12.22-12.29.10
Humanity
It’s the time of year we think about those less fortunate, i.e. those living anywhere but in NEO. Check below for a week’s worth of hand-picked activities for you, your friends and your families visiting Cool Cleveland. And don’t forget to help out where you can. Habitat For Humanity’s new ReStore is a great place to donate tools or building materials or pick up some bargains- check our video to get inspired. If you’re still holiday shopping, our ShopLOCAL is still in the Top 5- spend your cash in NEO and we all reap the rewards. We look back with a book review on the Severances, and look forward with a CD review of Old Boy. Our Soundbite Laureate is back for the holidays, and our commentators Larry Durstin & Mansfield Frazier are at it again. All is well in Cool Cleveland. –Thomas Mulready
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Did you know that Habitat For Humanity does more than build houses in the city for those in need? They’ve also got a complete warehouse at 2110 W. 110th Street called ReStore where you can buy salvaged and reclaimed building materials, fixtures and tools at incredible savings.
Watch the video as Executive Director Jeffrey Bowen explains how the challenging economy has provided opportunities for homeowners, contractors, deconstruction crews and manufacturers to donate their building materials and tools, diverting them from landfills and offering them to those in need. If you can help, stop in to ReStore or visit their site to make a donation. You really can help this holiday season. Watch the video & get more info here.
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SPONSORED: Visit The Cleveland Museum of Natural History with the whole family this holiday season! Time off from school and work? Create some great memories at CMNH! View the Extreme Mammals exhibit, explore the galleries and visit the Museum’s wild residents for a winter walk through the Perkins Wildlife Center! Closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. www.CMNH.org
The Greenest Buildings in Downtown Cle Bet you don’t know what they are… OK, we’ll tell you. #1 Greenest Bulding: IMG Center. #1 Most Improved: Fifth Third Center. Results are based on the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Downtown Green Building Challenge.
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Well, here it is. The holiday season is no longer a future destination. It’s here. It’s now. Are you ready? Don’t get stuck in traffic and don’t stress out. Take a breath and, if you have last minute shopping to do, read through our ShopLOCAL Holiday Gift Guide for the best places to go, complete with new listings.
Buying local will make you–and your giftee… and your community–very happy. So do it… because the time is NOW. Time to stand up for your community & our nation. Time to sit back and enjoy being with your family or friends. Time to savor the holidays & all they have to offer. [Bag from CLE Clothing Co.] View the complete Holiday Gift Guide here
Shabbat Spectacular @ Maltz Museum Everything is closed on Sat 12/25 …except the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage! Bring the kids for a day of family fun. Roam the galleries, go on a scavenger hunt, play games that will challenge your physical & mental powers, hear stories in Hebrew and English & more. Yummy snacks provided.
Click here for more Cool Cleveland Kids events
Diana Tittle
Have you ever visited and possibly drooled over the spectacular Court of Armor and Tapestry at the Cleveland Museum of Art? Or how about the magnificence of Severance Hall? If you have, then you owe a thank you to the Severance family, who believed strongly in sharing their immense wealth with the communities in which they lived. (Compare that with the greedy, now-imprisoned inhabitants of New Yorks Wall Street and their multi-millions!)
Diana Tittle is a writer of impeccable taste and sensitivity. This is perhaps the easiest-reading book Ive enjoyed in many years. The pages all 400 of them just flew by! (Slightly more than 50 of them are devoted to the index, bibliography, acknowledgments, photos, etc.) Even the foot-notes are enticing and witty in their explications.
Her research was so meticulous that on page 43 youll read, “The congregants overlooked his lisp.” This, about Joseph Severance from the late 1700s! Little tidbits of other such unusual information abound in this remarkable chunk of history. The authors attention to detail makes these Severances fairly jump from the pages, commanding your attention… Read more from Kelly Ferjutz here
WED 12/22
Global Urban Fusion Holiday Party Youre invited to a holiday celebration of Clevelands diversity! Experience Global Urban Fusion music, ethnic food & intercultural networking at this special holiday party on Wed 12/22. Strive for peace & unity — the true meaning of the holidays. Event held @ Cle City Hall Rotunda.
Click here for more events on Wed 12/22
SPONSORED: There’s lots of Christmas musical cheer on WCLV 104.9 including a daily program of Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus music at 11:25AM on Wed 12/22. On Wed 12/23, at 9PM, the Mighty Wurlitzer Radio Hour presents Christmas as It Used To Be. On Christmas morning at 9AM, it’s Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker and at 8PM, Handel’s Messiah by The Cleveland Orchestra. Programming details at http://www.WCLV.com.
THU 12/23
Last Minute Santa Shop @ NOTO Akrons finest womens fashion boutique has a sale for all you procrastinators. Get deals on the hottest women’s clothing on Thu 12/23 starting at 6PM @ Akron’s NOTO. Say “Im trying really hard” (to buy gifts on time, that is) & enjoy 10% off any one item. Plus, comp gift wrapping.
Click here for more events on Thu 12/23
FRI 12/24
Cleveland Nightlife Christmas Eve Party @ the Treehouse in Tremont. Got nowhere to go on Fri 12/24? Need a break from family “quality time”? Mingle w/ 50-70 Clevelanders @ Cleveland Nightlife’s annual party. This bash even includes a buffet. Bring something to share. 9PM.
Click here for more events on Fri 12/24
SAT 12/25
X-Mess! Live, local music on Christmas — life is good. The Grog Shop’s X-Mess bash features performances by hot local bands Hot Cha Cha [pictured], Megachurch, Clovers & Born of the Yeti. The perfect antidote to an overdose of Christmas cheer. 8PM.
Click here for more events on Sat 12/25
SUN 12/26
Return of Simple homecoming @ the Grog Shop on Sun 12/26. Return of Simple is a guitar-less trio of classically-trained musicians equally appreciated by both casual listeners & music aficionados. The band, originally from Parma Hts, moved to NYC but hasn’t forgotten its roots. Show ’em some hometown love when they return for a $6 show of up & coming piano-rock.
Click here for more events on Sun 12/26
MON 12/27
Vanessa Rubin @ Nighttown Cle native & vocalist extraordinaire Vanessa Rubin will make a rare club appearance @ Nighttown on Mon 12/27 at 7PM. Go see this acclaimed jazz vocalist whose voice can range from a whisper to a shout in the blink of an eye. (And that’s a good thing.)
Click here for more events on Mon 12/27
TUE 12/28
Celebrate Kwanzaa on Tue 12/28 @ Cuyahoga County Public Library’s Warrensville Hts Branch. Bring the whole family for a traditional holiday ceremony, courtesy of the National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Alpha Xi Chapter. 2:30PM.
Phoenix’s Downtown Roastery Tour Witness live demos of Phoenix Coffee’s roasting process & score comp beans. Two tours offered.
Click here for more events on Tue 12/28
WED 12/29
Soulful Expressions @ Urbean Joe’s Get inspired on Wed 12/29 with a night of poetry & spoken word @ Urbean Joe’s Coffee & Tea. Urbean Joe’s is, reportedly, the first indie coffee brand & franchise owned by African Americans in the nation & it all started in Cle. Sip soulful @ two locations.
Click here for more events on Wed 12/29
Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com
With Christmas approaching, I started wondering what would have happened if Judea had social media?
Scene One: The Time: 1 day B.C., the Friday evening before Christmas. The Place: Heavens Offsite Data Center. The People: God and Angelo, his CTA (Chief Technology Angel). The Challenge: Launching the biggest social media campaign in history.
Angelo: Great news! Were ready, and I can assure you that Project Beth Star is now fully operational.
God: You KNOW Im not fan of this social media stuff. Im thinking about sending you instead.
Angelo: Whoa, whoa, whoa we talked about this. I dont travel well what with the time difference and all.
God: Time? Youre traveling at light speed there is no time.
Angelo: Cant we just Skype them?…
Read more from Douglas O’Bryon here
Although some may refer to the battle to take over the leadership roles of the newly elected Cuyahoga County Council as not so much a power struggle as a lack-of-power-struggle, no one can deny that it has provided a certain degree of entertainment – albeit of the not-ready-for-primetime variety.
The lowlight of this quest-for-the-council-presidency fiasco was, of course, the now infamous Friday afternoon meeting at the home of Julian Rogers on December 3 – an event which some veteran politicos have dubbed “The Amateur Hour.” Rogers, one of the eight Democrats elected to fill most of the 11 spots on county council, invited four other elected Dems – Dale Miller, C. Ellen Connally, Pernell Jones and Sunny Simon – to discuss the emerging conflict between Miller and Connally, both of whom were vying for the presidency, though neither had enough rock-solid votes to be chosen at the official election scheduled for the following Monday.
Sounds simple and harmless enough, right? And it was, until something unusual happened that turned a cozy afternoon get-together into the stuff of legendary political farce… Read more from Larry Durstin here
Raspy vocals and simple instrumental sequences make up OldBoy a band of local Clevelanders with a sound ranging from rock to folk. Their sophomore release and eight song EP, By the Light of the Moon, precedes a (fingers-crossed) January release. Actually, the [old]boys are likely to be at Bad Racket studio recording AS YOU READ THIS.
A band of two years, OldBoy has a local, homegrown feel. By the Light of the Moon is a very organic release, featuring live cuts and vocal harmonies with a sound that could be found at your favorite coffee shop. The rough vocals of Shawn Brewster and Mike Kinsella bring harmonies and feeling to each song, but not in a swoon-inducing manner better yet, in a way that grounds their songs and reiterates the message… Read more from Laurie Wanninger here
One of the aspects of the county corruption scandal that has largely gone unmentioned is race. Except for a couple of instances, virtually all of the now-disgraced players have been white and theres a reason for that: Corrupt good ol boys networks tend to only reward family and close friends. Thats why I wasnt surprised when I discovered that all of the 36 highly-compensated appraisers on the payroll of former Sheriff Gerald McFaul were white (and only four were female).
So, following that logic I should be rooting for all of the members of the county boards of revisions to fall under the axe. I can virtually guarantee that the makeup of those boards is racially skewered towards whites. And under this incoming regime Im certain that new boards will more closely mirror the racial makeup of the county persons of color will have a fairer shot.
Yet, still Im troubled about wholesale firings of board members simply to give the appearance of no-nonsense toughness, or to appease the voracious appetite of the media…
Read more from Mansfield Frazier here
Read other recent pieces by Mansfield Frazier here
Most clicked
Here are the Top 5 most clicked links from last week’s issue, with one more chance for you to click.
1) Lakewood: Ohio’s Most Walkable City2) ShopLOCAL Holiday Gift Guide
3) Mansfield: Tribute to PLJ and other things
4) REVIEW: Billy Elliot the Musical @ Playhouse Square
5) Artists Fleeing NYC For Cleveland
These humans do the job for Cool Cleveland: Larry Durstin, Kelly Ferjutz, Mansfield Frazier, Douglas O’Bryon, Sarah Valek & Laurie Wanninger. And lastly, though certainly not least, thanks to our readers and everyone who partners with us. Want to volunteer and contribute your writing to Cool Cleveland? Send your reviews, articles, or story ideas to: Events@CoolCleveland.com.
Best wishes,
–Thomas Mulready
LettersATCoolCleveland.com
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