Scene Decmeber 28, 2022

REWIND:

UPFRONT

OLD BROOKLYN CHOOSES MIXEDUSE PROJECT FOR ST. LUKE’S, UNITED METHODIST BLOCK

WHEN TWO DOZEN OLD Brooklynites gathered over Zoom last February to talk about the future of the block that houses the historic Pearl Road United Methodist Church and St. Luke’s, the conversation was filled with a lot of What Ifs.

The Old Brooklyn Community Development Corp., which has control over the half-acre site, had long hoped to revitalize the site which had once been bustling but had in recent years sat like an eyesore after St. Luke’s closure. Dozens of prospective buyers and developers had toured the site over the years, but nothing solidified.

One proposal from NRP, which would have razed St. Luke’s but which lacked financing, was scrapped in early 2022 and OBCDC set upon community listening sessions to find a new developer and project.

Last Tuesday, OBCDC settled on a new direction with Desmone, a developer and architectural firm based in Pittsburgh. Following the lessons learned from NRP’s failure — namely, failing to merge the two churches — Desmone proposed a fix for Old Brooklyn’s town center deficit: a 74-unit apartment mid-rise with a combined 19,200 square feet of community and retail/restaurant space.

The decision, made by OBCDC board members, followed a survey of 270 residents, conducted both online and in-person, and which asked what the priorities should be for the site — new housing, historic preservation, a mix?

“It’s the same as it was in the beginning,” Lucas Reeve, executive director of Old Brooklyn CDC, said at a community event last Thursday on the topic. “Choosing what creates vibrancy on the corner of Memphis and Pearl.”

Desmone and OBCDC will now work on finalizing a design plan by the middle of 2023, Reeve said.

Reeve and others, including Cleveland city councilman Kris Harsh, hosted a town hall ahead of a final decision.

“I know we’re all excited by that particular element that allows a denser and perhaps more impactful

project to take hold on that corner,” Reeve said to the crowd. “But keep this in mind: Your feedback this evening is critical.”

Marlon Brown, a local barbershop owner and member of the 13-person board, said that an anchor might not be a panacea, but, as he told people at his table, it could shift the neighborhood in a more “walkable direction.”

Others agreed.

“You know, everybody from the neighborhood used to be down there,” Tom Hites, a retired human resources director and longtime resident, said. “At one time it was a vibrant area.”

“If you got that draw,” Brown said, “it makes the neighborhood that much more walkable.”

Some wondered about parking requirements, and what it would do to the area around the block.

“Let me ask you guys—What do you think is the most desired neighborhood in Cleveland?” Harsh

said to the table. “Where do people go? Where do they hang out?”

“Tremont,” a few responded.

“Exactly,” Harsh said. “And there’s nowhere to park in Tremont.”

“Hey, if it’s a nice day, it’s a tenminute walk” to Pearl and Memphis, Brown said. “If there’s a lot to see between here and there, you know what? You won’t have to drive.”

– Mark Oprea

Op-Ed: Cuyahoga County’s Conviction Integrity Unit Must Do Better

In the last three decades, more than 3,200 wrongfully convicted people have been exonerated for crimes they did not commit through the work of innocence projects, public defenders, and private attorneys. Many prosecutor offices, including Cuyahoga County, joined the effort by starting Conviction Integrity Units (CIUs) to review flawed

convictions.

These exonerations include DNA exclusions, concealment of evidence, false confessions, unreliable eyewitness testimony, and lying jailhouse snitches. CIU programs can be a game changer in confronting abuses committed by their own prosecutor’s office or the police departments they work with. But recent concerns have surfaced over the operation of the Cuyahoga County CIU and whether they are using best practices to confront a major crisis facing our criminal justice system.

On November 21st, all members of the unit’s Independent Review Panel (IRP) shockingly resigned after county prosecutor Michael O’Malley diluted the group’s established mission: reviewing inmate petitions, making recommendations, and providing unbiased input.

In their public resignation letter, the panel minced no words:“We feel strongly that our participation in

Councilman Kris Harsh, of Ward 13, sits at a listening session last Thursday in Old Brooklyn.

MARK OPREA

a process that exists in name only, serves as mere window dressing, with no real substantive impact, is not useful,”

Since 2018, fewer than 10 petitions were reviewed by the advisory group, which included lawyers, a judge, a law professor, and community leaders. This dramatic resignation mirrors on-going concerns for those who want their cases fully and fairly considered.

In response, O’Malley rejected the panel’s right to review cases before final decisions are made, arguing that sharing case information with the panel might mean it could get into the wrong hands. In a prepared statement he said, “We look forward to continuing the work in a way that it will not be abused to the detriment of victims of crime.”

But why should crime victims and the wrongfully convicted be at odds? They are both victims when the wrong person is prosecuted. For almost every exoneration, the prosecutor or police department should accept responsibility for the mistakes and re-investigate the crime, and if possible, pursue the actual perpetrator.

O’Malley knows it’s difficult to obtain a new trial. He knows that a judge must find the conviction was tainted by egregious conduct undermining the fairness of the conviction. Yet, his office often files meritless motions and appeals delaying the inevitable re-trial while the prisoner languishes in prison. Some innocent prisoners are so desperate to be released that they agree to plead guilty to made-up crimes just to get out of prison. He also opposed a 2019 bipartisan bill that provides needed compensation — paid by the state — to those who are victims of prosecutorial misconduct when exculpatory evidence was not disclosed at the original trial.

His opposition to the law is disturbing because Cuyahoga County has had the highest number of wrongful convictions in Ohio – for decades.

Isaiah Andrews spent 45 years of a life sentence in prison for allegedly murdering his wife, but always maintained his innocence. At 83 years old and in poor health, a judge granted him a new trial after the Ohio Innocence Project discovered hidden reports of the arrest of another suspect — likely the killer. On the day of trial, Isaiah was in a wheelchair, suffering from terminal cancer and being fed intravenously. O’Malley refused to dismiss the charge and instead attacked defense lawyers for not pushing

Isaiah to plead out in exchange for time served, thereby barring any compensation for the lost years in prison. The trial was a farce, with no evidence of guilt, other than the fact that he was the husband. The jury returned a not guilty verdict in an hour.

Sadly, Isaiah’s taste of freedom was short lived: He died six months later. Two of the jurors spoke at his funeral, outraged over the decision of the prosecutor to put Isaiah through this horrible ordeal.

These postconviction cases require in-depth review – without bias. O’Malley should follow the recommendations of the panel he ignored and build a responsible and credible Conviction Integrity Unit with a commitment to promote final and lasting justice for those wronged by a system that failed them.

– Terry Gilbert

In Cleveland, as Elsewhere, Suburbs and Exurbs are Driving Carbon Emissions

Two-thirds of Cuyahoga County residents are worried about climate change and nearly half believe it will affect them personally, according to a recent study conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

These residents should see how drastically carbon emissions differ by area.

Using data from CoolClimate, the New York Times this week mapped carbon emissions by neighborhood across the country. The maps show, unsurprisingly, that the suburbs and exurbs produce far more greenhouse gas emissions than dense cities.

Because residences, businesses and services in cities are geographically closer, residents tend to drive less in their daily lives. As such, dense cities generate less carbon emissions than sprawling suburbs, where residents log long commutes to work and anywhere else. City dwellings are also usually smaller than their suburban counterparts, which means they require less energy for heating and cooling. Outside of cities, this trend reverses.

Density and wealth are the two biggest determinants, which is why there’s such a dramatic difference between, as an example, 44040 (Gates Mills), which has the highest average household carbon footprint in the county at 85.6 tons, and 44115, which has an average household carbon footprint of 16.5 tons.

Travel, by either car or airplane, is a big contributor to emissions —

as is shopping. Because both travel and shopping typically increase with income, richer people usually produce more greenhouse gasses.

But while measures like avoiding fast fashion and limiting meat consumption can help reduce emissions, they are drops in the bucket compared to the biggest thing Americans can focus on.

“Anyone who cares about climate policy really needs to pay a lot more attention to housing,” said RMI Urban Transformation program senior associate Zack Subin.

Amid a national housing shortage, affordability and availability are often easier to find in communities with higher emissions. Building population-dense, multifamily dwellings, especially with close access to public transit, is one way to effectively lower community emissions. – Maria Elena Scott

shootings involved a person experiencing a mental health crisis.

Six of the fatal shootings involved teenagers under the age of 18.

All but 11 of the victims were men, and at least 19 were unarmed.

A disproportionate number of the victims were Black. In a state where 12.36% of the population is Black, 38% of the victims were Black.

Fatal shootings have been on the rise statewide, with 61 of them occurring in the past two years.

Body cam footage was only available in 27 of the fatal shootings since 2015.

Police are rarely charged in fatal shootings, but the exact number isn’t known because the database doesn’t include this information.

According to the data, nationwide, police shot and killed 8,015 people since 2015, with 1,084 of them occurring so far this year. – Steve Neavling

Police Shot and Killed 229 People in Ohio Since 2015

Police in Ohio have fatally shot 229 people since 2015, with 35 of those deaths occurring so far in 2022, according to a database from The Washington Post.

Of the shootings, 3 occurred in Cleveland.

Statewide, 55 of the fatal

Northeast Ohio Will Get a New Area Code as 440 Numbers Will Run Out by 2024

Northeast Ohio will soon have a new area code as 440, introduced in 1997, will run out of available numbers by 2024, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio announced this month in approving a new overlay for the region.

When implemented, the new code will be assigned to all new numbers in the areas currently using 440.

When does an area code become exhausted?

PUCO explains:

“An area code reaches exhaust when nearly all of the telephone prefixes (or NXX codes) within that area code are assigned. NXX codes are the first three digits of a phone number that follow the area code. There are 792 possible NXX prefixes in each area code, each consisting of 10,000 numbers. The federal body that administers telephone numbers initially assigns telephone companies whole NXX codes in blocks of 10,000 numbers.”

The new code hasn’t yet been decided, but it will join 234, an overlay for the Akron, Canton and Youngstown areas which began in 2000, as the most recent additions to Ohio numbers.

216, if you’re wondering, won’t run out of capacity until 2036, according to PUCO – both 330 and 440 were created to account for increased demand in the Cleveland area — which is good news since it’s the best three digits of the bunch.

The Billionaire’s Press Dominates Censorship Beat

Project Censored’s top 10 stories show just one pattern dominating all others this year

BY PAUL ROSENBERG, SENIOR EDITOR

Since its founding in 1976, Project Censored has been focused on stories — like Watergate before the 1972 election — that aren’t censored in the authoritarian government sense, but in a broader, expanded sense reflective of what a functioning democracy should be, censorship defined as “the suppression of information, whether purposeful or not, by any method — including bias, omission, underreporting, or self-censorship — that prevents the public from fully knowing what is happening in society.” It is, after all, the reason that journalism enjoys special protection in the First Amendment: Without the free flow of vital information, government based on the consent of the governed is but an illusory dream.

Yet, from the very beginning, as A.J. Liebling put it, “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.”

In their introduction to Project Censored’s

annual State of the Free Press, which contains its top censored stories and much more, Project Censored’s Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth take this condition head-on, under the heading, State of the Billionaire, in contrast to the volume’s title, State of the Free Press 2023. Following a swift recap of historic media criticism highlights — Upton Sinclair, the aforementioned Leibling, Ben Bagdikian, Edward Herman, and Noam Chomsky — they dryly observe, “History shows that consolidated media, controlled by a handful of elite owners, seldom serves the public interest,” and briefly survey the contemporary landscape before narrowing their gaze to the broadest of influencers:

“In pursuit of their own interests and investments, media tycoons past and present, again and again, appear to be conveniently oblivious to the main frame through which they filter news — that of class, including class structure and class interests,” Huff and Roth

write. “Consequently, they often overlook (or ignore) conflicts of interest that implicate media owners, funders, investors, and advertisers, not to mention their business clients on Wall Street and in Big Pharma, Big Tech, and the militaryindustrial complex.”

Every year, I note that there are multiple patterns to be found in the list of Project Censored’s stories, and that these different patterns have much to tell us about the forces shaping what remains hidden. That’s still true, with three environmental stories (two involving fossil fuels), three involving money in politics (two dark money stories), and two involving illicit surveillance. But the dominance of this one pattern truly is remarkable. It shows how profoundly the concentration of corporate wealth and power in the hands of so few distorts everything we see — or don’t — in the world around us every day. Here then, is this year’s list of Project Censored’s top 10 censored stories:

1Fossil fuel industry subsidized at rate of $11 million per minute

Globally, the fossil fuel industry receives subsidies of $11 million per minute, primarily from lack of liability for the externalized health costs of deadly air pollution (42%), damages caused by extreme weather events (29%), and costs from traffic collisions and congestion (15%). And two-thirds of those subsidies come from just five countries — the United States, Russia, India, China, and Japan. These are key findings from a study of 191 nations published by the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, in September 2021. They were reported in the Guardian and Treehugger the next month, but have been ignored in the corporate media.

No national government currently prices fossil fuels at what the IMF calls their “efficient price” — covering both their supply and environmental costs. “Instead, an estimated 99 percent of coal, 52 percent of road diesel, 47 percent of natural gas, and 18 percent of gasoline are priced at less than half their efficient price,” Project Censored noted.

“Efficient fuel pricing in 2025 would reduce global carbon dioxide emissions 36 percent below baseline levels, which is in line with keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees, while raising revenues worth 3.8 percent of global GDP and preventing 0.9 million local air pollution deaths,” the report stated. The G7 nations had previously agreed to scrap fossil fuel subsidies by 2025, but the IMF found that subsidies have increased in recent years, and will continue increasing.

“It’s critical that governments stop propping up an industry that is in decline,” Mike Coffin, a senior analyst at Carbon Tracker, told the Guardian. “The much-needed change could start happening now, if not for the government’s entanglement with the fossil fuels industry in so many major economies,” added Maria Pastukhova of E3G, a climate change think tank.

“Eliminating fossil fuel subsidies could lead to higher energy prices and, ultimately, political protests and social unrest,” Project Censored noted. “But, as the Guardian and Treehugger each reported, the IMF recommended a ‘comprehensive strategy’ to protect consumers — especially low-in-come households — impacted by rising energy costs, and workers in displaced industries.”

No corporate news outlets had reported on the IMF as of May 2022, according to Project Censored, though a November 2021 opinion piece did focus on the issue of subsidies, which John Kerry, U.S. special envoy for climate change, called “a definition of insanity.” But that was framed as opinion, and made no mention of the indirect subsidies, which represent 86% of the total. In contrast, “In January 2022, CNN published an article that all but defended fossil fuel subsidies,” Project Censored noted. “CNN’s coverage emphasized the potential for unrest caused by rollbacks of government subsidies, citing “protests that occasionally turned violent.”

2Wage theft: U.S. businesses suffer few consequences for stealing millions from workers every year

In 2017, the FBI reported the cost of street crime at about $13.8 billion, the same year that the Economic Policy Institute released a study saying that just one form of wage theft — minimum wage violations — costs U.S. workers even more: an estimated $15 billion annually, impacting an estimated 17% of lowwage workers.

One reason it’s so rampant is that companies are seldom punished, as Alexia Fernández Campbell and Joe Yerardi reported for the Center for Public Integrity in May 2021, drawing on 15 years of data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. “The agency fined only about one in four repeat offenders during that period. And it ordered those companies to pay workers cash damages — penalty

money in addition to back wages — in just 14 percent of those cases,” they wrote. In addition, “The division often lets businesses avoid repaying their employees all the money they’re owed. In all, the agency has let more than 16,000 employers get away with not paying $20.3 million in back wages since 2005.”

We’re talking about some major companies. Halliburton, G4S Wackenhut, and Circle K Stores were among “the worst offenders,” they reported.

That report kicked off the center’s “Cheated at Work” series, which showed that “U.S. employers that illegally underpaid workers face few repercussions, even when they do so repeatedly. This widespread practice perpetuates income inequality, hitting lowest-paid workers hardest.”

“Wage theft includes a range of illegal practices, such as paying less than minimum wage, withholding tips, not paying overtime, or requiring workers to work through breaks or off the clock. It impacts service workers, low-income workers, immigrant and guest workers, and communities of color the most,” Project Censored explained.

Wage theft also includes worker misclassification as independent

contractors — long the case with port truckers, and more recently gig workers. A 2014 study from the National Employment Law Center estimated that “California’s port trucking companies are liable to drivers for violations of wage and hour laws for $65 to $83 million each month, or $787 to $998 million each year.”

Lack of resources is largely to blame for the lax enforcement, Project Censored explained: “As of February 2021, the Wage and Hour Division employed only 787 investigators, a proportion of just one investigator per 182,000 workers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, Campbell and Yerardi noted. For comparison, in 1948 the division employed one investigator per 22,600 workers, or eight times the current proportion.”

Lax enforcement is “especially problematic” in some 14 states that “lack the capacity to investigate wage theft claims or lack the ability to file lawsuits on behalf of victims,” according to a 2017 Economic Policy Institute report. In contrast, the center’s report “mentioned local successes in Chicago (2013), Philadelphia (2016), and Minneapolis (2019),” Project Censored noted, but “workers’ rights advocates continue to seek federal reforms.”

“Since May 2021, a handful of corporate news outlets, including CBS News, covered or republished the Center for Public Integrity’s report on wage theft,” Project Censored noted, but “Corporate coverage tends to focus on specific instances involving individual employers,” while ignoring it “as a systemic social problem” as well as ignoring the “anemic federal enforcement.”

That could change, if Congress were to pass the “Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery

Act of 2022,” which “would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to protect workers from wage theft, according to Ariana Figueroa of the Virginia Mercury,” Project Censored noted, concluding with a quote from Minnesota congressperson Ilhan Omar: “It is clear more DOL [Department of Labor] funding and additional federal reforms are needed in our localities in order to protect our most vulnerable workers.”

3EPA withheld reports on dangerous chemicals

In January 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, stopped releasing legally required disclosures about chemicals that present a “substantial risk of injury to health or the environment.” They had previously been posted in a searchable public database called ChemView.

In November 2021, as part of the Intercept’s “EPA Exposed” investigative series, Sharon Lerner reported that EPA had received “at least 1,240 substantial risk reports since January 2019, but only one was publicly available.” The suppressed reports documented “the risk of chemicals’ serious harms, including eye corrosion, damage to the brain and nervous system, chronic toxicity to honeybees, and cancer in both people and animals,” Lerner wrote.

“The reports include notifications about highly toxic polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, chemical compounds that are known as “forever chemicals” because they build up in our bodies and never break down in the environment,” Project Censored noted. “The Environmental Working Group explains that ‘very small doses of

PFAS have been linked to cancer, reproductive and immune system harm, and other diseases. For decades, chemical companies covered up evidence of PFAS’ health hazards.’” Their spread throughout the world’s oceans, along with microplastics, was Project Censored #5 story last year.

It wasn’t just the public that was kept in the dark, Lerner reported. “The substantial risk reports have not been uploaded to the databases used most often by risk assessors searching for information about chemicals, according [to] one of the EPA scientists… They have been entered only into an internal database that is difficult to access and search. As a result, little — and perhaps none — of the information about these serious risks to health and the environment has been incorporated into the chemical assessments completed during this period.”

“Basically, they are just going into a black hole,” one whistleblower told Lerner. “We don’t look at them. We don’t evaluate them. And we don’t check to see if they change our understanding of the chemical.”

Apart from the Intercept, “only a

handful of niche publications have reported on the matter,” Project Censored noted.

However, in January 2022 Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) filed a lawsuit to compel EPA to disclose the reports, following up on an earlier public records request which, the National Law Review reported, was “built upon information reported in a November 2021 article in The Intercept.” Just weeks later EPA announced it would resume posting the reports in ChemView, Project Censored noted. “Clearly, independent journalism contributed significantly to this outcome,” they said. “Had it not been for the work of investigative journalist Sharon Lerner at the Intercept, EPA whistleblowers would not have had a platform to share concerns that ultimately led the agency to resume these critical public disclosures.”

4At least 128 members of Congress invested in fossil fuel industry

At least 100 U.S. representatives and 28 U.S. senators have financial interests in the fossil fuel industry — a major impediment to reaching climate change goals that’s gone virtually unmentioned by the corporate media, despite detailed reporting in a series of Sludge articles written by David Moore in November and December of 2021.

Moore found that 74 Republicans, 59 Democrats, and one independent have fossil fuel industry investments, with Republicans outnumbering Democrats in both chambers. The top ten House investors are all Republicans. But it’s quite different in the Senate, where two of the top three investors are Democrats, and Democrats’ total investments,

$8,604,000, are more than double the Senate Republicans’ total of $3,994,126. Topping the list is Joe Manchin (WV), with up to $5.5 million of fossil fuel industry assets, while John Hickenlooper (CO) is third, with up to $1 million. (Most reporting is in ranges.) Many top investors are Texas Republicans, including Rep. Van Taylor, with up to $12.4 million worth of investments.

“Most significantly, many hold key seats on influential energyrelated committees,” Project Censored noted. Senators include Manchin, chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Tina Smith (D-MN), chairs of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy, and Tom Carper (D-DE), chair of the Committee on the Environment and Public Works. “Manchin cut the Clean Electricity Performance Program, a system that would phase out coal, from President Biden’s climate bill,” they added.

In the House, they explained, “nine of the twenty-two Republican members of the Energy and Commerce Committee are invested in the fossil fuel industry. As Project Censored detailed in the #4 story on the Top 25 list two years ago, these individuals’ personal financial interests as investors often conflict with their obligation as elected legislators to serve the public interest.”

Oil and gas lobbying totaled $119.3 million according to OpenSecrets, while 2020 election spending topped $40 million for congressional candidates — $8.7 million to Democrats and $30.8 million to Republicans. This came as the International Energy Agency warned that no new fossil fuel developments can be approved for the world to have a 50/50 chance to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, Moore reported. And, yet, “production of oil and gas is projected to grow 50 percent by 2030 without congressional action,” Project Censored noted. “The fact that so many lawmakers have invested considerable sums in the fossil fuel industry makes it extremely unlikely that Congress will do much to rein in oil and gas production.”

As of May 21, 2022, Sludge’s reporting had gotten no corporate coverage, repeating the whiteout of a similar report in 2020. “Corporate news outlets have only reported on the fact that clean energy proposals are stalled in Congress, not the financial conflicts of interest that are the likely cause of this lack of progress,” Project Censored concluded.

5Dark money intererence in U.S. politics undermines democracy

The same group of conservative dark money organizations that opposed President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nomination — Judicial Crisis Network [JCN], The 85 Fund, and their affiliated groups — also funded entities that played a role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to a report by the watchdog group Accountable. US. They’re closely linked to Leonard Leo, co-chair of the Federalist Society, with money coming from Donors Trust (a dark-money group backed by the Koch network) and the Bradley Foundation.

“These dark money groups not only funded Leo’s network of organizations to the sum of over $52 million in 2020, but also funded entities in 2020 that played a role in the insurrection to the sum of over $37 million,” Accountable.US reported.

While there has been coverage of dark money spending on Supreme Court nominations, Igor Derysh at Salon was alone in reporting the related involvement in Jan. 6.

Just one group, JCN, spent $2.5 million “before Biden even named his nominee,” Ketanji Brown Jackson, Derysh reported, “accusing Biden of caving in to leftists by promising a ‘Supreme Court nominee who will be a liberal activist.” On the other hand, “JCN spent tens of millions helping to confirm Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, according to Open Secrets, and launched a $25 million effort to confirm Justice Amy Coney Barrett just weeks before the 2020 election,” he reported.

But more disturbingly, “Donors Trust has funneled more than $28 million to groups that pushed election lies or in some way funded the rally ahead of the Capitol riot,”

while “Members of the Federalist Society played key roles in Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the election,” including attorney John Eastman, architect of Trump’s plan to get Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election, senators Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who led the objections to the certification of Trump’s loss after the riot, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who filed a lawsuit to throw out election results in key states, effectively overturning Biden’s victory. In addition, 13 of the 17 other Republican attorneys general who joined Paxton’s suit were also Federalist Society members.

“It should worry us all that the groups leading the fight against Biden’s historic nomination of Judge Jackson to the Supreme Court are tied to the Jan. 6 insurrection and efforts to undermine confidence in the 2020 election,” Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, told Salon

“The influence of dark money — political spending by organizations that are not required to disclose their donors — presents a major challenge to the swift functioning of the judicial nomination and confirmation process, and the US government as a whole,” Project Censored noted. “[D]ark money deeply influences political decisions in favor of select individuals’ or groups’ agendas rather than in support of the public’s best interests.”

Rightwing dark money’s role in fighting Judge Jackson’s nomination and confirmation process was highlighted by Business Insider in February 2022, along with op-eds in both the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post that covered the discussion of dark money during Judge Jackson’s confirmation hearings, and a March 2022 Mother Jones report. “However,” Project Censored noted, “none of the articles

featured in the corporate press covered dark money supporting Trump’s Big Lie, the impact such funding had on promoting and reinforcing anti-democratic ideology, or the ramifications of how such dark money spending erodes public trust in government and the election process.”

6Corporate consolidation causing record inflation in food prices

“Corporate consolidation is a main driver of record inflation in food prices, despite claims by media pundits and partisan commentators to the contrary,” Project Censored reports. “The establishment press has covered the current wave of inflation exhaustively, but only rarely will discuss the market power of giant firms as a possible cause, and then usually only to reject it,” as they did when the Biden administration cited meat industry consolidation as a cause of price increases in September 2021, “treating administration attempts to link inflation to consolidation as a rhetorical move meant to distract from conservative critiques of Biden’s stimulus program.”

But as Food and Water Watch reported in November 2021, “while the cost of meat shot up, prices paid to farmers actually declined, spurring a federal investigation.” That investigation is ongoing, but meat conglomerates Tyson Foods, Perdue Farms, Smithfield Foods, and JBS have paid just over $225 million to settle related civil suits in the poultry, beef, and pork markets.

That’s just part of the problem. A July 2021 joint investigation by Food and Water Watch and the Guardian “reported that a handful of ‘food giants’ — including Kraft Heinz, General Mills, Conagra, Unilever,

and Del Monte — control an average of 64 percent of sales of sixty-one popular grocery items,” Project Censored noted. Three companies own 93% of carbonated soft drink brands; while another three produce 73% of the cereals on offer, and a single company, PepsiCo, owns five of the most popular dip brands — 88% of the market. Altogether, “four firms or fewer controlled at least 50% of the market for 79% of the groceries,” the Guardian reported.

It’s not just producers: “In an October 2021 article for Common Dreams, Kenny Stancil documents that food producers, distributors, and grocery store chains are engaging in pandemic profiteering and taking advantage of decades of consolidation, which has given a handful of corporations an evergreater degree of market control and with it, the power to set prices,” according to research by the Groundwork Collaborative.

As for grocers, “Kroger, the largest supermarket chain in the country, cited rising inflation as the reason for hiking prices in their stores even as they cut worker pay by 8 percent,” Project Censored noted. “Yet, as Stancil explained, Kroger’s CEO publicly gloated that ‘a little bit of inflation is always good for business.” That CEO earned 909 times what the median worker earned, while worker pay decreased by 8% in 2020, and “the company spent $1.498 billion on stock buybacks between April 2020 and July 2021 to enrich its shareholders,” the Groundwork Collaborative reported. Kroger was one of just four companies that took in an estimated two-thirds of all grocery sales in 2019, according to Food and Water Watch.

More broadly, “A report for the American Prospect by Rakeem Mabud, chief economist at the Groundwork Collaborative, and David Dayen revealed that one of the

most common inflation scapegoats, supply chain problems, is itself a consequence of consolidation,” Project Censored noted. “Just three global alliances of ocean shippers are responsible for 80 percent of all cargo... These shippers raked in nearly $80 billion in the first three quarters of 2021, twice as much as in the entire ten-year period from 2010 to 2020,” by increasing their rates as much as tenfold.

Supply chain consolidation reflects a broader shift in the global economy, the Prospect argued. “In 1970, Milton Friedman argued in The New York Times that “the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.” Manufacturers used that to rationalize a financial imperative to benefit shareholders by seeking the lowest-cost labor possible.” This led to a surge in outsourcing to East Asia, and eventually China. “This added new costs for shipping, but deregulating all the industries in the supply chain could more than compensate.”

Occasionally articles touched on the issue of consolidation (mostly to debunk it), though there are a couple of opinion pieces to the contrary. “But these isolated opinion pieces were far out-numbered by the hundreds, even thousands, of reports and analyses by commercial media outlets that blamed everything but oligopolistic price gouging for the rising cost of groceries,” Project Censored concluded.

7Concerns for journalistic independence as Gates Foundation gives $319 million to news outlets

The list of billionaires with media empires includes familiar names like

Rupert Murdoch, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and, most recently, Elon Musk. But, “While other billionaires’ media empires are relatively well known, the extent to which [Microsoft co-founder Bill] Gates’s cash underwrites the modern media landscape is not,” Alan MacLeod wrote for MintPress News in November 2021.

MacLeod examined more than 30,000 individual grants from the the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and found it had donated “more than $319 million to fund news outlets, journalism centers and training programs, press associations, and specific media campaigns, raising questions about conflicts of interest and journalistic independence,” Project Censored summarized.

“Today, it is possible for an individual to train as a reporter thanks to a Gates Foundation Grant, find work at a Gates-funded outlet, and to belong to a press association funded by Gates,” MacLeod wrote.

“Recipients of this cash include many of America’s most important news outlets, including CNN, NBC, NPR, PBS and The Atlantic. Gates also sponsors a myriad of influential foreign organizations, including the BBC, The Guardian, The Financial Times and The Daily Telegraph in the United Kingdom; prominent European newspapers such as Le Monde (France), Der Spiegel (Germany) and El País (Spain); as well as big global broadcasters like Al-Jazeera,” he reported.

“MacLeod’s report includes a number of Gates-funded news outlets that also regularly feature in Project Censored’s annual Top 25 story lists, such as the Solutions Journalism Network ($7.2m), The Conversation ($6.6m), the Bureau of Investigative Journalism ($1m), and ProPublica ($1m) in addition to the Guardian and the Atlantic,” Project Censored noted. “Direct awards to news

outlets often targeted specific issues, MacLeod reported. For example, CNN received $3.6 million to support ‘journalism on the everyday inequalities endured by women and girls across the world,’ according to one grant. Another grant earmarked $2.3 million for the Texas Tribune ‘to increase public awareness and engagement of education reform issues in Texas.’ As MacLeod noted, given Bill Gates’ advocacy of the charter school movement — which undermines teachers’ unions and effectively aims to privatize the public education system — ‘a cynic might interpret this as planting procorporate charter school propaganda into the media, disguised as objective news reporting.’”

“[T]here are clear shortcomings with this non-exhaustive list, meaning the true figure is undoubtedly far higher. First, it does not count sub-grants — money given by recipients to media around the world,” because there’s no record of them, MacLeod reported.

“For a tax-privileged charity that so very often trumpets the importance of transparency, it’s remarkable how intensely secretive the Gates Foundation is about its financial flows,” Tim Schwab, one of the few investigative journalists who has scrutinized the tech billionaire, told MintPress

Also missing were grants aimed at producing articles for academic journals, although “they regularly form the basis for stories in the mainstream press and help shape narratives around key issues,” he noted. “The Gates Foundation has given far and wide to academic sources, with at least $13.6 million going toward creating content for the prestigious medical journal The Lancet.” And more broadly “even money given to universities for purely research projects eventually ends up in academic journals, and

ultimately, downstream into mass media. … Neither these nor grants funding the printing of books or establishment of websites counted in the total, although they too are forms of media.”

“No major corporate news outlets appear to have covered this issue,” only a scattering of independent outlets, Project Censored noted. This despite the fact that “As far back as 2011, the Seattle Times published an article investigating how the Gates Foundation’s ‘growing support of media organizations blurs the line between journalism and advocacy.’”

8 CIA discussed plans to kidnap or kill Julian Assange

The CIA seriously considered plans to kidnap or assassinate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in late 2017, according to a September 2021 Yahoo! News investigation, based on interviews with more than 30 former U.S. officials, eight of whom detailed U.S. plans to abduct Assange and three of whom described the development of plans to kill him. If it had been up to CIA Director Mike Pompeo, they almost certainly would have been acted on, after WikiLeaks announced it had obtained a massive tranche of files — dubbed “Vault 7” — from the CIA’s ultra-secret hacking division, and posted some of them online.

In his first public remarks as Donald Trump’s CIA director, “Pompeo devoted much of his speech to the threat posed by WikiLeaks,” Yahoo! News noted, “rather than use the platform to give an overview of global challenges or to lay out any bureaucratic changes he was planning to make at the agency.” He even called it “a non-state hostile

intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia,” a designation intended to grant the CIA wide latitude in what actions it took, while shielding it from congressional oversight.

“Potential scenarios proposed by the CIA and Trump administration officials included crashing into a Russian vehicle carrying Assange in order to grab him, shooting the tires of an airplane carrying Assange in order to prevent its takeoff, and engaging in a gun battle through the streets of London,” Project Censored summarized. “Senior CIA officials went so far as to request ‘sketches’ or ‘options’ detailing methods to kill Assange.”

“WikiLeaks was a complete obsession of Pompeo’s,” a former Trump administration national security official told Yahoo! News “After Vault 7, Pompeo and [Deputy CIA Director Gina] Haspel wanted vengeance on Assange.” It went so far that “Pompeo and others at the agency proposed abducting Assange from the embassy and surreptitiously bringing him back to the United States via a third country — a process known as rendition,” they reported. (Assassination entered the picture later on.) Since it would take place in Britain, there had to be agreement from them. “But the British said, ‘No way, you’re not doing that on our territory, that ain’t happening,’” a former senior counterintelligence official told Yahoo! News

There was also pushback from National Security Council (NSC) lawyers and the Department of Justice, which wanted to put Assange on trial. But the CIA continued to push for capturing or killing Assange. Trump’s “NSC lawyers were bulwarks against the CIA’s potentially illegal proposals, according to former officials,” Yahoo! News reported, but the CIA’s own lawyers may have been kept in the dark. “When Pompeo took over, he cut the lawyers out of a lot of things,” a former senior intelligence community attorney told them. “Pompeo’s ready access to the Oval Office, where he would meet with Trump alone, exacerbated the lawyers’ fears. [The NSC’s top lawyer John] Eisenberg fretted that the CIA director was leaving those meetings with authorities or approvals signed by the president that Eisenberg knew nothing about, according to former officials.”

“US plans to kidnap or assassinate Julian Assange have received little to no establishment news coverage in the United States, other than scant summaries by Business Insider and The Verge,

and tangential coverage by Reuters, each based on the original Yahoo! News report,” Project Censored notes. “Among US independent news outlets, Democracy Now! featured an interview with Michael Isikoff, one of the Yahoo! News reporters who broke the story, and Jennifer Robinson, a human rights attorney who has been advising Julian Assange and WikiLeaks since 2010. Rolling Stone and The Hill also published articles based on the original Yahoo! News report.”

9 New laws preventing dark money disclosures sweep the nation

Since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United relaxing campaign finance regulations, dark money spending has exploded, and now Republican lawmakers across the U.S. are pushing legislation to make it illegal to compel nonprofit organizations to disclose who the dark money donors are. Recentlypassed laws in Arkansas, Arizona, Iowa, Oklahoma, Mississippi, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia are based on model legislation from the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, which brings together corporate lobbyists and conservative lawmakers to advance specialinterest business-friendly legislation.

“ALEC is deeply enmeshed with the sprawling political influence networks tied to billionaire families like the Kochs and the Bradleys, both of which use non-disclosing nonprofits that help to conceal how money is funneled,” Donald Shaw reported for Sludge on June 15, 2021. “Penalties for violating the

laws vary between the states, but in some states could include prison sentences.”

“Shaw explained how these bills create a loophole allowing wealthy individuals and groups to pass ‘dark money’ anonymously to 501(c) organizations which in turn can make independent expenditures to influence elections (or contribute to other organizations that make independent political expenditures, such as Super PACs), effectively shielding the ultimate source of political funds from public scrutiny,” Project Censored summarized. “‘These bills are about making dark money darker,’ Aaron McKean, legal counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, told Shaw.”

The South Dakota law was overwhelmingly passed by the GOPdominated legislature despite the fact that voters passed a 2016 ballot measure requiring disclosure of “the identity of donors who give more than $100 to organizations for the purpose of political expenditures,” a requirement the legislature repealed a year later, Shaw reported in February 2021.

There’s a federal impact as well. “In a March 2022 article for Sludge, Shaw documented that the federal omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal year 2022 contained a rider exempting political groups that declare themselves ‘social welfare organizations’ from reporting their

donors, and another preventing the Securities and Exchange Commission from ‘requiring corporations to publicly disclose more of their political and lobbying spending,’” Project Censored noted, going on to cite a May 2021 article from Open Secrets about Senate Republicans’ “Don’t Weaponize the IRS Act,” that “would prevent the IRS from requiring that 501(c)(4) nonprofits disclose their top donors.”

Democrats and good government groups have pushed back. “On April 27, 2021, thirty-eight Democratic senators sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig urging them to roll back an antidisclosure rule put in place by the Trump Administration,” Project Censored reported. “In addition, the Democrats’ comprehensive votingrights bill, the For the People Act, would have compelled the disclosure of all contributions by individuals who surpass $10,000 in donations in a given reporting period. The bill was passed by the House but died in the Senate.”

While there’s been some coverage of some aspects of this story — a Washington Post story about Democrats pressuring the Biden administration, the Associated Press reporting on South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s defense of her state’s law — except for regional papers like the Tampa Bay Times, Project Censored reports, “There has been little acknowledgment in the establishment press of the stream of ALEC-inspired bills passing through state legislatures that seek to keep the source of so much of the money spent to influence elections hidden in the shadows.”

10 Major media outlets lobby against regulation of ‘surveillance advertising’

“Surveillance advertising” — collecting users’ data to target them with tailored advertising — has become a ubiquitous, extremely

“Major media corporations increasingly rely on a vast ecosystem of privacy violations, even as the public relies on them to reporton it.”

profitable practice on the world’s most popular social media apps and platforms — Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc. But now, as Lee Fang reported for The Intercept in February 2022, the Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, is seeking to regulate user data collection. Lobbyists for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, or IAB are pushing back.

“In a letter, IAB called for the FTC to oppose a ban on data-driven advertising networks, claiming the modern media cannot exist without mass data collection,” Fang reported.

“The IAB represents both data brokers and online media outlets that depend on digital advertising, such as CNN, the New York Times, MSNBC, Time, U.S. News & World Report, the Washington Post, Vox, the Orlando Sentinel, Fox News, and dozens of other media companies,” Fang explained. “The privacy push has largely been framed as a showdown between technology companies and the administration,” but “The lobbying reveals a tension that is rarely a center of the discourse around online privacy: Major media corporations increasingly rely on a vast ecosystem of privacy violations, even as the public relies on them to report on it.” As a result, “Major news outlets have remained mostly silent on the FTC’s current push and a parallel effort to ban surveillance advertising by the House and Senate by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.,” Fang concluded.

“The IAB argues that targeted advertising — and, by extension, the siphoning of user data — has become necessary due to declining revenues from print sales and subscriptions,” Project Censored summarized. “Non-digital advertising revenue

decreased from $124.8 billion in 2011 to $89.8 billion in 2020, while digital advertising revenue rose from $31.9 billion to $152.2 billion in the same period, according to Pew Research.” Complicating matters, “The personal information collected by online media is typically sold to aggregators, such as BlueKai (owned by Oracle) and OpenX, that exploit user data — including data describing minors — to create predictive models of users’ behavior, which are then sold to advertising agencies. The covert nature of surveillance advertising makes it difficult for users to opt out.” In addition, “The user information collected by media sites also enables direct manipulation of public perceptions of political issues, as famously happened when the British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica tapped into personal data from millions of Facebook users to craft campaign propaganda during the 2016 US presidential election.”

“The corporate media have reported the FTC’s openness to new rules limiting the collection and exploitation of user data, but have generally not drawn attention to IAB lobbying against the proposed regulations,” Project Censored noted, citing articles in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post as examples. “[N]either outlet discussed IAB, its lobbying on this issue, or the big media clients the organization represents.”

Paul Rosenberg is a Los Angeles, California-based writer, senior editor for Random Lengths News, and a columnist for Salon and Al Jazeera English

he delivers his narrative-based jokes with frenetic energy. He performs tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 and 10 at the Improv. Check the Improv website for more info.

1148 Main Ave., 216-696-IMPROV, clevelandimprov.com.

SAT 12/31

Akron Pride Festival Presents the NYE Rainbow Ball

Tickets to this NYE event at the Akron Civic include food by Ernie’s Catering, hosted beverages, and performances by local musicians and drag artists. There will be a champagne toast at midnight. The party gets started at 8 p.m.

182 South Main St., Akron, 330-253-2488, akroncivic.com.

Kwanzaa Celebration

This program at Western Reserve Historical Society is free for members and all other guests with paid or gift museum admission. Guests are invited to wear African-inspired attire. Activities will include music, crafts, refreshments and more. It all goes down from noon to 3 p.m. 10825 East Blvd., 216-721-5722, wrhs.org.

New Year’s Eve Concert & Party: Casino Royale

WED 12/28

Elf the Musical

Elf

the Musical centers on Buddy, a guy who grew up in the magical North Pole after stowing away in Santa’s bag as an orphaned infant and whose excitable and naive character is in for the culture-shock of a lifetime as he searches for his biological father in New York City. Buddy’s ecstatic nature, and elf suit, leaves him sticking out like a sore thumb in the big city but Buddy must find a way for his family to embrace the spirit of Christmas. Performances take place tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 at the Beck Center for the Arts. A performance also takes place at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. The play runs through Friday.

17801 Detroit Ave., Lakewood, 440-933-6210, beckcenter.org.

Hamilton

With book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy

Blankenbuehler, and musical supervision and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, the Broadway hit returns to the State Theatre. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30, and the play runs through Jan. 15.

1519 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

THU 12/29

Monsters vs. Charlotte Checkers

The Charlotte Checkers come to town tonight for a two-game series against the Monsters at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Tonight’s game begins at 7, and the two teams play each other again at 12:31 p.m. on Saturday.

One Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.

FRI 12/30

Jeff Dye

Comedian Jeff Dye’s career got a good bump after he starred in NBC’s

comedy adventure series Better Late Than Never, a program that found Dye traveling with celebs such as Henry Winkler, William Shatner, Terry Bradshaw and George Foreman. The mild-mannered Dye doesn’t get too animated during his standup routines even though he likes to joke about how immature he is and how he gets simple enjoyment out of watching birds walk. He performs tonight at 7 and 9:45 at Hilarities. He’s at the club tomorrow too, performing at 7:15 and 10:15.

2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.

Guy Torry

Comedian Guy Torry likes to joke that he used to get kicked out of class for telling the kind of jokes that he now gets paid to tell on TV. His material ranges from talking about the “stand-in-line-rage” he experiences when he goes to the bank, to the generational differences he sees in the world of sports (“You don’t see any black players in baseball anymore — too many games!”). All the while,

Cleveland Pops Orchestra plays music from various James Bond films at tonight’s special NYE concert that takes place at 9 at Mandel Concert Hall. Vocalists Morgan James and Hugh Panaro will be on hand for the festivities.

11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

Tower City Center’s Noon Year’s Eve

This special Noon Year’s Eve event at Tower City Center will feature a balloon drop, character meet and greets, dance parties, New Year wearables, balloon twisters and face painters. The fun begins at 11 a.m. and lasts until 3 p.m. Admission is free.

230 W. Huron, 216-771-0033, towercitycenter.com.

SUN 01/01

Harlem Globetrotters

Some might say that if you’ve seen the Harlem Globetrotters once, you’ve seen them a hundred times, but the

Mochrie and Brad Sherwood bring their Scared Scriptless show to Akron Civic Theatre. See: Saturday, Jan. 7.

Credit: Jonas Public Relations

spectacular Globetrotters bring their unrivaled ball-handling wizardry, high-flying dunks and gut-busting comedy to the Coveilli Centre this afternoon and this evening. This basketball-entertainment bonanza is fun for the whole family. Today’s game begins at 2 p.m. 229 East Front St., Youngstown, 330746-5600, covellicentre.com.

MON 01/02

Cavaliers vs. Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls come to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse tonight at 7 to take on the Cavs. The Cavs remain at home tomorrow too as they take on the Phoenix Suns at 7 in the first and only time the Suns will come to the Cleveland during the regular season.

One Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.

WED 01/04

Ohio RV Supershow

An annual event, the Ohio RV Supershow returns to the I-X Center. Reportedly America’s largest indoor recreational vehicle show, this year’s show will feature all the latest RVs. The event runs through Sunday. 1 I-X Center Dr., 216-676-6000, ixcenter.com.

THU 01/05

Gilbert Conducts Nielsen and Haydn

Carl Nielsen discovers his “mature voice” in his Third Symphony, a press described in a press release as “a ravishing love letter to his Danish homeland, filled with both seductive mystery and heartening warmth.”

The concert opens with principal timpani Paul Yancich as soloist in James Oliverio’s new Timpani Concerto, which was commissioned for him by The Cleveland Orchestra. The concert takes place at 7:30 tonight at Mandel Concert Hall, and a performance also takes place at 8 on Saturday night at the venue.

11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

FRI 01/06

Disney on Ice Presents

Frozen

from Frozen and Encanto. Tonight’s performance begins at 7, and performances continue through Sunday. One Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.

SAT 01/07

Cleveland Cinemas Late Shift

Monthly screenings of Late Shift titles will be held at the Cedar Lee Theatre on the first Saturday of each month at 10 p.m. The movie changes from month to month, but at each screening, there will be a special promotion that will give patrons the chance to win a prize or get a free popcorn.

2163 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights, 440-528-0355, clevelandcinemas.com.

Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood

Last year, Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood returned for the 18th season of Whose Line Is It Anyway? The duo brings its Scared Scriptless Tour to Akron Civic Theatre at 8 tonight. The tour celebrates their 20th anniversary together, and it promises to captivate audiences with more “games” than ever before and lots of surprises. Check the venue website for ticket prices and more info. The two perform again at 7:30 tomorrow night at Packard Music Hall in Warren.

182 South Main St., Akron, 330-253-2488, akroncivic.com.

SUN 01/08

The 6th Annual 50ish 1st Jokes

John Bruton hosts this annual event at Hilarities. Local comics will try out some new material as they prep for 2023. The event begins at 7 p.m., and tickets cost $10.

2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.

TUE 01/10

Beetlejuice

& Encanto

Disney on Ice comes to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse at this time each year to put on a show highlighting some of its more popular movies. This tour presents characters and music

Based on Tim Burton’s beloved film, this musical tells the story of Lydia Deetz, a strange and unusual teenager whose whole life changes when she meets a recently deceased couple and a demon with a thing for stripes. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at Connor Palace, where performances continue through Jan. 29. 1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

scene@clevescene.com t@clevelandscene

EAT THE GREAT ESCAPE

Food, service mostly rise to magical setting of Jaja in Ohio City

By Douglas Trattner

TO GET TO JAJA, GUESTS FIRST gather in a small ground-floor vestibule with little more than a host stand and bench. After a brief pause, groups enter an elevator wrapped in the sort of lush botanical wallpaper made famous by the opening credits of The White Lotus. In the time it takes to ascend one floor, diners are transported to an environment that is so un-Cleveland it’s temporarily jarring. Outside: brick, steel, bridges, smokestacks and railroad tracks. Inside: tropical greenery, warm fabrics, bold patterns and a soupcon of taxidermy.

In a year populated with dramafilled openings, Jaja walks away with the gold. For those of us who perpetually ask the question while traveling, “Why can’t Cleveland have a place like this,” the designers behind Intro’s newest addition have answered with a world-class gem. Beneath a garland-wrapped pergola strung with oversize string lights sits an intimate, whimsical and comfortable 90-seat dining room. Windows on three sides offer views of the city skyline and West Side Market clocktower.

With a space this extraordinary, the restaurant easily could have settled on a straightforward steakhouse theme, considering the live-fire grill that dominates the first-floor kitchen that Jaja shares with Pioneer. But to that “modern steakhouse” foundation the owners added globally influenced vegetable, fish and meat dishes, most in smallor shareable-plate form.

Guests are welcomed with a complimentary tulip of cava that the server calls the “Jaja handshake.” If there’s one restaurant at which to not skip the cocktail course, it’s this one. From the stunning 6-seat bar at the front of the room come bracing creations like She Only Wears Green ($15) and It’s Pronounced “HowStun” ($15). The former weaves gin, chartreuse, honeydew and mint into an aquamarine dream while the latter fortifies a classic Manhattan with Amaro Montenegro and vanilla bitters.

Given the meandering nature of the menu, it takes some time to chart a course. For our table, it was

helpful to start by deciding which (if any) parrillada we would order. The two large platters of mixed seafood or grilled meat contain items listed elsewhere on the menu, thus winnowing remaining options.

While enjoying cocktails, we ripped pieces of warm naan-like flatbread to scoop up blobs of creamy burrata ($18) and accompanying arugula pesto. The fresh cheese was capped with a salty parmesan crisp. Jaja made an aubergine fan out of me

minor temperature issue that stood between good and great.

JAJA

thanks to the eggplant and roasted tomato spread ($15). Faintly smoky, fairly spicy and gilded with a dollop of labneh, the dip is a great starter.

Higher up on the food chain, the grilled octopus ($20) arrived with a glorious char, ideal meaty texture and a stack of crisp-edged potato planks. The pulpo, we agreed, would have benefited from a more aggressive spice component. In the case of the roasted bone marrow ($22), two deep canoes filled with buttery “beef pudding,” it was a

Our server could not have been more pleasant and attentive, arriving when needed, making scarce when not. Empty cocktail glasses vanished when dry, water glasses rarely dipped below the midway mark and fresh plates and silver appeared between main courses. But that didn’t prevent a food runner from delivering a plate of pasta when nobody at the table had plates or utensils. It made for a tense few minutes. Gladly, the pappardelle ($22) — wide, fresh noodles bathed in a delicate cream sauce and capped with a forest of caramelized wild mushrooms — was still hot when we dug in. A shower of toasted breadcrumbs added a welcome crunch.

Because we decided to go with the seafood parrillada, we also ordered an a la carte steak. The menu offers eight cuts, most of them prime and/or dry-aged, ranging

from an 8-ounce filet on up to a nearly 3-pound tomahawk ribeye. Our boneless ribeye ($72), sliced and served with chimichurri, was tender, beefy and just shy of medium. You would expect a more robust char from the wood-fired grill but our chop lacked such a crust.

There’s nothing more celebratory than a shimmering seafood platter and the one at Jaja is impressive. At $115, the hubcap-size tray arrived with a half-dozen grilled oysters, four jumbo, deeply burnished scallops, a pair of grilled headon prawns and what looked to be 1-pound lobster split, grilled and cracked to ease enjoyment. On the side is plenty of grilled bread, melted butter and a variety of sauces.

While lingering over Chantilly cream-topped cheesecake ($16), espresso-drizzled ice cream with shortbread cookies ($12), and Hungarian dessert wine ($15) off Jaja’s serious list, we imagined how much more magical an evening at Jaja will be when the retractable glass roof gives way to the open sky. dtrattner@clevescene.com

Photo by Doug Trattner

EAT BITES

Parlay on Ninth to open in former Gateway Panini’s spot

By Douglas Trattner

WHEN PANINI’S CLOSED ITS last downtown location on Huron Road, the Gateway District lost a prominent watering hole for sports fans. For more than 20 years, the neighborhood bar and grill was party central for many of the biggest moments in Cleveland sports.

A new chapter for the high-profile property begins in February, when Parlay on Ninth (840 Huron Rd.) opens its doors. Significant interior renovations have converted the space from a mainstream neighborhood pub to an elevated sports bar that owner Lawrence Karyl describes as the next-best thing to being at the game.

“Parlay is a mix between a comfortable cigar lounge and Vegasstyle sportsbook,” he explains. “We wanted to create one of the best places to watch a game if you’re not actually in the arena or at the stadium.”

Formerly three separate storefronts that Panini’s had combined into one open environment, Parlay has returned some separation to the property, allowing for slightly different experiences in each.

“We literally spared no expense, tore into everything,” Karyl says. “It will be a completely different look and it will be a completely different feel when you walk into the space.”

To go with the upscale environment, Parlay will feature state-of-the-art game-watching technology that eventually will allow for interactive guest control and sports betting.

Parlay will be open for happy hour and dinner, while adjusting its hours around special sporting events. The bar and kitchen will offer a great selection of drinks and elevated bar food.

Karyl says that when the former Panini’s location — a sizable property just steps from Progressive Field and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse — became available, he was eager to claim it for Parlay.

“I feel like it’s one of the best

locations in the entire city,” he says. “Panini’s was successful there for a number of years and I think Parlay will be a staple there for a number of years.”

Following a few private events over the holidays, Parlay should be open to the public in early February.

Salmon Dave’s in Rocky River is Closing Temporarily to Tackle Major Renovation Project

“Salmon Dave’s is closing.”

The subject line in the email from owner George Schindler was a distressing bit of news out of Rocky River, where Salmon Dave’s has been a beloved fixture for 30 years. But then I actually read the body of the correspondence.

“Apologies for the somewhat misleading/attention-grabbing subject line,” writes Schindler, a man of infinite jest. “We are in fact closing, but not for good. So the long and short is that we’ll be closing after New Year’s Eve for about three to four weeks, gutting the interior, re-designing the kitchen along with food and drink offerings and getting back to business, hopefully before the clock strikes February.”

Salmon Dave’s (19015 Old Lake Rd., 440-331-2739) is the restaurant that propelled Hospitality Restaurants into early domination of the Northeast Ohio restaurant scene. Schindler’s restaurant group would go on to add Cabin Club, Blue Point Grille, Delmonico’s Steakhouse, Kingfish and multiple Rosewood Grill locations.

Schindler says that Salmon Dave’s “had a banner year in

2022,” and that plans were in place prior to Covid to tackle this major remodeling project. Already, some work on the exterior of the property has been completed, including a freshly painted façade, new lighting and awnings, and new sidewalks. Next up is updated exterior signage. When guests arrive after the doors reopen in a couple months they’ll find a more contemporary vibe thanks to a shiny new marble bar top and updated lighting, fabrics and accents. Staying put are the distressed brick walls, crown moldings, classic mahogany back bar and, of course, the iconic moose that watches over the barroom.

In terms of the food, Culinary Director Marc Standen and chef Mario Brown will roll out a menu that combines exciting new offerings alongside time-tested favorites.

“Salmon Dave’s is one of a mere handful of west-side restaurants to have endured this long, and we don’t take that accomplishment lightly,” adds Schindler. “We strive to embrace the future while respecting our past and are excited to remind our loyal patrons how invested we are in the Rocky River community.”

Salmon Dave’s will close on January 1 and reopen in February.

Souper Market to Open Downtown Shop at the Standard First Week of January

Matthew Moore was compelled to shutter the Souper Market location on E. Sixth Street after just two years. But almost immediately a new downtown home was secured for the hand-crafted soup house.

That home is on the ground floor of The Standard (99 W. St. Clair Ave.), specifically on St. Clair facing the justice center.

Original plans called for a late2021 opening, but construction delays but a damper on that estimate. Souper Market is now on pace to open January 3, assuming inspections go smoothly.

In other Souper Market news: This month marks 20 years in the soup business for Moore, who opened up the original Ohio City shop in 2002. Since then, the company added locations in Lakewood, Kamm’s Corners and Midtown, which is also home to the commissary.

Boiler 65 Is Done

The Boiler 65 has closed its last remaining location. The seafoodin-a-bag concept debuted in 2017, when it converted much of the St. Helena Romanian Byzantine Catholic Church in the heart of Gordon Square into a 150-seat restaurant. At that time, Boiler 65 was just the second restaurant in Northeast Ohio to hop on the Cajun-style seafood trend, following Lee’s Seafood Boil (formerly Boiling Seafood) in Cleveland Heights and preceding dozens of others.

Boiler 65 expanded by adding locations in Bedford and S. Euclid, both of which are also closed.

Owners Lawrence Harris and Srey Ny are in the process of opening Fiyah Korean BBQ in the St. ClairSuperior neighborhood. dtrattner@clevescene.com

Photo from

PULLING OUT ALL THE STOPS

Tropidelic caps off banner year with shows at Beachland and House of Blues

By Jeff Niesel

ONE OF NORTHEAST OHIO’S most successful bands, Tropidelic draws inspiration from groups such as Sublime and 311 and blends ska, hip-hop and rock. The band puts on its own music festival each year and has played Electric Forest, Vans Warped Tour, California Roots Music & Arts Festival and the 311 Caribbean Cruise.

At this point, it’s a national act. So when the pandemic hit, the group had to recalculate its plans for what would’ve been a very busy 2020.

“Truth be told, we were very fortunate to stay working more than many other people were,” says frontman Matt Roads in a recent phone interview. To celebrate the new year, Tropidelic plays on Friday, Dec. 30, at the Beachland Ballroom and on Saturday, Dec. 31, at House of Blues. “We immediately stepped into the livestreaming thing and that did well for us for a while. We then did private parties during the summer of 2020, and we played any venue that would allow us to do a segmented show. We took on the drive-in movie theater concept and did that twice in Warren. We didn’t get stopped in our tracks; we did whatever we needed to do to stay moving. It worked out for us coming out of the pandemic, and we didn’t lose a lot of momentum.”

Roads says things haven’t entirely returned to normal and that there is still “a ripple effect of uncertainty” that has added a degree of difficulty to touring and performing live.

“But things are much more stable now,” he says. “Our Everwild festival [that took place earlier this year] was amazing. We moved it to Legend Valley. It was the biggest lineup we ever had. There were 3,000-plus people there. It was a great turnout, and everything went stellar.”

As a testament to the band’s need to keep moving forward despite a music industry shutdown, the group went back into the studio immediately after releasing 2020’s Of Illusion to work on what

would become All the Colors, an album that came out earlier this year.

“That was in our second COVID project,” says Roads when asked about the new album. “Of Illusion was the first one we did in the studio when we had much more free time, and it was the same for All the Colors.”

The group cut the album locally at Signal Flow Studios with resident producer Chris DiCola.

“It’s very, very Cleveland,” Roads says of the recording space. “I park next to the railroad tracks in front of tanker trucks, and there are chemical smells everywhere. There’s a bunch of rehearsal spaces in the building.”

Roads says that the album is still loosely reggae but has “veered farther and farther away.” “I wouldn’t call it reggae — not in the traditional sense,” he explains.

“Neighborhood,” one of the album’s highlights, draws equally from hip-hop and reggae. It features a funky groove that’s buttressed by spirited horns and includes cameos courtesy of Prof and Krayzie Bone.

“That was definitely a pandemicdriven topical tune about being stuck in the house,” says Roads when asked about the track. “We had met Prof on the 311 Caribbean Cruise in 2018 or 2019. He’s just blown up since then. We had him in mind for it. We were thinking that Bone Thugs would be so clutch on it. In

the final hours, we got Krayzie Bone, and it came together really well. It’s a fan-favorite for sure.”

Leading up to the Beachland and House of Blues shows, the band will perform in Cincinnati and Detroit, putting an exclamation mark on what has been a banner year.

“We’re pulling out all the stops this year,” says Roads. “The Palmer Squares [who share the bill for the House of Blues show] are an underground hip-hop duo from Chicago, and we have our friends Passafire [who play with Tropidelic at both at the Beachland and House of Blues] from Savannah, GA, and they came up the ranks of Warped Tour in the 2000s and are just killer. We’re stoked to be playing those shows at home, and it’s been a crazy last six or seven months. It’ll be great to end it in town and be with our families.”

The group will kick off 2023

by playing the 311 cruise again in March. It’ll then hit the road for a month with the reggae act the Movement and will perform on the Michael Franti cruise with John Butler, SOJA and other like-minded acts. Come May, it’ll head to Nelson Ledges Quarry Park to play the Sunny Days festival, and Everwild will return in August.

In addition, the group is in the process of finishing a new album that Roads says will build upon the diverse sound found on All the Colors.

“I think we’re getting in our zone as far as what we’re comfortable with and what we can do with the moderate success we’ve had,” says Roads. “We’ll just do what feels best for us on the next album.”

Courtesy photo

Tropidelic

AN UPDATED PRESENTATION

Trans-Siberian Orchestra drummer explains how no two TSO tours are the same

By Jeff Niesel

AS THE STORY GOES, THE PROG band Savatage, originally recorded “Christmas Eve Sarajevo 12/24” in 1995. The song would suddenly become a hit and then reappear on Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s debut, 1996’s Christmas Eve and Other Stories, and launch the band into the major seasonal touring franchise that it is today.

Drummer Jeff Plate, a member of Savatage who segued into TSO, has been there the start. When his former Wicked Witch bandmate, Zak Stevens, got a gig singing in Savatage, he recruited Plate to join the group. That was in 1994.

“I began working with Paul O’Neill, who was the manager [of Savatage],” says Plate in a recent phone interview from his upstate New York home. TSO performs at 3 and 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 30, at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. “I did a live record and toured with the band. We went in the studio in 1995 to record the album Dead Winter Dead, which was a concept record that Paul had written about the war in Bosnia. He had this idea for this instrumental Christmas song. We were all kind of scratching our heads. Paul had this concept, and there was an element to the

story that centered on this cellist who played in all this rubble to pay tribute to the people dying. Paul connected with this. The idea of this Christmas song was kind of strange, but Paul was adamant about this song. When we heard the final version, there was no denying that it was great, but we did not know how it fit into the context of Savatage. It took off like a rocket.”

After TSO re-released the track, it would become “the driving force behind TSO,” as Plate puts it.

At the urging of Cleveland disc jockey Bill Louis, TSO took its 1996 Christmas rock opera Christmas Eve and Other Stories, the first part of a trilogy of prog rock-influenced Christmas albums, on the road in 1999. Louis had been playing “Christmas Eve Sarajevo 12/24” on WNCX and had gotten great feedback from fans.

The Cleveland shows were huge hits.

“Bill’s audience was very aware of Trans-Siberian Orchestra,” says Plate. “I think the first show we played there was sold out. There was a buzz, and it was fun and exciting. Once we got to Cleveland — and we circled back around after they added another show at a different venue — we knew it was really going to work. That audience was awesome and gave us a lot of confidence.”

Tragically, Paul O’Neill passed away in 2017. In the wake of his death, TSO has continued to be a juggernaut. “Paul was everything,” says Plate. “He signed off on every single thing we did. He was the producer, songwriter, lyricist and storywriter. He did tour production. All of it was Paul. He was a very, very smart man, and he surrounded himself with some very good people. The management team we have has been here from the beginning and the production staff has been here for years and years. There have been a lot of people through these doors. We have hired a lot of great people. It takes a certain type of person to do the tours we do. Paul set us up very, very well. He would always tell us that TSO would outlive us all and become generational. We bought into what he was telling us because we could see it happening right before us. To think we would be doing it without Paul wasn’t expected. We miss him dearly, but he left us in a good spot.”

Given the regularity with which TSO hits the road every year, Plate admits that it was “surreal” to spend Christmas at home in 2020 when the pandemic grounded touring.

“I knew in the spring of 2020 that

we wouldn’t be touring,” he says. “I was mentally prepared when it didn’t happen. I’ll be honest. It was very nice to be home for the holidays. I went crazy decorating my house and had fun with it. At the same time, at any given time during the day, I would think, ‘I should be in Dayton or in Cleveland right now.’ It was weird, but we did the livestream. It was the most successful livestream to date. Hats off to the management team for making that happen.”

When TSO went back on the road last year, Plate and the other members were thrilled.

“You can’t take anything for granted,” he says. “You get so used to it and then something like this comes out of nowhere. You really have to appreciate things more. Last year, when we got back on the road, everybody had a new appreciation for it.”

This year’s show will feature an updated presentation of Ghosts of Christmas Eve

“It’s the story based on the film we did in 1999,” says Plate. “I love the story and the film. The band loves performing the show. The audience loves it. We’re excited to come back out with it. If you’ve never seen us, you know that every year the show is different, whether it’s lighting or production or video or a change in the setlist. Paul O’Neill made a very strong case for this. He said no year would be the same as the previous year.”

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Photo: Bob Carey

THU 12/29

The George Martins Perform Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

A local band with an affinity for all things Beatles, the George Martins will tackle Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band tonight at 7:30 at Music Box Supper Club. Joining the band on stage to help perform the album in its entirety will be a host of some of Northeast Ohio’s finest musicians, including David Kay (sax, clarinet, flute, percussion), Evan Kleve (trumpet, violin), Arial Karas (violin), Storey Williams (violin), Ardis Billey (harp), Micaela Murphy (viola), Marla Gigliotti (cello), Mike Allan (double bass), Kiran Ravichandran (tabla), Chuck McHenry (sax, clarinet) and John Richmond (clarinet). Another performance takes place at 8 tomorrow night at the venue. 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.

Arlo McKinley

Earlier this year, in advance of the release of his new album, This Mess We’re In, singer-songwriter Arlo McKinley jetted off to Europe, where he played in eight different countries in the span of about three weeks. The recent European tour signifies the way McKinley’s profile has risen, but it certainly hasn’t been an easy climb. McKinley initially began singing with his Baptist church when he was 8. He then started playing in punk bands when he became a teenager. Introspective singer-songwriters such as Nick Cave and Nick Drake inspired This Mess We’re In, a terrific album that distills all of McKinley’s disparate influences. Buffalo Wabs and the Price Hill Hustle share the bill with him tonight at the Beachland Ballroom. Doors open at 7 p.m.

15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com.

The Nick Moss Band Featuring Dennis Gruenling

After the 2018 release of their Alligator debut, the Nick Moss Band toured relentlessly. In the past two years, the band, which often tours and records with harp player Dennis Gruenling, has received five Blues Music Awards, including nods for Band of the Year, Song of the Year, Traditional Blues Album of the Year, Traditional Blues Male Artist

It comes to the Beachland Tavern tonight at 8.

15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com.

FRI 12/30

Dixon’s Violin

A former symphony violinist, Dixon now improvises on a five-string electric violin with a looping system he developed to create an all-live one-man symphony that’s “guided by his remarkable personal story of life transformation,” as it’s put in a press release. He performs tonight at 8 at Music Box Supper Club.

1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.

SAT 12/31

Red Wanting Blue

The Columbus-based rock band plays its annual NYE show in Northeast Ohio tonight at 9 at the Goodyear Theater in Akron. JD Eicher and Angela Perley open the show. Expect to hear RWB’s hard-driving new single, “Hey, ’84,” as well as tunes from its extensive career that dates back to the late ‘90s.

1201 East Market St., Akron, goodyeartheater.com.

THU 01/05

Grog Shop Free Weekend with Apostle Jones/Grav/Plinko

Each year at about this time, the Grog Shop opens its doors for free to let the public take in some of Cleveland’s best independent bands. The weekend of free shows kicks off tonight at 8 with a performance by Apostle Jones, the local funk/rock/ soul act that puts on high-energy live shows. Grav and Plinko share the bill. The music starts at 8 p.m. and the free shows continue through Sunday.

2785 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, 216-321-5588, grogshop.gs.

FRI 01/06

Gimme Gimme Disco

Taking its name from an ABBA song, this tribute to the Swedish pop band performs tonight at 8 at House of Blues. Expect to hear saccharine tunes such as “S.O.S.,” “Dancing Queen” and “The Winner Takes It All.” 308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.

Into the Blue: Grateful Dead Revival

Regardless of your take on the Grateful Dead, the band to which

Into the Blue, an ensemble of local musicians pays tribute, the group maintains a damn important stature in the rock ‘n’ roll canon. Into the Blue revives that spirit and lends it the respect Jerry and Co. rightfully deserve. Anyone interested in hearing — and seeing — great music flow from the stage should check out what these guys are doing. Fellow musicians and artists will glean inspiration. The show begins tonight at 8 at the Beachland Ballroom. 15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com.

SAT 01/07

Televisionaries

This group out of Rochester, NY has opened for the likes of Nick Lowe, Southern Culture on the Skids, the 5.6.7.8’s, Bloodshot Bill, the Fleshtones, Daddy Long Legs, Robert Gordon, and Big Sandy & His FlyRite Boys. It comes to the Beachland Tavern tonight at 8 in support of its new album, Mad About You 15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com.

Wish You Were Here

For 17 years now, Wish You Were Here, the locally based Pink Floyd tribute act that started way the hell back in 1995, has put on a special holiday show. Usually, the guys adopt some kind of theme for the gig, and this year is no different as the group will play a mix of Floyd classics and obscurities at tonight’s show. The concert begins at 7 at the Agora. 5000 Euclid Ave., 216-881-2221, agoracleveland.com.

SUN 01/08

Albert Lee Band

Guitarist Albert Lee, who reportedly left school at age 16 to pursue a career in music, played in a number of bands in the 1960s. One group, Heads Hands & Feet, took off and helped establish Lee as a pioneering player. Guitarist Eric Clapton once described him as “the greatest guitarist in the world.” Find out why when the 78-year-old Lee and his backing band perform at 7 tonight at Music Box Supper Club.

1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.

and Instrumentalist—Harmonica.

Credit: Aaron Lingenfelter

Dixon’s violin comes to the Music Box Supper Club. See: Friday, Dec. 30.

Photo: Stephen Albanese

THE COLLEGE TRY: Originally from New Jersey, singer-guitarist Scott Terry went to Ohio University with the intention of getting a degree and starting a band. He wound up accomplishing both, and the band he started, the alt-rock outfit Red Wanting Blue, is still going strong after 25-plus years. “We were lucky that we took off regionally by way of playing a lot of colleges,” says Terry. “If I had to give any kid advice about how to start a band, I would say go to college. Even if you don’t need to go to college, go back to college. There were so many people from all over Ohio there, and they got to know us quickly. We thought it was an amazing experience, and we knew we had to keep it going.”

A DIY APPROACH: Inspired by the fact that the Dave Matthews Band successfully sold their own CDs in their early days, Red Wanting Blue began visiting independent record stores and hawking their self-produced releases without the help of a record label. “I remember being in college and printing shit tons of CD,” says Terry. “Those were the salad days. You could drive around any college and find the music store and you could sell a box of 25 CDs to them. Nobody does that anymore.” Terry says the band hasn’t really had any significant major labels offers over the years, but it eventually signed to the indie imprint Fanatic in the 2010s and even made an appearance on Late Show with David Letterman. “But when it came to the major labels, we weren’t a jam band, and we weren’t

a Nickelback or Creed,” says Terry. “We were represented by this guy who managed Ryan Adams, and he put us in touch with Jamie Candiloro, who produced Ryan Adams’s Easy Tiger record. I thought that was more our speed. I didn’t want to try to pull off wearing black pleather pants and being a big rock star. We’re more blue jeans and brown boots.”

WHY YOU SHOULD HEAR

THEM: Four years ago, the band leaned in an alt-country direction for The Wanting, which singersongwriter Will Hoge produced; the group now has a new album in the works. The forthcoming LP’s first single, “Hey, ’84,” comes off as a ‘90s alt-rock anthem in the vein of Gin Blossoms and Toad the Wet Sprocket. Terry says the song went over particularly well during a fall tour. “When I was in college, I wanted to be in the biggest band on the planet,” he says. “The more you tour and the older you get, you start to change. It was either Todd Snider or John Prine who said that if you can go to any town and pull in 500 people, that’s a success. If you can make it in America, you can make it anywhere. We just did a tour in the fall and seeing the numbers after the pandemic, we were worried if people had changed forever or were still coming out. it was heart-warming [to see people still came out]. It was nice to look out and see how the band has grown. I’m really proud of what we’ve done.”

WHERE YOU CAN HEAR THEM: redwantingblue.com.

WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM: Red Wanting Blue performs with JD Eicher and Angela Perley at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 31, at the Goodyear Theater in Akron. jniesel@clevescene.com t @jniesel

Thurs. AT PLAYHOUSE SQUARE Connor Palace Theater playhousesquare.org Fri. March 24 The Irish Tenors

Jan. 26 Standing Rock Film Fest ALSO COMING: NEW! Sunday Mar. 12 | Crash Test Dummies Monday Mar. 20 | Jim Messina Tuesday Mar. 28 | The Church NEW! Friday Mar. 31 | Tommy Castro & the Painkillers Monday Apr. 10 | Morgan James with Kirk Hurmond Wednesday Apr. 19 | The Monkees Celebrated by Mickey Dolenz Friday Apr. 21 | Hot Tuna Acoustic Duo Sunday Apr. 30 | Keller Williams & Steve Poltz Saturday May 20 | The Cream of Clapton Band Wednesday June 7 | Martin Barre: A Brief History of Tull, with Dan Crisp AT LORAIN PALACE lorainpalace.com Fri. Jan. 13 24k Magic | Sat. Jan. 21 George Michael Reborn Fri. Feb. 17 Queen Nation | Sun. Feb. 26 Floyd Nation Fri. Apr. 21 Little Feat You saw the concert, now get the poster! rawsugarstudio.com A poster history of Northeast Ohio concerts 1950s to present day!

Sat.

John Waite Fri. Feb. 3 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

RED WANTING BLUE

By Jeff Niesel

SAVAGE LOVE QUICKIES

By Dan Savage

Hey Dan: How long after a divorce does someone become “emotionally available” for a new relationship?

Someone who initiated a divorce — someone who made up their mind, got a lawyer, and filed the paperwork — is probably going to be “emotionally available” a little sooner than someone who was blindsided when their spouse “asked” for a divorce. (It’s not really an “ask,” since you don’t need someone’s permission to divorce them.) But if the person who initiated the divorce was being abused, they may need more time to recover from the marriage than the “blindsided” abuser they left. And if a marriage wound down after a decade or two and the decision to divorce was mutual and amicable, both parties could be “emotionally available” before they’ve taken their rings off, much less finalized the divorce.

Hey Dan: Is being a “vaginaphile” an acceptable thing in 2023? Regardless of the other person’s identity?

Absolutely. Dick is nice, I’m a fan, but dick isn’t for everyone. Same goes for pussy. I find it strange that it’s often the same people who insist demisexuality is valid (and it is) and sapiosexuality is valid (and it is) and asexuality is valid (and it is) who will turn around and insist that homosexuality (being attracted to members of the same sex) or heterosexuality (being attracted to members of the opposite sex) somehow aren’t valid (and they are).

Hey Dan: Pro-tips for someone who’s never eaten ass before but wants to?

We’re not going to run out of ass — our strategic national ass reserves are well-stocked — so don’t feel like you have to eat all the ass the first time you try. Take it slow. Suck the dick or eat the pussy of your freshly showered partner, wander down to the taint, then go deep — take a couple of swipes at the ass with your tongue — before retreating back to the taint, giving yourself time to assess, and then dive back in if you’re enjoying it as much as your partner is.

Hey Dan: I’m living with my boyfriend’s parents for a few weeks. I need to get laid. Suggestions please?

I would suggest fucking your boyfriend. If you don’t feel comfortable fucking him in his parents’ house, fuck him on their roof, fuck him in the showers at the gym, fuck him in the nearest bar with a single-stall restroom and a door that locks. Obstacles can frustrate desire, yes, but they can just as easily fuel desire — so long as you have the right attitude about them.

Hey Dan: My relationship with my husband — with my everything — is in trouble. We were together for a few years, then he got busted with drugs and wound up in prison, and we lost contact for 20 years. Then I saw his profile on Facebook and we wound up talking for a long time. I hate blow jobs in part because I was forced to give this guy a blowjob when I was a teenager. He says blowjobs are what he desires the most. He has to have blowjobs, that’s his bottom line. I gag. I throw up, I get angry and feel sad. He can’t even get it up most of the time. I want him to fuck me so bad, but it’s just not in the cards for me. He is horny all the time and I’m going through menopause and have no desire. He thinks I don’t love him anymore! Please help! We don’t want to lose each other! At least, I don’t want to lose him. He is fucking me up mentally. He is very persistent. He wants a blowjob every day. Whenever he can get it. I can’t last long enough to make him cum. My jaw is dislocated from my exhusband. You are my last chance to save this.

Anyone who sees their partner weeping in a puddle of their own puke after they’ve performed a particular sex act and then says, “I’m gonna need you to do that every day for the rest of your life or we’re through,” is an asshole. Call his bluff: tell him he’s free to go but if he chooses to stay, there will be no more blowjobs. I can’t promise you he won’t leave… but whether he accepts your terms (and stops demanding blowjobs) or makes good

on his threats (and good luck to him finding blowjobs elsewhere), you’ll be better off.

Hey Dan: Is it normal for a gay guy to not be interested in penetrative sex?

Most gay men enjoy penetration (fucking, getting fucked, flip fucking), but not every gay man is into anal sex. “Some men prefer what’s called outercourse, which is everything except penetration,” said Dr. Joe Kort, the psychotherapist and author who went viral earlier this year after coining a term for gay men who aren’t interested in penetrative sex. “Other people might think of outercourse as foreplay, but that implies that the main act is intercourse, but some gay men aren’t tops or bottoms. They’re sides.”

Hey Dan: Best lube for PIV? Foreplay.

Hey Dan: 1. How many people have had sex with more than one member of the same family? 2. Anyone had sex with every member of the same family? 3. Including the parents?

1. Don’t know. 2. Don’t know. 3. Hope not.

Hey Dan: Gay guy here into threesomes and playing with gay couples. How do you tell someone that you hooked up with in a threesome (half of a couple) that you would rather hook up with him solo because you’re not that into his partner? This has happened to me a couple of times recently.

Be direct with the one you’re into without being cruel to the one you’re not: “I would like to hook up with you again, but just the two of us.” If he asks why, be honest: “I’m into you but not your partner.” If they “only play together,” if a one-on-one hookup would constitute cheating in the context of their relationship, well, then you’ll either have to fuck them both again (which you’ll regret) or you’ll have to go find someone else to fuck (which shouldn’t be that hard).

Hey Dan: Am I a bad guy for dating a married man in a sexless marriage who has kids in college?

Nope.

Hey Dan: Does bottoming make your butt bigger? More muscular?

Bottoming ≠ squats — that’s cum you’re having injected into your ass, not steroids.

Hey Dan: I’m curious what type of guys Dan Savage is most attracted to. Also, does Mr. Savage like receiving explicit pics from his fans?

Mr. Savage is primarily attracted to men with what Mr. Savage has described as “Muppet faces,” i.e., men with large mouths, big eyes, and other exaggerated facial features. Not one of the men that Mr. Savage has ever dated and/or married regarded “Muppet-faced” as a compliment, despite Mr. Savage’s sometimes frantic efforts to explain that “Muppet-faced” was not just meant as a compliment, but it was the highest compliment Mr. Savage could possibly bestow. For the record: Mr. Savage does not require his sex partners to wear fuzzy body suits, spray chocolate chip cookie crumbs all over the bed, or pop out of garbage cans to heap verbal abuse on him. Mr. Savage welcomes explicit pics. Men with Muppet faces are encouraged to submit.

Hey Dan: A young gay male friend has referred to his ass as his “cunt” in front of me, a cis female, and he was not having sex at the time. (You wrote last week that this was something young gay men do while having sex, with their sex partners, and not with their woman friends.) I found this offensive and told him so. He rolled his eyes. Now what? I don’t want to spank him but I might have to.

I’m happy to spank him for you — provided he’s got a Muppet face and a nice cunt.

questions@savagelove.net t@fakedansavage www.savage.love