Scene July 1, 2020 by Chava Communications

| clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

CONTENTS JULY 1 - 7, 2020 • VOL. 50 NO 52

Press Club ...................................... 7 Upfront ............................................ 9 Feature ...........................................14 Arts ................................................ 19 Dedicated to Free Times founder Richard H. Siegel (1935-1993) and Scene founder Richard Kabat

Eat .................................................. 20 Music ............................................. 23 Savage Love ................................. 25

REWIND: 1970 Euclid Media Group Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner

Publisher Andrew Zelman Editor Vince Grzegorek Editorial Music Editor Jeff Niesel Senior Writer Sam Allard Staff Writer Brett Zelman Dining Editor Douglas Trattner Visual Arts Writer Shawn Mishak Stage Editor Christine Howey Copy Editor Elaine Cicora Advertising Senior Multimedia Account Executive John Crobar, Shayne Rose Creative Services Production Manager Haimanti Germain Editorial Layout Evan Sult Staff Photographer Emanuel Wallace

VP Digital Services Stacy Volhein Digital Operations Coordinator Jaime Monzon www.euclidmediagroup.com National Advertising Voice Media Group 1-800-278-9866, vmgadvertising.com

On this week in 1970, Scene debuted. We celebrate our 50th anniversary this week thanks to you.

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PRESS CLUB A THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO’S JOINED THE SCENE PRESS CLUB SO FAR By Vince Grzegorek WHEN I ANNOUNCED ON MARCH 16th at the onset of the pandemic that Scene would, for the first time since its inception in 1970, be temporarily suspending print operations, I was hoping that would be the worst it would get, but I had a strong hunch I was wrong. It didn’t take long for the hunch to be proven right. Two days later Scene laid off five employees — more than half of the already meager staff. With no print advertising, or much advertising at all — since almost every business was suffering from similar catastrophic financial impacts, especially Cleveland’s venerable music venues, bars and restaurants that helped fill our pages — and no possibility of throwing the parties and events to pay for our journalism habit, the situation was beyond dire and looking darker. While we had spent early 2020 planning blowouts and a special

By Vince Grzegorek

issue to celebrate the magazine’s 50th anniversary in July, there was at that point an open question if there’d be even an online operation surviving by that time. So we asked you to help, to support local, skeptical, important journalism in Cleveland that you won’t find anywhere else, first with a blanket plea for donations and then, starting in early May, with the Scene Press Club to deliver some benefits to those who could contribute to our goal of raising $50,000. We thought what Scene provides the city was worth preserving, and we bet that you thought so too. I had a hunch Cleveland would come through, and you have, and I’m every bit as happy to have been right about that as sad as I was to be right about the imminent cleaving of Scene’s staff three months ago. Over the 55 days prior to the launch of the Press Club, you contributed $27,456. In the month

that followed, you contributed another $27,614, with hundreds of readers committing to recurring monthly donations that will lay the foundation for a sustainable way forward. Because of those contributions, we’ve already been able to bring back dining editor Doug Trattner, who provides the most exclusive and essential coverage of the food scene in Cleveland, bring on a regular arts contributor, bring you some Manny Wallace photo galleries, enlist freelancers to tackle stories we would not otherwise have the time or resources to do, and continue to provide regular and vital news coverage of protests, their aftermath, City Hall, City Council, prospective mayoral candidates, turmoil at moCa Cleveland, and, yes, all the butthole news fit to (digitally) print. Your contributions have also allowed us to make the decision to return Scene to the streets starting

this week. This happens to be the week of our 50th anniversary, so there is no more fitting time to get the presses running again (though the official package celebrating the occasion will happen sometime later this year). You will notice that it’s a slimmeddown version, and we’re going to print every other week to start, and many of your favorite parts — the concert calendar, the event listings — will not be part of the paper for now. But plenty other good stuff is in here, and there is a Scene, and it is free, and that is something to be happy about. Thank you, sincerely, to everyone who’s helped so far. These waters might feel more generally steady than they did a few months ago, but they’re still unstable and prone to surprises. So if you haven’t already, please join the Press Club. And don’t just take our word for it…

RECENTLY, I WAS INVITED TO speak to a group of Northeast Ohioans to discuss “The Changing Face of News.” I enjoy these conversations but these days I need to bring security! “How can we trust you guys… you’re all tainted!!” “It’s all driven by the (fill in the blank) party, anyway!!” And the inevitable, “That’s fake news!!” — an expression whose meaning among some has morphed from its true definition of “news presented that is deliberately factually wrong”…to ”news that I disagree with.” It’s easy to live in a bubble and get your information only from sources whose views mirror yours. But honestly, how fun… and, sorry…how smart is that? Just like a balanced diet for your body, a balanced diet for your brain is a winning prescription. In my world, Scene Magazine is one part

Courtesy Russ Mitchell/WKYC

RUSS MITCHELL SAYS: MAKE SCENE PART OF YOUR MEDIA DIET

of that diet. An important source of news and a perspective that I don’t get anyplace else. It doesn’t

always speak to me, for me or reflect my beliefs about an issue or individual but here’s the thing:

it’s not supposed to. In my mind, some key roles of what is known as an “alternative publication” are to push buttons, sometimes make us uncomfortable and be another voice asking tough questions. With journalism under attack and so many of my colleagues in print and broadcast losing their jobs, when I have the chance to show my support of journalists, I’m in. I encourage all of us to do what we can to help keep that steady diet of information flowing. It makes us all better citizens and, as history has shown, improves our communities. That was basically the response I gave to that group of citizens I mentioned earlier. While I don’t think I was able to totally win them over, we left agreeing that a strong free press remains a cornerstone of our democracy… and there’s nothing fake about that. | clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

| clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

UPFRONT WHAT COPS DO (AND DON’T DO) A Review of 23,000 Cleveland Police Calls Over One Month BETWEEN MAY 31 AND JUNE 24, Cleveland police received more than a thousand calls reporting nuisances and disturbances. They handled approximately 100 calls about robberies, and 50 reporting sexual assault. That’s not unusual for major metropolitan police departments, according to an analysis the New York Times ran on June 15. In New Orleans, Sacramento, and Montgomery County, Md., the Times found about 4 percent of the officers’ time is spent on “violent crimes,” defined as rape, homicide, felony assault and robbery. For other major metropolitan departments like Baltimore, Phoenix and Seattle, they found between 0.5 percent and 1.8 percent of the calls logged in their dispatch systems fell into the “violent crime” category. Cleveland, which posts the past seven days’ worth of dispatch calls on an online map, falls roughly in line. Four weeks of call data collected included over 23,000 calls. (Some calls may not have been captured due to rolling erasure of data from the public map.) Dispatch calls include calls made to 911, as well as reports from police. Of those 23,000 calls, only 1.75 percent of calls fell into the “violent crime” category. Some advocates for “defunding the police” have pointed to the small percentage of police work that deals with violent felonies as an argument for shifting resources away from departments. “[Police are] not out chasing bank robbers or serial killers. The vast majority of police officers make one felony arrest a year,” Alex Vitale, author of The End of Policing, told the Socialist magazine Jacobin in a recent interview. “If they make two, they’re cop of the month.” But it’s important to note that the “violent crime” definition used in the Times’ analysis (and here, for the sake of comparison) is extremely limited. Their definition is based on the one used by the FBI for its Unified Crime Report, which gathers data from police departments around the country. It doesn’t include crimes that most people would consider violent

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or potentially violent, like simple assault, domestic violence, or threatening someone with a weapon. Domestic violence, for example, was one of the most common types of calls handled by the police, accounting for 3.4 percent of calls through the dispatch system. There were almost 900 reports of shots fired, which made up 3.9 percent of calls. The rest of the dispatch calls are a hodgepodge of irrelevant chatter and life-threatening crises. Police are called to deal with illegal parking, suicide threats, drug overdoses, home security alarms, fist fights and fireworks. The dispatch system also includes police-initiated reports of arrests, warrants served, “park, walk and talk” community relations activities, lunch breaks and shift changes. Some activists in favor of “defunding the police” – a nebulous

slogan that encompasses anything from decreasing police funding incrementally to abolishing departments completely – have advocated “unbundling” police activities. That means armed police officers would only respond to certain crimes, while other people, including social workers, would respond to the many other types of calls police now handle. Proponents of this approach see police continuing to respond to violent crimes. But semi-violent situations, or situations that don’t rise to the UCR definition of violent crime, complicate that idea. Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza mentioned domestic violence in an NBC interview as the kind of issue where a social worker should respond instead of a police officer. “What we’re saying is, invest in

the resources communities need. So much of policing right now is generated and directed toward quality of life issues: homelessness, drug addiction, domestic violence and conflict,” she said. But while some domestic violence calls may involve minor incidents, some can turn into murders, not only of domestic violence victims, but also of the people responding. One study estimated that six officers are killed on average every year while responding to domestic violence calls, and over 4,000 are assaulted. “Domestic violence is an awfully broad category, so I think there are certainly instances where I would think you would want an individual who is well trained in tactics,” said Avidan Cover, a law professor at Case Western University who specializes in civil and human rights. While social workers could create better outcomes than police in less volatile incidents, “How you make determination, say, at the dispatch level is a very difficult [question].” Cleveland’s dispatch system also contains codes that offer clues to what happened when police responded to those calls – in many cases, not much. (The police department hadn’t answered our request for information about the CAD system or disposition codes by press time.) When police responded to calls labeled as domestic violence, the most common code was “ADV” – which, in the Cincinnati dispatch system, is translated as “Advised.” That accounted for 14 percent of domestic violence calls. The second most common was “NC,” which probably means “noise complaint.” Only 2.4 percent of those calls are labeled as ending in “ARR,” or arrest. That’s far lower, for comparison, than the percentage of Cincinnati domestic violence calls that end in arrest. For the same time period, nearly 14 percent of domestic violence dispatch calls there ended with an arrest. The most likely outcome label was “offense report,” which accounted for a third of cases. Police responses to “shots fired” calls were even less likely to yield results. In a third of cases, police labeled those calls as “UTL,” or | clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

FEATURE UPFRONT “unable to locate,” likely meaning the shooter didn’t stick around until the cops arrived. Another 7 percent are labeled “GOA,” or “gone on arrival.” Less than half a percent of shots-

defunding the police, and believes that effective, safe policing may require even greater police funding. But he also pointed to Cleveland’s 2019 budget, a third of which went to policing. Meanwhile, public health, economic development and housing each got two percent or less. “Those priorities seem out of whack to me,” he added. -Cid Standifer

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fired calls ended in an arrest. Cover noted that in a best-case scenario, outcomes other than arrest indicate officers successfully mediated a conflict or de-escalated a situation, or at least made the community member who called them feel heard and supported. In a worstcase scenario, it can mean officers failed to take a report seriously. There’s no shortage, in Cleveland or nationally, of media stories about police failing to help victims. Last year, a Plain Dealer project focused on a woman who reported her violent rape to the Cleveland police. After months of waiting for an arrest, she learned the detectives initially assigned to her case hadn’t made a single phone call to find out her rapist’s identity. As the #defundpolice argument has picked up steam, survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault have posted countless stories on social media about police failing to act when called. When crime victims can’t count on cops to protect them, Cover said it adds a second element to the “defund the police” argument. “One [element] is, calling the police results in violence to people: unnecessary, state-sanctioned violent death; and the other is, why even bother calling [if] the work they’re doing is ineffectual. If that’s the proposition...maybe you shouldn’t call the police,” he said. Cover said that he doesn’t support

Cuyahoga County Preparing to Bailout Hilton Cleveland Downtown Cuyahoga County Council’s Finance and Budget committee met Monday afternoon to receive additional information about a proposed bailout of the Hilton Cleveland Downtown Hotel. The controversial measure, proposed in recent weeks, would entail an additional $7.9 million expenditure from the county’s general fund, at minimum. It would cover the balance of Hilton Worldwide’s expected 2020 contribution to debt service and taxes, which the hotel chain alleges it cannot pay due to significant loss of business caused by Covid-19. The county maintains that as the owner of the facility — Hilton Worldwide merely manages it for an annual fee — taxpayers are obligated to cover the full debt and tax load. In fact, the county has objected to the “bailout” terminology on these grounds. Until now, county taxpayers and Hilton have teamed up each year to cover the substantial payments on $230 million in municipal bonds taken out in 2014 to finance the hotel’s construction. Hilton has already paid $3.7 million in the first half of 2020 but said it will be

making no more payments for the rest of the year. The county now claims it is on the hook for $6.5 million in debt service and $1.4 million in taxes, (all on top of the $9.5 million it had budgeted for its own contributions). Monday, presenters from CHMWarnick, the hotel asset management company that the county retains to provide updates about the Hilton’s financial performance, gave a PowerPoint outlining the grim regional and nationwide trends that supposedly justify Hilton’s inability to pay its freight. (Last week, County Council extended CHMWarnick’s consulting contract for three more years, to the tune of about $250,000 per year.) Hilton’s occupancy numbers are alleged to be proprietary information, but CHMWarnick provided data about recent group cancellations at the Hilton and per-room revenue losses on various hotel classes. The Hilton Cleveland Downtown is considered an “upper upscale” hotel, one tier below the topmost “luxury” class. In March, an 80 percent yearover-year decline in revenue perroom nationwide was described as unprecedented in history. “Nothing comes close,” said CHMWarnick VP

Larry Trabulsi. Covid’s effects, he said, have been even more severe for luxury and upper upscale hotels than midscale and economy brands. Cleveland.com reported Monday that the lease agreement between the county and Hilton from 2013, promoted by then-County Executive Ed FitzGerald and approved by county council with only one dissenting vote, obligated county taxpayers to cover shortfalls on projected revenue. Multiple county councilpeople Monday proclaimed their ongoing support for the hotel, in spite of the recent financial peril. “While I understand these concerns,” said Councilman Michael Gallagher, “that hotel, at a cost of $230 million, produced $180 million for Northeast Ohio [via the RNC]. Any suggestion that the hotel, in any way shape or form, is a mistake ... is a mistake.” Councilwoman Sunny Simon and Committee Chair Dale Miller both suggested that the committee should henceforth monitor the hotel’s financial progress on a monthly basis, on the theory that if conditions improve — if there’s a vaccine, for example — the county’s bailout might be amended or rendered unnecessary. -Sam Allard

Cleveland, My Friend Who’s Also Kind of a Mess It’s been almost three months since I’ve been to Playhouse Square, and I really miss it. Yes, fine, I’m a normie who likes that incredibly bougie section of Cleveland with a chandelier in the middle of it. You caught me. For what it’s worth, it’s also the section of the city where universities, media organizations, businesses and nonprofits all exist together within a quarter mile radius but sure, it’s definitely more than a bit pretentious. I’ve spent many of my most precious moments over the past six years in the space between the Scene office next to the baseball stadium and the western edge of the Cleveland State campus on East 18th. Between Scene, the County building, the City Club, the United Way, Starbucks, the Center for Community Solutions, IdeaStream, and the Urban College, that slice of downtown pretty much represents most of my Cleveland experience. And if I had the money and the confidence (or perhaps the opposite of that), I’d get rid of the chandelier and replace it with a no-frills sign that simply says, “Do Better.”

It’s not an effort to call out anyone. That’s really not my style. Instead, it would be an attempt to call in folks. To remind our leaders and our lay people that Cleveland deserves their hard work and that, when you do give it all you have, you can actually make a difference in this city. I know that sounds too fluffy and sentimental. Cheesy, even. But it’s objectively true, and often not in a positive way. From TownHall to City Hall, this city enables people who would be nobodys in other places. Some lawyer from an outlying suburban community probably would not be given free rein to lead an expensive, yet entirely empty and unplanned, effort to bring a massive tech industry into the city. And though many of the same names and faces continue to hold onto tremendous amounts of power in every city, Cleveland’s whos-who can be simultaneously too small time to be impactful yet too big to fail. And what happens, because Cleveland is such a big small town, is that so many people are so interconnected that not only do the select few have outsized influence but those who aren’t inside that circle of influence face disdain or backlash when they offer any critique. So today, I’m going to address my

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FEATURE UPFRONT good friend, Cleveland. Not because I’m leaving, though I am. The “blow things up and don’t look back” thing is reserved specifically for bad action movies. I try to avoid burning bridges when I can and I like Cleveland enough to never want to do that to her. But the city deserves a Do Better agenda and I’ll spell it out as best as I can: Talk is cheap but accountability is worth its weight in gold We need to stop letting people talk about things without explaining exactly what they mean and what specific actionable steps they will take to achieve it (cough, cough, equity). How? By changing the ways they communicate with us and forcing them to, at some point, produce a clear plan that they can be held accountable to.

| clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

Most of the men are mediocre at best and badass women need more respect Cleveland, your women are leading the boardroom meeting and you act like they’re there to get the coffee. Stop it. It’s rude and sloppy but, more importantly, it means your pissing away so much potential. If you go to almost any meeting of the whos-who in Cleveland, any major governing event — heck, even just take a look at who’s on the commissions and boards — you’d think that there are maybe fifteen women in this city. That’s because Cleveland loves to give women ceremonial power and keep the substantive power for its men. This is especially true in the marketing, arts, and creative industries in this city. There are dozens of women working four times as hard as men, with at least twice the talent and six times the level of out-of-office commitments, who are only vaguely referenced by their workplace or a brand that they cultivated for which they get zero credit. Those women are reimagining our city and some of y’all are salivating for a male architect or two. In the public sector, there are a decent number of women in really good positions but very few in really great ones. I hope more women will run in 2021. We need to have competitive races with women candidates running to represent every single powerful institution here. And if we want to make sure that happens- we need other women

and men to encourage them to do so. Hard-working people don’t get paid to criticize, the least you can do is listen Many of Cleveland’s most ardent supporters have almost no ability to share their views on the city. People in media, public service, labor, nonprofits — folks who get paid a salary that would only be tolerated in this city, and one that’s only tolerated because it means you get to stay here and work in this region — are constantly maligned or silenced. It’s as if only if you have a private sector job and a home that’s on half an acre of suburban property can you speak openly about the city. And that is so incredibly stupid. Because why on earth would you prioritize someone who seeks only potential private gain above the person who literally works on behalf of the public? How about, instead of inviting them all into a room and telling them they need to spend three days only discussing what they love about Cleveland, just sit with them one-onone and pick their brains. Buy them coffee, ask them what tiny thing you can change that might make the city better. Be honest with them and

DIGIT WIDGET $3,066,151.68 Overtime payments that the City of Cleveland shelled out from May 30 - June 6 to cover heightened security during downtown protests and the military curfew imposed in the aftermath.

18 Tamir Rice’s age, as of 6/25/2020, if he hadn’t been shot and killed by Officer Timothy Loehmann in November, 2014.

526 Fireworks complaints that the City of Cleveland received between June 1 -21.

100% Percentage of very low income Clevelanders who live in neighborhoods where the monthly water bill is 4% or more of total household income.

Sam Allard

tell them what you can and can’t do. And for God’s sake stop firing them. Or reporting their actions to their bosses. Or trying to see problems where there aren’t any. I love Cleveland. I will never root for your garbage football team but the city is amazing. And you know what makes it amazing? The people who dedicate every day to this city despite the fact that the talking heads ignore them and their jobs might be at stake if they dare to critique the Mayor’s cabinet members. These people spend every day giving their all to this city. They don’t have time to relax in Playhouse Square and look at the chandelier. They’re doing the work. The rest of us need to Do Better. -Hannah Lebovits

CPT Wants RTA to Defund Transit Police, Shift Dollars to Fare Reduction and Service Clevelanders for Public Transit rallied two weeks ago calling on the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) to cut funding to its police force. Echoing local and nationwide calls to defund and restructure police departments, CPT asked RTA to reduce its transit police funding by half and redirect those dollars to fare reduction and the restoration of routes that have been cut in recent years. In Cleveland, the city’s division of police is by far the largest law enforcement agency, but several others operate with more limited jurisdictions. These include RTA’s transit police, the CMHA police, the Metroparks rangers and the Cleveland Clinic police, not to mention the cornucopia of cops out in University Circle, which include squadrons from University Circle itself (the “UCPD”), Case Western Reserve University, and University Hospitals. RTA’s Transit Police was created

in 1977, shortly after the agency’s founding in 1974, and its mission is all about providing “a safe and orderly transit environment.” But transit police officers spend most of their time writing fare evasion tickets. Or at least they did in 2017, when officers told Scene that they believed law enforcement at RTA had been reduced to a crude form of revenue generation. (RTA was making $25 a pop for first-time fare evaders, and officers were required to write 10 citations per shift.) Later that year, local judge Emanuella Groves ruled that having armed RTA police enforcing fares was unconstitutional. In 2010, the ACLU found that RTA’s fare enforcement mechanism (armed officers on the Red Line and HealthLine) disproportionately affected Black riders. The $25 fee was in fact implemented to prevent needless interactions with the criminal justice system, though fare evasion remains a fourth-degree misdemeanor. Late last year, Cleveland Councilman Kerry McCormack said he had drafted a bill to decriminalize fare evasion. Council lawyers were reportedly checking on a few details, but McCormack’s stated goal was to make penalties for fare evasion effectively the same as penalties for parking violations. Though ridership has steadily declined in recent years, RTA’s police presence has increased. The agency now has 128 full-time officers on its payroll, plus at least 20 part-time officers and additional staff, making it the fourth-largest law enforcement agency in Cuyahoga County. RTA spends upwards of $14 million each year on the transit police. CPT believes that these “limited resources would be better used to fund service and reduce the cost of fares.” -Sam Allard

scene@clevescene.com @clevelandscene

| clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

FEATURE “BLACK LIVES MATTER IS A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION” The Cleveland police union’s ugly history with BLM By Vince Grzegorek

T THE TAIL END OF A conversation in early June hosted by the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association between Black Lives Matter Cleveland co-founder Kareem Henton and Joseph Delguyd, an attorney for the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, the union lawyer offered Henton his cell phone number so the two sides could maintain an open dialogue between activists and police going forward. The gesture came after an hour of mostly civil debate on what the momentous national movement toward police accountability in the wake of the George Floyd protests might mean locally, with Henton arguing that the union’s steadfast and recalcitrant defense of officers accused of misconduct means they’re “complicit in the aggressive police culture that exists,” and Delguyd largely defending recent efforts to reform under the current Consent Decree but acknowledging, “If there is change coming and we can be part of that change, we’d like to be.” A week after, Scene asked Henton to reflect on the conversation. He had three main takeaways. First, that Delguyd was only doing his job as a rep for the union shop. Second, that the union agreed to be part of the conversation at all, and that the lawyer made the longoverdue gesture to open a dialogue, indicates just how powerful the groundswell of support for the Black Lives Matter movement has become. “We go from the inflammatory talk that we would normally get from [Steve] Loomis or [Jeff] Follmer to him saying, ‘I’d love to talk to you.’ That means they’re nervous,” he said. “They’re seeing us for who we really are — as folks that are trying to advocate for necessary change. There’s legitimacy. And folks acknowledge the legitimacy of the protests. That’s a heck of a message.” And third, that the union’s longstanding efforts to defend Timothy Loehmann, among others, shows the CPPA hasn’t strayed far from its origins. “I think about the history of their

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Sequoia Bostick

inception and this all being business as usual,” he said. That history, Henton noted, is right there on CPPA’s website, though it tells a false story with a string of mostly true sentences. “LIKE MUCH OF THE PROGRESS obtained in policing in America, the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association was born out of the most tragic day in the history of the Cleveland Police Department,” the site says. “On July 23, 1968, in the Glenville Section of the city, rioting militants murdered three of our own, and a fourth officer died years later as result of his injuries inflicted that day. While there was no shortage of valor, courage and relentless spirit among the officers that finally brought calm back to the city that day, there was an obvious shortage of necessary equipment which could have saved the lives of police officers as well as the brave civilians who attempted to save them.” “Under the guidance and assistance of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, the

CPPA was formed in January 1969 and became the labor union for all non-supervisory Patrol Officers. Prior to the formation of our Association, our officers took their chances in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to address any grievances. Through successful labor contracts, work hours, sick and vacation time off, and worker rights quickly replaced blanket mistreatment of patrol officers. Out of the tragedy of the Glenville Riots and due to the loud voices of the survivors who fought that day, street officers were soon issued portable radios which enabled citywide communications. Also, the fist Tactical Unit was formed, which trained and equipped specific officers to respond to especially dangerous situations such as riots and barricaded suspects. This valuable unit later became the modern-day Special Weapons and Tactics Unit, or SWAT.” The formation of the CPPA did come in response to the Glenville riots, and yes, the Boston police union, an outfit long noted for its surpassing

dedication to racial equity, lent its support, but the cops’ grievances weren’t all about radios and sick time. Police reform had topped Carl Stokes’ mayoral campaign promises in 1967, and though he intended to correct a laundry list of problems that beset a police force nagged by corruption and violence, the relationship between the mostly white department and the city’s Black citizens was paramount. “All the police knew that few policeman faced charges or an appearance before the grand jury for shooting a Black man while on duty,” Stokes said. This did not make Stokes many friends in the rank and file, many of whom preferred to unleash violence on Cleveland’s Black population with an immunity they’d grown comfortably accustomed to. And when Glenville erupted, those white officers felt personally and deeply aggrieved when, instead of letting white cops parade through the rioting streets with high-powered rifles, Stokes, after convening a large City Hall meeting of only African-American leaders and officials, sidelined white officers from Glenville, allowing only Black officers and the National Guard to work to restore order. Stokes was also vocally critical of the role he felt Cleveland police had played in the violence, writing in his autobiography later that they had been “self-protective, corrupt and destructive.” “There was tension in the department,” one Black female officer told the Plain Dealer. “The whites wanted to go out there and even things up.” “Tell Stokes to go piss on it. Fuck that n----r mayor,” cops radioed each other, according to a federal report on the aftermath. Fear gripped the city’s mostly white west side; cops openly revolted against the police chief and mayor. Fliers were distributed in white neighborhoods warning that invading rioters were coming for their property, and their bodies. The relationship between Cleveland’s Black community and police was

further inflamed. “We’re like a British outpost in Africa,” one patrolman told the Plain Dealer after Glenville, channeling some deep racist feelings. “This had clearly been a fear all along, that a Black mayor would interfere with the police function of protecting the white community against black peril,” Stokes wrote in his autobiography. Roldo Bartimole, writing for The Nation in July of 1969, weighed how the conversation over police violence and race relations had evolved, or regressed, one year after the riots. “The Civil Violence Center report concluded that the Glenville battle may have ‘marked the beginning of a new pattern’ away from black violence against property to ‘violence aimed at personal injury.’ Its failure, however, to put the same test to motivations and actions of white policemen at the outset of the conflict opens the report to criticisms of reaching the conclusions it set out to find, if not succumbing to a racist view of violence. This is suggested by its failure to examine the implications of escalating white violence, despite gory accounts of it in the report. The desire to measure the rise of black violence may produce a self-fulfilling theory as each new black-white confrontation is tested by the question, ‘Is this an escalation of the black revolution?’ Black violence may escalate, and if it does one may be sure that the state and the courts will not condone it. But with the results of the Ahmed Evans case before us, one cannot be so sure of the same opposition to white violence.” This was when the CPPA was born, and the question of Cleveland’s appetite for opposition to white violence was clear in the ensuing years. As the nascent union sought collective bargaining and battled for supremacy and membership against the Fraternal Order of Police, which many officers felt had done little to protect or better their interests (essentially meaning it was not staunch enough in its efforts to battle back reforms), Black bodies piled up in the streets and Black officers lamented the continued violence of those protected and defended by the CPPA and FOP. As Kyle Swenson detailed in his rich history of Cleveland’s police and racial issues of the early 1970s, a Black police sergeant in 1970 told the Call and Post he wondered whether Cleveland police had shown up to an apartment with local Black Panther Party members to “execute a search warrant or to execute any

Blacks found there.” The Call and Post was also at that time running a recurring anonymous column by a Black Cleveland officer, Arthur X, that laid bare what was happening every day on the streets. “Black officers have spoken privately for some time on matters involving questionable police tactics and unequal application of the criminal justice system in Black communities. I saw seven or eight policemen without badges hitting some Black kids over the head for no apparent reason. It was as if they were trying to see how many they could get. If I, as a policeman,

unionization means more pay, better grievance procedures, and a foothold in the political arena where, they claim, they have been buffeted by politicians for years,” the Plain Dealer reported in 1969. “They claim, ‘Every time something happens, it’s the police or the police department. Every time there’s a disorder and the police use as much force as necessary, it’s brutality. ‘We don’t want more rights,’ one organizer says. ‘We want the same rights as other minority groups.’” The force’s own true minority members felt ostracized, and two years later, it wasn’t the CPPA or

Sam Allard

couldn’t do anything about the police violence, then what the hell could the citizens do about it?” The racial lines were clear, even as the CPPA paid lip service to diversity. One officer told the Plain Dealer at the time that as James Magas, the first president of the union, recruited members, “They came to me and said I was a fink and a n----r lover if I didn’t join.” It was Us Against Them. as cops told the local papers, and the only way forward according to the union was to Ammo Up. “What we need right now, right away, are armored vehicles. In the Glenville shootings, they were the victors, they were ambush victors,” Magas told the paper. As the union effort progressed, it became clear that not only was the war on, but that it should be fought with as little accountability as possible. “Organizers insist that

FOP that fought a legal battle to make the city hire more minority officers, but the Black Shield, the African-American union. (Magas did, however, in 1971 vouch full CPPA support and resources for five East Cleveland officers who shot and killed an unarmed Black Shaw high school teacher named Mose Wendell Mitchell after receiving a mistaken report of a robbery, and that even after witnesses came forward to tell East Cleveland and the Plain Dealer that Mitchell did nothing to invite the bullets. “The suspension of a police officer without pay to ease tension from pressure groups must be condemned,” a CPPA statement read at the time.) So, yeah, when you set out to open a belated dialogue between the union and Black Lives Matter — a pressure group, if you will — and all of that history is hard-baked into your

DNA, and the same themes keep coming up, it’s vital to talk about it. “They were never going to let another Black mayor stop them from doing what they were going to do. They wanted to go into Glenville and kill people. They were so pissed they couldn’t go in and eff people up,” Henton said. “I think about that history and how now is business as usual, unconditionally supporting officers.” TO HENTON, THAT THE BLACK Shield has to exist to this day, and that it has to issue statements responding to things like the CPPA announcing a “solidarity moment” in the wake of the George Floyd BLM protests “for those suffering from the devastation being caused to our community and our law enforcement families,” puts a fine point on how the union speaks, or fails to speak, for minority officers and residents. (“Demonstrations like this divide safety forces within their ranks and serve only to further marginalize and alienate community members. This demonstration will impede progress and redirect progressive narratives away from Constitutionally protected community voices attempting to enact critical reforms,” the Black Shield said in response to the CPPA.) Speaking on the panel in June, Henton told Delguyd that union officials, “say the most incendiary things and make brash and insensitive statements against the family members of victims of police violence.” Henton can see the through line from 1969 to today. Where Cleveland union officials once declared that, “This country doesn’t need a Black Panther Party. They have to be wiped out,” union officials have in recent memory opined that, “Black Lives Matter is a domestic terrorist organization.” That’s what Steve Loomis, who’s traded the CPPA president slot with Jeff Follmer a couple times in the last decade, said not once but many times in 2016 and 2017 on Fox News and elsewhere as he gave fullthroated support to Donald Trump’s campaign and even took the historic step of calling a union vote to endorse his candidacy for president. It’s also what one Cleveland police dispatcher wrote on Facebook after the recent BLM protests. (Follmer told Cleveland.com that anything posted on Facebook should be considered protected by the First Amendment.) The inflammatory gasbagging by Loomis wasn’t an anomaly for the cop shop, which in every | clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

| clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

instance of horrifying violence against Black Clevelanders from Tamir Rice on forward has gone beyond the expected deployment of PR to antagonize and belittle the community members who have suffered losses or dared to take a public stand. Follmer might be less physically and psychically dependent on the spotlight than Loomis, but his public statements are no less offensive simply because they appear less often. (Follmer did not respond to a request to be interviewed for this story.) A recent history of the mouths of both men: • When Browns’ receiver Andrew Hawkins wore a shirt reading “Justice for Tamir Rice And John Crawford III” in 2014, Follmer responded by saying: “It’s pretty pathetic when athletes think they know the law. They should stick to what they know best on the field. The Cleveland Police protect and serve the Browns stadium and the Browns organization owes us an apology.” • Loomis, who was president-elect at the time, couldn’t help but chime in: “Entertainers should entertain and not dip into the world of politics. (A world in which MOST are incredibly under qualified to participate.) While we recognize and support 1st amendment rights of all citizens, there are a select and fortunate few that must be held to a higher standard. I have two words for them, Dixie Chicks. The group expressed their political views during concerts and single handily and very quickly destroyed their careers! “The words and actions of sports and entertainment personalities carry a certain amount of weight no matter how uneducated, inciting, and false those opinions are. Entertainers expressing their political views should choose their words and actions wisely. Most of the folks that go to Browns/ Cavs games, (me included) go to support their team, the players, and community. We spend our hard earned money to enjoy time with friends and family and distract ourselves from the day to day grind of life. WE DO NOT go to these games to deal with the personal and political messages from players.” • In 2016 when the city reached a $6 million settlement in the wrongful death of Tamir Rice, Loomis went out of his way to issue a statement demanding that Samaria Rice donate

a portion of the money toward, of all things, gun education. “Something positive must come from this tragic loss,” he wrote. • In 2016 when a dozen officers involved in the chase and 137-shot killing of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams were disciplined, Loomis invited the media to the union hall for a bombastic speech lambasting the “politically motivated and insane” decision by the City. “I’m going to get beat up for saying bad guys, but dammit, that’s what it is,” Loomis said. “Those folks had a choice to make and those folks didn’t make it. Continuously.” “Our goal is to get in front of an arbitrator who’s not swayed by politics or any national discussion,” Loomis said. “Politics in this city is absolutely appalling.” “Now Loomis is going to be the bad guy because I’m going to go get their jobs back,” Loomis said. “And I promise these guys are going to get their jobs back.” • In 2017, as NFL players, including members of the Browns, took knees during the national anthem to protest police violence, Loomis issued a lengthy, rambling, insulting statement saying Cleveland police would, in a counter protest of sorts, refuse to show up to games to hold the American flag. “We decided to pull out of the event after we learned Browns management ‘supports their players freedom of expression’ and that management and their coach knew of and apparently condoned this despicable display. We decided we will not support the hypocrisy of the Browns management and some of its obviously oppressed millionaire players. “The fact the Browns management and ownership are unable or unwilling to control their employees negative and controversial actions may be demonstrative as to why the team performs so pitifully on the field year after year. “There comes a point where a stand must be taken. There comes a point where tolerance is no longer taking ‘the high road,’ it is the easy road. We are way past that point with the Browns, the city administration, and the national false narrative against police and the law-abiding citizens that support us.” The police would protest, Loomis explained with little self-reflection, “not because we do not love our country or our flag, but because we do.” • After the city of Cleveland in 2017 reached a settlement to pay $50,000 to six people arrested during the

protests following the acquittal of Michael Brelo in the Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams killings, Loomis said: “The City of Cleveland continuously sends the wrong message by paying wrongdoers for their criminal activity. The men and women of the Cleveland Police Department and our chief did a great job in allowing peaceful protests while policing violent behavior. It is very unfortunate the city continues to reward dangerous and criminal behavior with large cash ‘settlements’ while ignoring the great work of the CDP, our dismal staffing levels, and the ever increasing violent crime rates in every neighborhood of the city.” Of course, through all of this, the union, under both Loomis and Follmer, has fought to win back the job of Timothy Loehmann, who was fired not for shooting and killing Tamir Rice but instead for lying on his job application. THESE CONVERSATIONS ARE bound to accelerate as we learn more about policing and unions and the movement continues. As the New Yorker wrote in a recent story, “In a forthcoming study, Rob Gillezeau, a professor and researcher, concluded that, from the nineteen-fifties to the nineteen-eighties, the ability of police to collectively bargain led to a substantial rise in police killings of civilians, with a greater impact on people of color. ‘With the caveat that this is very early work,’ Gillezeau wrote on Twitter, on May 30th, ‘it looks like collective bargaining rights are being used to protect the ability of officers to discriminate in the disproportionate use of force against the non-white population.’” Cleveland’s Consent Decree now extends into 2022. It’s the second such agreement with the Department of Justice based on the department’s pattern and practice of civil rights violations. Between the two, the Plain Dealer documented dozens of police-involved shootings that went unpunished alongside a mountain of other useof-force cases that resulted in the same outcome. For instance, “All of the 4,427 [use of force] investigations by supervisors from Jan. 1, 2003, through Sept. 9, 2006, ended in the officers’ favor.” In 2012, the union was steadfast in its defense when presented with years of data. “What gets lost in all of this is that the officers are not the initiators. They’re the responders. They are responding to antisocial behavior. People don’t realize what it is like to be a police officer. The

real problem here is the criminal element,” a union lawyer told the Plain Dealer that year in thinly veiled language. “The criminals have become more lawless. But we, as a society, focus on the officers who respond to the lawless element. We don’t call out the people who initiate this conduct.” The city has meanwhile shelled out tens of millions in civil settlements for those use of-force cases both lethal and less so, and very few cops have lost their jobs. One of those non-lethal cases involved a young, 15-year-old Hispanic boy with Down Syndrome who in 2010 was roughed up by an officer named Brian Kazimer who, when not tackling the boy into a car like a football player, was hurling racial epithets at his mother. The city settled a lawsuit filed by teen’s family for $250,000 in 2016. In the midst of the largest George Floyd protest in downtown Cleveland, as Cleveland police allegedly gave dispersal orders heard by few in the crowd, and as, reporting has shown, they launched tear gas before any violence or property damage occurred, a Cleveland officer was captured on an Instagram video using his baton to hit a non-violent protestor who posed no threat. That officer was Brian Kazimer. Union president Jeff Follmer excused his actions in a statement to Cleveland.com as citizen complaints of police force during the protest mounted in the weeks after. “He was not prepared nor supposed to be on the front line,” Follmer said. “He was put in that position, which he did not have the proper equipment for.” Perhaps if he only had more armored vehicles. “Two years ago, they felt like they were ahead in the propaganda war,” Henton told Scene when asked how things have changed. “Now, what do we see? We’re really showing the ugly side, and that it’s not just about what an officer did to an unarmed victim. It’s about tactics. It’s about their attitudes. It’s about critiquing the culture. We’re all looking at the same picture now, and now words like qualified immunity and collective bargaining agreements, those words were not on the tips of most peoples’ tongues before. And now people know what they mean. “They’re the same union,” he said, “they’re just now poised for a different approach for this battle because we have a lot more folks behind us now.”

@vincethepolack vgrzegorek@clevescene.com

| clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

ARTS THE STUFF OF DREAMS

From East Cleveland to a national poetry fellowship: Cuyahoga County poet laureate Honey Bell-Bey is getting her due

CUYAHOGA COUNTY POET laureate Honey Bell-Bey recently received an award from the Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships. The prizes, $50,000 to $100,000 in range, are unrestricted awards given to commend poets appointed to serve in civic positions. Receiving the nod was a major moment for Bell-Bey, who didn’t think she had a shot. She was in her doctor’s office when she received the news. Patients were being issued masks for COVID-19. She leaned against the wall, and, out of concern, a nurse asked her was she OK. Overhearing the conversation, another nurse exclaimed, “Oh, she’s alright! Based on what I just heard!” “Here you have this little girl from East Cleveland, Ohio in these broken circumstances who has always looked to Nicky Giovanni and Maya Angelo,” she said. “The reality was that any title bestowed upon them could be bestowed upon me. It was beyond what this little girl dreamed of.” She also recalls being in disbelief when, while distributing items at a local food bank, she saw her picture in a New York Times article featuring the winners. “It was like God was saying, ‘I got you,’” she said. “When you are busy doing the work of God, then He will come in and bless [the work].” Reading works such as Phenomenal Woman and Still I Rise, Bell-Bey hopes that the legacy she leaves is found by another little girl that “finds a way for her feet to fit in those shoes.” The East Cleveland native says that she’s been a poet her entire life, and that, as an educator of poetry, she strives to bring the passion of poetry and language arts to young people and women. “I’ve always used the power of words to transform emotional trauma and put [ourselves] into the driver’s seat of [our] lives instead of staying in the position of the victim,” she said. “It just so happened that I would use poetry to do that. It’s intentional work. Like an emotional

Photo Courtesy Honey Bell-Bey

By Tyisha Blade

gangrene. It will eat you alive.” She recalls spending a number of years in pain and relates to being a Black woman in the silent suffering. “We are unintentionally taught to be strong,” she said. “You don’t let people see you cry or break, and that manifests inwardly. People see it though, in our relationships and who we are physically and emotionally.” She also recalls being told that Cleveland would not have a poet laureate, then gracefully receiving title for the entire county. After her appointment as lareate, just one year later, she received the The Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships award. The money is nice, but that’s not the part that most satisfies her. “I sincerely appreciate the financial incentive to further my work, but the thing is that I have been doing this my entire life with no money,” she said. “Yes, I have never been dictated by money, but the title, that was due me.” Working through the COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t changed Bell-Bey’s

message in her work, nor has it deterred her from her mission. “When the schools closed, I opened a virtual academy the next day,” she said. “I wasn’t playing. I was ready.” She continues to reach young people with her virtual classes where she teaches using puppetry, poetry, life skills, cooking ,painting, reading and writing to engage the students. One of her lead students, Caillou Allen, will be attending Morehouse College in the fall. Motivated by Bell-Bey’s teachings and his upbringing, Allen wants to give back to his people. He loves to read and keeps constant dialogue with her on several topics “The knowledge that when I grow up, I will be able to reach back and help my Black people, that inspires me,” he said. Bell-Bey shares the feeling. As a revolutionary, she believes in using the power and energy used in the generations before her to produce results. “What are you doing right now?” she questioned. “What are we doing with our power?” With the award received from

The Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships, Bell-Bey plans to initiative several projects. For instance, she wants to aid writers that are not financially able to publish their work. “They don’t know the tools to use, they don’t know the editing process,” she said. “I am going to walk them through that.” Once individuals complete her virtual sessions, she would like to aid in paying for publishing. She is adamant in pushing the power that helps people tell their stories. She also plans to utilize P.O.E.T. (Power Over Emotional Trauma) to help women travail over their experiences. She would employ healing workshops with poetry being its foundation. “I really want to help women with these still waters that run deep,” she said. “It’s that stuff that you don’t talk about, but it’s still there. Everyone of us has power over that thing that tried to make us powerless.” Biking is a passion of Bell-Bey’s and also intends to buy all of her students good-quality mountain bikes. As an Ohio Certified Prevention Specialist, Bell-Bey will continue her work with chemical dependency prevention. She works with the Cleveland Urban Minority Alcoholism Drug Abuse Outreach Program to provide services that promote health and drug free living among the African American citizens. She will also utilize the program’s facility, located on 79th street, for her recently opened food pantry. Every Wednesday at 11 a.m., she and her team provide fresh produce and meat from Dave’s, Heinens and Giant Eagle for the community. Bell-Bey feels that her life, in the current moment, is ‘the tale of two cities.’ “It’s the best of times and the worst of times,” she said. While she is thrilled to continue her work she relates to the pain that many people are facing through this pandemic. “When you are mission-driven, you never stop serving.”

@clevelandscene scene@clevescene.com | clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

EAT TWO MEALS, TWO WORLDS A reborn Mojo dazzles, even in these bizarre times

I WENT 14 WEEKS WITHOUT eating a meal inside a restaurant, an unprecedented span of time that has not been repeated in my entire adult life. It most certainly hasn’t happened during my two-decade stint as a food writer. My last working meal took place on March 11 at Mojo, the new-old concept that chef Michael Herschman opened in the former Lopez space in Cleveland Heights. I had already planned a return visit for the review when, well, we all know what happened. So, what a perfect way to bookend the story by having my first meal back on the beat take place at the same spot as my outgoing meal. Needless to say, everything except for the food has changed during that three-month span. The last time we ate at Mojo, our table neighbors were so close that they inquired about the dishes on our table after coveting them. This time around, I practically had to shout to say hello to a friend at an “adjacent” table. Of course, the distance between tables is just one of a million little (and big) things that diners now confront when visiting a restaurant. At Mojo, guests are subjected to a quick temperature check, the soles of one’s shoes are sprayed and (ostensibly) disinfected, and hands make their way through the sanitation station. The entire staff, including host, bartender, servers and chef, is wearing a mask. Menus that used to be mounted on rigid poster board are now printed on thin disposable paper. When Herschman announced his plans to revive Mojo, the pioneering small-plate restaurant that he launched in Tremont, I was thrilled. Though it had been 20 years since I dined there, I can recall with giddy clarity the experience, which proved to be a formative one for me personally. Here was a buzzy chef-owned bistro in a burgeoning neighborhood serving up a dizzying selection of dishes, each more compelling and tantalizing than the last. While no longer pioneering, the

| clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

Photo by Doug Trattner

By Douglas Trattner

food at Mojo is every bit as exciting as I remember. Built for mixing and matching, the menu features two dozen options (down from three dozen pre-Covid) priced from $7 to $17. All the bases are covered in terms of vegetarian, seafood and meat-based concoctions, most displaying the chef’s flair for weaving cross-cultural influences

A dark and brittle-crisp tempura shell encases three large, succulent shrimp ($9) sporting a warm fivespice aroma. They arrive atop a pool of coconut and chile-infused peanut sauce. A medium-size bowl struggles to contain a riot of flavors and textures that starts with perfectly fried boneless chicken thighs and ends with a runny fried

MOJO WORLD EATS 2196 LEE RD., CLEVELAND HTS. 216-932-0000 MOJOCLE.COM

into a seamless finished product. This time around we munched and crunched on crispy-fried tofu triangles ($8) dressed with a zippy red chile glaze and set against a cool and gingery mixed vegetable slaw. Last time around we enjoyed the sweet and spicy calamari ($10), a version of which the chef has been playing with for eons. Another blast from the past stars thin-sliced rare steak ($10) and bouncy sweet potato noodles in a lively red curry vinaigrette. Gazpacho ($7.50), a seasonal special, had a hint of cumin and an ideal texture that landed between baby-food smooth and too chunky.

egg. In between is punchy, crunchy housemade kim chi and a smokysweet Asian-spiced glaze. Those with larger appetites – or guests who are willing to share – should ponder the brisket poutine ($10), a mountain of french fries, tender smoked meat, savory mushroom gravy and fresh mozzarella, all capped with an egg. Next time I might consider ordering two plates of the lamb chops ($14) because three bones are never enough. These came with tender scallion pancakes and a refreshing raita. One pleasant holdover from the Lopez days is the beverage program, which features

potent potables like pitchers of margaritas, carefully crafted cocktails and well-chosen wines by the glass and bottle. We enjoyed those margaritas on a sparsely populated patio because the concept of dining inside a restaurant still is something I’m not eager to do. Exchanges with a server, however fleeting and brief, are accompanied by anxiety and uncertainty. Do we put the masks back on whenever she arrives? Is that a look of trepidation on her masked face? When did dining out become such a stressful activity? I’d like to think that with time and practice, the dread will dissipate, because I truly do miss the feeling of escape that comes with a great restaurant experience, not to mention leaving the dishes to someone else. And eating out is the best way to support our local restaurants, most of which are struggling to survive. But the coronavirus hasn’t gone away, workers still are constantly at risk of getting ill and not everybody is being careful. Personally, I plan on taking it one meal at a time.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

EAT BITES

Society Lounge team claims former Hodge’s space for casual downtown bar

FOR MONTHS, JOSEPH Fredrickson was on the hunt for a space that offered him and his team the sorts of features that Society Lounge, which is going on eight years, did not. With the former Hodge’s property, he believes he found it. Just days ago, he signed a lease and began the work of building that bar. “We die in summertime at Society because we have no patio and we have a high threshold of entry because the cocktails aren’t easy to make and take a team to bang out,” he explains. “This will be low-threshold, where you can get a High Life and a burger for under 10 bucks. And it will have a lot of fun and playfulness that we don’t normally dip into because it’s more refined at Society.” Sixth City Sailor’s Club, the working name for the place, will be a downtown neighborhood cocktail bar. The business will take advantage of the wonderful courtyard patio that for years has served as a gathering space for downtown residents and workers. Fredrickson says that quality and hospitality will still be front and center, but the attitude will be casual, unpretentious and fun thanks to slushie drinks, draft cocktails and quick turnaround. Guests can expect a lively nautical theme. As for the food, the team will work with a consulting chef to create a menu, perhaps along the lines of Cleveland-style comfort foods with riffs on Polish Boys, pierogis, and build-yourown burgers. Down the road, Fredrickson would like to see the business function all day long, from coffee and breakfast in the morning on through lunch to late-night cocktails. His ambitious goal is to try and get the doors open in about a month, but admits that the early days might feel more like a pop-up than a finished product. “The whole point of doing this right now is to mitigate losses,” he explains. “We know that profitability is out the window for 2020. We know that Society Lounge

Photo Credit: Google Maps

By Douglas Trattner

isn’t the ideal place to be if you’re nervous about being inside. Patios seem to be the thing that people are most comfortable with right now and this gives me the opportunity to build the bar that I always wanted to.”

Lakewood Truck Park Now Open Two weeks ago, Dan Deagan got the call he’d been eagerly waiting for. A liquor license had been secured and he could open Lakewood Truck Park, which he and partner Justin Costanzo did on Friday, June 19. “Finally, I’m so excited,” Deagan says. “This has been five years in the making. It’s going to be a lot of fun.” Located at the corner of Detroit and Edwards, the spacious lot is now officially home to a year-round courtyard coupled with an indoor bar, rotating food trucks and al

fresco entertainment. The outdoor venue could not come at a better time for consumers, who desire to be outside as much as possible. “I think people will be more comfortable at the Truck Park, with it basically being an open-air, mostly outdoor venue, so that could very much benefit us,” he notes. “It’s essentially an 8,000-square-foot patio.” Deagan says that the food truck selection might be light in the opening days thanks to a new inspection process in Lakewood that truck operators must go through. Deagan, by the way, is about to celebrate 10 years of success at Deagan’s Kitchen in Lakewood and 7 years at nearby Humble Wine Bar.

Flight Cleveland Reopens Bar and Patio Flight Cleveland (5712 Detroit

Ave., 216-400-6867), the popular wine bar and bottle shop in Detroit Shoreway, has been closed since mid-March save for retail wine sales. On July 1, the bar will reopen for full-service enjoyment, both indoors and on the patio. Of course, given the current state of affairs, the reopening comes with more than a few catches. First and foremost, there will be a strict mask policy that requires guests to wear them when entering the premises and while moving about within. Obviously, they are not required while seated and drinking. Reservations will be accepted for indoor seats, but the patio will be seated on a first-come, first-served basis. Those who do secure seats (inside or out) will be restricted to a time limit that encourages turnover (and, hopefully, revenue for the shopkeeper). Groups of five or fewer | clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

will be capped at one and a half hours, while groups of six and above can linger for up to two hours. If nobody happens to be waiting for a table, guests are free to remain. Speaking of waits: if you do find yourself waiting for a table, you will need to do so off-premises. You will be called when your table opens up. And finally, the hours and days of operation have been modified, so check the website before heading down.

Market Garden Brewery Reopening July 1st, Nano Brew to Follow July 14th After a prolonged shutdown due to the coronavirus and state mandates, Market Garden and Nano Brew are ready to come back online, on July 1st and July 14th, respectively. “We’re normally on the bleeding edge of things,” says Sam McNulty. “We’re used to risk and we embrace it, but we didn’t want to rush reopening and risk our team’s health or our guests’ health until we felt ready. We feel that way now, and we’ll have all the right hygienic measures in place and proper physical distancing and with the outdoor space we’re putting in, we’re ready to get back to having fun.” That new outdoor space at Market Garden will be parkletstyle tables where about two dozen streetside parking spots now exist, possible thanks to the city of Cleveland’s recent legislation that aimed at helping restaurants and bars expand safe, outdoor seating. “Kind of think if it like the fun will be spilling into West 25th,” says McNulty. While the usual full roster of beers, plus new seasonal additions, remains the same, the Market Garden food menu has gotten a makeover to feature a few favorites but mainly center around ‘Cleveland-style’ pizza, though McNulty remains coy about the details. “We’ve been recipe testing for weeks now, and all I’ll say is you’re going to love it,” says McNulty. “We figured now was a great opportunity to blow everything up and start fresh.” Over at Nano Brew, doors will open on July 14th with few changes. With a spacious patio, there was already ample outdoor seating, though McNulty says they’ll activate a “hidden courtyard” that hasn’t been used before.

| clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

Quintana’s Speakeasy in Cleveland Heights Now Reopen As Well Quintana’s Speakeasy (2200 S. Taylor Rd., 216-262-8288) in Cleveland Heights, which has been closed since Sunday, March 15, will reopen for business on Wednesday, July 1. Owners Alex and Dawn Quintana say that they have been waiting for the coronavirus numbers in Ohio to move in the right direction, while using the down time to formulate a plan and procedure to return safely to work. Despite the atypical setting – a snug, woodsy enclave on the upper two floors of a 1920s-era colonial that houses a barbershop on the main floor – management believes that the style and nature of the business makes it a great fit for social-distance drinking. “We’re primarily a cocktail program with reduced touch points, and the venue lends itself to a significant amount of intimacy, so that people feel a little bit more comfortable,” explains Alex Quintana. “For us, 75 to 100 people on a Friday or Saturday night is an incredible evening for us. Our price point is such that we don’t need a bunch of college kids coming in here and getting a bucket of White Claw to make it.” In addition to the second- and third-floor spaces, the Speakeasy has a front porch that can be reserved by a single party and a new back patio that can accommodate 20 additional guests. The entire staff will be wearing masks, guests will be subjected to quick temperature checks and sanitation stations will be located throughout the property. When the Speakeasy opened five years ago, it wasn’t immediately clear that there would be a market for an upscale cocktail bar located above an off-the-beaten-path barbershop, but the Quintanas have cultivated a devoted following while earning a reputation as a high-end watering hole. “I’ve always felt that if you build it they will come, but I’m not exactly sure if that’s true still,” adds Alex. “The community has been a pretty faithful supporter; here’s hoping they come back.” Reservations, which can be made by calling or through the website, are strongly encouraged.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

Photo by Abe Robinson at blind 7 Photography

MUSIC WELCOME BACK

Mushroomhead’s Steve ‘Skinny’ Felton talks about the Cleveland band’s prophetic new album By Jeff Niesel THE LOCAL HARD rock band Mushroomhead last week released its latest album, A Wonderful Life, the theatrical group’s first studio release in five years. Produced by the band’s mastermind/drummer Steve “Skinny” Felton and mixed by Matt Wallace (Faith No More, 3 Doors Down), the album finds the group working with the Cleveland Chamber Choir for the very first time. The release also features new singer Steve Rauckhorst, and the songs reflect a “cry for societal unity,” as it’s put in a press release. Felton recently spoke about the release via phone from the band’s North Royalton shop where he was prepping for a photo shoot by finishing up some new masks.

I imagine you were supposed to be on the road this summer. How disappointed are you that you’re not currently on a tour in support of the album? It’s pretty crazy to even think about it. This is the first year in 17 straight years that we haven’t had a confirmed tour. It’s the first time in seven years that we haven’t been on the road in May. It’s very strange to us to be home right now. We’re like, “Wow. Cleveland has nice weather? This is crazy.” We had no idea. I imagine you’ll be able to tour at some point. What will the stage show be like? We keep talking about it and throwing around more ideas. We just released a new video for “Heresy,” and we talked about bringing some of those elements to the live stage. It’s been five years since your last studio effort, The Righteous & the Butterfly. What took so long? That’s quite a gap. A lot of that time was focused on re-establishing ourselves in Europe and the UK. In 2016, we pushed ourselves to get over there more. One of the things for our live show that’s very important to us is the addition of the water drums and extra percussion. When we traveled outside of the country

previously, we weren’t able to bring those with us. So we got ourselves a storage facility in Germany and started shipping stuff over there. Over the course of a couple of years, we have built up enough gear that we can put on a decent club performance over there. We’ve been going back to Europe and the UK really well. That fell into place really well, and we did a deal with Napalm Records out of Germany. They’re putting out this new record. It’s gone according to plan. We started writing the album with this lineup in December of 2018 and continued through January of 2020, so it’s all really fresh.

Where did you go to record? We did it all here at our studio in sunny North Royalton. It’s the same place we did the last couple as well. It’s comfortable and easy. It doesn’t feel like there is a time limit going on. We were fortunate on this album to do some recording at Abbey Road Studios in London. The last time we toured the UK, we were fortunate to get some time there. [Singer] Jackie’s vocals on “Heresy” were recorded at Abbey Road. It was kind of fun. It was fun to work on the road. We had a small ProTools rig with us on the road, so we were always writing and arranging. When we were at Abbey Road, I was blown away by the orchestra room and the big rooms where they do the soundtracks. They were setting up for a film score with a huge orchestra on the day we were there. We were in the same room where Dark Side of the Moon was recorded, so it had an epic feel to it. That opening track features such a beautiful intro with the choir. Is that the Cleveland Chamber Choir? Absolutely. Ryan [Farrell] our bass player and keyboard player was able to hook up with those guys. I think he knows them from school. “Pulse” has a choir piece that we originally did with a keyboard. We thought it would be good to get a choir, and Ryan said he would see what he could do. Once we booked them, we thought it would be nice to

have them do some more stuff. Ryan put together a couple of his own requiem pieces. We bookended the album with them, and it turned out amazing. It’s a really nice touch.

Is there a concept to the album? It does seem like it. With the current state of the world and everything happening, you’d think we wrote these lyrics last week. You can really apply some of this stuff directly. We try to make art, but it turned out really prophetic and scary. “Seen It All” features a melodic chorus that reminds me of Faith No More. That main hook was written on the bus. I believe we were in San Antonio. You can hear birds on the intro of the song, and those were the birds that were directly outside of the bus. I love that track. Part of the reason we picked it is because it’s very energetic. It has a solid hook. It’s very much a Mushroomhead hook-y tune. I’ve heard people call it a modern “Sun Doesn’t Rise.” I’m cool with that. “The Heresy” comes off as a particularly dark tune. What is the song about? It’s another one that we leave open to interpretation. There’s a lot about leaning on faith in that one. It’s about what you have faith in and what you put your faith in. It’s up to the listener to decide where are you going to stand when the time comes. It’s a reflection of the inner life and looking at your life and taking responsibility for it. That’s my take on it. How has Cleveland has informed the band’s music? We’ll always have some kind of character that’s connected to our

local roots. It’s imbedded in the music. There’s an attitude that comes out of Cleveland. It’s “don’t tell me I can’t do something.” You hear that theme throughout our music as well. Coming up in the ’90s, Cleveland had such a killer music scene. A lot of booking agents look past Cleveland, but there’s a lot of talent here. We’re always the butt of everyone’s jokes. We have come to accept it with pride at this point. It’s like, “Damn right, we’re from Cleveland.” Steve Rauckhorst has a mask that’s modeled off the Carnegie Bridge Guardian. That’s a tip of the hat to our hometown.

When the group started, were you part of the metal or hardcore scene? We were with all of it. We played with anyone from Integrity to Unified Culture, and we did huge rave parties. We did sideprojects like 216 that crossed over into all of that territory as well. We weren’t shy. We felt like we fit in with everything. At the end of the day, it’s entertainment. That’s what Mushroomhead was meant to do. It was meant to entertain us, and for some reason, it still is. We’re lucky. The future of live music remains uncertain, but is there any chance you have your annual Halloween shows on the schedule? I had this conversation with my agent today. Halloween is on hold. We’re not saying it’s cancelled or postponed. It’s on hold. Our fingers are crossed. We hope the whole world comes out of this thing. We hope next year is like the beginning of the roaring ’20s all over again and everyone is ready to work and spend money and make money and live again. We’re optimistic.

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel | clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

| clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

SAVAGE LOVE KINKED GAYS by Dan Savage

If your boyfriend is bluffing, GAYSUB, you wanna know that sooner rather than later. Your still-relatively-new-ish boyfriend gave you permission to act on your kinks at the same time he asked your permission to fuck someone else. You gave him your okay and I assume you meant it, GAYSUB; you meant it when you told him he could, if and when “a connection happens,” go ahead and fuck the dude. Seeing as he took your “yes” for an answer where his “connections” are concerned, GAYSUB, I think you should take his “yes” for an answer where your kinks are concerned. So go find some hot Dom you wanna submit to and let your boyfriend know you’re gonna get your kink on. If it turns out your boyfriend was lying to you — if he’s one of those people who wants to be free to play with others (which is why he got your okay) but doesn’t want his partner playing with others (and the okay he gave you was insincere) — it’s better to find that out twelve short months

into this relationship than to find it out ten years, a mortgage, one kid and two dogs into this relationship. And what you describe about the void you feel is understandable to anyone with kinks, GAYSUB, and even vanilla people can understand if they think about it for even a moment. (That vanilla stuff you enjoy, vanilla people? Imagine never being able to do any of it. See?) Your kinks are an intrinsic aspect of your sexuality and repressing them — not having any way to explore or express them — does take an emotional toll. It can also breed resentment if your partner is the reason you can’t explore or express them. Which means if your boyfriend wants you to be happy and wants you to be a good boyfriend to him, then you need to have the freedom to be who you are. For some kinky people porn is enough of an outlet, GAYSUB, but most kinky people want actual experiences. Often a vanilla partner is willing and able to meet a kinky partner’s needs and that’s great. But sometimes a vanilla partner can’t do it or is incapable of faking it or does it poorly on purpose so they won’t be asked to do it again. And for some kinksters the awareness you’re being indulged makes it impossible to get into the right subby headspace. If either is the case, you’ll have to outsource these desires to fill that void. If your boyfriend gives you the okay and has a little breakdown after you get home — if it dredges up some unexpected feelings (and you should expect that it will dredge up some unexpected feelings, so expect those unexpected feelings) — and needs some reassurance, that’s fine. Answer any questions he has and let him know you’re not going anywhere; indeed, the fact that you don’t have to choose between him and your kinks makes you far less likely to end this relationship. (Sometimes people who weren’t even in the dungeon during the scene need a little aftercare too.) But if you’re careful not to neglect your boyfriend sexually or emotionally and your kinky dates are just an occasional thing and your boyfriend keeps having great, big, dramatic meltdowns, GAYSUB, then that’s a

up to her about wanting to be tied up abused. Are gay guys just kinkier? — Talking Over Perversions

Joe Newton

Hey, Dan: I have a question. I’m a gay man in a relationship and we’re both really happy since we met a year ago. We’re “open” in the sense that he wants the option to be intimate with someone else if a connection happens and in turn he said he would be supportive of me being involved in my kinks. But I haven’t done anything yet out of fear. I’m not afraid of my kinks. I’m worried that if I ask to go do something kinky it will ruin our relationship. I don’t think he was bluffing when he said it was okay for me to explore my kinks with other guys, but it worries me. I tend to repress the kink part of my sexuality and I’m worried that him knowing I want to act on it will cause issues. My boyfriend and I are so balanced but in the kink aspects of my life I’m a submissive and need to engage in power exchange with someone. I miss being able to express these things and it feels like there’s a void in my life. That might sound silly, but it’s true. I think repressing them is actually taking a toll on my mental health. Any advice? — Guy’s Abandoned Yearnings Subtly Undermining Bond

bad sign. If he punishes you with drama every time he gives you his okay to play with someone else then he’s hoping you’ll decide to stop seeking these experiences out because the emotional price is too great. You won’t be able to remain in this relationship if that’s what winds up happening, GAYSUB, so you’re going to wanna act on your kinks at least a half a dozen times before you get a dog or a mortgage.

Hey, Dan: My new boyfriend just opened up to me about his kinks. Nothing crazy: just bondage and humiliation. While he usually meets and dates guys off kinky dating sites, we met “the old-fashioned way” a few months before COVID-19 slammed us here in Chicago: at a potluck dinner party thrown by a mutual straight lady friend. Your name came up during the conversation about his interests: he told me he was taking your advice and “laying his kink cards on the table” before I had made too much of an emotional commitment. What’s interesting to me, Dan, is how often this happens. My boyfriend is easily the fourth guy I’ve dated in the last few years who laid down the exact same kink cards: wants to be tied up, wants to be called names, wants to be hurt. I’m learning to tie knots and getting better at calling him names when we have sex and I actually really enjoying spanking him. But I was talking with a friend — our straight lady mutual (with the boyfriend’s okay!) — and she told me she’s never had a straight guy open

I have a theory … When we’re boys … before we’re ready to come out … we’re suddenly attracted to another boy. And that’s something we usually feel pretty panicked about. It would be nice if that first same-sex crush was something a boy could experience without feelings of dread or terror, TOP, but that’s not how it works for most of us. We’re keenly aware that, should the object of our desire realize it — if the boy we’re attracted to realizes what we’re feeling, if we give ourselves away with a stray look — the odds of that boy reacting badly or even violently are high. Even if you think the boy might not react violently, even if you suspect the boy you’re crushing on might be gay himself, the stakes are too high to risk making any sort of move. So we stew with feelings of lust and fear. Sexual desire can make anyone feel fearful and powerless — we’re literally powerless to control these feelings (while we can and must control how we act on these feelings) — but desire and fear are stirred together for us gay boys to much greater degree than they are for straight boys. We fear being found out, we fear being called names, we fear being outed, we fear being physically hurt. And the person we fear most is the person we have a crush on. A significant number of gay guys wind up imprinting on that heady and very confusing mix of desire and fear. The erotic imaginations of guys like your boyfriend seize on those fears and eroticize them. And then, in adulthood, your boyfriend want to re-experience those feelings, that heady mix of desire and fear, with a loving partner he trusts. The gay boy who feared being hurt by the person he was attracted to becomes the gay man who wants to be hurt — in a limited, controlled, consensual and safe way — by the man he’s with.

mail@savagelove.net FakeDanSavage on Twitter www.savagelovecast.com | clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

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| clevescene.com | July 1-7, 2020

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