07.24-07.31.19
On The Border
Raise your head high. Our region is second to none. We’ve got most cool things that many big towns have, and some cool things that no one has. Plus our boundaries are coming down.
And now we’ve got a fringe festival. BorderLight explodes after years of planning, full blown into an international summer-theater-fringe fest. We’ve got a major public library that’s 150 years old. We’ve got a summer dance festival with troupes from Cuba and Philly, and a National Day of Dance opening up E. 14th street for a day of dance activities free of cars.
City Stages breaks down the boundaries between East and West with an ensemble from Mali on an outdoor stage on W. 29th. The Black Squirrel Winds quintet plays for free at Cain Park. We’ve got a curated, handcrafted open-air market right on the lake with the Avon Summer Marketplace. Gordon Square has a new artist in residence, there’s a huge convention for DEVO fans, and we’ve got opera in the Italian garden. Around here, there are no borders. –Thomas Mulready
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The world was a lot different when the Cleveland Public Library was established just after the Civil War. Its founders would certainly be mystified by the range of media & services it offers now. The library is spending the year celebrating what it’s done in 150 years, and this weekend it’s hosting a giant outdoor fair to call attention to this landmark.
The streets around the library will be closed from 1-10pm for a blowout that includes a puppet parade, balloon art, an inflatable art installation, dance, comedy and DJ performances, and even a five-story Ferris wheel. The daytime activities are family-friendly; the evening is more geared to adults. “It’s unlike anything we’ve done before,” says CPL’s Aaron Mason. Sat 7/27.
SPONSORED: The Lakewood Arts Festival on Sat 8/3 from 10AM-6PM is a juried arts festival with over 180 regional and national artists featuring ceramics, jewelry and fine art including works by George Kocar and Brian Andrew Jasinski of Grey Cardigan. Live music by Punch Drunk Tagalongs, Ki Allen Jazz, Ballinloch, Chris Allen and more. Don’t miss Eat On the Street food trucks all day! LakewoodArtsFest.org.
If it seems like photographer Amber Ford, who is a mere three years out of the Cleveland Institute of Art, is everywhere, it’s not your imagination. The ridiculously talented young woman, whose specialty is insightful portraiture, especially of black subjects, is as gifted at connecting with audiences as she is at making her work. Her work has been seen all over town in group and solo shows.
Now she’s been named Gordon Square Art District’s artist-in-residence for the third quarter. The residency kicks off with an open mic Tue 7/30 at the Happy Dog. She’ll create portraits of local residents of color that will provide material for a mural in the neighborhood. And if that’s not enough, she’s speaking at moCa Cleveland Fri 7/27 about the work, currently on view at moCa, of portrait photographer Abe Frajndlich, nearly three times her age.
The best students in the world compete each year for top prizes at the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition at the Oberlin College and Conservatory, this year celebrating its tenth anniversary. CoolCleveland’s Thomas Mulready spoke with 17-year old violinist Enrique Rodrigues from Fair Lawn, New Jersey, who’s already performed in Russia, Germany, Florida, California and the New York area with his music.
And you won’t believe how long Enrique told us he practices each week. Watch the live webcast, and call 800-686-1141 or visit ClevelandOrchestra.com for tickets for the concerto finals with the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall in Cleveland on Fri 7/26.
The Call and Post, Cleveland’s legacy black newspaper, isn’t dead yet, but according to our columnist C. Ellen Connally, it might as well be. Founded in 1928 to carry news of particular interest to its community, it was purchased in 1998 by colorful (to say the least) boxing promoter Don King.
Now, says Connally, King has “turned a once influential voice of the black community into a sycophantic diatribe in praise Donald J. Trump. It is totally devoid of news and can only be described as a propaganda sheet in support of and a campaign flyer for the man who currently resides in the White House.” She calls it “a disgrace to journalism” and “an insult to the back community.”
The work of Gary and Laura Dumm, Cleveland husband-and-wife artists who have been plying their trade for nearly 50 years, has been shown all over town, including currently at Artists Archives of the Western Reserve where five of their collaborative environmental paintings are on view.
A few years back, a 60-foot-mural they created together called “Love Letter to Cleveland,” was installed on an outdoor wall in Ohio City, featuring local icons from the Free Stamp and the West Side Market to Jane Scott, Dennis Kucinich and Dorothy Fuldheim. Alas, the elements took their toll, and the colorful pop-art mural was removed. It’s now been reprinted and installed in a weather-free corridor outside the Special Collections of CSU’s Schwarz Library where it’s on view during the library’ open hours.
SPONSORED: See 7 musical gems in rep thru 8/10 at Ohio Light Opera’s Freedlander Theatre at the College of Wooster: Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific, Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, George & Ira Gershwin’s Girl Crazy, Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II’s Music in the Air, Ivor Novello’s Perchance to Dream, and Emrich Kalman’s The Devil’s Rider. Call 330-263-2345 or visit OhioLightOpera.org.
Green Corps Open Houses Highlights Learning Farms for Cleveland Teens
Holden Forests and Gardens‘ Green Corps program uses urban farming as a tool to teach workplace and life skills to Cleveland teens. Teens receive a paycheck while gaining valuable knowledge from a formal curriculum, hands-on farm work, and real-life experience selling their produce at farmers markets.
Meet the teens, tour the farms, and shop for fresh produce at open houses taking place at each of the learning farms. The open houses are free and open to the public. CBGarden.org.
The Akron Symphony plays outdoors in different local parks on three successive Sundays, with a program featuring familiar classical pieces, movie music, spirituals and selections from Riverdance. Sun 7/28, Sun 8/4 & Sun 8/11
Read more picks by Anastasia Pantsios here
WED 7/24
The next four days will be hectic ones for area theater lovers, with the debut of the BorderLight International Theatre + Fringe Festival kicking off tonight with a handful of performances, including When Farah Cries from Syria and Good at Heart from South Korea. Through Sat 7/27 there’ll be more than 100 performances, mostly around Public Square & Playhouse Square.
Click here for more events on Wed 7/24
THU 7/25
Ride your motorcycle down to the Rock Hall and park it alongside the plaza for Bike Day, an evening featuring bike-related activities and a performance by Vini Lopez – the original drummer for the E Street Band – and his band the Wonderful Winos. It’s outdoors and it’s free.
Click here for more events on Thu 7/25
FRI 7/26
Cleveland’s got a lot of curated, handcrafted markets these days. Few are located in a park by the lake, as the Avon Summer Marketplace is. Others have vendors (Avon’s market has more than 100), food, drink and live music. But others don’t give shoppers the chance to watch the sun go down over Lake Erie. Also tomorrow.
Click here for more events on Fri 7/26
SAT 7/27
DANCECleveland’s 3rd annual summer dance festival includes more than two weeks of workshops and classes for dancers, performances by Cuba’s Malposa Dance and Philly’s DanceX. But you don’t have to be a dancer to participate in today’s Community Dance Day at Playhouse Square with 14 free outdoor classes, a student performance & a silent disco.
Click here for more events on Sat 7/27
SUN 7/28
Sharks have always fascinated people with their image of menace, stoked by films like Jaws and media obsession with shark attacks. But did you know sharks killed only five people last year, while humans killed 100 million sharks? That and other shark fun facts will be part of the Greater Cleveland Aquarium’s FinFest with talks, storytelling, games & more. Through Sun 8/4.
Click here for more events on Sun 7/28
MON 7/29
Young chef Kwame Onwuachi has lived in Nigeria, cooked for an oil spill clean-up crew, run a catering business at age 20, competed on Top Chef, and runs one of D.C.’s hottest restaurants – and he’s not yet 30. He’ll be at the Parma-Snow branch of the Cuyahoga County library to talk about and sign his memoir.
Click here for more events on Mon 7/29
TUE 7/30
The Black Squirrel Winds quintet features members of Kent State University’s School of Music faculty, giving them an outlet to share their favorite chamber music with the community. Tonight they play a free concert at Cain Park’s Alma Theater.
Click here for more events on Tue 7/30
WED 7/31
The Cleveland Museum of Art’s outdoor global music series City Stages, taking place in Ohio City’s Hingetown, winds down for another year with Mali’s BKO, a five-piece ensemble that works its country’s traditional music into a modern, electrified (and highly danceable) sound.
Click here for more events on Wed 7/31
Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com
The world and culture are changing right before our very eyes. True, the indictments of Jeffery Epstein and R. Kelly are not going to immediately bring an end to sexual exploitation, but it’s a damn good start. While it’s true that sexual predators are slow learners…
* “I’m No Monster” When the judge asked the creep if he had given the underage girl a pair of Victoria’s Secret panties as a gift, he responded by saying there was never a transaction “from my hand to her hand.” Oh, so I guess he laid the panties on the bed in the hotel room…
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: Tom at the Farm @ convergence-continuum by Roy Berko
THEATER REVIEW: The Devil’s Rider @ Ohio Light Opera by Kelly Ferjutz
THEATER REVIEW: Tuck Everlasting @ French Creek Theatre by Laura Kennelly
PHOTOSTREAM: City Stages with Tal National @ Hingetown by Anastasia Pantsios
PHOTOSTREAM: Cleveland Metroparks Nature Preserve by Anastasia Pantsios
PHOTOSTREAM: Waterloo Arts Fest by Anastasia Pantsios
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–Thomas Mulready
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