP STOP. Get your tickets now.
Cue the indignation and debates. This year’s class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees, to be honored October 19 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, has been announced. So social media is ringing with cries of “That’s not rock and roll.”The induction of the “Queen of Hip Hop Soul” Mary J. Blige (above) has evoked howls of indignation.
But that’s not the real problem with this class, which, like other recent ones, feels muddled and mediocre. The whole process seems confused, with category and qualification definitions barely making sense anymore. The so-called “musical excellence” subcategory has devolved into a sort of dumping ground, while the main category seems based more on record sales than influence, originality or quality. And Patsy Cline STILL hasn’t been indicted as an early influence. Read more.
For the past year, Effie A. Nunes has served as interim executive director of the Cleveland Arts Prize, which honors northeast Ohioans in various creative disciplines each year. Now it’s given her the job officially. With her seven years on the organization’s board and long-time experience inarts administration, marketing, event planning and public relations, she’s well prepared to take the 64-year-old CAP into the future. Read more.
Cleveland’s premiere burlesque performer/producer Bella Sin was one of ten of the most outstanding national performers chosen to compete in the Miss Viva Las Vegas competition at this big annual rockabilly festival last weekend — and she was named second runner-up amidst this stiff competition. Read more.
Longtime CoolCleveland.com theater critic Roy Berko has been named by BroadwayWorld.com as one of this area’s most important and influential critics. This recognition allows him to claim Google panel to have more prominence in Google search, bringing more attention to the theaters and people he writes about. Read more.
MON 4/29 Shooting Stars
Baldwin Wallace music theatre seniors are headed to NYC where they’ll showcase for producers, casting directors and others. They’re doing their showcase in Cleveland first so you can say you saw them back when.
TUE 4/30 Not Trivial Trivia
As a benefit for its educational programs, Cleveland’s International Women’s Air and Space Museum is hosting a fun trivia night at Southern Tier Brewing downtown. Come try your hand at questions about space, women and Cleveland history.
WED 5/1 In the Community
Cleveland Orchestra composer-in-residence, flutist Allison Loggins-Hull, concludes a series of free programs at various venues, this one at Karamu House, where she’ll be joined by orchestra members.
