12.06-12.13.06
Soiree
In this week's issue:
* Cool Cleveland Party Holidaze Hullabaloo 12/14!
* BizTech Profile Christopher Diehl, Director of Design for URS
* 2006 Holiday Buying Guide Help for the discerning shopper
* Interview Entertainer Helen Welch
* Interview Packy Malley
* Sounds Pirate Radio from The Pretenders
* Previews From Styx/CYO to Snow Tails
* RoldoLINK Crain's Brian Tucker and Roldo agree on taxes being too high
* Cool Cleveland Kids podcast click here, CC podcast click here, CC Blog click here
Time to party? If you're looking for a holiday soiree to celebrate the season, join Cool Cleveland on Thu 12/14 for Holidaze Hullabaloo as we raise a glass to 4 years of weekly e-blasts, to our new redesign, and to our loyal readers and party-goers who have been exploring cool events, neighborhoods, people and ideas with us for over 200 weekly issues. This week, videos with transplanted British entertainer Helen Welch, architect Christopher Diehl and spark plug Packy Malley; they keep our region interesting. Check our Holiday Buying Guide to keep it local. Thanks also to those who've clicked on our survey and entered to win an iPod; your responses are helping to make Cool Cleveland that much hotter. —Thomas Mulready
Get Your Mistletoe On
Holidaze Hullabaloo low price until midnight Thu 12/7 here!
Are you on the list? Naughty or nice, you're welcome to hang with the Cool Cleveland crowd and partake in Holidaze Hullabaloo. Join Cool Cleveland and a few hundred of our closest friends as we celebrate the season in fine fashion with a soiree on Thu 12/14 at Fat Fish Blue (map) from 5:30-8:30PM.
You get all this:
- Open Bar with beer & wine for 3 hours
- Unlimited Cajun buffet, featuring:
- Secret Recipe Cornbread
- Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya
- Mini Crab Cakes with Cajun mayo
- Pop-in-your-mouth Cornbread Hush Puppies
- Chicken Tenders with Praline Dipping Sauce
- Spicy Jalapeño Caps
- Delta Dip (black bean dip for us vegetarians)
- Sweet Potato Chips
- An array of Delicious Desserts
- Hot Chocolate Peppermint Schnapps drink special
- Tuneage by Cats On Holiday
- Dancing till the wee hours with Latin Jazz from Gaetano Letizia Band
- iPod giveaway
Get your tix online now for your best price: https://CoolCleveland.net/tickets/121406/index.php.
Christopher Diehl
URS Director of Design
Christopher Diehl is Director of Design for URS, one of Cleveland's top engineering and architectural firms. They've won awards for their work on Playhouse Square's Idea Center, Tri-C's Corporate College and other high profile projects. Christopher walks Cool Cleveland's Thomas Mulready through their space on the top floor of the totally renovated Idea Center building, featuring five skylights, exposed metal studs, and individual "neighborhoods" for their 180 Cleveland staff. http://www.URS-Cleveland.com.| Watch The Movie: |  Windows movie |  Mac movie |
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Give Your Kids the Gift of Fun - Tech Holiday Camp! Where else can they learn about animation, computer game making or robotics – all in the context of cool, day-long adventures? The Children’s Technology Workshops offer technology camps for children grades 2 – 8. CTW Holiday Camp in Chagrin Falls, (Mon 12/18 - Thu 12/21) is open for enrollment now online. Summer camps are also available and spaces are filling for 2007! Call Karen at 440.484.2222 to learn more. Children’s Technology Workshop also offers enrichment programs throughout the region at venues ranging from the Maple Heights branch of the Cuyahoga Public Library to the Hathaway Brown Middle School. If you would like to learn more about this fun, educational program either email us at Cleveland@ctworkshop.com or visit www.ctworkshop.com. Space is limited. Sponsored by The Beta Strategy Group, www.BetaGroup.us, founders of the Children’s Technology Workshop of Northern Ohio and a founding sponsor of Cool Cleveland Tech.
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A wild and wonderful array of hot tech and business news & events from around Cleveland and around the region. Send your business news and events to: EVENTS@CoolCleveland.com
Play Papa Louie: When Pizzas Attack by Flipline Studios, Cleve-based digital animators & game developers Play
Reuters likes Cle innovation, quoting projects from Clinic's recent medical innovation summit Read
Wolstein proposes soccer stadium in Summit $320 million, 20,000 seat, retractable roof stadium plus adjoining medical campus Read
Entrepreneur Boot Camp for college students in 01/07 by Tri-C Corp College, community can "invest" in ideas Info
Automaker Rolls Royce “fuels” Ohio’s future tech plans Read.
Thinking beyond the big box Rather than focus on silver bullets, how about saving neighborhood retail Read
Pick PD Pres./CEO Terrance Egger’s brain at 5PM Wed 12/06 as Myers Univ hosts Annual Leadership Seminar. Chester Hall, 3921 Chester Ave. No-cost. Call 361-2746.
Enhance Your Web Presence w/ Rich Dusky's no-cost seminar Wed 12/06 re: online marketing. Holiday Inn, Independence. 1 of 3 BizTech events at loc that day. No-cost, seating ltd. More info or register: 440-638-5211 x105.
Midtown Brews feat. Lawrence Krauss, Ambrose Swasey Prof. of Physics and Astronomy, on Thu 12/7. Info
Nanotech Apps for Chem and Bio Defense and Fed Funding spnsrd by Thompson Hine and Preston, Gates, Ellis, LLP Mon 12/11 at 6PM. No-cost. Register
Smart Growth America's Don Chen speaks at CSU Levin College Forum Fri 12/15 about planning in older cities like Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown. Info
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Gifts Yule Love (and they will too!) Looking for something unique for your brother, wife, daughter, teacher or customers? Start a new tradition and bring your family or friends to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History's Museum Gift Store. Take the frustration out of shopping with unique, thoughtful gifts from around the world that include jewelry, books, minerals, toys, kits, apparel and more. While you’re there, take in a planetarium show and visit the new girl on the block, a T. Rex named “Sue.” And don’t forget to bring your wish list. (Museum memberships also make great gifts!) All proceeds from your museum store purchase support the exhibitions, educational programs and natural areas of the museum. For more info contact www.cmnh.org/default.aspx or (800) 317-9155.
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Cities compete to be hip Atlanta, Portland, Charlotte, Lansing cited Read
NEO Chanteuse Kate Voegele Gets Signed The 19-year-old sensation has shared the stage with Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris and Sheryl Crow and others inks a deal with MySpace Records. She's currently in LA cutting her first album on the label with noted producer Marshall Altman (Marc Broussard, Jupiter Sunrise) Tenative release date: Spring 2007. Info
City Hall Gets the Holiday Spirit Local poets and artists will be featured this Fri 12/8 in the Rotunda of Cleveland City Hall, as a part of the city's decorating festivities. The no-cost event runs from 12-1:30 PM and is open to the public. The Honorable Frank Jackson has even been promised to the event.
Ohio legislators need wake-up call Ohio's been successful lately in attracting top-tier filmmakers, who drop millions shooting Spider-Man 3, American Splendor, Antoine Fisher, and The Oh in Ohio, with our Convention Center converted as a no-cost sound stage, but tax incentives, which other regions like Memphis, Baltimore, Philly, and Austin offer, have recently been tabled by Ohio lawmakers. Maybe you could let them know how important these tax incentives are by dropping them a line here:
Lakewood: Immigrant Magnet Everyone knows they have the gays and the artists, 2 of the 3 elements in the economic development trifecta. This story shows how the West Side's inner-ring exurb has also become a "first stop" for entrepreneurial Albanians, Palestinians, Romanians, Latvians, Serbians and others attracted by the American Dream: good schools, low crime and home-buying assistance programs. Read
Cool Cleveland Podcast Cool things to do this week in Cleveland, at the click of a button. http://www.coolcleveland.com/files/audio/CoolCleveland12.08.06.mp3. Add the CC Podcast to iTunes using this link. Don't forget, you can subscribe to this podcast by saving this link in your favorite program that catches podcasts.
Express Yourself We’re cool, you’re cool, help us spread the vibe. Spend 2 minutes with our quick survey and you will be eligible to win a Video iPod compliments of Cool Cleveland. here.
Cool Cleveland Kids With kids getting geared up for the holidays, you need to find a way to let them release some of that energy. Take a hint from 10-year-old Cool Cleveland correspondent Max Mulready who has scoured the Internet looking for a few good events to recommend. Hear his short podcast here even if you don't have special software. If you're a whiz kid, you can download it to your iPod or your computer and listen with your own kid. Check below to see the events tagged CC KIDS under Cool Cleveland This Week for our recommendations for a fantastic family week. http://www.coolcleveland.com/files/audio/CoolClevelandKids12.08.06.mp3. Add the CC Kids Podcast to iTunes using this link. Adding this link to your program that catches podcasts will keep you up-to-date on the latest audio.
To ensure you receive Cool Cleveland every week, take a moment now and add CoolCleveland@CoolCleveland.com to your address book, trusted sender list, or corporate white list.
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The Teen Scene Teens lend their voices to The Sound of Ideas™, the 90.3 WCPN daily news and information call-in program. On Thu 12/7 at 9AM, hosts Dan Moulthrop and Regina Brett moderate a panel of high school students in a live broadcast from the Westfield Insurance Studio Theatre at Idea Center talking about the issues that are important to teens. On WVIZ/PBS this week . . . Tonight, Wed 12/6 at 9PM, the legendary musical group STYX performs with the Contemporary Youth Orchestra and Chorus. On Thu 12/7 at 8PM don’t miss America in Concert: Live at the Sydney Opera House followed at 9PM by Jonathan Pond: You Can Do It! The Boomer’s Guide to a Great Retirement. Visit www.wcpn.org and www.wviz.org for additional information and complete program schedules.
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Thinking outside the (big) box
You like it... you really, really like it! Last week, you clicked through to our Holiday Buying Guide hot and heavy. The sudden hustle and bustle of holiday shopping is eternal, but Cool Cleveland readers seem to have it covered: your click-thrus put it in the CC Top Five for the second week in a row! Our "Holiday Shopping Guide" helps you think outside the (Big) Box (stores), with a list of local shop owners, purveyors, proprietors and events to help you support NEO's artisans, neighborhood Mom & Pop shops and crafty/creative types across the region during the holidays. Print it out, take it with you, or pass it on to others who might be struggling with Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, and New Year gifts. Buying local is a smart, equitable and sustainable business practice, so support your local economy today. Click Here. -- Peter Chakerian, Managing Editor
Every week, all of us here at Cool Cleveland pour through gads of fantastic things happening in CLE and NEO, all in an effort to answer that ever-nagging question: "What's cool to do this week?" Submitted for your approval, here's a snapshot of what we found. Got a unique event coming up? Know of something that is a totally Cool Cleveland worthy event? We want to hear from you about it; our tens of thousands of readers do, too. Be a civic and cultural activist and turn on your fellow readers.
Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com
Holiday Idea House Get inspired by some of the area's top designers, now through 12/30. http://www.HoldenArb.org.
Lake Effect: Cleveland Through Our Eyes Our beautiful city and Lake Erie are represented in works of art by the members of Lake Erie Artists. Meet the artists at a complimentary wine and cheese reception on Thu 12/7 from 5 - 9PM. Exhibit runs through 12/31. http://www.LakeErieArtists.com.
Midtown Brews on Thu 12/7 from 5:30PM to 7:30PM with The Physics of Star Trek author Lawrence Krauss who also orchestrated the no-confidence vote that ousted Dr. Hundert and Meet.The.Bloggers. Sponsored by National City Bank. Contact info@i-open.org for more info.
City Fresh Training Program Attend information session for ten-week training course in urban agriculture and small business planning for Cleveland area residents that will begin next year. Info session is Thu 12/7 at 6PM at Carnegie West Library, 1900 Fulton Rd. Call 429-8238 or visit http://www.gotthenac.org'''.
Guiding Eyes for the Blind is seeking patient, civic minded, adults to become volunteer puppy raisers. Nurture puppies with love and care until they are ready for harness training at 18 mos. Attend orientation classes on Thu 12/7 or Thu 12/14 at 6:30PM. http://www.gebcuyahoga.org.
HOT CC KIDS Holst's The Planets with NASA videos Five shows of Gustav Holst's sound spectacular, The Planets, of which 3 special performances will include NASA images of the solar system projected on a giant screen above the stage as renowned physicist and narrator Lawrence Krauss imparts galactic insights on Thu 12/7 at 8PM through Sun 12/10 at 3PM. www.ClevelandOrchestra.com.
CPL Holiday Concert Staff chorus performs a complimentary holiday concert on Fri 12/8 at 12 Noon. Call 623-2869. Main Library's Louis Stokes Wing, 6th Street and Superior Ave.
CAF Collectors' Choices: Regional Expressions from Cleveland Artists Foundation Members Opening Reception on Fri 12/8 from 6 - 8PM. Show features favorite artworks selected by CAF members from their own personal collections. Exhibit runs through Sat 1/20. http://www.ClevelandArtists.org.
HOT Off the Wall Art Sale & Show Exhibiting artists include: Jen Craun, Liz Maugans, Anne Kibbe, Christy Birchfield, Denise Stewart, Bellamy Printz, Gretchen Troibner, Michael Loderstedt, Glenn Ratusnik, Susan Vincent, Wendy Collin Sorin and many other Northeast Ohio printmakers. Fall in love with a piece and you can buy it and take it home...right off the wall. Opening reception is Fri 12/8 from 6 - 9PM. Zygote Press. http://www.ZygotePress.com.
Christopher Pekoc - Evolution 1964-2006 A study of the artist's work opens at Convivium33 Gallery on Fri 12/8 from 6PM. Visit www.JosaphatArtsHall.com for more information.
Bike Art Show & Sale Innovative show of original bicycle-themed art pieces by local artists. Opening on Fri 12/8 from 7 – 10PM. Many pieces for sale. Show runs through 1/1. Spin Bike Shop, 14515 Madison Ave, Lakewood. http://www.SpinBikeShop.com.
Black Nativity The contemporary retelling of the birth of Christ set to rousing gospel music, with vibrant dancing, brilliant costuming and Langston Hughes' majestic poetry. Fri 12/8 at 8PM thru Sun 12/31 at 3PM. http://www.Karamu.com.
HOT Infinite Number of Sounds Final show with guitar player & sequencer, Matt Mansbach, and the last time the group will perform material from their first two albums, on Fri 12/8 at 8PM. MOCA Cleveland, 8501 Carnegie Ave. http://www.mocacleveland.org. http://www.InfiniteNumber.com.
Aphrodisiac Just a few jokes shy of a dark comedy, Aphrodisiac is the story of a US congressman whose affair with an intern comes to light in the aftermath of her disappearance and murder. Catch show on Fri 12/8 or Sat 12/9 at 8PM or Sun at 7PM. Runs Fri - Sun through 12/17. http://www.AphrodisiacPlay.com.
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WCLVnotes The longest running live radio broadcasts in history, the Saturday afternoon Metropolitan Opera broadcasts, resume on WCLV 104.9 FM this Sat 12/9 at 1PM, with Mozart's "Idomeneo." Other December broadcasts include Verdi's "Rigoletto" on Sat 12/16; Verdi's "Don Carlo" on Sat 12/23; and Mozart's "The Magic Flute" (in English) on Sat 12/30. Looking for a great holiday gift? Go to ArkivMusic, where there are 70,000 classical CDs and DVDs, through the WCLV website at www.wclv.com. Your purchase will support classical music on the radio in northeast Ohio.
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By Hand Pottery, oils, textiles, fine arts and crafts, on Sat 12/9 and Sun 12/10 at the I-X Center. Get discount coupon here
HOT Defrag 2006: Linking Ohio's Rich Media Resources & Renegades. In a networked world things change fast. The ability to take ideas to action quickly matters. Attend a full day of concurrent forums, presentations and workshops to "link and leverage" resources in the Ohio creative digital media industries on Sat 12/9 from 10AM to 5PM. Make sure you say hello to Cool Cleveland's CIO who'll be there with MeetTheBloggers.net. FUTURE: The Center for Design and Technology Transfer @ The Cleveland Institute of Art, 11610 Euclid Ave.
Where My Pie? The Pie Festival & Art Sale Fundraiser has enough pie to keep Radio and any other pie lovers happy. Catch an excellent group jewelry exhibit and purchase slices or entire pies in a rainbow of flavors, including apple, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, peach, organic, and vegan pies. Sat 12/9 from 10AM to 10PM. Don't wanna take any chances that someone else will put their mitts on your pie? Call 330-673-4970 to order yours. North Water Street Gallery, 257 N. Water St., Kent. http://www.StandingRock.net.
The Web of Life 10th Anniversary Sample delicious vegan fare during their Birthday Bash on Sat 12/9 which will include a complimentary vegan food buffet open to the public. Westlake. http://www.WebOfLifeWestlake.com.
Tinsel Town Party Following an afternoon matinee performance of the Cincinnati Ballet's The Nutcracker, families will enjoy holiday crafts and activities, pictures with Santa, holiday treats, raffle and other surprises on Sat 12/9 from 3 - 5PM. Idea Center at Playhouse Square, 1375 Euclid Ave. Call 348-5265.
A Journey to India Karen Allgire will share stories and photos from her trip to India over tea and snacks on Sat 12/9 at 3PM. Green Tara Yoga & Healing Arts, 2450 Fairmount Blvd, Cle Hts. http://www.GreenTaraYoga.com.
Isis String Quartet from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music will perform musical selections from the holiday season and classical works, on Sat 12/9 at 3PM. Call 623-2881 for info. Main Library's second floor lobby, 325 Superior Ave.
Celebration of Lights honors the traditions of religions and cultures around the world and throughout history. Stations will be set up on the Nature Center's trails, where guests will learn how these religions and cultures use light in their traditions during winter and the winter solstice on Sat 12/9 from 6 - 8PM. Call 321-5935 x221. http://www.ShakerLakes.org.
Tremont Holiday Concert The Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra performs Beethoven, Bach, Handel and more on Sat 12/9 at 7:30PM. Zion United Church of Christ of Tremont.
Annual Auction for the Artists Frolic with over 40 artists and check off your gift lists during this event on Sat 12/9 at 7:30PM. Auction features one-of-a-kind works of art including paintings, photography, collage, glass, metal, ceramics and the unusual. Call 509-7361. Eikona Studios, 2180 W. 11th St., Tremont.
The Western Wind Take a musical journey through holiday music of the ages performed a cappella - from 13th century chants and Renaissance English, Spanish and Latin American Carols to contemporary works on Sat 12/9 at 8PM. http://www.TriCPresents.com.
Christmas Jam at Mitzi's Enjoy an eclectic musical program on Sat 12/9 from 8PM to 1AM at Jerman's Cafe, 3840 St. Clair Ave. Call 241-7389.
HOT stonecoldbikini on ice Christine, host of indie rock and pop radio show stonecoldbikini on WRUW FM, 91.1, will be spinning favorite indie pop and rock for skaters on Sat 12/9 from 9:45PM to Midnight. Cleveland Heights Community Center Ice Rink, Cleveland Heights. http://www.stonecoldbikini.com.
CC KIDS Candlelight Christmas House Tour Embrace family traditions and neighborhood culture in Brooklyn Centre on Sun 12/10 from 1 - 6PM. Stroll the streets of historic Brooklyn Centre or riding in Lolley the Trolley to view restored Italianates, candlelit Colonials, cozy Arts & Crafts, and century-old gingerbread when residents graciously open their doors to share the enchantment of the holiday season, through decoration and music, as unique and distinctive as the homes themselves. http://www.OldBrooklyn.com.
CC KIDS When Stars Collide The stars of tomorrow meet the stars of today when the Akron Youth Symphony plays side-by-side with the Akron Symphony Orchestra on Sun 12/10 at 3PM. http://www.AkronSymphony.org.
Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares Grammy Award-winning choral ensemble returns with their holiday concert on Sun 12/10 at 4PM. www.ClevelandArt.org.
Cleveland: Confronting Decline in an American City Attend a screening of the film, featuring local experts like Cool Cleveland's Thomas Mulready and University Circle President Chris Ronayne on Mon 12/11 at 6PM and learn more about what you can do about issues that are critical to Cleveland. Cleveland Museum of Natural History. RSVP to info@universitycircle.org. http://www.cmnh.org.
Saving Our Shoreline Discover how and why erosion occurs, hear specific examples of successful erosion control, and learn about options for financing and control on Tue 12/12 at 7PM. Wasmer Auditorium, Lakewood Hospital, 14519 Detroit Ave. http://LakewoodAlive.com.
West Shore Commuter Rail Add your input on this important project by attending the next Stakeholder's Meeting on Wed 12/13 at 9:30AM at the Wasmer Auditorium in Lakewood Hosptial at 14519 Detroit Ave. Call 529-6602 for more info.
Holiday Wine Tasting and Silent Auction Enjoy many festive wines, a great sampling of holiday beers, appetizers, live entertainment and a silent auction on Wed 12/13 from 6:30 – 9PM. Proceeds go to renovations of The Upstairs Gallery @ Mocha Maiden. Call 330-374-1114. The Upstairs Gallery @ Mocha Maiden, 17-19 Maiden Lane, Akron.
Send your cool events to: Events@CoolCleveland.com
Helen Welch
Entertainer
Since Helen Welch moved to Cleveland from London, she has released a CD, One Dream, with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, and this month she performs Swingin' Christmas at Carousel Dinner Theatre on Mon 12/11, then her show Jingle Bell Swing at the Palace Theatre on Sun 12/17 at 3PM, both shows featuring a 10-piece big band and the 40-member Walsh Jesuit Show Choir. Cool Cleveland's Thomas Mulready caught her bubbling British personality in this video interview. http://www.HelenWelch.com| Watch The Movie: | Windows movie | Mac movie |
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Give them the Moon! The gift that can’t be duplicated – give "Dance by the Light of the Moon," a two-performance dance series for as low as $35 starting with Luna Negra Dance Theatre on Sat 2/3 at 8PM at the Ohio Theatre. Chicago's Luna Negra Dance Theatre is known for their original work with music in Latino roots, and fresh dance moves that speak to modern audiences. Then in March experience Momix and their newest, magical multimedia piece "Lunar Sea" on Fri 3/9, 8PM and Sat 3/10, 2PM at the State Theatre. This performance defies concepts of weight and gravity! Audiences have been known to shout out, gasp and applaud furiously. Co-presented by DANCECleveland and Cuyahoga Community College Performing Arts. Be a part of the “Dance by the Light of the Moon” mini-dance series for as little as $35! Contact 440-914-0744 or www.dancecleveland.org.
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Packy Malley
Reggae/Events/Weddings/Chocolates
Packy Malley is one of the busiest guys in Cleveland. For his family business, Malley's Chocolates, he helps corporate clients with their seasonal gifts, and he works with non-profits who raise money selling candy. For 15 years, his annual Midwest Reggae Fest has attracted thousands; he throws an annual Capricorn Party (this year on 1/12 at House of Blues) for himself and his friends. For 3 years, he presented SummerFest at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds with multiple stages and dozens of bands. But this Cleveland booster never stops: he DJs weddings almost every Saturday of the year, and he is currently working on a film about the history of WMMS radio. Cool Cleveland's Thomas Mulready ran into him last weekend, and captured his infectious spirit on video. http://www.Malleys.com http://www.PackyMalley.com.| Watch The Movie: | Windows movie | Mac movie |
Links to interesting NEO blogs
Anita Campbell shares 10 quotes to run your business by: "This post is about a live event in New York’s Times Square that I attended in person right before Thanksgiving. It was at the Nokia Theater and featured several well-known entrepreneurs, including celebrity chef Mario Batali and the 3 founders of the Blue Man Group, talking about what made them successful. Rather than simply writing a bland post about the event itself (I mean, who really cares if I had a great time), I wrote about what stood out in my mind. What stood out were a number of comments made by these famous entrepreneurs. These quotes were just so powerful that I couldn’t stop thinking about them for days afterwards. I felt that if they had that much impact on me, they might also have impact on my readers. I write for small business owners, managers, entrepreneurs, and other business people. So it was written for them. My hope with all my posts is that someone, somewhere will get at least one small nugget of insight out of reading them. The post consists of ten quotes from experienced, successful business people. Not only are the quotes good advice for any entrepreneur, but they will appeal especially to artists and those in creative lines of work. In the words of chef Mario Batali, if you were going to have a symbolic address for your business, have it be 'on the corner of art and commerce.'"
Jill Miller Zimon fisks as NYT article on campaigns hiring bloggers: "The post is an attempt to find out: do Ohioans want more female voices in their politics? Here everyone was complaining about how the NYT authors are being hypocritical, are focusing on issues faced by everyone who moves from being in one area of the media to working with campaign communications. But what I noticed, and others should notice, is that this conversation is being driven by men, and there's an absence of women's voices (with one exception). What does that do to the validity of the arguments? To the ability to extrapolate to the rest of political bloggers? Is it just like how the NIH used to do studies only on men and then simply apply the results to women? Think about how absurd that fact is now. I want the length of time before which we realize that op-eds such as the one in the NYT, which says nothing about gender differences, will be seen as absurd to arrive as soon as possible, so that women can take their place in the discourse, at all levels. FINAL IMPORTANT NOTE: I exchanged comments with the author of that NYT opinion piece and he said that there was no discussion of gender at all as his piece was reviewed."
Chris King posted about transparency. She says "On my blog, I post once a week (Saturday or Sunday) and pick a theme that I am 'Curious' about. It is usually a topic that I have heard mentioned at least a couple of times during the week. I love quotations, so I do use a lot of them that pertain to each separate theme. Every other week I send an eclectic e-newsletter that often revolves around one of my Blog themes. My target audience for the Blogs and the e-newsletter, Portfolio Potpourri, are often entrepreneurs, small business people, storytellers, and those who enjoy thinking about topics that are all around us (like transparency) but, even though we hear them often mentioned we haven’t thought about them in depth and from different angles. I feel that readers of Cool Cleveland are thinkers and love reading about other Cleveland people and what they are thinking and doing, so they should enjoy the post."
Check the Cool Cleveland weblog here, where Peter Chakerian comments on Chinese Democracy (re: CLE economic development, not GNR), Fractal Pollocks @ CWRU, Fotomat, USPS blue mailboxes going away, Good Karma, the departed Mike Malone and a bunch of other really unusually quirky, odd stuff. When you're through, add your own comments, questions and attitude. Letters@CoolCleveland.com.
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Artists Ready to Launch? Playhouse Square Foundation is now accepting applications from professional contemporary performance creators for “Launch,” an exciting new program investing in Northeast Ohio’s artistic community and emerging performance projects. Artists selected for Launch will receive use of the Westfield Insurance Studio Theatre for seven rent-free days along with technical, marketing and arts education support from Playhouse Square. Applications are due 1/26/07. To find out more or download an application, visit www.PlayhouseSquare.org/arts-education or send an email to artseducation@playhousesquare.org.
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Pirate Radio
The Pretenders
Rhino
Chrissie Hynde is a trailblazer. The leader of the Pretenders has one of the most discernable voices in rock. After she got her foot in the male-dominated music industry door (during the tail end of the original English punk movement), she squarely kicked it open for female rockers everywhere. Like so many others, I've been a fan of this Northeast Ohio native ever since I first heard her longing through "Brass in Pocket" on the radio. She's one of rock's most important figures, with roots that reach from London all the way back here.The greatest thing about Hynde (originally from Akron, studied at Kent State) is that she can be gritty and brusque, yet subtly sweet and even vulnerable at the same time--in other words, still a Northeast Ohio gal at her core. And she’s always toying with letting the listener behind the curtain. Anyone who has appreciated this about Hynde and her Pretenders over the years, casually or otherwise, will love Pirate Radio. And it's not so exclusive that it's only for the hardcore. The 4CD/1DVD box set honors the band’s scrappy beginnings with Pete Farndon (bass) and James Honeyman-Scott (guitar), both martyred to the hit parade, through what Hynde herself calls a “tribute band” era.
The career-spanning box set is well-put together and chronological, unlike so many of the meandering messes that have been released lately that lack structure, appropriate reason or historical awareness. All the band’s hits appear in order of release, along with many Pretenders favorites, rare tracks and cover songs. Once you start into this set, you realize just how prevalent, present and important to the art form the band has been over the years.
Among the hits: “Brass in Pocket,” “Don’t Get Me Wrong,” “Message of Love,” “Back on the Chain Gang,” “My City Was Gone,” “Downtown (Akron),” “Night in My Veins,” “Middle of the Road.” Among the best in the rarities category: covers of Warren Zevon's &;#8220;Reconsider Me,” Dionne Warwick’s “Windows Of The World,” Morrissey's “Everyday Is Like Sunday” and a cover of “The Needle and the Damage Done” by Neil Young, who inducted the band into the Rock Hall last year.
The DVD contains vintage Pretenders television appearances, including from UK stalwart rock show “Top of the Pops” and others. Seeing the original lineup live is truly something to behold. The booklet? Super cool. Rare photos and reflections from Hynde and other Pretenders throughout the band's career are peppered within. After I borrowed this box from a good friend, I found myself glued to it, listening intently... now I simply must own it. If you’re looking for a gift this holiday season for your favorite music fan, Pirate Radio is the penultimate gift, second only to having Hynde & Co. play in your living room. And with the DVD, they'll even do that.
The Pretenders perform this Sunday, December 10 at the Agora, 5001 Euclid Ave. Visit http://www.clevelandagora.com for more info.
From Cool Cleveland Managing Editor Peter Chakerian peterATcoolcleveland.com
Wanna get reviewed? Send your band's CD (less than 1 year old) to: Cool Cleveland, 14837 Detroit Avenue, #105, Lakewood, OH 44107
Hey Writers! Wanna write about Cleveland music? We've got a slew of recently-released CDs and DVDs by Cleveland-area musicians that could use your critical commentary for Cool Cleveland Sounds. If you're interested, send us a note at Letters@CoolCleveland.com.
One With Everything: Styx & Contemporary Youth Orchestra
Somehow, a raging thunderstorm in the midst of an open air pavilion is just the thing to get rock fans into an ecstatic frenzy. The STYX concert this past May, One with Everything, featuring Contemporary Youth Orchestra was a pure example. With the performance being broadcast on HDTV and PBS, as well as released in a DVD and CD recording, the excitement from those fans present spreads to television audiences.Being a member of the Student Journalism Project associated with the orchestra, I was lucky enough to get the chance to interview STYX before the concert. Each member has his own story to tell, his own inspiration, his own love for what he does on stage.
"We give people a place to celebrate that it's great to be alive," said Ricky Phillips. Along with their unique loves, the group also shares one similar feeling about one of their less popular hits: "Mr. Roboto." "We all have a sort of love, no, uncomfortablness with that song." According to Lawrence Gowan, sporting a rather sheepish look at the time, "Mr. Roboto" was the song that really spawned a new generation of Styx fans. "We stood behind the music. We always got behind it and gave it our best," stated Gowan.
When it came to performing with the orchestra, a mutual energy was present in the room. "It has opened our minds," said James Young. Gowan especially was extremely enthusiastic about this opportunity. "…The orchestra is intense and wants to get it right… I think we're gonna rock them dead." With the inspiration of devoted students and the loyal fans still hanging on to every note, STYX gave their all in a performance that one could never forget. As Todd Sucherman put it, "This is gonna live long after all of us."
The One With Everything: Styx & the Contemporary Youth Orchestra performance will be broadcast on WVIZ-TV TONIGHT, Wednesday December 6 at 9PM. The DVD and CD were released last month and are currently available in retail stores. Visit the Contemporary Youth Orchestra at http://www.cyorchestra.org and Styx at http://www.styxworld.com.
From Cool Cleveland Contributor Hannah Yanega psycicvulcanAThotmail.com
Photo Courtesy of the Contemporary Youth Orchestra
Cleveland School of the Arts: Romeo & Juliet
Are you one of the many persons in Northeast Ohio who thinks Cleveland’s schools have tanked? Are you tired of hearing about school violence, lagging test scores, low graduation rates or misappropriated funds? Here’s a chance to put your money and your self where your heart is, or should be. We could call it a Cinderella story, except that it’s really Romeo and Juliet. In any guise, however, it is a shining success story about Cleveland public school students, many of them from the inner city and in some cases, from below the line for the poverty level that’s been drawn in the sands of society.
The Cleveland School of the Arts and the director of its Theater Arts Program, Dr. Scott G. Miller, proudly announce the staging of a fully professional, Elizabethan production of Romeo and Juliet hosted at the Cleveland Play House. During the first two weekends in December, this production will be seen by over 500 Cleveland students, and is also available to the general public. (Call the Cleveland Play House ticket office at 795-7000 x 4 or visit the web-site: http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com)
CSA is one of Cleveland’s rare success stories. If you listen to the traditional media, you’d think that Cleveland’s Public Schools are entirely (and only) full of louts and slackers who, since they don’t want to be in school anyway, spread disruption and turmoil everywhere. Yet, CSA boasts a graduation and college enrollment rate that averages 95 to 100% of its students! How do they do this? The students are consistently challenged not only by a college preparatory academic program, but also by one of the seven arts-based curriculum programs offered.
Romeo and Juliet is one of three programs to be produced this school year by the Theater Arts students, who range from sixth through twelfth grades. Although the play has been shortened a bit (as most Equity theaters do, too) it has not been urbanized, updated or modernized in any way. “I especially wanted to do a traditional production, because I knew these students were capable of doing it,” states Dr. Miller. “I wanted them to have the opportunity.”
Theatre Arts is one of the more intense programs at CSA, but provides perhaps the highest rewards to the students. Being part of the theatrical process teaches critical thinking, discipline, cooperation, language skills, determination and dedication. The students must depend upon each other 100% of the time.
“Students from urban backgrounds grow up listening to music that is very language-based,” adds Dr. Miller. “They listen to hip-hop, which generally tells a story—and not all of it is concerned with violence or profanity. It is really quite sophisticated in the use of the language. It’s metaphorical and affective (filled with rich, expressive slang), rhythmic, often written with complicated rhyming structures, and usually tells unblinking, real-life stories that are honest, penetrating and insightful. Suburban students (but not all of them), on the other hand, in addition to hip-hop, do tend to listen more to popular and ‘heavy metal’ type rock and roll. Some of these are melodic and rhythmic in nature, but as they’re also more in the manner of love songs, the language is generally more basic in comprehension. Consequently, because of this difference in language usage, learning to speak Shakespeare’s words—which are certainly language-based and very rhythmic in style—was not all that difficult for most of these young actors.”
Sets and costumes are from the Cleveland Play House and Great Lakes Theater Company, and were made possible by grants. The Play House, in a marvelous example of community support, is providing the rehearsal rooms and Studio One Theater for the eleven performances.
To show your support of this terrific resource, call the Cleveland Play House ticket office at 795-7000 x 4 or visit the website: http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com. Public performances begin on Friday December 8, at 7 pm. Be there!
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATadelphia.net
The holiday season’s plethora of student performances isn’t limited to little ballet students portraying mice in that well-polished chestnut, The Nutcracker. There’s also a fresh, sweet offering from a local school that’s mainly focused on modern dance. We saw Dance on the Oval (DOTO) perform “Snow Tails” last years and found it particularly rewarding.
Choreographed to Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals,” “Snow Tails” tells the story of what happens to the animals and their keeper when the zoo closes for the season. Bumbling thieves, heroic zoo keeper, orphan elephant, and magical Snow Angel – you get the idea: a charming, family appropriate story that’s genuinely built around the performances of a bunch of very young dance students. DOTO Artistic Director Sabatino Verlezza, Assistant Director Tracy Pattison, and some high school aged students are on hand to tie up the loose ends and, in some cases, shepherd young performers through their choreography.
Like last year, the program will also include new work by Associate Artistic Director and Kent State University faculty member Barbara Allegra Verlezza, with students from KSU’s dance program. Though many of them were relatively new to dance, last year’s crop of Kent students put on a confident and exciting show, like the students of DOTO reflecting credit on themselves, the Verlezza’s, and the May O’Donnell modern dance technique they teach.
The press kit also promises “other favorite repertory.” We’re in the dark about exactly what that rep will be, but because Verlezza Dance seems to have hours of repertory on tap, all of it being perpetually reworked and expanded, we expect to be surprised in a good way. Their repertory’s range of moods and subject matter is suggested by the broad range of music they choreograph to, from live vocal renditions of Hector Berlioz to recordings of Willie Nelson.
We also expect to see some wheelchair dancers in the program, reflecting the Verlezza’s long tenure with Dancing Wheels.
And don’t let the concert venue, a middle school auditorium, lower your expectations too much. The Verlezzas have consistently brought surprising numbers of lighting instruments and technical personnel into distinctly unpromising spaces – a church basement – the Shaker Heights Community Building with its low ceiling and folding chairs – and delivered clean, well-lit productions.
Snow Tails and Other Dance Favorites is at Shaker Heights Middle School Saturday, 12/9 at 7PM and Sunday, 12/10 at 2PM. Tickets are $12 adults, $8 children 12 and under, and FREE to accompanied children 5 and under. Reservations 233-6934. Audience info 752-5147.
From Cool Cleveland contributors Elsa Johnson and Victor Lucas vicnelsaATearthlink.net
CityMusic Cleveland
Note to all new parents (and anyone else for that matter). You no longer have to feel that you’ve lost your ‘cool’ status just because you have a new baby or two, and find it difficult—if not downright impossible—to get out and about experiencing Cleveland’s Cool multi-faceted arts scene.
CityMusic Cleveland has some answers for you. This is an exciting young orchestra with a dynamic young (he’s just 26, for goodness' sake!) Music Director, James Gaffigan. They perform around the area, mostly in churches, most of which have formal child care facilities at no charge to the folks who attend the concerts, which are also free. Now how you can beat that? All you have to do is get yourselves to the right venue on the right night and you’re set! Or, as an alternative to child-care, some churches have sound-proof listening rooms for parents who prefer to stay with their restless children.
Tonight, for instance, (Wednesday, December 6) they’re at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights. Friday (December 8) they’ll be at St. Noel Church in Willoughby Hills, and Sunday (December 10) at Rocky River Presbyterian Church. These venues all offer child care, but you do need to call the church to let them know you’ll be in attendance and wanting to take advantage of their kindness. For the other two programs, Thursday (December 7) they’ll be at St. Mary Church in Elyria and Saturday at Shrine Church of St. Stanislaus in Slavic Village; however, these two facilities do not have specific child care spaces, but are considered to be child-friendly, all the same. Remember it’s important to let the church know you’ll be attending.
The program, titled "Summer Nights in Winter" features mezzo-soprano Jamie Van Eyck, violinist Liana Gourdjia, and bassoonist George Sakakeeny in a concerto written just for him. Dance music by Ravel, Faure, Sibelius, and Bartók mingle with the romantically inclined Berlioz and Delius. Full information (exact locations, concert times [which differ] and phone number for child care reservations) is available at their website: http://www.citymusiccleveland.org.
During intermission, you can enjoy refreshments while you chat with the musicians, all the while enjoying the paintings of award-winning Cleveland artist Bonnie Dolin.
Although the original inspiration came from Jeannette Sorrell of Apollo’s Fire who ‘wanted children to have access to, and be inspired by, the very best music,’ making it all happen is due in large part to the loyal volunteers who stuff programs, set up easels, create gorgeous graphics, balance the books and do a lot of driving around. Of course, the performers, the conductor and even Mozart et all, all play their not-inconsiderable parts as well! Now, all they need is you!
Sounds like a plan to me!
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATadelphia.net
Cleveland Orchestra Comes Home to Planet Cleveland
“It’ll be like coming home again.” After all, Michael Stern did live here for several years, beginning some twenty years ago this year, when he was an assistant conductor for The Cleveland Orchestra. He laughs as he talks about conducting the orchestra and then going down the street to the Cleveland Institute of Music for a read-through with the student orchestra there.
It’s all in a day’s work for a busy young conductor. He doesn’t know yet what he’ll be doing with the student group “It might be Dvorák's New World, or it might be something else, and if so, well, then, we’ll read through that! Whatever.” Nothing to get frazzled about is the implication.
Mr. Stern has traveled a good bit since leaving Cleveland in 1991, with conducting posts in Lyon, France; Saarbrucken, Germany; Germantown, Tennessee and Kansas City Missouri. He’s also guest-conducted all over the world. Because of his belief in American composers and their music, he founded the Iris Orchestra in Germantown, which has been highly praised for both performances and recordings on both Naxos and Arabesque labels. His real home now, though, is either New York City or Kansas City, where he’s beginning his second year as music director of the Kansas City Symphony.
With this global background, it’s only fitting that he’s returning to conduct The Planets—Gustav Holst’s impressive view of outer space (minus Earth and the as-yet-undiscovered and now de-classified Pluto). Several of the performances will feature NASA videos, shown on a large screen above the Orchestra, with narration by renowned physicist Lawrence Krauss of CWRU. There are five concerts, all told, in three configurations. Thursday, December 7, and Saturday, December 9, at 8pm, the concert begins with Beethoven’s Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, which will be followed by the English Horn Concerto of Ned Rorem, featuring english horn principal, Robert Walters, in his debut as soloist with the orchestra. For these two performances, The Planets will not include the NASA videos. All performances, however, will include the women’s voices of the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, as prepared by Hugh Floyd, director of choral activities at Oberlin.
Saturday, December 9, and Sunday, December 10, each at 3pm the concerts will include the Overture, and The Planets will be accompanied by the NASA videos with Dr. Krauss’s narration. Friday, December 8, at 8pm will present the overture, the concerto and The Planets with videos and narration. Dr. Krauss has previously performed with the orchestra at Blossom, but this will mark his Severance Hall debut.
As an added bonus, ticket holders to any of the five Cleveland Orchestra concerts will receive free admission to a Shafran Planetarium show at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History on either December 9 and 10. Museum admission—where A T. rex Named Sue is the current main exhibit—is not included. For more specific information (times and ticket prices) about the museum, visit their website www.cmnh.org or call (800)317-9155.
For more information or to purchase tickets to the concerts, call (216) 231-1111 or visit their website at http://www.clevelandorchestra.com
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATadelphia.net
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Bad News Travels Fast, yet good news doesn’t seem to get the same attention. As part of the Greater Cleveland Marketing Alliance’s (GCMA) national media relations program, we’re providing a monthly review of positive stories about the region that have appeared in the national media the previous month. To see the latest National Media Coverage Update and pro-Clev stories from the Chicago Tribune, USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post, BusinessWeek and more, visit gcpartnership.com/gcma_media.aspx. To learn more about the GCMA, please visit www.gcpartnership.com/AboutCleveland.aspx or contact Rick Batyko, Vice President for Regional Marketing, The Greater Cleveland Partnership rbatyko@gcpartnership.com or 216.592.2225.
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Brian Tucker and I Agree! Well…
Well, how about that. Who’d have ever thought?
Brian Tucker and I agree on something.
He’s no less than the Publisher and Editorial Director of Crain’s Cleveland Business.
“Clevelanders faced with taxing way of life,” said the title of a recent editorial commentary.
I’d never thought it possible that we would share the same outlook.
Let us not, however, get carried away...
Read RoldoLINK here
Quick reviews of recent events
Going out this weekend? Take along your PDA and your digital camera. Scratch out a few notes to send us with a picture of it for our Instant Karma real-world reviews of what's really happening. We'd love to hear from you. Send your stuff to Events@CoolCleveland.com
"A Christmas Carol" @ Great Lakes Theater Festival, 11/24 Great Lakes Theater Festival´s 2006 production of A Christmas Carol is pleasant in every particular: impeccable costumes, impressive sets, crisp lighting, seamless work by the actors; the singing is on key, the dancing is well done, all eyes are merrily crinkled, and all smiles are luminescently large, and there isn´t a bit of dramatic tension in the entire thing. You couldn´t find a better example of Tolstoy´s dictum opening Anna Karenina that every happy family is happy in the same way. It is a heart-warming department-store window vignette put on by a hard-working cast and crew of consummate professionals.
The story that frames Dickens´s is that the Cleaveland Family is preparing to read its favorite Christmas tale aloud. In the youngest Cleaveland child´s imagination, and through his eyes, we see rich, happy Father Cleaveland and his family become poor Bob Cratchit and his hungry family. The stern butler, Samuels (Dudley Swetland), becomes the crotchety Scrooge. Not even Tom Ford, Laura Perotta, and Laura Welsh can do much with a premise like that except smile and smile. To give you some idea of the fierce dramatic tension generated on stage, one of the sets, which shows the rear wall of Scrooge´s bedroom cracking open to reveal the Ghost of Christmas Present (not just Fabio Polanco, but Fabio Polanco on stilts) amid an opulent banquet table, got the best applause opening night.
There is one genuinely comic scene. Cynthia, (played by Lara Mielcarek), has imbibed enough Christmas cheer to be snortingly and amusingly honest about old Scrooge, and Mielcarek surprises the audience with her brief but startling characterization of Cynthia. It's the best, and the best-played, scene in the play. Still, it´s not as if during the Christmas season there is an audience crying out for "Medea" instead of carols on the spinet right this very minute. The GLTF´s production of "A Christmas Carol" is a Christmas spectacle, a Christmas tradition: wholesome, clean, respectable, righteous, and innocent.
"A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens is adapted and directed by Gerald Freedman and staged by Andrew May at the Great Lakes Theater Festival. The production runs at the Ohio Theater through December 23.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Marcus Bales marcusATdesignerglass.com
The People's Art Show @ CSU 12/1
You'll never see a funkier, more entertaining celebration of area creativity than the People's Art Show. It's a democratic riot of styles and genres, from kitsch to political, amateurs to top professionals -- all hung chock-a-block, 5 rows deep, at the Cleveland State Art Gallery. It's the show that's always guaranteed to make me smile, even laugh out loud now and then, a big ole Cleveland party on the walls."It's my favorite show, too", says Gallery director Robert Thurmer, who has weathered many stormy media controversies with previous versions of the totally uncensored show, from the "Jesus wall" to Steven B. Smith's flag-wrapped penis photo. With anyone allowed to submit up to two pieces with a guarantee of it being shown, there's an engaging mix of high and low, an unpretentious mix of collage to oil to mixed-media sculpture to student line drawings and prim watercolors, that makes this feel like Real Cleveland lettin' it all hang out.
There are some real treasures -- Al Wasco's moving "Dad", a photocollage of his father, including his driver's license and Medicare card. The political abounds: from Cline A. Siegenthaler's "Pop Goes the Weasel", where a puppet Dick Cheney with Don King hair grins among piles of cash inside an ammunition box stenciled "Halliburton", to Sue Ann Kuleson's feminist "Death of a Housewife", a fabric collage with a black outlined body with yellow dishwashing gloves. Then there are the goofs on art history: Dan Loy's cubist Picasso send-up "Messieurs de Steroids", and a take-off on Manel's Dejeuner sur l'herbe, with a pistol-packing Santa and an anorexic nude prisoner.
There's a lot to discover, from Jim Lang's "Free Verse" take-home poetry packets to Rod Defoe II's powerful The War Within, where the arteries and veins of a shadowy figure on a wash of green turns out to be made of WWI war maps of Mesopotamia.
This free show is one to stroll through, snack at, and come back again. By the time you're done, you'll be dreaming about what you want to submit as your art piece for the next one.
DETAILS: Cleveland State Art Gallery, Chester @ E. 23rd, thru 12/14. http://www.csuohio.edu/art/gallery/main.htm
TOUR TIP: Looking for a great Saturday afternoon? Make a day of it by having a bite at one of the many great eats in nearby Chinatown: No. 1 Pho, or Li Wah at the Asian Plaza, then grocery shopping in one of the Chinese markets for 69 cent bok choy and Filipino sauce packets that'll turn your Mrs. Weiss soup into a gourmet treat. End with a beer at Becky's, CSU's great dive bar.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Linda Eisenstein LindaATcoolcleveland.com
"Beauty and the Beast" @ Beck Center, 12/1 10 + 666 = gr8 fun 4 u. "Beauty and the Beast," or "10 + 666" as I like to call it, at the Beck Center in Lakewood is one of those shows that, in our ironic age, is widely disparaged by the kind of people who don’t go to musicals. Pay them no mind. The show is expertly constructed, and the songs move the plot right along brightly and catchily. There is nothing to dislike unless you’re so soaked in the postmodern brine that even just making sense is offensive to you, much less having a beginning, a middle, and a happy ending. It’s marvelously well-produced by Fred Sternfeld directing, Larry Goodpaster directing the music, and Martin Cespedes’s sinuous staging in the middle of Ben Needham’s scenic designs. The whole thing rolls inevitably across the proscenium and does that old theater magic.
This is the Beck Center’s second year with this show as its Christmas production, and Dan Folino and Natalie Green have returned as the Beast and as Belle. Is Folino’s wild physicality of last year a little less scary? Does Green have just a little trouble missing the warmth of Bill Kelly’s characterization of Belle’s father, Maurice? Perhaps Folino’s portrayal has been deliberately muted because he was just too frightening last year. Maybe Bob Abelman will find that playing Belle’s father as a whack-job instead of as a passionate visionary is what makes his scenes stutter a little. But it doesn’t matter because a well-constructed vehicle like this takes a lot more than that to send it off the road.
The servants in the Castle, Douglas Collier as Cogsworth, Larry Nehring as Lumiere, Kristin Netzband as Babette, Beth Cubbison as Madame de la Grande Bouche, and Tracee Patterson as Mrs Potts combine extraordinarily well. Collier’s comic timing in particular is marvelous. When Belle winds Cogsworth around her little finger to get him to let her have dinner after all, Collier is particularly good at making the audience wait just that millisecond longer for his line that makes it that much funnier.
Josh Noble purposefully overplays Gaston’s cartoon character with a swash and a buckle and a cheesy grin. He’s a lot of fun to watch – I’m sure it’s hard to see how much work goes into making a character look that easy. No one Gastons like Noble. And the Silly Girls this year, Kathleen Culler, Sara Carnes, and Katie Carr, struck just the right communal note of abandoned infatuation.
Adam Kapis as Monsieur D’Arque does very well again this year – he does with stillness what Folino does with movement: create a sense of menace. Folino has the harder job since he’s slightly built, but he moves threateningly around the stage and takes up the space with athletic agility. Kapis’s D’Arque is dark indeed by moving very little.
Finally, Zac Hudak as Lefou tumbles around the stage as Gaston’s fall guy with rubbery balance in the classic Bill Irwin sort of way, competing for Gaston’s attention with Belle, and failing. One of the interesting undercurrents in this production is how Hudak plays the relationship between Gaston and Lefou (though in a Disney production it is naturally pretty far under), but with those high spots of rouge that redden Lefou’s face, and with his body language both around Gaston and when Belle entreats him to help her find her father, Hudak does an excellent job of playing a man in love.
Everyone is obviously having a great time on stage, and the audience is wholly in their hands. A production like this is huge fun, a memorable evening of laughter and song and a few tears, if you’ve a mind to. Oh, just go see it. You’ll be glad you did, even if you want to think you’re a hard old ironist.
Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” runs through the end of December at the Beck Center for the Arts, 17801 Detroit Avenue, Lakewood. For tickets, call 521-2540. Visit the Beck Center at http://www.beckcenter.org.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Marcus Bales marcusATdesignerglass.com
"Start-Up Cleveland" Panel Discussion @ CSU 12/1 Is Cleveland a good place to start a new business? Definitely! That was the overall consensus of the panelists at the “Start-Up Cleveland” program organized by The Web Association and hosted by Cleveland State University at College of Urban Affairs. King Hill, founder and president of Digiknow explained what it was like starting a new technology business in Northeast Ohio, and why he recently moved his now successful business to downtown Cleveland. He was able to find more than twice the space his company previously had while basically paying the same price. He also expressed an interest in passing along what he had learned, and thought the best place to do that was in Cleveland. Thom Ruhe, Chief Marketing Officer for JumpStart, discussed “start-up” capital necessary to most new businesses. Two and a half years ago, the Cleveland area ranked dead last in the country when it came to venture capital available for new businesses, JumpStart was founded to address that need. The response from the Cleveland area was much more enthusiastic than they expected, and currently there is no shortage of great ideas in the area. Initially folks around Cleveland supplied 22 investment grade applications for capital, in contrast to expected 8 to 12! Michael DeAloia, the City of Cleveland's “Tech Czar”, reminded everyone of what the City of Cleveland has available for any one interested in starting or moving a technology business to Cleveland, especially the abundance of available office space. He also talked about a deal the city was offering to help pay for training of employees. So don't let the doom and gloom that you read in the papers fool you. While the Industrial Age is ending, and we are feeling some pain, the Information Age is in full swing and Cleveland is a great place to take advantage of it! From Cool Cleveland correspondent Doug Morris dougjm.morrisATgmail.com.
Cleveland Orchestra @ Severance Hall, 12/1 One of the great musical mysteries of all time is this: How on earth could Gustav Mahler have written his huge, ungainly, magnificent Symphony No. 5 in 1901-02, almost 20 years before the Cleveland Orchestra was even begun? Did he somehow know that one day there would be this marvelous orchestra in this little city on a lake that would do justice to his work as no other? Of course, there is a tie between Mahler and a lake. Music Director Laureate Christoph von Dohnányi once said in an interview that Mahler had found happiness by a lake, and he (Dohnányi) had as well. But that still doesn’t answer the question very well, does it?
This week I was unable to attend the usual Thursday night, so I went on Friday. It’s well known that an extra performance or rehearsal can sometimes add many facets and dimensions to an otherwise wonderfully-prepared repertoire. Whatever, guest conductor Sakari Oramo created magic. It’s only to be expected that he would have a special rapport with the music of his countryman, the Symphony No. 3 by Joonas Kokkonen. Written in 1967, the work is very accessible and was probably blasted by the critics when it was new, for being too old-fashioned by the standards of nearly 40 years ago.
It is very rhythmical throughout, and in the second movement allegro, I really thought I detected a bit of Shostakovich-lite, which then devolved into a bit of Prokofiev’s Love for Three Oranges. The fourth movement adagio, featured little drifts of melody here and there over the percussion, and ended with gorgeously sonorous string playing.
The burnished trumpet fanfare of Michael Sachs opened the great sprawling, yet cohesive Symphony No. 5 of Gustav Mahler. With the trumpet leading into the funeral march, Mr. Oramo deftly worked his way through the various phases of Mahler’s musical expresssion of confidence and insecurities. Richard King, horn and Stephen Witser, trombone, also contributed beautiful solos. Without a break, the piece went from first to second movement, seeming to solidify the concept of the work as a whole consisting of three sections. But yet the tone of the second was different, being almost triumphant in nature, with a light (for Mahler, especially) and piquant ending.
The third movement or scherzo, stands alone in the three-part concept, and begins quietly. After another gorgeous horn solo, there is a dialogue between trumpet and horn that reappears every now and then. Pizzicato strings emphasize the light and delicate waltz effect which morphs almost into grotesquerie near the end.
One of the most gorgeous pieces of music ever written by anyone for any reason and has been played as a stand-alone piece for years is the fourth movement adagietto. It may well be Mahler’s love song to Alma, or just an expression of his own passionate self. Whatever, it was an extraordinary example of sheer loveliness from harp and strings.
It blends immediately into the final movement, the rondo-finale: allegro in which the theme is passed around from section to section before the chorale ending. Even after all the time and effort expended on the work, with his vigorous and huge, sweeping gestures, Mr. Oramo was still dancing on the podium at the conclusion.
The immediate ovation—cheers and yells and enthusiastic clapping and foot-stamping was among the loudest I’ve ever heard at Severance Hall.
This weekend features (on some concerts) the multi-media presentation of The Planets, with guest conductor Michael Stern. For specific information regarding the five performances, call the ticket office at 731-1111 or visit the website: http://www.clevelandorchestra.com
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATadelphia.net
Rocky Horror Show @ CPT 12/2
What: A whole lotta gender-bending makes CPT's Rocky Horror less camp but way more explicit -- with so much grrl-on-grrl action the show's subtext becomes women's sexuality unleashed.
Reasons to go: Husky-voiced Alison Garrigan smoulders as the alien Frank-n-Furter, and her goth-fetish costumes are smokin', but it's punk firecracker Monique MacGregor as Eddie and Liz Conway's writhing Janet who steal the show. Carlos Antonio Cruz' bitchy drag Magenta is terrific, too, and the band rocks.
Caveats: You can't hide your reactions at this voyeuristic in-your-face production, as the show is in the round and you're never more than 3 aisles back from all the grinding on the stripper poles. Unless she's into kink, leave grandma at home.
Details: Cleveland Public Theatre, 6415 Detroit Ave., Cleveland. 216-631-2727. Thru 12/23. http://www.cptonline.org.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Linda Eisenstein LindaATcoolcleveland.com
Inner Harmony Wellness Center Open House, 12/2 Who said there is no “cool” in Strongsville? Whoever it was has never been to Inner Harmony Wellness Center on Pearl Road in Strongsville (http://www.innerharmony.info). Owners Barb Clugh and Corky Larson provided a host of services, products, and programs that are interesting, uplifting…and quite unusual, which makes them cool. For the past two weekends Inner Harmony hosted its annual open house while raising money and food for the needy. Gifted tarot card reader, Tina Fisher, provided 20 minute readings at no cost with the donation of non-perishable food items to the Strongsville Food Bank. Holiday shopping ideas from Inner Harmony include ceramic desk-top fountains crafted by artists from New York State and hand-painted Native-American drums.) From Cool Cleveland contributor Nan Frost nanettehfATsbcglobal.net.
Cleveland Jazz Orchestra presents Ellington/Strayhorn's Nutcracker and other Holiday Treats @ Bop Stop, 12/2 There is nothing quite like a big band. Unless it’s a big band playing jazz! It’s a unique and gorgeous blend of brass and reeds and bass and percussion and keyboards unlike any other you can think of. The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra presented its city with an early holiday gift last weekend—a mixture of new and old Christmas and Hannukah songs done up in big band arrangements, followed by the adult version of the Nutcracker – the one deftly constructed from Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn some 45 years ago. This appearance was at The Bop Stop on Cleveland’s near-west side, described by artistic director Jack Schantz as ‘the best jazz listening room in the country.’ By the end of the evening, no one in the room would have offered any argument, which is saying a lot. A room with a capacity of 125 persons could be swamped with a 17 piece big band, unless a degree of restraint and a large quantity of elegance are employed by the musicians. Those criteria were met and surpassed in grand fashion. Two times, only, did it get really loud, and both times it was necessary. Okay. Enough of that. To the music—which was splendid!
Many of the men in the CJO have been with it since the beginning, and not only are they talented musicians, but also fabulous examples of the art of arranging. The selections on the first half of the show ranged from Hannukah arranged by Paul Ferguson (CJO-trombone) to Hannukah, Oy, Hannukah in a klezmer-style arranged by Kent Engelhardt (CJO-reeds) with myriad stops in between. Contemporary classics such as The Christmas Song of Mel Torme arranged by Vaughn Wiester (CJO-trombone) for band alone and Let it Snow (Ferguson) which featured Schantz in a perpetual motion mode in the middle, surrounded by the great vocals of Barbara Knight.
Ms. Knight excelled at Santa Claus is Coming to Town in a syncopated arrangement by David Morgan (CJO-bass) with drums, bass, piano and vibes on the first chorus and Schantz joining in with a stuttering rhythm later on. Then came Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas in an arrangement by Ferguson, and a dandy new version of Jule Styne’s Christmas Waltz arranged by Rich Shanklin (CJO-reeds). This was really different as it seemed to be more Latin-influenced (I could swear I heard a bossa nova beat in there) and required a slight change of words to: ‘and this heart of mine in 4/4 time. . .’ It was my favorite from the first half. Schantz then followed up with a gorgeous trumpet solo (dedicated to his father) on I’ll be Home for Christmas.
Traditional carols weren’t left out. God Rest Ye Merry in a swinging style by Rolf Johnson sounded a little like Claude Thornhill’s theme Snowfall at the end. (Fortunately, it wasn’t snowing outside!) Away in a Manger displayed the vibraphone talents of Ron Bush, in this new version by Chas Baker (CJO-trombone).
The Ellington/Strayhorn version of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet music is not heard nearly as often as it should be, but then there aren’t too many bands around who can really do it justice. This performance should be released on a CD, it was that good. In addition to re-doing the music in their own mold, Ellington and Strayhorn also played word games with the names of the set pieces they used. Except for the Overture and the Entr’acte, which stayed the same in both versions, the names conjure up images other than those seen in the traditional ballet.
Toot Toot Tooty Toot was Dance of the Reed Pipes and had just enough of the melody and rhythm to be able to recognize what it was. If you’ve ever heard Rodian Shchedrin’s Carmen Ballet, you’ll know what I mean—it’s more by implication than actuality. It detoured slightly into a minor key near the end.
Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy) featured a neat drum and sax solo, followed by sax and clarinet together. Entr’acte showcased trombone and baritone sax, while Volga Route (Russian Dance) put a tenor sax in the spotlight. Chinoiserie (Chinese Dance) was, as you would expect, very oriental sounding, with drums, bass, sax and piano as the main protagonists. Dance of the Floradores (Waltz of the Flowers) was full brass (loud, that is, but good!)
Arabesque Cookie (Arabian Dance) was mainly Strayhorn’s invention and very moody and evocative in tone. The reed section (Engelhardt, Tom Reed, Shanklin, Klayman and Dick Ingersol) got a real workout, with each of them playing a different reed instrument at times. Flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones all could be heard at various times. Peanut Brittle Brigade (March) brought the piece--and the evening--to a stunning conclusion.
And a good time was had by all. It was hard to tell who was having the better time: the musicians or the audience!
On December 23 (one night only!) the CJO and guest soloist Joe Lovano will reprise their 4 nights at Birdland in NYC last summer, in conjunction with the CD release of their teamwork. At The Bop Stop. For tickets or other info, visit the CJO website: http://www.clevelandjazz.org, or call 440-942-9525.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATadelphia.net
Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes @ Agora, 12/2 Last Saturday it was another of the semi-annual Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes concerts that we have here in Cleveland, one each summer and one around the holidays, but the first one in a long time at the Agora. The Jukes had been doing their winter shows at the now closed Odeon, so they returned to the Agora this year, also as a part of the club’s 40th anniversary year, last appearing there during the club’s 30th anniversary.
The “new’ Agora, which has been at it’s present sight for almost twenty years, will always be the ‘new’ Agora to many because of the place the “old” Agora, the one on East 24th, will always play in the hearts of the generation of rock and roll fans who came of age at the club. And probably no other out of town band who was an Agora regular at the “old” club captured a place in the hearts of those now mostly forty something fans than Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.
I have seen Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes over the years at places besides Cleveland, and the shows aren’t quite the same. The audiences are always quite receptive, however, they don’t treat the band with adoration worthy of royalty. And the set lists, although they will always contain some gems from their glory days, are usually balanced with newer material and a few blues classics. And the shows in other markets don’t always end with dozen of women up on the stage single along with the band while trying to also hug and kiss their favorite Juke. And these women, although still attractive, aren’t teenagers any more.
Southside shows in Cleveland follow the same scenario time after time, with the band coming out with a song list that sooner or later, mostly sooner, gets trashed as the band ends up playing the songs off their first five albums that audience came to here. Southside and his band aren’t any oldies act, they put out a pretty good blues/rock album every year or so, and tour extensively including a four to six week gig in Europe every year. They also spend a fair amount of time in their Northern New Jersey home base were many of the Jukes are in demand as studio musicians. But it just seems like every time they are here, sooner or later it turns into 1980 as one classic Jukes tune is played after another.
And not that that is a bad thing. The band did get a few new tunes in this time, for example their cover of the Stones’ “Happy” which made it on their last studio album Into the Harbor, to let us know they aren’t sitting on their past laurels. However, when the old songs came out and are still played with fresh enthusiasm and skill, then there is still magic between the now fifty something blues singer and the audience that first embraced him back when the world was a lot younger for all involved.
Oh, there once was a time…and for a few hours Saturday night there was again as songs such as “Trapped Again,” “Love on the Wrong Side of Town,” “Take It Inside,” “Without Love,” “I Don’t Want to Go Home,” and “Paris,” were played with as much skill and soul as they were when they were first played on that fabled stage on East 24th Street. And, of course, the audience loved it. From the opener “Under the Sun,” a gem from the long lost At least We Got Shoes album, to last encore of the audience participation version of “We’re Having a Party,” the love affair between the band and its loyal following here in Northern Ohio continued.
Keeping with the 40th Anniversary theme, local 70’s icons Wild Horses opened up with a short but solid set and did exactly what an opening band should do: they were good, got the audience ready for the headliners, and didn’t play too long. They played some solid classic rock and closed with their own claim to fame “Funky Poodle.”
From Cool Cleveland contributor Greg Cielec cielecAThotmail.com.
Aphrodisiac @ Theater Ninjas 12/3
What: An intriguing dark comedy about adult children reacting to their Congressman father's sex scandal with a missing intern, loosely based on the Chandra Levy case. A strong debut of a new theater company for 20's-30's -- do check them out.
Reasons to go: Rob Handel's intelligent, witty 2005 play about sex and coverup couldn't feel more timely, even though it's set in the Clinton era. A furious Alma (Faye Hargate) and her brother Avery (Scott K. Crim) are skeeved out by their father's infidelity with a woman Alma's age -- they role-play to try to understand their father's guilt and their mother's bland support. But it's Maggie Arndt who runs away with the show in a cameo as Monica Lewinsky -- her monologue about the aphrodisiac thrill of Washington D.C.'s mix of power and loneliness is mesmerizing.
Backstory: Again, CPH's Michael Bloom is helping new companies flower; Ninja Artistic Director Jeremy Paul was his assistant director on "Well".
Details: Thru 12/17, Cleveland Play House Brooks Theater. http://www.theaterninjas.com/
From Cool Cleveland contributor Linda Eisenstein LindaATcoolcleveland.com
Spectacular Brunch Recital @ InterContinental Hotel, 12/3 There was an absolutely terrific recital Sunday afternoon in the Six Continents Lounge at the InterContinental Hotel on the campus of the Cleveland Clinic. The three participants were energetic and enthusiastic in their presentations, but each of them are also in possession of immense talent, innate musicianship and great technical facility. Pianists Grace Fong and Hong Xu plus soprano Jung Eun Oh may not yet be household names, but they soon will be. Patrons of the recital were made aware of that fact many times over.
Ms. Fong and Mr. Xu began the program with a spirited performance of the 1st Movement: Allegro, from Mozart’s Sonata for Keyboard Duet in C, K521. They sounded as though they’d been playing together for years! Each note—from whichever end of the keyboard—was articulated clearly, despite the awesome tempos, especially in some of the treble parts ably executed by Mr. Xu. The charming piece was never lacking in subtlety, either. There were ‘oh’s and ‘ah’s from the knowledgeable audience before the hearty applause began, a sure sign of excellence.
Jung Eun Oh then sang two arias from Mozart operas, with sensitive accompaniment by Mr. Xu. From The Marriage of Figaro, Susannah’s Deh vieni non tardar effectively illustrated her wish to keep her husband’s love, while Despina’s flirtatious Una Donna Quindia Anni from Cosí fan Tutte clearly explains what every woman over the age of fifteen should know about being in love. They proved to be an excellent showcase for Ms. Oh's clear diction and inflection, while still emphasizing the emotion of each selection.
Switching gears (metaphorically, that is) and accompanists—Ms. Fong replacing Mr. Xu on the bench—Ms. Oh then turned to lieder by Schubert: Seligkeit (Bliss), An die Nachtigall (The Nightingale), Die Forelle(The Trout)and Nacht und Träume (Dreams in the night). These four brief songs express worlds of meaning and emotion, set to poems by different authors. Each of them were treated as the precious entities that they are, with lyricism and musicality. The latter was especially gorgeous, as she seemed hardly to breathe while singing of dreams.
Ms. Fong then demonstrated her formidable technique with three selections by Rachmaninoff: Moment musical Op. 16 no.4 in E minor, and two Preludes from his opus 23—no. 8 in A flat major and no. 2 in B flat major. Rachmaninoff was gifted with extremely large hands, and never hesitated to use this fact while composing. Not everyone can handle these demands but they presented no barrier for Ms. Fong. She described them briefly as dark, ethereal and heroic, and indeed they were just that. The first is almost belligerent with its torrents of notes, however she exhibited confidence and grace throughout. The second was in total contrast, with gentle, rippling cascades of notes and a hushed ending. The last piece was again the bombastic Rachmaninoff with octaves and arpeggios throughout! None of these works seemed to hold any terrors for the young pianist, who won the Baroque prize in the 2005 Cleveland International Piano Competition.
After intermission, the two pianists teamed up once again for the Opus 39 Waltzes of Brahms. This time it was Ms. Fong with the upper voice. Although the 16 miniatures were indeed all waltzes, they were not all danceable. They were, however, all given their full share of wit, lyricism and emotion, including repose at the end. It is amazing how well these two pianists performed the four-hand literature. Awesome, in fact!
Another Nightingale–this one by Stravinsky–brought Ms. Oh back again. Accompanied by Mr. Xu, she gave a beautiful demonstration of why the Chinese emperor wanted one of these singing birds for himself, as well as why she recently won first place in the Leopoldskron vocal competition in Salzburg, Austria.
Mr. Xu then brought the performance to a close with a masterful performance of Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Petrouchka. This is an intelligent, absolutely formidable young pianist, who took third place in the Honen’s International Piano Competition, held last month in Canada. When the composer arranged this suite for the famed pianist Artur Rubenstein, it was promptly declared to be unplayable. Not so! Mr. Xu proved conclusively that he, at least, can indeed play it. The performance was–as needed–vigorous, tender and buoyant, with magnificent attention paid to the driving rhythms and syncopation scattered throughout. Pianos are supposed to be inanimate objects, but I’d bet that if this one could talk, it would express gratitude that there weren’t four movements! This performance will not soon be forgotten by anyone who was privileged to have heard it.
The recital was preceded by Brunch at the InterContinental Hotel, which included breakfast items as well as hot and cold entrees, and desserts. To be informed of future such events, which create an opportunity for young musicians to play, be heard, and get paid, in a for-profit venue, send an e-mail to fiberart@sbcglobal.net.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATadelphia.net
CircleFest @ University Circle, 12/3 We know Cleveland’s cool and so it University Circle. The Holiday CircleFest was a tad chilly Sunday, but everyone warmed up to the idea of attending the next performance or museum exhibit. Here’s the coolest stuff I saw on Sunday: At The Crawford Auto Aviation Museum, children were mesmerized by an electric model train (with real choo choo sounds) as they crowded around it to get a peek. It circled around a hand-carved, tall wooden structure with a replica of the Terminal Tower building, completed in 1930. Next to this display, the Jocelyn Chang Harp Ensemble, mostly schoolchildren, sat at 8 harps (3 full sized), and played a delightful arrangement of holiday music for the attentive audience. Outside on Wade Oval, people gathered to see the ice chips fly as a dinosaur ice sculpture was created from a large block of ice by the power saws of Aaron Costic and the Elegant Ice Creations Company. Children waited in line to get their names blasted into chunks of ice they could take home. Way cool. Then a singing Santa greeted families in the exhibition hall at the Museum of Natural History. And a stuffed lion family gazed down over Santa’s shoulder while he sang Bing Crosby’s “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” to a little girl sitting in his lap. Over at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens I got a chance to see all of the colorful entries from their third annual gingerbread house contest. And later, I noticed fingers and toes tapping to the music of the trombone choir (10 trombones and 2 tubas) at the Institute of Music. There were so many things to see and do on UC, it was hard to make a choice where to go next. But next year, don’t miss this stellar event! From Cool Cleveland contributor Susan Schaul susn12ATgmail.com.
Holiday Shopping @ Cleveland Botanical Garden, 12/3 CircleFest may be over, but that’s no reason not to visit Cleveland Botanical Garden (http://www.cbgarden.org) during December. CBG has one of the best gift shops of its kind, with items ranging from very affordable to extravagant. There is truly something available for everyone on your holiday shopping list. You’ll find items from manufacturers like Mariposa and Zrike to vinaigrette and salsa produced by CBG’s GREEN CORP. (The Green Corp provides seasonal employment and horticultural training for area urban high school students.) Remember to bring your parking ticket with you for validation. Parking is free with purchases over $50 and believe me…that’s not hard to do! And it’s FUN! From Cool Cleveland contributor Nan Frost nanettehfATbcglobal.net.
Jesus Christ Superstar @ Palace 12/5
What: Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic 1971 rock opera of the last 7 days of Christ, in Ted Neeley's farewell touring production.
Reasons to go: After over 30 years playing Jesus, Neeley is stiffer and slower, but he still can wail a mean falsetto when he needs to. Yet it's Corey Glover (Living Color) as Judas whose voice can literally stand your hair on end -- it's why you pay the bucks to see a rock star in the part. Christina Rea-Briskin as a sultry Mary Magdalene and Craig Sculli's tormented Pilate do fine work, too.
Caveats: The main ensemble of the non-Equity Troika tour is so young and green, it's often like watching a college production with a killer sound system. But the big numbers pop and the dramatic moments still have heft, especially "Superstar" and "Gethsemane".
Details: Palace Theatre, Cleveland. 216-241-6000. Thru 12/10. http://www.playhousesquare.com
Bargain Alert: CTIX has $12 seats - a steal. http://www.ctix.org
From Cool Cleveland contributor Linda Eisenstein LindaATcoolcleveland.com
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On Cool Cleveland's coverage (See http://www.ChristmasAtMaxwells.com) Many thanks for covering Christmas at Maxwells. I viewed it and found it very inspiring. Thanks for publicizing Bill and Tiffany Laufer's grand work. Local talent sure appreciate and need your help. God bless!
from Cool Cleveland reader Al Oberst knuteoicpATwebtv.net
On Cleveland's coverage (See Frommers: Cle is underrated here) Just read the less than red-hot article about Cleveland being an underrated destination. I would like to see an upbeat review that doesn't first recite a litany of our problems. However, I guess we should take what we can get. Nevertheless, when I read the review of Detroit I noticed that there is one website (www.visitdetroit.com) where a poetential visitor can get information with one click whereas for Cleveland, one apparently has to visit multiple independent websites. Where is our comparable site?
from Cool Cleveland reader Jim Hamilton hamilton7238ATsbcglobal.net
On Groundworks Dance Theatre (See Instant Karma here) It is a sad state of affairs when dance critics write about the audience; even sadder when they focus on specific audience members. Writing about the auditorium’s temperature and other off point aspects of the event is a practice we might hope had retired with the PD dance critic. Does it say that the performance alone was not riveting enough to hold your attention? The milquetoast flavor of the remainder of the review confirms that boredom may have been the issue, which is too bad, because the work on stage was delightful! If the presence of acquaintances was enough of a distraction to end up in your review, just as aspects of the building distracted Cleveland’s other dance critic, the dancer’s and choreographer’s time or yours might have been better spent. No need to backhand the company’s efforts. T. S. Eliot summed it up for you years ago when he wrote, “We had the experience, but we missed the meaning.”
A couple of corrections: the choreographers for the last work on the Groundworks program are Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer (not Packard) and they set not several, but two works on the Repertory Project; Lunchbreak and Lava Falls.
You also stated a presumption that we (the people sitting behind you to the left) came solely to see the new work by Bridgman/Packer. This statement “The postmodernists seated behind us over our left shoulders had an entirely different wish list, not to be satisfied until the evening’s final dance.” has more grounding in your imagination than in fact. As long-time patrons of dance in Northeast Ohio, we came see our friends and colleagues perform, to enjoy fabulous lighting designs by Dennis Dugan, music by Ryan Lott and to enjoy the architectural beauty of Trinity Cathedral. We are especially taken with the very human performance qualities displayed by Mark Otloski and Jennifer Lott and the increasingly relaxed stage presence of David Shimotakahara and Amy Miller.
As to this statement, “Oh, for professional ballet performance in Cleveland again,” I would ask, do you not see that Groundworks is a ballet company? Shimotakahara has taken giant leaps on and off the stage to bring Northeast Ohio’s ballet audience into the 21st century by boldly mixing styles of choreography and music, encouraging members of his company to create work, and maintaining a fresh presence for ballet in a community that has failed to support the despairingly reworked 19th Century version of the art form. His dedication to ballet and its inevitable transformation surpasses his predecessor’s. (For those of you not versed in Northeast Ohio dance, that predecessor would be the late Heinz Poll who founded and directed the Ohio Ballet.)
Perhaps you would benefit from reading Los Angeles dance critic Lewis Seigel’s article Five Things I Hate About Ballet to help you see that by not having a traditional ballet company, Northeast Ohio’s urban centers are not depleted, but rather are moving ahead by letting go of the resource-sucking 200 year old fad that places the forever young in rows, dresses them in tulle and treats them like circus animals. I must say, I much prefer David’s more enlightened version of ballet, the maturity of his fine dancers and his risk taking attitude. Is it possible that in your personal desire to attach the idea of a successful dance community to the presence of a three-ring, under-the-big-top, ballet company, you have underestimated the sophisticated audiences and donor base for dance in Northeast Ohio? It would appear that David has a longer vision.
from Cool Cleveland reader Susan Miller millerbowenATadelphia.net
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Rendezvous in Revelry We like to celebrate the superfluity that Cleveland has to offer, too. That’s why the Hard Corps do what they do every week. You’ve got a new party announced in the “Holidaze Hullabaloo” and an issue that is nothing if not PACKED with the good stuff. Throw your own little party at your desk today and plot out your revelry! Thanks to Peter Chakerian, Roxanne Ravenel, TL Champion, George Nemeth, Roldo Bartimole, Nan Frost, Greg Cielec, Marcus Bales, Doug Morris, Linda Eisenstein and Kelly Ferjutz—who herself delivered a whopping EIGHT reviews/previews this week! 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.
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