Excerpts from conversations with the Bly Family at their home/gallery

#3 Melanie Fioritto (a.k.a. Miss Melvis), musician + Managing Director of Cleveland Public Art

We dare you to try and find someone cooler than Miss Melvis. Not only is she managing director of Cleveland Public Art, she's also an accomplished guitarist who's been in (and continues to play with) several bands, including Chump, Backmonkeys, the Heathers, as well as the backup band for Cleveland Public Theatre's production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

LB: A couple of years ago, I was having a particularly bad week and was complaining about Cleveland (and contemplating moving). You cheered me up by something you said: "You have to be a total bad ass to live in this city." What exactly did you mean by that?

MF: I think we get a bad rap mostly from other Clevelanders and it's hard for us to elevate ourselves to that level where we're proud of what we have and what we do. There are a lot of things working against us. For one thing, the environment doesn't make it an easy place to live.

LB: Do you mean the weather?

MF: Well, weather is part of it. It's industrial and in general, Clevelanders struggle to accept creative people, projects, and ideas. So all of this creative energy is teeming under the surface, just ready to explode, but it hasn't yet. I think the press is to blame for that, and also the way Clevelanders feel about the city, which is sort of perpetuated by the press. I think you have to be tough because we've always been the brunt of jokes...we still carry this bullshit around about the river burning. It would be easy to go somewhere else where you think it's better, but it's not always better. I've been to a lot of places, and I can't say they had the breadth of what we have [culturally]. Ultimately, the people that are staying here - sticking it out - while Cleveland decides what it's going to be are the tough ones.

KB: You've been playing in bands for 12 years. Have things changed since you started?

MF: Recently there's been more camaraderie and collaboration. Where it used to be every person for him/herself, now bands are working together, and also poets, dancers, and artists are collaborating. When you think about it, any place that's ever been hot - like Nirvana and the grunge scene in Seattle - that stuff didn't happen because people were at odds with each other. It has to be everyone working together. And, that's where the press comes in. The media let's people know something exciting is happening, but it also creates the story. It's a group effort - that's what makes a place hot.

LB: Is the artwork of Cleveland artists more provincial than the art that is produced in New York, LA, or even internationally? Does our collective self-consciousness inhibit us?

MF: I was just talking about this recently... my band will play at the Grog and not a lot of people will show up. But a band that is no better, or no more interesting will be coming from Michigan or LA, and they'll be something to see. So I think there's this mentality that things non-local are better. Right now, there's nobody who's taking the lead on totally pushing an art form that is uniquely "Cleveland." Yet there are people in this town who could do that... there's money here, and there are powerful institutions... and, again, the press should play a role.

KB: When [NY artist] Christine Hill was in town working on her installation at MOCA, we got together with her for dinner. She observed that Clevelanders are very apologetic about this city. This surprised her and, in fact, she told us she thought this was a pretty cool place. I've been known to apologize for Cleveland on occasion, and...

MF & LB (in unison): I DON'T!!!

KB: Well put. I think that's a lead I should follow.

 (:divend:)