Scene March 30, 2016 by Chava Communications

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

$500 OFF if breast augmentation surgery is scheduled before 4-30-16

feeling f lat? WE CAN BOOST YOUR CONFIDENCE { AND YOUR CUP SIZE!}

CALL TODAY FOR YOUR FREE BREAST AUGMENTATION CONSULTATION Nothing looks better on a woman than conﬁdence. At Raj Plastic Surgery, we're conﬁdent in our ability to help you make the right decision for you and your body. Discover how breast augmentation can help you achieve the appearance you desire. A little lift on the outside can lead to a big boost on the inside.

Please call 440.808.8030 to schedule your FREE consultation today. rajplasticsurgery.com Joyesh Raj, M.D., F.A.C.S. Chief of Plastic Surgery, Fairview Hospital Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Certiﬁed by the American Board of Plastic Surgery

Dr. Joyesh Raj now seeing patients in two locations Western Reserve Plastic Surgery 5005 Rockside Rd, Suite 1225 Independence, OH 44131 216.328.0800

Raj Plastic Surgery 850 C | l

bi Rd S it 300 clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

-!2#( !02), s 6/,5-% . O 39 Dedicated to Free Times founder Richard H. Siegel (1935-1993) and Scene founder Richard Kabat Publisher Chris Keating

CONTENTS

Associate Publisher Desiree Bourgeois

5PFRONT

Editor Vince Grzegorek

City Council votes on land deal, marijuana issue gets AG approval, and more

Editorial Managing Editor Eric Sandy Music Editor Jeff Niesel Staff Writer Sam Allard Writer-at-large Kyle Swenson Web Editor Bliss Davis Dining Editor Douglas Trattner Contributing Dining Editor Nikki Delamotte Stage Editor Christine Howey Visual Arts Editor Josh Usmani

&RAMED

Our favorites photos from this past week

Advertising Senior Multimedia Account Executive John Crobar, Shayne Rose Multimedia Account Executives Kiara Hunter-Davis, Joseph Williamson

&EATURE

A survey of Cleveland’s dynamic music scene, from the unsung local heroes to the national acts

Creative Services Production Manager Steve Miluch Layout Editor/Graphic Designer Christine Hahn Staff Photographer Emanuel Wallace Business Asst. To The Publisher Angela Lott Sales Assistant/Receptionist Megan Stimac

'ET /UT

Dozens of events spanning the next week in Cleveland

Circulation Circulation Director Don Kriss Euclid Media Group Chief Executive Ofﬁ cer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Ofﬁ cers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner Human Resources Director Lisa Beilstein Digital Operations Coordinator Jaime Monzon www.euclidmediagroup.com National Advertising Voice Media Group 1-800-278-9866, voicemediagroup.com

!RT

The Cleveland Institute of Art looks toward New York for April’s exhibitions

3TAGE

Cleveland Scene 737 Bolivar Rd, #4100 Cleveland, OH 44115 www.clevescene.com Phone 216-241-7550 Retail & Classiﬁ ed Fax 216-241-6275 Editoral Fax 216-802-7212 E-mail scene@clevescene.com

No profanities are spared in the laugh-packed Bootycandy at convergence-continuum

&ILM

Cleveland Scene Magazine is published every week by Euclid Media Group. Veriﬁ ed Audit Member Cleveland Distribution Scene is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader Copyright The entire contents of Cleveland Scene Magazine are copyright 2016 by Euclid Media Group. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Publisher does not assume any liability for unsolicited manuscripts, materials, or other content. Any submission must include a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. All editorial, advertising, and business correspondence should be mailed to the address listed above. Subscriptions $150 (1 yr); $ 80 (6 mos.) Send name, address and zip code with check or money order to the address listed above with the title ‘Attn: Subscription Department’

Believeland and much more for CIFF’s 40th anniversaryn

$INING

Matcha: the healthy green drink that’s popping up everywherer

-USIC

...The story continues at clevescene.com

The current political climate has inspired singer-guitarist Ani DiFranco

3AVAGE ,OVE

The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco chimes in

Take

SCENE with you with our iPad app! “Cleveland Scene Magazine” COVER BY AARON SECHRIST

248-620-2990

Printed By

ATTENSON’S COVENTRY ANTIQUES AND BOOKS 1771- 75 Coventry Road Hours: 11:30am- 5:30pm Monday thru Saturday

Cleveland $167,900 305 Groveland Club

Third house from the lake! Lake views from 1st & 2nd ﬂoors! 3 BR, 2 full bath colonial on private cul-de-sac street. Private beach club with lake access! Well maintained home ready to just move in.

Presenting Partner

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

Event Sponsors

Lenny Vaccaro Howard Hanna 440.951.4445 vaccaroteam.com

Amazing selections of Jewelry, Antiques, Books & Collectibles Art, Furniture, Vintage Clothing & More! We Buy and Sell

(216)321-2515

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

UPFRONT

RNC PREP HEATS UP AMID DEBATES OVER OPEN-CARRY PETITION AND POLICE RIOT GEAR PURCHASES A protester stands before riot police in May, 2015, on the night of the Michael Brelo protests

THIS WEEK

“FIREARMS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED in the Quicken Loans Arena.” It might seem unnecessary on face value, but that announcement from the U.S. Secret Service is its firm response to a petition to allow the “open carry” of firearms at the Q during the Republican National Convention. As of press time, more than 50,000 people had signed on, despite the fact that “firearms and other weapons of any kind are strictly forbidden on the premises of Quicken Loans Arena” at all times, per corporate policy. But such is the tenor of RNC preparations, both official and unofficial, more than three months out. You can still sign the petition, though it’s as useless as it was even before the USSS offered its view. The guy behind the petition has more or less admitted that the whole thing was a troll job, a sabotage campaign that seems to have backfired, given his stated aims: “The GOP wants

guns everywhere, except at their convention,” @Hyperationalist tweeted last week. “Help us expose their hypocrisy!” CBS News later reported that he’s a self-proclaimed “anti-gun” activist -- a liberal Democrat. “There were never going to be guns at the convention. Not a million signatures were going to make that happen,” he told the network. Still: “I’m 100 percent sincere in my conviction that guns should be allowed at the GOP convention. [It would be a reﬂection of] the policies they sought to impose around the nation.” Debates are heating up in anticipation of the event, debates ranging from the open-carry factor to the police department’s unprecedented request for riot gear, to say nothing of the potential for a “brokered convention.” GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, in fact, has predicted riots if he wins the most number of delegates but is not formally nominated.

Photo by Sam Allard

It’s a prediction that local leaders have called “irresponsible” and “dangerous,” and one which continues to fuel the narrative that repressive, military police tactics are necessary during the RNC. This month, the city posted a request for bids on a spectrum of riot gear: 2,000 sets of riot-control suits and 26-inch batons, three miles of steel bike-rack-style barriers, 25 sets of tactical armor, 300 patrol bicycles and 310 sets of bicycle riot control gear, among other equipment needs. The bid package dwarfs similar requests from cities that hosted national conventions in recent history. Bids are due this week (check clevescene.com for updates), with hearings and an eventual vote to follow. All equipment must be conﬁrmed and purchased by June, with a $50 million federal grant waiting as reimbursement for the city’s equipment and personnel

POLITICAL THEATER

WEEPING

WE ATE THE ACID

City Councilman Joe Cimperman joins colleagues for his ﬁnal council meeting. His hour-long speech concluded with a quaking, tearful ode to the Soldiers and Sailors Monument.

ESPN documentary “Believeland” will debut at Cleveland International Film Festival. In case you haven’t seen your dad cry in awhile.

L.A. group to conduct phone survey about Clevelanders’ perceptions of police. Union Prez Steve Loomis, fuming, vows to conduct concurrent CPD survey about Clevelanders’ perceptions of “hippies.”

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

costs. The RNC itself will be held July 18-21. The city has been incredibly tightlipped about the entire process. “We won’t comment on security issues,” is the go-to excuse, these days, for not divulging records nor allowing media into public RNC-related meetings. Dan Williams, Cleveland’s director of media relations, when contacted by Scene last week, said that his deferring all security-related questions to the Secret Service was at that agency’s request. Councilman Brian Cummins, a stickler for transparency, told Scene that he’s frankly not expecting much information. He suspects the Secret Service is working in conjunction with Police Chief Calvin Williams, Safety Director Michael McGrath and Finance Director Sharon Dumas on the acquisition of equipment, and he’s not counting on them being especially forthcoming.

QUALITY OF LIFE Your April Fool’s gag is going to be a big hit at the ofﬁce, sure.

2100 CENTER ROAD | AVON, OHIO 44011 440.934.1544 | www.thepixelconnection.com

KentStage The

=HGÍM FBLL MA>L> @K>:M LAHPL MB<D>ML HG L:E> GHP

k y { c = f{w f { Yw|{B Yw ` { < ~{ fbki Xw z < ^w mw { Thu, Mar. 31

W Z \ w y

i { c {

Fri., Apr. 1

Sat., Apr 24

STOP LGBTQ BULLYING AND CELEBRATE THE DIFFERENCE

INVITE YOU TO

AN EVENING OF DECONSTRUCTION AND REINVENTION Enjoy an evening of live entertainment, champagne and hors d’oeuvres sponsored by Lago East Bank, topped off with a trend show to challenge perception, defy labels and provoke change.

` w ~w [z w z EW { X{ w

W z cya{{

X || iw {Ccw {

Fri., Apr. 29

Sun., May 1

Fri., May 6

] w ^w

j~{ i~{{ z }

m{ y { m z{ w z

Sun., May 8

Sat. & Sun., May 14 & 15

W [ { } ~

Sponsored by:

Ticket Price: $20 or 6 for $100 &IRST PRIZE s 3ECOND PRIZE s 4HIRD PRIZE 46 Winners need not be present to win Visit www.merrickhouse.org for more information. | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

FEATURE IN THE LATE ’60S, SINGER-GUITARIST Nils Lofgren would bring his band Grin to town at least twice a year. Lofgren, who currently plays in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, talked about those days when we spoke to him via phone earlier this year, prior to Springsteen’s appearance at the Q. “There were always fabulous audiences and great FM stations that would have you on the radio and support your music,” he says. “It’s a great town. I’m still coming there on my own and with E Street. It still is one of the great rock cities.” The history to which Lofgren alludes is indeed a rich one. Disc jockey Alan Freed staged the Moondog Coronation Ball, arguably the first rock concert, at the Cleveland Arena in 1952. Elvis Presley would play some of his first concerts north of the Mason-Dixon line in Cleveland. The Beatles played Public Hall in 1964 and then returned to perform at Municipal Stadium in 1966. That same year, Mike and Jules Belkin formed Belkin Productions, a regional promotion company that would bring major acts to town, and Henry LoConti launched the Agora, a string of regional clubs that would host national and local acts. Cleveland had become the country’s rock ’n’ roll capital. Major artists even used Cleveland as a launching pad. David Bowie played his first-ever U.S. show in Cleveland. Rush received early radio support in Cleveland, helping propel the band to worldwide success. But is Cleveland still “one of the great rock cities,” as Lofgren put it? “It does have a good rep as a rock ’n’ roll town and has a strong local advocate in [Live Nation’s] Michael Belkin,” says Gary Bongiovanni, the editor and CEO of the concert tour industry trade publication Pollstar. “The only thing I can say is that the big tours that play a relatively small number of markets ultimately go where they think they can make the most money. Everybody plays New York, L.A. and Chicago. After that, there are lots of markets competing for dates.” Bongiovanni says that artists rely upon “anecdotal experiences at all levels” to determine whether shows “generally sell better, worse, or as expected,” compared to other markets. You’ve gotta wonder if Cleveland’s slipped in that respect, since many of the major tours featuring some of pop and rock’s biggest names have gone to Columbus and Pittsburgh recently but not Cleveland. “There’s only one reason shows are

going to other cities,” says Ali Hedrick, a Seattle-based booking agent for the Billions Corporation, which represents more than 100 national acts, including Death Cab for Cutie, Neko Case and St. Vincent. “Those shows do better in places like Columbus and Pittsburgh. Maybe the Cleveland economy isn’t as strong. I don’t know why. I still favor Cleveland because I love the Beachland

here, and Iron Maiden ain’t coming to Cleveland either. Pearl Jam and the Cure will tour extensively this summer, but neither act will come to Cleveland. Radiohead is on the road but doesn’t have a Cleveland date. And legacy acts such as Peter Gabriel, Sting, Paul Simon, Brian Wilson and Steely Dan have all announced tours that don’t include Cleveland dates. The recently

DOES CLEVELAND STILL ROCK? A look at why major rock bands have been bypassing Northeast Ohio By Jeff Niesel

Ballroom so much. Cleveland is an amazing city, but I just think there might be a bigger group of people going out to shows in those other cities.” While most of last year’s topgrossing tours included stops in Cleveland, the ones that didn’t were signiﬁcant. Former Beatle Paul McCartney, U2, the Rolling Stones, the Who and Foo Fighters all skipped town. Motorhead’s 40th anniversary tour, which took place last year, didn’t include a Cleveland stop — a true tragedy now that frontman Lemmy Kilmister has died. And the list of acts on the road in 2016 that aren’t coming to Cleveland seems to keep growing. Black Sabbath’s farewell tour isn’t scheduled to come

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

reunited Guns N Roses announced the 21 cities it will hit on a summer tour. Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Detroit made the list, but not Cleveland. These are acts that used to include Cleveland on their tour itineraries. And many of them are Rock Hall inductees. But their most recent tours have bypassed us. Why? Representatives from AEG declined our requests for interviews, but plenty of other local pundits weighed in. “It was a different world then,” says former WMMS program director John Gorman, when asked about why Cleveland drew such big concerts throughout the ’70s and ’80s. “Cleveland was a well-oiled machine. There were so many ways to break an artist out of Cleveland. At WMMS, we

were right at the center. Jules Belkin was running Belkin Productions, and he would talk to the station, as would Hank LoConti and Buddy Maver at the Agora. There was an awful lot of communication. Cleveland has a higher musical IQ than most markets, and in those days we could exercise it.” In 2001, Belkin Productions sold to SFX (and then Clear Channel/Live Nation), but the company continues to have a local office in Northeast Ohio and promotes shows at Blossom, the Q and Hard Rock Live. House of Blues is also a Live Nation venue, and the promoter often brings acts to other venues in town, ranging from Playhouse Square to the Akron Civic Theatre and Lakewood Civic Auditorium. “Mounting a national tour is a complex jigsaw puzzle with many issues that come into play: artist desire to play the market, venue availability, routing from city to city/ mileage, ability to sell tickets, local airplay, product sales, streaming, other competitive traffic in the marketplace and, no question, the amount of income the artist can make compared to another market,” says Live Nation’s Barry Gabel, who denies that Columbus and Pittsburgh have become more enviable destinations. “This is true for theater dates and arena dates, as it is for stadium dates. At the end of the day, artist management usually has a specific game plan to maximize artist earnings, career path and an overall direction on tour promotion.” LoConti passed away in 2014, but promoter Chris Zitterbart now books acts at the Agora and brings a wide range of bands to town, including metal, rock, pop and hip-hop. “It’s a mixed bag,” says Zitterbart when asked about Cleveland’s status. “I think there are a lot of tours out there. A lot of good ones come to Cleveland, and a lot of good ones miss Cleveland. It comes down to simple economics. I can assure you that if every show was sold out, bands would not skip Cleveland. A big part of it is that if fans want the shows to come, they have to go out and support the shows that are booked. I see Pittsburgh and Columbus getting some of the shows we should get on some level. If you’re routing the tour, you don’t want to play two cities that are too close to each other, so sometimes agents feel it’s easier to do Columbus and Pittsburgh; but then again, there’s no reason bands couldn’t play Cleveland and Cincinnati too.” Denny Young, who works with the Elevation Group, the team that books rock and pop acts at the Trinity Cathedral and will also bring concerts to the new Goodyear Theater and Hall in Akron, admits that it’s become

tougher to get bands to come to town. “The reality is that shows are definitely bypassing Cleveland,” says Young, who also worked at Belkin Productions from 1988 to 1992. “Because it’s a business, people are looking at the expense to do a show and the revenue that you’ll bring in. They take those shows to the place where the expenses will be the least and the revenues will be the most. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out. The kicker is that when I worked at Belkin Productions, Jules and Mike Belkin owned Belkin. They lived in Cleveland. Cleveland was critically important to their business.” Young says that now that Live Nation, a publically traded corporation, owns Belkin, control of the company has shifted to corporate headquarters in Los Angeles. “If Peter Gabriel and Sting are doing a deal with Live Nation and Live Nation has bought 20 dates, Live Nation says it will take the shows to the 20 markets that will yield the best return,” says Young. “Jules Belkin back in 1989 would have said, ‘There’s no way Sting and Peter Gabriel are going to bypass Cleveland.’ The agent would have told them how much it costs and how little profit he might make. Jules would have said, ‘That will be my problem.’ Today, Peter Gabriel and Sting are not coming to Cleveland. Peter Gabriel and Sting are going to Columbus.” Young also says that Cleveland lacks any sort of artist development. “What Cindy [Barber] is doing at the Beachland and what Kathy [Blackman] is doing at the Grog Shop is awesome, but it levels off after that,” he says. “We have great bands coming in and then something happens. People like to blame radio. We don’t have an alternative radio station. But big deal. People are listening to music online. Once you get out of the clubs here, the artist development is lacking. That’s what we want to focus on at Goodyear Theater and Hall. We want to develop more artists.” Annie Zaleski, a locally based freelance writer who contributes to Alternative Press, Scene and the Plain Dealer, among other publications, says, “An artist needs a show on a certain day, and if there isn’t an open venue at the size they need, it doesn’t happen.” She says Clevelanders shouldn’t take it personally. “Sometimes bands aren’t coming to town in a given year because they’ve been there the previous year,” she says. “For example, Paul McCartney hasn’t played Cleveland since 2002 — but in his current rounds of touring in recent years, he’s making a concerted effort to play cities and markets he’s never

played, ever.” She says that many indie rock bands go to Columbus because the state capital has “a huge amount of younger concert-goers there thanks to the presence of the Ohio State University. “Plus, Columbus is a big city — the 15th-largest city in the U.S., population-wise, according to statistics through 2014, and booming,” she says. “Cleveland, meanwhile, is the 48th-largest city, and has steadily lost population since 1990. The Cleveland market simply isn’t as populous as it used to be, which means there are fewer potential concert-goers.” She cites the fact that PromoWest books a variety of different-sized Columbus venues, including A&R Bar, the Basement, Newport Music Hall and

thriving local metal scene and where hard-rock acts have historically drawn well. “It is disappointing,” he says. “ I think the admission tax being at eight percent doesn’t help the cause.” Live Nation’s Gabel says the admissions tax can be a deterrent but it’s “simply one element on the booking decision.” Gorman maintains that once Clear Channel bought Cleveland radio stations and then absorbed Belkin under the guise of Live Nation, the synergy that existed between local promoters and local radio went by the wayside. “The tours are all booked nationally and Cleveland is one line on the ledger,” says Gorman, who adds that despite

“The reality is that shows are deﬁnitely bypassing Cleveland. They take those shows to the place where the expenses will be the least and the revenues will be the most. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to ﬁgure that out.” — Denny Young, the Elevation Group

Express Live!, which means “there’s a clear pipeline bands can follow in the market as they grow.” PromoWest also owns Stage AE in Pittsburgh, and can book bands in both cities. “You frequently see bands playing both [Express Live! And Stage AE] on a tour, since it’s the same promoter handling these venues,” Zaleski says. And then, you have the “radius” agreements. Now in its ﬁfth year, the annual Rock on the Range festival in Columbus poses a logistical problem since many of the bands that play the festival sign “radius” agreements ensuring they won’t play within the immediate area both before and after the festival. Bands that play at Lollapalooza, for example, are barred from performing within 300 miles of Chicago — including cities as far as Detroit, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee— for as long as six months prior to and three months after the festival. “[Rock on the Range] is a great event, and I enjoy going every year, but many of the bands sign radius clauses, and they’re often bands that I book,” says Zitterbart. “So instead of having them come through in the summer, I have to wait for the fall.” Zitterbart says he’s been surprised that acts such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Motorhead have recently skipped Cleveland, a city with a

population loss Cleveland is still one of the country’s top 20 media markets. “With the exception of [the Internet radio station] OWOW and college stations, who plays anything local?” Zaleski agrees that radio — or the lack thereof — is a major factor. Detroit is the No. 12 radio market in the country, which means if/when an artist is coming to town, chances are they’ll have a station promoting the concert and playing new music by the band. Cleveland comes in at No. 31, which doesn’t give the city as much clout. Columbus has several solid new music stations (CD 102.5, 105.7X), that promote the indie- and rock-leaning shows there. While Cleveland’s college radio stations are among the best in the county, the lack of a strong mainstream alternative-leaning new music station hurts. And the WMMS offshoot 99X, a HD station on a secondary signal, doesn’t pack much of a punch since its signal is so weak. “With all that being said, even if tours go to Columbus and Pittsburgh ﬁrst, chances are a subsequent leg will include Cleveland — and I even see some tours that do feature all three of the cities,” says Zaleski. “It’s not as though we’re shut out 100 percent of the time. And when it comes down to it, Cleveland has a rather full slate of shows. Country and pop do well here, for example, and the vast majority of

classic rock acts play the market. Plus, acts that have solid history with the city reward the fans with special engagements or stops” She cites the fact that Joe Walsh and Dropkick Murphys opened their respective recent tours in the area with two shows apiece. Hanson played two nights in Cleveland in October, one of just 10 cities in which the band did this; and acts such as Dave Matthews Band, Barenaked Ladies and Rick Springfield consistently stop in Cleveland on tours. WRUW promotions director and DJ Roger Ganley doesn’t share Zaleski’s optimism. He’s been particularly critical of the city’s status as a rock ’n’ roll town and says the city’s music scene has slipped into a state of decline. “Commercial radio here doesn’t play new music,” he says. “That affects a lot of different things. Years ago, when the Odeon was thriving, we had a great relationship there and would do band meet-and-greets. None of that happens anymore. In the old days, Live Nation would book tours into Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburgh, but now they just take the shows to Pittsburgh. Last summer, the Slayer tour with King Diamond skipped Cleveland and went to Pittsburgh. It didn’t draw well there, but half the people there were from Cleveland. Things like that make no sense. I’m so tired of driving to other cities to see concerts that should be taking place in Cleveland. ” Another local music fan who wished to remain anonymous agrees with Ganley and says the situation can be traced back to the corporatization of the touring industry. “The concert business has changed dramatically,” says the anonymous fan. “In the old days, the Live Nation/ Belkin’s Cleveland office essentially only booked shows for Cleveland. That changed when Live Nation downsized and combined other markets into their Cleveland office’s responsibility. Today, we have Live Nation Cleveland booking shows in multiple markets, like Columbus, Pittsburgh and Detroit in addition to Cleveland. Tours often offer limited dates in a region, so Live Nation Cleveland is forced to pick and choose which of their markets to put the tour in. If they choose Detroit and Columbus, for example, then Cleveland and Pittsburgh are left out. The reasons tours are bypassing Cleveland are much more complex then just fingering blame on the promoters. It’s a whole different ballgame today. I liked the old days better, when Cleveland got everything.”

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

TRANSFORMERS & HE-MAN ★

BIG FUN... &OHYHODQG·V %HVW 7R\ 6WRUH Gifts for all ages, Cleveland Souvenirs, T- Shirts, Gag Gifts, Greeting Cards. Come see what everyone is talking about. Cash for Old Toys, Legos, Star Wars, GI Joes, Transformers, Hot Wheels, NINTENDO, Pokéman Rock Concert T-shirts

WE BUY & SELL OLD TOYS 1814 Coventry Road | Cleveland Heights (216) 371-4386 Facebook: bigfunfans | www.bigfuntoystore.com

LEGO ★ STAR WARS ★ GI JOE

★ LEGO ★ ROCK CONCERT T-SHIRTS

FEATURE

IN A LOTTERY LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN Festival organizers aim to go ‘over-the-top’ with this year’s Big Show By Jeff Niesel

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

A LARGE-SCALE RECURRING experiment that brings together diverse Cleveland musicians and forces them to form new bands on the spot with people they’ve never played with and may never even have met before, Lottery League serves as one of this city’s signature music events. Bands form at a staged draft that ensures no two musicians have ever played together prior to the formation of their Lottery League band. The “rules” go something like this: Each new group gets two months to come together, develop their band’s identity and practice for the Big Show that takes place on April 16 at the Agora. The bands aren’t paid for the gig, but it’s treated as a serious showcase and organizers anticipate a crowd that will ﬁll both the Agora’s large theater and its smaller ballroom. Planning for the festival began last September, when the “Council of Chiefs” assembled to start recruiting musicians and ﬁnding sponsorship money. “Our work in September was to put things in place so we could do this for the next 50 years and can keep going,” says founder Jae Kristoff one recent afternoon at Loop, the Tremont coffee

shop and record store. Co-founder Michael Pultz joined him for this interview. “Wherever we might go, it will still keep going on.” The Council went through a transformation this year as co-founder Ed Sotelo stepped away from Lottery League, leaving Pultz and Kristoff to put the event together. They then recruited other local graphic designers and videographers to help them, expanding the Council to “nine strong.” “We knew for our own sanity, there’s so much work,” says Pultz. “We’ve had 399 musicians and 147 bands in it over the years. It’s such a big undertaking. It belongs to everybody who’s been a part of it — the audiences and musicians — and we want to ensure it lasts. The only way to keep it going is to expand the council. We have a webmaster and a software designer and a videographer. This is what they do for a living, and they’re in the Lottery League. It’s a great networking experience. We want people from jazz and classical and electronic and noise and gospel. When you cast a net that wide, it takes some time to make people know what they’re a part of.”

In early February, to help build anticipation for this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Big Show, organizers hosted a media mixer at ABC Tavern to debut the new trailer created by local videographer Lauren Voss. The video promoted a fundraiser and the â&#x20AC;&#x153;draftâ&#x20AC;? that took place at the Beachland Ballroom. On Feb. 5, organizers then hosted a special showcase fundraiser at the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern featuring 2013 Lottery League bands Queen of Hell and Hiram-Maxim (aka Kill It with Fire). The â&#x20AC;&#x153;draftâ&#x20AC;? that placed the musicians in their respective new bands took place on Feb. 6 at the Beachland Ballroom. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everything was awesome,â&#x20AC;? says Pultz of the events leading up to the Big Show. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was our best draft ever just for the entertainment value of it. We had our selection night at Yorktown Lanes this year, and that was the best bowling night/slot selection weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re trying to make sure itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s established, and we want to appeal to the talented bands that are active in the scene; to draw them away from their own projects, we gotta make it as fun as hell. The musicians have told us that they want to be challenged creatively, and thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no greater challenge than this.â&#x20AC;? The Lottery League actually grew out of The Land of Buried Treasure, a

818 Huron Cleveland

studio project that featured a rotating core of members: During one session, Kristoff had a different person come in every hour for 72 straight hours and record music. He wanted to do something else in that vein, and friend and local musician Sotelo had posted a long rant on MySpace about the lousy music he had seen the night before and about how he thought all

Lottery League of its own, the concept seems to thrive in Cleveland. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In Cleveland, you can get anywhere in a short amount of time,â&#x20AC;? says Kristoff. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are lots of places to practice. We strategically have this time between Groundhog Day and April Foolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day where the weather is pretty shitty and bands need something to do.â&#x20AC;?

the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bands should break up and be part of a sports-like draft. That led to the formation of the Lottery League; in 2008, organizers hosted the ďŹ rst draft night at the Asterisk Gallery in Tremont. Some 33 bands formed in 2008, and another 33 bands formed in 2010. The 2013 Big Show featured 42 bands. While Los Angeles has hosted a

Kristoff says Cleveland bands have always been open to collaboration too. During a recent panel discussion, panelists said that Cleveland bands tend to want to collaborate because theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re usually not signed to record labels or management deals that would constrict them. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have that infrastructure of a Nashville or New York or L.A. and

Prospect Music

even a Chicago and San Francisco, where things are very competitive; weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re removed from that,â&#x20AC;? says Pultz. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The work and effort we put into this to attract musicians of different breadths can work anywhere, but with the lack of professional elements of the labels and things like that, bands have the freedom.â&#x20AC;? Both Kristoff and Pultz say that this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Big Show will top previous ones. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve always tried to put on as big an event as possible,â&#x20AC;? says Pultz. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The venues will look uniquely different. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re working with [lighting and production gurus] Chuck Karnack from All Go Signs and Ryan Foltz â&#x20AC;&#x201D; two guys who will ďŹ nd a way to make it work if you bring them an idea. Lagunitas wants to blow out the place. We describe it as a carnival and game show and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re on board. We want it to be as over-the-top as possible. So many of the things we wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have considered in 2008 are things we can embrace now. If we can put on a great thing with musicians, we know weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get more musicians in the future. We are so re-invigorated this season.â&#x20AC;?

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

216 621.5409

prospectmusicstore.com

Â&#x2DC; Â&#x2DC; Â&#x2DC; SINCE 1941 Musical Instruments Sales & Service Accessories

`Â&#x2DC; Â&#x2DC; `

WE BUY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS & GEAR 2 Â&#x2DC;CCÂ&#x2DC; 2 CONSIGNMENTS ALSO AVAILABLE

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

FEATURE

Jim Stewart, center, works with Seafair’s Joshua Riehl and Michael Flaherty to mix a new song.

Photo by Emanuel Wallace

FROM SEED TO TREE Writing, recording, mixing, mastering: Seafair walks us through the making of an album By Eric Sandy THIS PAST YEAR, BRITE WINTER once again assumed its mantle as the premier showcase for local artists. Bands and musicians from all over Cleveland congregated for a day of dynamic concerts and mingling with fans. These are active and involved local acts, the sort that keep throwing down live shows and studio cuts that thrill the Northeast Ohio audience time and time again. Among them: Seafair, a cross-section of various rock ’n’ roll traditions and a band worth a closer look as they prepare their next album. The band ﬁrst formed in 2012 as a quartet, which soon grew to its current six-piece incarnation, rounded out in entirety by drummer Ryan Kelly, guitarist Michael Flaherty, bassist Joshua Riehl, cellist Tara Hanish, violinist Andrea Belding and singer and frontwoman Chayla Hope.

(“Everybody is very different, but it’s almost to our benefit because it’s a family type atmosphere,” Kelly told Scene last year. “Everything flows so smoothly. There’s squabbling and stuff like that, but it’s smooth for the most part. If something happens to one of the six of us, we’ll never have that same magic.”) Seafair combines the tried-andtrue elements of rock ’n’ roll: drums, bass, guitar, keys and impassioned vocals. Blended into that spectrum are Hanish and Belding’s cello and violin, which set Seafair apart from most bands in Cleveland and elsewhere. In 2014, with a few EPs paving their way to local acclaim, the band traveled to Colorado to record their first full-length, The Querencia. The album was released in the late spring of 2015, and by early 2016 it had been some time since the band had been in

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

the studio setting. This current undertaking is a bit different than the typical process of churning out 12 cuts and releasing a physical album; rather, the band is taking a step back to look at how the market is working, both here and nationally. “We started off doing two EPs, our ﬁrst steps into the recording realm as a band,” Flaherty tells Scene. “With the way the recording industry in general seems to be — and the trends, as far as album sales, streaming, attention spans — artists have the ability to create, produce, release. On top of that, we were just excited to get going and be creative.” To wit, the band is cutting two songs at a time, releasing them almost as singles. To begin the journey, Seafair selected “Parachute” and “Jukebox Soul,” two songs that were

written mostly last year. And so, armed with the first entry into their newest project, the band discussed their recording options. They went local this time. Jim Stewart’s studio is on the top floor of an old brick building on Superior Avenue. It’s a big, open space, and its treasure trove of sound equipment and musical instruments isn’t what one might expect to find hidden among the near-eastside’s cache of former warehouses. There’s an air of creativity around every corner. Stewart moved his studio into this joint around six months ago. Stewart began working in the recording biz around 10 years ago. He began with the 2006 High School Rock-off. Over the past five years, he’s been working on his own. “The past couple years, for me personally and for other people who

do this in the area, it’s been good,” Stewart says. “There’s a real growth. A lot more people, especially in this area, they want to do things a little bit more organically.” That’s certainly the case with Seafair’s work thus far. And Stewart’s relationship with the band seems to really bolster that goal. To provide a bit of backstory: Hope and Hanish wrote a song for Belding’s wedding a few years back. One year later, the band recorded that song for Belding and her husband. Stewart helped them with the process, and thus began his working relationship with Seafair. “They’re an interesting band,” Stewart says. “There’s a lot going on.” Just a few weeks ago, the band began working with Stewart on these new tunes. “We knew that we wanted the sound for these two songs — they’re both more pop, melodic,” Flaherty says. “Especially with Jim and the way he engineers things and his sound, we knew we deﬁnitely wanted to roll with him.” For the recording process, the band is coming by for these twosong hits. It’s sort of a struggle to get everyone in the same room at the same time, so the track recordings are done whenever there’s an opportunity. (Hanish lives in New York City.) In the two days leading up to Brite Winter, the band clocked time with Stewart. The day prior to the show, they were looking at a 17-hour marathon, from 10 a.m. to 3 a.m.

“People were kind of showing up and leaving throughout the day,” Stewart says. “We finally got done with the strings around 3 a.m.” Some bands’ sessions take place across one long day; others might take two years. Musicians often have day jobs, after all. The process here involved acquiring five takes or so for each instrument and layering them into a final take, at which point band members would then provide their input for Stewart’s mixing work. (“Mixing,” incidentally, refers to adjusting and fine-tuning the levels and equalization of the alreadyrecorded tracks, and adding various effects.) From project to project, the process varies. “You have to follow how the band or person wants to do it,” Stewart says. (Ray Flanagan and the Authorities, another band that works with Stewart, cut their last album live.) Here, Stewart would home in on an individual track — the drums, say — and then add in layers. “We did five takes, and then put together a master take or a master performance,” he says. He sends mixes to the band members, who chime in via email and in person. It’s a matter of “finding that middle ground and comparing notes and trying to put that into action,” Flaherty says. “I try to build stuff in as I go,” Stewart continues. “Ninety percent of the time, I’m mixing the stuff I’m recording. I’m trying to figure out what it is from the beginning. So I

“We knew that we wanted the sound for these two songs — they’re both more pop, melodic. Especially with Jim and the way he engineers things and his sound, we knew we deﬁnitely wanted to roll with him.” — Michael Flaherty

...transforming lives through engagement in the arts

www.tncarts.org 440-949-5200

• WALK-INS WELCOME • Relaxation has never been better! Low rates, great friendly staff. Relaxation Limited Relaxation Limited II Cleveland

Cuyahoga Falls

(216)671-3813

(330)217-1548

3834 W. 140 ST.

526 Graham Rd., Unit 1A,

Cleveland, OH 44111

Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221

HOURS:

Mon ~ Fri : 12PM ~ 10 PM Sat : 12 PM ~ 8 PM | Sun 1pm - 7pm

Mon ~ Fri: 1 PM ~ 9 PM Sat: 12 PM ~ 6 PM

Find your happy hour. 'RZQORDG 6&(1(·V RԀFLDO KDSS\ KRXU app! clevescene.com/happyhours

CLEVELAND STRONGSVILLE 4264 Pearl Rd. 216.749.3440

EASTLAKE

32888 Vine St 440.942.8668

LORAIN

823 Broadway 440.242.4080

MANSFIELD

522 Park Ave West 419.522.1695

19097 Drake Rd. 440.572.8287

GIRARD

16 N. State St. 330.545.8131

BARBERTON

536 W Tuscarawas 330.753.0500

AKRON

1004 Kenmore Blvd 330.753.3600

SEE OUR AD ON THE BACK INSIDE COVER | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

Photo courtesy of seafairtheband.com

FEATURE try to make the guitars sound the way they’re going to sound, so when we mix it, it doesn’t take as long. Six to eight hours for a song is not uncommon when mixing.” Often Stewart sends out the ﬁnal mix to someone else for mastering. “They kind of polish the overall record,” Stewart says. “The difference is that I have control over the individual elements of everything; I can turn up the vocals or the kick-drum. But they consolidate it all into a record.” Looking ahead, Seafair will be dropping these new songs shortly and pairing “Jukebox Soul,” the single, with a video release. This is all building up to a fall 2015 EP release. For Stewart, there’s a reverence to adding to Cleveland’s everevolving music scene. He recalls working with Ohio Sky on their album, Curses, as a bit of a turning point. “That was one of the the things that, for me, turned me from a staff engineer at a place — like I would be assigned to a band — to bands coming to me,” Stewart says. “That was another thing where

they literally went into a room, all standing there together, and just played the record.” He also cites Welshly Arms’ debut as a high-water mark. “They had such a vision of where they wanted to be that they made me better,”

PEDAL BOARDS

Top brand name boards from Temple Audio, Pedaltrain, Gator & Charlie’s Pedalboards Pedals from Earthquaker, JHS, Electro Harmonix, Maxon, Boss, TC Electronic, MXR and More! Let us help build your dream custom assembled pedalboard!

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

Stewart recalls. And he’s got plenty more on his plate in the days and weeks to come. New Cleveland music is hitting the streets and the Internet all the time; and even now, somewhere in town, someone is putting pen to paper and

sketching out the initial ideas that will lead to another chapter in the history of our scene.

esandy@clevescene.com t@ericsandy

FEATURE UNSUNG HEROES Profiles of some of the people keeping local music alive CLEVELAND’S MUSIC SCENE features a range of clubs that cater to all kinds of different acts. Country, rock, indie, jazz — there’s a venue in town for every genre of music. A savvy group of club owners ensure that you can find a good band to see seven nights a week. Outside of that network, there’s a slew of other people who book and promote local bands and assist in keeping an infrastructure intact. Here’s a look at just a few of the unsung heroes working behind-thescenes to promote the city’s diverse music scene. Tom Orange, Matt Laferty and Andrew Auten New Ghosts Tom Orange, Matt Laferty and Andrew Auten — the guys who run the experimental music series New Ghosts — promote concerts that are avant garde even by avant garde standards. The New Ghosts name is a reference to a tune by the late Albert Ayler, the free-jazz saxophonist who was born and raised in Cleveland. “We want to celebrate and promote Ayler’s legacy,” says Orange. “So many touring bands are psyched to play in his hometown and love his music. The audiences are great, but there’s no civic recognition that he grew up here.” They all met by happenstance. Eight years ago, Laferty moved to Cleveland from upstate New York. Prior to living here, he had never booked a show. But after moving here and checking out the musical landscape, he realized he could fill a niche by bringing bands to Cleveland rather than driving for hours to see them play in another city. In 2011 he also teamed up with Auten to issue an album of early Albanian traditional songs and improvisations. And he would regularly see Orange, who returned to Cleveland in 2008 and started playing and booking shows a year later, at the same concerts he would attend. So it made sense for him and Auten to join Orange and start booking shows together in some capacity. Since March 2015, the New Ghosts guys have cohosted over 20 touring bands from New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Berlin and Scandanavia at venues including the Bop Stop, Now That’s Class and Mahall’s. “We see ourselves seeding the community,” says Laferty.

“Cleveland has a great DIY culture here.” The group just brought folk/ free jazz guitarist Eugene Chadbourne to Mahall’s and has a handful of shows lined up for the rest of 2016 including a celebration of Albert Ayler’s 80th birthday scheduled for June. (Jeff Niesel) John Panza, Lauren Voss, Ed Sotelo, Fred Gunn, Jane Panza Panza Foundation A 501(c)(3) organization based in Cleveland, the Panza Foundation provides support for local musicians struggling to make ends meet. A local musician who plays in a handful of bands, John Panza founded the organization with Lauren Voss, a local musician and videographer. “John and I used to talk about ways that we could contribute to advancing and promoting Cleveland music going back 5 or 6 years,” says Voss. “We tossed around buying a venue or a space for musicians to record and practice in, support them in touring through creating a network of DIY venues across the U.S., or at least regionally.” Eventually, Panza decided to start the foundation and offer small grants to artists to cover costs for recording, touring expenses, musical equipment or “anything that a band would need to advance themselves professionally.” Panza Foundation doesn’t have an application process. Rather, board members research bands and then select the recipients. “There are lots of foundations that award grants through a nomination process rather than asking artists for applications,” explains Voss. “MacArthur Foundation is one of the most well known grants that operate this way. We wanted to get away from the intimidation factor;

most of the bands we support are not likely to bother applying, or to look for grants. They are too busy making music.” To date, local acts such as Goldmines, Obnox and Ex-Astronauts have received grants to purchase gear, to cover tour expenses and to provide funds for recording. They’ve also giving money to this year’s Lottery League, the event that randomly pairs Cleveland musicians with one another and has them play a Big Show. “We operate a bit like baseball scouts looking for talent,” says Panza. “Then, we approach the bands and set the process in motion. It’s rather fun actually and more often than not pretty surprising for the bands. I think just by virtue of the bands Ed, Lauren, [board member] Fred [Gunn], and I have been in and are currently in, we favor ones that challenge more than please. We look for bands that take the whole process seriously, from writing to practicing to recording to touring.” You can find a complete list of the 2015 and 2016 grant recipients at panzafoundation.org. The foundation is currently in talks to assist in curating a series of concerts at ArtNEO. “The key is getting grants into the hands of talented, deserving musicians and then letting them do their thing without us bugging them,” says Panza. “In the end, we just wanna hear awesome music.” (Niesel) James Carol Cleveland Music City A music promotion and consulting company, dedicated to helping “Cleveland’s rapidly growing music scene continue to grow,” Cleveland Music City regularly puts on local concerts and hosts music festivals. “Like everyone, I want to help the Cleveland music scene grow,” says James Carol, who runs the organization. “That’s always been my main objective, and I’ll continue to focus on that. I hope for bands to make more money, and to not just be looked at as spot fillers. I want venues to stop being taxed so much and for an agreeable policy to be worked out.” Since Cleveland Music City is a forprofit business, Carol wants the bands he supports to tour and get licensing deals. “I don’t really make any [money],” says Carol. “I’m more in this to learn and to grow myself. I do aim to look into more online, related ways of growth. But with that being said, I

hope to continue helping, supporting and paving the way for others. I may not last forever, and maybe that’s a good thing. But I’ll never stop planting seeds, so the future can enjoy the benefits.” Upcoming Cleveland Music City concerts include the Whiskey Hollow’s EP release on April 15 at the Grog Shop; Shawn and Shelby’s CD release on May 14 at the Beachland Tavern; and Bro Dylan’s CD release on May 28 at the Beachland Tavern. Carol will also help book the 2016 NEOCycle Music Fest, which takes place on Sept. 10 and 11 at Edgewater Park. (Niesel) Denny Young The Elevation Group Formed in 2002 by Steve Lindecke and Denny Young, the Elevation Group has recently taken on a bigger role in bringing musical acts to Northeast Ohio. In 2014, it launched Cathedral Concerts, a music series staged at Trinity Cathedral. Earlier this year, Elevation announced LaureLive, Cleveland’s first multi-day, multi-stage, multi-act contemporary music festival, scheduled for June 11 to 12 at Laurel School’s Butler Campus. The festival will feature 32 bands from around the world performing on four stages. Lindecke and Young, who previously worked for the locally based concert promoter Belkin Productions, also just announced they’ll book the new Goodyear Theater and Hall set to open this spring in Akron. And they’ve been managing Akron rockers Red Sun Rising, a band that has a No. 1 hit single on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Chart in the U.S. and Canada. The group also just announced tour dates all over the U.S. and Canada, including several dates with Sick Puppies on the Harddrive Live Tour. “The local music scene is important for a couple of reasons. We have several local artists who are playing on the LaureLive festival,” says Young. “That’s super important. I think the work we’ve done taking Red Sun Rising from a hard rock band from Akron to the Billboard charts is significant. They’re signed to a major label and a major booking agency. They’re a mainstay on Sirius XM. They’re a big deal. They’re all based in Akron. We can take artists to a different level out of this area. You don’t have to live in New York or Los Angeles anymore. I think we’re proving that. The band features extraordinary songwriters and | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

FEATURE delivered a single that enabled them to be signed. The band is fronted by Tom Brady-like quarterback/prototype frontmen who are great looking, have phenomenal voices and possess great stage presence. If we have all of that, I’d love to manage 10 bands from Northeast Ohio. But it’s hard to find all of that in one situation.” (Niesel) Bill Peters Auburn Records Now in its 32nd year, the local heavy metal label Auburn Records has always been “a labor of love” for owner Bill Peters. The same goes for his WJCU Metal on Metal Friday night radio show, now in its 34th year, and the annual Cleveland Metal Holiday Food Drive concert. “Heavy metal fans are the most generous when it comes to supporting good causes,” says Peters. “We have increased our donation totals significantly each of the seven years of this event. It feels great to be able to give something back to make our community a better place to live by helping those less fortunate. I’m even more excited about this year’s benefit [which takes place on Dec. 3 at the Beachland] because my good friend from Germany,

Iron Ingo Stührenburg, has just conﬁrmed he will be returning to host the event. He was not able to make it last year.” Last year, Peters also took two very successful trips to Germany. “[Cleveland rockers] Shok Paris were one of the main acts at the Keep It True festival in April and Deadiron played the world’s biggest heavy metal festival Wacken Open Air in the summer,” Peters says. “Both bands were incredibly well received.” He released CDs by both of the bands last year as well. “The Shok Paris CD became the biggest selling Auburn release I have ever had in Japan,” he says. “I was really happy about this. It’s a tough market to break into.” This year, he plans to release several albums. “I’ll be traveling to Chicago in May and Los Angeles in October to attend metal festivals, along with a possible trip back to Germany this summer,” he says. “I have taken my Auburn bands to Germany over 25 times now, including seven trips to Wacken. It’s my second home. I love the country and its people. My label has always enjoyed a strong cult following in Europe.” (Niesel) Gabriel Pollack The Music Settlement/Bop Stop One of the most ambitious young promoters in town, Gabriel Pollack

Sat., April 2nd at 7:30pm & Sat., June 4th at 7:30pm

Featuring

Domenic Noce & Russell Mascia With the Alex Theater Orchestra Tickets $20/VIP Packages $100

Tickets and VIP Wine Packages available for all shows at www.alextheatercleveland.com

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

has high hopes for the Bop Stop, the Detroit Shoreway venue he manages. “The Bop Stop has such a rich history and has helped foster a thriving jazz community in Cleveland,” he says. “Moving forward, I want to honor its past while focusing on presenting creative, original music. I like to think of the Bop Stop as a small performing arts center so although most people think of us as a jazz club — and most of our programming is jazz — we are open to presenting original music of any genre.” The club even presents a monthly comedy show. Since the Music Settlement, a leading music education institution in the region, owns the space, Pollack likes to present shows that “get our students and the general public to think outside the box. I want violin players to realize that they can be an orchestral player, gypsy jazz ﬁddler, or a shredding metal violinist, and I’ll book any of those,” he says. “Another goal is to get musicians from different musical backgrounds to communicate with each other and create new, contemporary sounds.” The monthly jam session, Outlab, is a general “improvisation jam,” with no speciﬁc genre association, so it can attract musicians from diverse backgrounds. “The Bop Stop is a unique space,” Pollack says. “We present over 220 shows a year and

host music classes three days a week. Cleveland Culinary Launch and Kitchen manages our kitchen which allows us to have food service during our performances while helping chefs get their products into the marketplace. Cleveland Rocks: Past, Present, Future curates the walls of the Bop Stop with a music-themed photography exhibit. The proceeds from our bar support the many programs the Music Settlement offers. It’s a feel-good space.” (Niesel) Vince Slusarz Gotta Groove Records For almost 25 years, Slusarz worked for Newbury-based Kinetico Incorporated, a plastics manufacturing company. He liked his job as chief operations ofﬁcer. But after the company was sold in 2006, a new CEO came in, eventually eliminating his position. Unemployed at 51, Slusarz suddenly had lots of time for soul searching. A muse appeared in the form of a new turntable. He bought one for himself and gave his old one to his 19-year-old daughter, who told him that all her friends were buying turntables with USB ports so they could download music onto their computers. That got him thinking. Pressing records, he ﬁgured, wouldn’t be a huge departure from his plastics-

manufacturing experience. In 2008, the owners of Dynamic Assets in New Jersey replied to his query about selling their equipment; he bought the presses and moved them to an old warehouse near Superior. He’s been busy pressing local and national releases ever since. “We are continuing to ride the wave of the ongoing resurgence in vinyl and are happy to play our part in it,” says Slusarz. “We pressed a number of Record Store Day titles, but nothing unusual about that. We do plan on having the Finebuilt semi-automatic press we bought from the original [Cleveland-based] Boddie Record pressing plant we purchased from Mrs. Boddie several years ago ready to be put into service within the next two months.” Gotta Groove also just pressed and delivered the new LP from quirky indie singer-songwriter Jonathan Richman. It’s the first LP release by Blue Arrow, the vinyl record store that recently started a new record label. In addition, two Gotta Groove employees — Heather Gmucs, who has run the presses since 2010, and Sarah Barker — have started creating vinyl-based visual artwork under the name of Wax Mage. (Niesel) Rachel Hunt Live from Cleveland/Live From Lakewood Festival Local writer and Scene contributor Rachel Hunt hosts Live from Cleveland, a WRUW program that “puts a live band in your living room” every Thursday night from 10 to 11 p.m. “Whether or not bands feel like there is an overwhelming interest or fiscal return for their music, I think it says a lot about our regional scene that we are able to host a different band every week on Live from Cleveland, at a college radio station, an analog media platform that many think is dead,” she says. “These are bands from every genre imaginable, at many different stages of their careers.” She’s booked the program for the past five years and has seen hundreds of bands come through the basement of Mather Memorial. “The fact that Cleveland’s music scene sustains lifers like that is incredible,” she says. “That bands want to come on the program for nothing more than a multi-track mix, some promotion, and a good time means a lot to us. It’s something that no other radio station, commercial or noncommercial, has consistently done in the area.” She also works as the live music coordinator for Night Market Cleveland and Gather in Glenville. She assists with Brite Winter and other miscellaneous events around town. “Whether it’s Now That’s Class, Happy Dog or the Beachland, all of

these bands and venues I’ve worked with have always gone above and beyond to accommodate me and curate a good show,” she says. “The music scene thrives in Cleveland because legislature, startups, venues and college radio stations are all paying attention to what local bands have to say. So, in my opinion, it’s a great time to get your voice out there because there are a lot of people right now who are listening.” (Niesel) Wallace Settles Dirty Jones Productions Wallace Settles (aka Dirty Jones) was looking to leave his imprint on the world through music, but found that doing so came with a heap of difficulties and no viable solution in sight. He’s the promoter behind the local showcase Cruel Winter Fest, which took place at the end of last year at the Grog Shop. The lineup featured some of the city’s best hip-hop, including the likes of Tribe Untitled, Young James & Toby and Don Purp, among others. Settles first started rapping in 2007 with the local outfit Moriarity. “I rapped for awhile and then I made a mixtape,” he says. “We had a little buzz behind it, then the group album came out and then I made my solo joint. After I made the solo album, I noticed how hard it was for me to promote everything and I said to myself, ‘Why is this shit so hard? Why is this so hard for me to promote? Why is no one listening to none of this shit?’ That’s when I realized that there was nobody really promoting and managing acts and putting on events and shows.” Two years ago, he made the transition and started throwing events and helping the Grog out with booking artists for bigger shows. Settles was willing to sacrifice his own popularity as an artist to do the hard work of getting exposure for artists and putting on what he refers to as “legitimate rap shows.” He’ll be the first to tell you that he misses primarily being an artist, but he also says that being behind the scenes has its perks. “I like behind the scenes better, just because it’s like you can control your own destiny,” he says. “You can pick the shows you want to do. When you’re behind the scenes, you know when artists are coming into town at least three months in advance.” Settles plans to get back to the music side of things and release a compilation album featuring all of the artists he currently manages. “It’ll be like what Jay Z did with the Dynasty,” he says. “We’ve got all kinds of artists.” (Emanuel Wallace)

scene@clevescene.com t@cleveland_scene | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

FEATURE

Photo by Emanuel Wallace

SPIN CYCLE The rebirth of Touch Supper Club revives a hotspot for Cleveland’s DJ scene By Eric Sandy FOLLOWING A THOROUGH remodeling, westside staple Touch Supper Club reopened its doors last fall. Already, the place had been known as a mainstay for the DJ set: Monthly events like “Sanctuary” and “I Got 5 On It” brought dancing crowds out in droves. (Those events still take place on the ﬁrst and last Saturdays of each month, respectively.) Now, though, there’s even more eclectic fun on the turntables. “We knew going into the relaunch of Touch that we wanted to focus on certain sounds that

were not offered enough in Cleveland,” Brad Petty tells Scene. He books the DJs and special events at Touch. “These are genres that both Robert [Ivanov, the owner] and I personally enjoy and know represent what Touch means to people. Classic hip-hop, throwbacks, funk, soul, disco, house, Afrobeat, Latin and other world and underground sounds are what Touch is all about. The DJs we book and parties we throw stick to what we are known for — which is this music.” When Touch reopened, longtime fans were greeted by major updates throughout the place. In particular, the newly remodeled basement featured a nice zinctopped bar and plenty of

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

additional seating. Always home to special events, the basement at Touch had suddenly become a chic addition to the westside’s musical offerings. “The basement is all about dancing,” Petty says. And the dancing doesn’t stop. Sanctuary and I Got 5 On It remain popular events — legendary, one could say, in their own ways. Petty’s mission was to increase the reach of Touch’s musical atmosphere and reel in a nice variety of DJs to helm both the upstairs and the downstairs. “DJ p.stoops spins funky downtempo sounds upstairs on Fridays and Dan Polito plays a mix of soul, disco and deep house on Saturdays,” he says. “They are generally always there, while the basement is a rotating mix of parties and guests. Going into this new version of Touch, we made a pact that the basement would always be open on weekends for dancing and upstairs would always be on the loungier tip.” The upstairs, ﬁlled out with diners and a laid-back crowd at the bar, offers an excellent atmosphere for those seeking a soulful accent to their nights. DJ p.stoops — Patrick Stoops — was brought on board by Petty to spin at B-Side about two years ago. Now he’s holding down Fridays at Touch, and adding to the dynamic ﬂavor of the scene.

“At Touch, you can hear Latin funk one night and then sweet ’90s hip-hop the next,” Stoops says. “People are really enjoying themselves.” Indeed, from the dancing set downstairs to the tabletop background sounds upstairs, there’s a little bit of something for everyone. And, as springtime explodes in Cleveland here, it’s a sure bet that the lineup at Touch is only going to expand further. On April 8, for instance, DJ Self Help is skating in from New York City to lay down an evening of dancehall and tropical bass downstairs. “We offer DJs a place to play music that they really enjoy and listen to themselves,” Petty says. “Every time I book a local DJ they tell me Touch is their favorite place in town to play because it’s like playing a house party and they don’t have to spin the same music they would at, say, a downtown club. EDM, the new Future song, and any other current music trend is really not on our radar at Touch, so we have no desire for our DJs to spin it. There are plenty of places for clubbers to go if they want Top 40, but really, only a couple places for the type of music we showcase. We like it like that.”

esandy@clevescene.com t@ericsandy

| clevescene.com m | March 30 - April 5, 2016

“INVENTIVE, ELECTRIFYING TAKE ON TAP.” THE BOSTON GLOBE

DANCECLEVEL AND PRESENTS

Dorrance Dance

FOR TICKETS, CALL THE CPT BOX OFFICE AT: 216.631.2727 EXT. 501 OR VISIT WWW.DANCECLEVELAND.ORG.

APRIL 7, 8 + 9TH 8PM CLEVELAND PUBLIC THEATRE

TICKETS: $30 & $20

$40 ‘Ring Of Fire’ Tickets Include 2 Drink Tickets & Special Acoustic Set By TOM EVANCHUCK from 5-6 pm

HELP WELCOME TERRY LEE BACK TO THE LOCAL STAGE!

April 7th- only $12! April 8th - $30, “Free Beer Friday” Receive a free drink with your ticket purchase! April 9th- $30- limited tickets available. PRESENTED BY DANCECLEVELAND IN COLLABORATION WITH CLEVELAND PUBLIC THEATRE’S DANCEWORKS ‘16

Tickets available by phone at 440-245-2323 or via website at lorainpalace.org G E N E R O U S LY F U N D E D B Y

YEARS

CHRISTOPHER DUGGAN

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

everything you should do this week

GET OUT

Photo by Erika Wagner

WED

3/30

Latrice Royale joins the Divas of Drag at House of Blues. See: Thursday.

FILM

Black Veil Brides: Alive and Burning Inspired by theatrical rock acts such as Kiss and Mötley Crüe, the metalcore act Black Veil Brides appeals to a teen audience with its call-and-response vocals and anthemic rock tunes. The concert ﬁlm Alive and Burning captures the group in front of a soldout audience at the Wiltern in Los Angeles. The career-spanning set includes the band’s underground hits such as “In the End” and “The Legacy.” The movie screens tonight at 7 p.m. in the Foster Theater at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Tickets are $5.50, free for Rock Hall members. (Niesel) 1100 Rock and Roll Blvd., 216-515-8444, rockhall.com.

COMEDY

SPOKEN WORD

Cleveland Stories Dinner Parties Earlier this year, the Music Box Supper Club launched Cleveland Stories Dinner Party, a new weekly series that pairs ﬁne food with storytelling. The series aims to help raise awareness of the mission of the Western Reserve Historical Society’s new Cleveland History Center. The club’s owners consider the Cleveland History Center to be “one of the most interesting museums in Cleveland” and “an unknown gem that Clevelanders should know more about and support.” The goal of the Cleveland Stories Dinner Party is to “bring to life some of the fun, interesting stories about Cleveland’s past — from sports, to rock ’n’ roll, to Millionaire’s Row,” as it’s put in a press release. Each week features a guest speaker and a custom prix ﬁxe menu — a full three-course meal for only $20. (The talk, alone, is free.) Dinner will be served at 6 p.m., and the storytelling starts at 7:30 p.m. Bobby DiBiasio, senior vice president for the Cleveland Indians, is tonight’s featured speaker; local musician Chris Hanna will play baseball music on his Hammond B3 organ. (Niesel) 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com. COMEDY

Dave Landau Last Comic Standing has introduced us to dozens of incredible comedians, but none quite like Dave Landau. Sharp, dark and sarcastic, Landau’s standup act is standup for the cynic. He puts a new twist on the typically goofy nature of live comedy. He likes

reality television’s most popular drag queens including JujuBee, Yara Soﬁa, Alyssa Edwards, Trixie Mattel, Latrice Royale, Mimi Imfurst, Milk, Kennedy Davenport, Roxxxy Andrews, Gia Gunn, Laganja Estranja, Tatianna, Mystique Summers, Penny Tration, Stacy Layne Matthews, Vicky Vox and Wendy Ho, Divas of Drag boasts a diverse, colorful cast. According to the press release announcing the national tour that comes to House of Blues tonight at 7, the stars will “kick, split, lip-sync and sing their hearts out in the biggest, most fabulous drag revue ever.” Tickets are $30 to $75. (Niesel) 308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.

to joke that Halloween was a fun holiday for him as a kid. “I was poor and I used to have to wear a garbage bag and go as a raisin,” he says. He performs tonight at 8 at Hilarities. Tickets are $13 to $18. (Dana Hetrick) 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com. SPOKEN WORD

The Power of Music & the Human Spirit In Hiding in the Spotlight, a Musical Prodigy’s Story of Survival, 19411946, author Greg Dawson writes about his mother, pianist Zhanna Arshanskaya Dawson, a child prodigy who performed for unsuspecting Nazis using a false, non-Jewish identity. Dawson and his mother are part of a moderated discussion that includes David Redles, Kira Seaton, and Bruno Tatalovic of Cuyahoga Community College; and Sean Martin of Western Reserve Historical Society; Music by pianist Emanuela Friscioni (performing part of Chopin’s “Fantaisie Impromptu”) is also included in the evening. The event takes place at 7 p.m. at the Cuyahoga Community College’s Eastern Campus Theater. Admission is free. (Niesel) 4250 Richmond Rd., Highland Hills, 216-987-0241, tri-c.edu.

THUR 3/31 FILM

Believeland The Cleveland International Film Festival features hundreds of films from a variety of countries. But no screening is more anticipated than tonight’s world premiere of Believeland. Directed by Ohio native and University of Toledo graduate Andy Billman, the documentary, part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, attempts to explain the devotion of Cleveland sports fans despite decades of failure. Yes, the film touches on The Drive, The Fumble, The Shot, and The Decision. It features interviews with sports figures including Jim Brown, Craig Ehlo, Kenny Lofton, Jim Thome, Mo Williams, Brian Windhorst and Felix Wright. A discussion on stage with director Billman and special guests featured in the film follows the screening. It takes place at 7 at Connor Palace. Tickets are $16. (Niesel) 1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org. NIGHTLIFE

Divas of Drag A national tour starring some of

Will Power If you’re skeptical about a comedy hypnotist show, Will Power will change your mind forever — whether he does it with mind tricks is for you to decide. His hypnotist act shows just how powerful suggestion can be on the human mind. This show is adults only, as Power’s act isn’t family friendly. Rated somewhere between R and X, Power’s performance will have you laughing with his naughty fun. Don’t think you can go to a hypnotist show and not participate, as Power will undoubtedly ﬁnd a way to rope you into the show. He performs tonight at 7:30 at the Improv. Tickets are $10. (Martin Harp) 1148 Main Ave., 216-696-IMPROV, clevelandimprov.com. COMEDY

Tom Segura Tom Segura likes to talk about face tattoos, drug overdoses and his hatred for hipsters on bikes. He tells his stories candidly, and his honesty is what makes them crudely funny. He’s not a total asshole, though; he does feel guilty when he eats cookies made by the Keebler elves while watching episodes of Little People, Big World. This guy’s not for the easily offended, but he knows how to deliver the laughs. The show starts at 8 tonight at Hilarities, where he has additional performances scheduled through Saturday. Tickets start at $23. (Liz Trenholme) 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com. MUSIC

Wagner’s Götterdämmerung The Cleveland Orchestra has a long history of playing Richard Wagner’s music, and tonight’s concert will | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

GET OUT feature some of his most famous works in the form of orchestral selections from Götterdämmerung. On the program: “Dawn” and “Siegfried’s Rhine Journey” as well as “Siegfried’s Death and Funeral Music” and “Brünnhilde’s Immolation.” The concert also features a modern masterpiece of a violin concerto created by Thomas Ades, one of Great Britain’s most acclaimed young composers. The pre-concert talk features composer Anthony Cheung in conversation with Rabbi Roger Klein of The TempleTifereth Israel. The concerts take place at 7:30 tonight, at 11 a.m. tomorrow and at 8 p.m. on Saturday at Severance Hall. Tickets start at $29. (Niesel) 11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.

FRI

4/01

societies and cultures.” The festival, a collaboration between 20 Northeast Ohio institutions, kicks off today at 4:30 p.m. at Case Western Reserve University’s new Tinkham Veale University Center with the keynote address, “Moral Injury and War.” Program sites vary, many events are free, and most require registration. Consult the website for details and a complete schedule. (Niesel) chf.case.edu.

INDUCTION S I M U L C A S T APRIL 8 • @ ROCK HALL • 7 PM (doors 6:30)

NIGHTLIFE

April Supper Club Music Series Popularized in the 1930s and ’40s, supper clubs offered Midwesterners social, culinary and cultural stimulation. Tonight from 8 to 10 p.m., Prosperity Social Club celebrates that time-honored American tradition as the Cleveland pub travels back to the days of “classic cocktails and hearty dinner fare” served with ﬂickering candlelight, white tablecloths and lively lounge music. Along with an array of signature cocktails and retro appetizers, Prosperity’s homemade supper club-inspired menu items will include lobster ravioli in a bourbon cream sauce with arugula and roasted tomatoes, saffron poached salmon with tomato cous cous and mirepoix vegetables, and choice sirloin encrusted with espresso and brown sugar on a bed of brandy-and-peppercorn cream sauce, roasted asparagus and caramelized onion mashed potatoes. Hollywood Slim Trio will provide the music. Reservations for the Supper Club series are strongly encouraged but not required. Seatings are at 7:30, 7:45 and 8 p.m. (Niesel) 1109 Starkweather Ave., 216-937-1938, prosperitysocialclub.com. FESTIVAL

Cleveland Humanities Festival Loosely modeled after the Chicago Humanities Festival, the inaugural Cleveland Humanities Festival takes place today through April 10. This year’s edition is designed to explore a very speciﬁc theme, namely “the impact of war on

season at the Q with a game against the Philadelphia Soul. Because it’s opening night, there will be plenty of freebies: On the swag list, you’ll ﬁnd magnetic schedules and light-up thundersticks being given away. In addition, the hip-hop group Naughty by Nature will perform after the game. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets start at $10. (Niesel) 1 Center Ct., 216-420-2000, theqarena.com.

This diverse show includes painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture and more. The show remains on view at the Morgan Conservatory through Saturday, May 7. Admission is free. (Josh Usmani) 1754 East 47th St., 216-361-9255, morganconservatory.org. COMEDY

Rodney Perry Comedian Rodney Perry likes to joke that his favorite Jackson is Joe Jackson because he drove his kids to success. “Those kids wouldn’t have been shit without an ass whopping,” he jokes in one popular skit. “He’s still whopping people to this day.” He also likes to joke about relationships and advises women to do what their men tell them to because “it’s hard being a black man.” Consistently irreverent, Perry currently serves as co-host on BET’s The Mo’Nique Show and he also played Harold in the hit Tyler Perry movie Madea’s Big Happy Family. He performs tonight at 7:30 and 10:15 at the Improv and has shows scheduled through Sunday. Tickets are $20. (Niesel) 1148 Main Ave., 216-696-IMPROV, clevelandimprov.com. ART

with special guests:

The Black Keys Rob Thomas Lars Ulrich of Metallica Kendrick Lamar Kid Rock

$23.50 at tickets.rockhall.com rockhall.com

Perspectives : The Art of Seth Chwast A collaboration between Cleveland artists Seth Chwast and Herbert Ascherman, Perspectives includes a total of nearly 80 works. The exhibition was conceived as a way to raise awareness of the abilities of individuals diagnosed with autism and other developmental differences. Seth Chwast is an emerging artist who is gaining internationally recognition, and also happens to have autism. Each of Chwast’s paintings is paired with a 35-mm black and white silver gelatin portrait by Ascherman. These photos help offer insight into the mind and creative process of the artist. Perspectives opens with a reception tonight from 6 to 8 at the Valley Art Center in Chagrin Falls, and remains on view through May 7. Admission is free. (Usmani) 155 Bell St., Chagrin Falls, 440-247-7507, valleyartcenter.org. COMEDY

SPORTS

ART

Gladiators vs. Philadelphia Soul With the Cleveland Browns headed toward yet another season of rebuilding, why not get your football ﬁx with the Cleveland Gladiators? Our arena football team has proven itself to be competitive: Back in 2014, they made it to the championship game. Tonight at 7, the team opens the

A Juried Exhibition This year, the Morgan Conservatory received nearly 140 submissions from 80 local and regional artists for its fourth annual juried exhibition, From the Ground Up: Surface and Dimension. Stop by from 6:30 to 8:30 tonight to see the 60 selected works on paper during the opening reception.

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

Scotty K. Born in New York and raised in Alabama as a “preacher’s kid,” Scotty K. had what he describes as “a unique upbringing.” He lived in six states and attended eight different schools before he graduated from college. In one routine, he likes to jokes that Jesus must’ve had a sense of humor and told fart jokes when hanging out with the apostles. “You can’t tell me one of the

disciples didn’t say, ‘Pull my finger,’” he says. “It happened.” He performs tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 and 10 at Club Velvet at the Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park. Tickets are $13 to $18. (Niesel) 10705 Northfield Rd., Northfield, 330-908-7793, hrrocksinonorthfieldpark.com. WINE

Spring Kick-Off Rooftop Wine Party We think the folks at Music Box Supper Club might be a bit optimistic to think they can host a rooftop party on the ﬁrst day of April. But we’ll give them the beneﬁt of the doubt for tonight’s Spring Kick-Off Rooftop Wine Party. The event will take place rain or shine, and should inclement weather occur, the fun heads inside to the concert hall. A ticket includes 12 pours of wine from brand favorites Souverain and Allegrini, a gourmet plate of spectacular appetizers, retail shopping deals at a one-dayonly marketplace, along with wine education provided by on-site experts. Tickets are $30, or $25 for MBSC VIP members. (Niesel) 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com. ART

Two Opening Receptions For roughly a year, renowned local photographer Brandon Juhasz has been working with 2731 Prospect, MOCA Cleveland, Lenscratch.com and widely acclaimed jurors on the inaugural Foreign Exchange photography competition and exhibition. Tonight from 6 to 9, 2731 Prospect hosts an opening reception for the winners. Simultaneously, the gallery hosts a reception for Cutting Edge: New Works in Collage, featuring the work of John Hundt, Andrew Raz, Adrienne Slane and Leigh Wells. Both exhibitions remain on view through April 30. It’s free (Usmani) 2731 Prospect Ave., 888-273-1881, 2731prospect.com. ART

Walk All Over Waterloo In addition to Lane Cooper’s What Dreams May Come at Waterloo Arts (see this week’s Arts feature), this Friday’s Walk All Over Waterloo includes several gallery receptions and special events. Don’t miss Darius Steward’s Pressure at the Maria Neil Art Project. Praxis Fiber Workshop hosts an opening reception for Landline: Works in Fiber from Coast to Coast, featuring a collection of local and national artists. Local sculptor Jerry Schmidt continues his liquidation sale at Waterloo 7 Studio/Gallery to make room for his

commissions for the new Downtown Hilton. Just across the street from Waterloo 7, Article Gallery hosts abstract works as well as the open studios of resident artists Larry Fielder, Rachel Latina and Guerin Wolf. Stop by Waterloo’s new coffee shop, Six Shooter Coffee, to view work by the members of Brick Ceramic + Design Studio. There’s even more to see and do from 5 to 10 p.m. today throughout the Waterloo Arts District. Check out the website for details. (Usmani) waterlooarts.org. COMEDY

Wham City A long-running comedy and video collective out of Baltimore, Wham City has built its reputation on bizarre viral videos and absurdist presentational performances. The troupe has opened for Reggie Watts, Eric Wareheim and Tig Notaro. You might know the group from a series of infomercials for Adult Swim including late-night horror prank “Unedited Footage of a Bear,” which The Observer called “this year’s scariest video.” The group performs tonight at 9 in the Locker Room at Mahall’s. Tickets are $6 in advance, $8 at the door. (Niesel) 13200 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 2 16-521-3280, mahalls20lanes.com.

SAT

4/02

FUNDRAISER

CAN CAN 2016 Join the artists, galleries and nonprofits of the Collective Arts Network for the celebration of its CAN Journal. This year’s annual benefit, CAN CAN 2016, takes place from 7 to midnight tonight at 78th Street Studios. Admission from 7 to 8:30 p.m. is $75 and includes an open bar, hors d’oeuvres, a Buy-It-Now Auction and live music from the Chris Vance Trio. Starting at 8:30 p.m., admission is $25 and includes a cash bar, pizza, silent auction and music from DJ Ape Bleakney, owner of Ape Made. The highlight of the evening, the karaoke competition, begins at 9:30 p.m. Last year’s first place performance of “Aquarius/Let the Sunhine In” from the ladies of Zygote Press caused an impromptu dance party to break out. Tickets are on sale now through CAN Journal’s website. (Usmani) 1305 West 80th St., canjournal.org. FILM

Eraserhead The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque might have upgraded its equipment so that it can show the latest and greatest digital prints, but | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

GET OUT

2016 Performing Arts Series

that doesn’t mean it’s forsaken 35-mm ﬁlm. Tonight at 8:45 and tomorrow night at 8:15, it screens the David Lynch movie Eraserhead in 35 mm as part of the Cleveland Cult Film Festival 7. A surreal ﬂick about the birth of a strange creature in an industrial city, the movie comes off as odd and inscrutable even by Lynch’s standards. Tickets are $10. (Niesel) 11610 Euclid Ave., 216-421-7450, cia.edu.

Da le Do ng

y’s Compan ls e e h W OUR cing CERT & T N The Dan O C ” Y C LEGA “ L A S T IN G

APR.10 @ 3:30 PM Performing Arts Center | Chagrin Falls

An inspiring tribute performance to the 35th anniversary of America’s first and foremost physically integrated dance company, and the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

COMEDY

Kathleen Madigan Veteran comedian Kathleen Madigan has performed on “nearly every late-night show ever made” during the course of her 25-year career. In 2014, she was nominated for an American Comedy Award for Best Concert Comic, and she’s released four CDs and two DVDs during the course of her career as well. She’s also starred in two HBO specials, three Comedy Central specials and four CMT Salute to the Troops specials with Ron White. Madigan doesn’t resort to profanity in her routines. Rather, she uses observational humor (and a good deal of sarcasm) to get laughs. She performs tonight at 8 at the Ohio Theatre. Tickets are $10 to $39.50. (Niesel) 1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

Tickets / Info:

ChagrinArts.org | 440-247-9700

–NY1

Stephen Sondheim Theatre 124 West 43rd Street | BeautifulOnBroadway.com | Telecharge.com 212-239-6200

April 5-17

Photo: Joan Marcus

COMEDY

The Spring Comedy Jam with Bill Bellamy If comic Bill Bellamy did nothing more than coin the phrase “booty call,” he’d go down in comic history. But the guy has been a staple on the standup circuit for nearly 30 years now. His star power hasn’t diminished over that time, either. Currently the host of his own TV show, Who’s Got Jokes?, he’s also a regular on Chelsea Lately. His material tends to stick to triedand-true topics like the differences between men and women when it comes to romantic love, and the trials and tribulations of getting through security at the airport. Still, this guy is a pro storyteller who knows how to work a crowd. Catch him tonight at 8 p.m. the Akron Civic Theater. Tickets are $57 and $67 online or at the box ofﬁce. (Niesel) 182 South Main St., Akron, 330-253-2488, akroncivic.com. THEATER

Call 216-241-6000 Group Sales 216-640-8600 playhousesquare.org

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

Mr. Wolf Cleveland native Rajiv Joseph makes his Cleveland Play House debut with

Mr. Wolf, a story about a family’s “desperate and determined attempt to heal each other and rebuild their world.” A press release for the play describes it as a “hauntingly beautiful and mysterious tale of adaptation and survival.” It opens tonight at 7:30 at the Outcault Theatre; performances continue through April 24. Tickets are $20 to $90. (Niesel) 1407 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org. FILM

Rocky Horror Picture Show Because it’s the ﬁrst Saturday of the month, the Cedar Lee Theatre will host a midnight screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the 1975 ﬁlm that still draws an exuberant, costumed crowd that likes to throw rice and dry toast and sing along to the songs in the movie. Tickets are $9.50. (Niesel) 2163 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights, 216-321-5411, clevelandcinemas.com.

SUN

4/03

ART

Converging Lines Beginning today, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Gallery at the Cleveland Museum of Art hosts the CMA’s latest Centennial Exhibition, Converging Lines: Eve Hesse and Sol Lewitt. The exhibition celebrates the friendship of two of the most important artists of the post-WWII era. Converging Lines includes many works that haven’t been publicly exhibited in decades. Despite their very different artistic processes, the artists developed a close friendship that lasted more than a decade. The exhibition is on view through July 31. Admission is free. (Usmani) 11150 East Blvd., 216-421-7350, clevelandart.org. COMEDY

Matt Fulchiron Best known by his nickname “The Full Charge” because of the way he “rocks microphones,” standup comic Matt Fulchiron is a scruffy-looking guy who likes to deliver one liners such as, “I drove here tonight in a meat wagon because this next joke is going to fuckin’ slaughter.” He’s better when he tells anecdotes about going on dates and makes fun of his married friends who need to party when their wives are out of town. His casual delivery style makes him easy to listen to even when his material is sub-par. He performs tonight at 7 at Hilarities. Tickets are $13 to $18. (Niesel) 2035 East Fourth St., 216-241-7425, pickwickandfrolic.com.

ART

A Gallery Talk Marking the close of its exhibit Unﬁxed: The Fugitive Image, Transformer Station hosts a gallery talk and performance by Tom Persinger today at 3 p.m. Pittsburghbased artist, writer and founder of F295, an international organization of photographers sharing a mutual interest in conceptual approaches to photographic processes and techniques, Persinger will discuss his artistic practice and work, including the triptych installation he created for Unﬁxed. Following his talk, the work will be completed during a public performance that encloses the work in parentheses, documenting the exhibition’s duration. It’s free. (Usmani) 1460 West 29th St., 216-938-5429, transformerstation.org.

(Selby!) and Travis Hafner will be part of today’s opening day events as the Indians take on the Boston Red Sox at 4:10 p.m. at Progressive Field. It all ties into the Tribe’s new “Only Here” campaign, which reminds fans it’s way better to enjoy big moments at the ballpark in the company of friends. Patrick Carney, drummer for the Black Keys and an Akron native, will throw out the ﬁrst pitch, and William Clarence Marshall will sing the national anthem. The team will also celebrate all branches of the U.S. military. Of course, it’s way too late to get a ticket to the game. Tickets to this year’s season opener sold out in 40 minutes. But downtown will be one big party and you can join the fun even without going into the park. (Bliss Davis) 2401 Ontario St., 216-420-4487, clevelandindians.com.

SPOKEN WORD

Good by C.P. Taylor A novelist and professor of German literature living in Frankfurt during the early days of National Socialism, John Halder didn’t care about politics until Nazis recruited him for the coming war effort. Ignoring all the warnings, including those of his Jewish best friend, Halder wound up in a world of hurt. Interplay Jewish Theatre’s dramatic reading of C.P. Taylor’s Good reveals “a gripping tale about our human capacity for evil.” The reading takes place at 2 p.m. today at The Temple-Tifereth Israel. Admission is $12 for adults and includes admission to the Maltz Museum exhibit, Operation Finale: The Capture & Trial of Adolf Eichmann. (Niesel) 26000 Shaker Blvd., Beachwood, 216-831-3233, ttti.org.

Wing Ding Doodle Blues icon Howlin’ Wolf famously covered “Wang Dang Doodle,” the old blues tune penned by Willie Dixon. Prosperity Social Club in Tremont has adopted that slogan, calling its wing night Wing Ding Doodle. The weekly event features specials on Buffalo wings and cold brews. Prosperity will not only serve up substantial, $1 whole wings, but it’ll also offer meatless Monday “wing” baskets for vegans. Discounted drafts and a playlist of vintage-electric blues and soulful R&B curated by local musician Clint Holley will be on tap as well. Wing Ding Doodle takes place every Monday from 6 p.m. to midnight. (Niesel) 1109 Starkweather Ave., 216-937-1938, prosperitysocialclub.com.

TUE

MUSIC

Heritage Concert Series The Heritage Concert Series aims to celebrate the cultural legacy of the Cuyahoga Valley with a series of folk and roots rock concerts at the Happy Days Lodge. Tonight’s concert features bluesman Guy Davis. Soups, snacks and sweets will be available for purchase along with alcoholic and non-alcoholic handcrafted beverages. General admission is $17. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the concert begins at 8 p.m. (Niesel) 500 West Streetsboro Rd., Peninsula, 330-657-2909, ConservancyforCVNP.org.

MON

NIGHTLIFE

4/04

SPORTS

Indians vs. Boston Red Sox Indians vets Kenny Lofton, Bill Selby

AT SEVERANCE HALL

WITH

4/05

THEATER

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical Back in the early 1960s, Carole King and husband Gerry Gofﬁn emerged as a formidable songwriting duo penning dozens of chart hits for other artists. In the ’70s, King started singing and recording her own tunes. Her 1971 album Tapestry became a huge hit. Beautifu: The Carole King Musical tells the story of her career. It opens tonight at 7:30 at Connor Palace, where performances continue through April 17. Tickets are $30 to $120. (Niesel) 1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.

Supported with funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

216-231-1111 clevelandorchestra.com TICKETS |

Find more events @clevescene.com t@cleveland_scene

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

ART WONDROUS HODGE PODGE Cleveland Institute of Art looks outward and inward in two new exhibitions By Josh Usmani THE FIRST FRIDAY OF EACH month is usually one of the busiest nights for artists and galleries throughout Northeast Ohio. This month is no different, and no organization has as much to celebrate this April as the Cleveland Institute of Art. First, Lane Cooper, the former chair of its painting department and current associate professor of painting, is debuting a new series of work, What Dreams May Come, at Waterloo Arts as part of April’s Walk All Over Waterloo event. “Lane Cooper joined the Waterloo Arts gallery committee two years ago and, in her position as chair of painting at Cleveland Institute of Art, she has connected us with some excellent artists and also curated a group show in the gallery,” says Waterloo Arts executive director Amy Callahan. “Earlier this year, Cooper and I spoke about her need to dedicate some time to her own painting in order to deal with the recent loss of her sister, and I was happy to put a show for her

in the schedule for April and May. I am interested to see and discuss with Cooper her process and this new body of work.” Cooper holds both an MFA in painting and a master’s degree in art history with an emphasis in contemporary art from the University of Alabama. She has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Art since 2001. Earlier this year, Cooper curated I Came So Far For Beauty at the Galleries at Cleveland State University. In 2014, she curated De Materia at Waterloo Arts. “This show has grown out of my experience over the past five years,” Cooper explains. “They’ve been rough years for me, with the past two being particularly difficult. In order to make sense of this time, to ‘come out on the other side’ as they say, I need to reboot, to renew my commitment to those things that really matter to me. This show is a very tentative start on that. In it, I am trying to drill down on those things that drive me as an artist. It is, in fact, a very selfish show, and it’s

Lane Cooper, from the series What Dreams May Come, 12-by-12 inches, acrylic on canvas, 2015-2016.

going to look like a hodgepodge, I’m afraid, with a little of this and a little of that. But all of it is rooted in those things I’m most deeply interested in, those things which keep me making, and the work represents my ﬁrst frail attempts, after a long time, to give myself over to them.” The exhibit’s opening reception takes place Friday from 5 to 9 p.m. as part of April’s Walk All Over Waterloo. The exhibit remains on view through May 20. Meanwhile, at CIA’s Reinberger Gallery, American Real opens on Friday. One of gallery director Bruce Checefsky’s goals for the new Reinberger Gallery in CIA’s uniﬁed campus is to expose current students WATERLOO ARTS 15605 WATERLOO RD., 216-692-9500 WATERLOOARTS.ORG

Ryder Ripps, “Heater,” oil on canvas, 2014. Courtesy of Postmasters Gallery, New York.

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

to as many types of art as possible. Additionally, Checefsky views this special exhibition as a sort of marketing opportunity. “It’s a way to show people in New York that Cleveland is a viable alternative to living in New York,” he says. “People come to Cleveland and are just amazed at what’s here. My hopes are maybe we bring some of those galleries and artists here.” Among the three featured artists, Brooklyn-based Monica Cook’s hyperrealistic yet ﬁctional sculptures

have a darkly humorous tone. These disturbing works pay homage to death, ritual and sacriﬁce. New York-based artist and designer Ryder Ripps has stirred up controversy with his recent series, Ho, in which he appropriated Instagram photos of fashion model Adrianne Ho. After “liquefying” the photos with Photoshop, Ryder paid studio assistants of another provocative contemporary artist, Jeff Koons, to paint large, hyper-realistic portraits from his photoshopped imagery. And ﬁnally, New York-based photographer Chris Verene’s documentarian explorations of neoAmericana are showcased in his series, Family. Verene’s work explores REINBERGER GALLERY AT CIA 11610 EUCLID AVE., 216-421-7407 CIA.EDU

a community impacted by the 2008 mortgage crisis. All three artists in the exhibition will participate in a panel discussion, moderated by Checefsky, at 12:15 p.m. on Friday. This free public event includes pizza and beverages. CIA’s Reinberger Gallery hosts its reception for American Real from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Friday. The exhibit remains on view through May 8.

jusmani@clevescene.com t@cleveland_scene

Photo by Tom Kondilas

STAGE FUCKING HILARIOUS No profanities are spared in the laughpacked Bootycandy at convergencecontinuum By Christine Howey IF YOU’VE DEVELOPED A fondness for non-PC talk because of this season’s loony Republican presidential campaign, then you may want to sample some stronger stuff than references to “small hands” and the genital-related horror that description implies. After all, if we’re going to chuck political correctness and decorum into a blazing dumpster that’s rolling at high speed towards a cliff’s edge, why not go all the way? In Bootycandy, now at convergence-continuum, playwright Robert O’Hara goes all the way — language-wise — and then doubles back and goes all the way again to make sure no nasty words and thoughts were left unspoken. And while there are some glitches in this balls-to-the-wall satire of some familiar cultural stereotypes, the ribald humor is often howlingly funny. The story is woven around a young black man named Sutter and his close relatives. We first meet him as a naïve youngster and then follow as he grows into a gay guy with some issues. The title of the play is explained in the first scene when Sutter, as a prepubescent and slightly effeminate child, is commanded by his mother to thoroughly wash his bootycandy (penis) before leaving the house. Otherwise, she adds ominously, it will fall off. Fully equipped with sexual misinformation, as most of us were in our early years, Sutter grows scene-by-scene into manhood. Along the way, other seemingly disconnected scenes are sprinkled in until, at the conclusion of Act 1, a meta-theatrical scene in a conference setting ties them all together quite tidily. Those free-floating scenes include

Nate Miller, Wesley Allen, Rochelle Jones, Michael May, India Nicole Burton

a preacher who is lamenting a letter he received from his church’s governing body about reports of gay activity in the boys’ choir. As the pastor, Michael May is ﬂat-out hilarious, using his booming voice to maintain vocal control of his ﬂock even as he reveals his underthe-robe secrets: red heels, makeup and a sexy strapless number. In another, assorted women on phones bat around the news that a pregnant relative/friend is planning on naming her daughter Genitalia. This news is not conveyed with any delicacy since one woman screams to another: “She’s gonna name her baby Vagina!” It’s no secret that some AfricanAmericans have a fondness for conjuring up unusual names for their kids. And indeed, the stereotypes about blacks, whites and

detail (ie., “Will you eat out my ass?” “Sure!”), then this is the play for you. But let’s be clear: O’Hara has more talent than your average profanity-spewing cretin or certain presidential hopefuls. He’s using crude language to bludgeon us into recognizing the societal ﬁg leaves that hide our true feelings. And when O’Hara gets on a riff, as he does when Sutter’s parents start fretting about their son’s interest in Jackie Collins’ novels and highschool musicals, it can be a laugh riot. “No more show-choir camp!” yells mom. Dad chimes in with suggestions like playing football and baseball. Then mom seconds his motion by warning her son, “You will have balls in your face!” And indeed he will, as Sutter continues his gay journey that leads

BOOTYCANDY THROUGH APRIL 16, BY CONVERGENCE-CONTINUUM AT THE LIMINIS, 2438 SCRANTON RD., 216-687-0074, CONVERGENCE-CONTINUUM.ORG

gays ﬂow freely in this show, and there is precious little subtlety. So if you’re a fan of the oblique double entendre and a sly Noel Coward bon mot, you’ve come to the wrong place. But if you’re ready for grownup Sutter and his brother-in-law to openly discuss what they’d like to do sexually to each other, in graphic

to violence and a tragic outcome. While there are some serious moments in the show, most of it is played for laughs and the talented cast usually delivers under Terrence Spivey’s sure-handed and stylized direction. May is the standout, early on as the preacher and later as Suttter’s grandmother who is

isolated in a nursing home and only wants a big plate of baby back spare ribs. If it is true, as it notes in the program, that this is May’s ﬁnal stage performance, he could have hardly found a better swan song. He is sheer perfection throughout. Also excellent is Wesley Allen, who plays Sutter through the transitions from an innocent young man to an experienced, street-toughened dude who seeks some sort of psychological revenge for earlier abuse. Playing all the white characters, Nate Miller has a number of ﬁne moments and he even goes full frontal as a troubled fellow named Clint. Holding down (some) of the female roles are India Nicole Burton and Rochelle Jones, and they hit their high point in a sly bit featuring lesbians who are having a non-commitment ceremony, declaring their hatred for each other with smiles on their faces. Funny as it is, that scene drags on too long, as do a couple others. And a second meta-sequence in the second act, where the stage manager intercedes, is just confusing. But when you’re laughing this long and hard at an unrestrained avalanche of profanity, crudity and sly wit, who the fuck cares?

scene@clevescene.com t@christinehowey | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

Weekday Lunch Specials

5 floors of en

5 STAR RESTAURA

Mon-Fri 11am-3pm HIBACHI LUNCH .............$12-$16 SUSHI BAR .............................. $12 ROLL COMBOS OF THREE .... $12

Open 7 Days A Week! Sunday - Thursday 11am-11pm Friday & Saturday 11am-2am

Seafood /Steakhouse /Sushi Bar 34

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

FREE SWING DANCE NIGHT!

EVERY THURSDAY DANCE LESSON AT 7-8! DJ FROM 8-11

Brought to you by Tomo Hibachi & Sushi and Get Hep Swing. (No dance partner or previous dance experience needed)

ntertainment

ANT EXPERIENCE

r / Hibachi Grill

2nd Floor Lounge Specials Every Friday & Saturday!!

5.00 $ 5.00 $ 4.00 $ 4.00

PITCHERS OF DRAFT BEER

CIROC

FIREBALL

JAMENSON

ALL NIGHT!! $

100 Bottles in VIP $

10 Hookah

with mention of this ad Zeehi ef[d Wj M ÂŠ jef JF cki_Y [Zc de Yel[h [l[h7

INVITES YOU TO ENTER TO WIN A DIGITAL HD DOWNLOAD CODE FOR

By going to: tinyurl.com/ SWTFAScene and entering your information! Winners will receive a download code by mail.

“AMAZINGLY, TOM HIDDLESTON INTENSELY CHANNELS THE TIMELESS COUNTRY MUSIC STAR HANK WILLIAMS. ELIZABETH OLSEN IS DYNAMIC. A MOVIE THAT IS EASY ON THE EARS AND EVEN EASIER TO LIKE.” -Rex Reed, NEW YORK OBSERVER

TOM HIDDLESTON ELIZABETH OLSEN CHERRY JONES BRADLEY WHITFORD MADDIE HASSON WRENN SCHMIDT

“SEE IT FOR THE MAGNIFICENT TOM HIDDLESTON, WHO HONORS HANK WILLIAMS’ GREATNESS.” -Stephanie Zacharek, TIME

I SAW THE LIGHT WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MARC ABRAHAM

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. ONE ENTRY PER PERSON. NO WALK-INS OR TELEPHONE CALLS ACCEPTED.

ARRIVING EARLY ON DIGITAL HD APRIL 1 BRING IT HOME ON BLU-RAY™ COMBO PACK APRIL 5

SOUNDTRACK AVAILABLE ON LEGACY RECORDINGS

Chagrin Falls

CINEMAS CHAGRIN STARTS FRIDAY, APRIL 1 CLEVELAND (440) 543-5775

Akron REGAL MONTROSE MOVIES STADIUM 12 (844) 462-7342 #284

#THEFORCEAWAKENS

Cleveland Heights CLEVELAND CINEMAS CEDAR LEE THEATRE (440) 528-0355

READ THE BOOK FROM BACK BAY BOOKS

Mentor ATLAS GREAT LAKES STADIUM 16 (440) 974-2200 Solon DIGIPLEX SOLON CINEMA 16 (440) 528-0355

VIEW THE TRAILER AT WWW.ISAWTHELIGHTFILM.COM

YOU AND A GUEST ARE INVITED TO MEET

TUESDAY, APRIL 5 7:30PM CINEMARK VALLEY VIEW FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A PASS TO THE ADVANCE SCREENING, VISIT TINYURL.COM/ THEBOSSCLEVELAND

DUPLICATE ENTRIES WILL BE DELETED. One entry per name and email address. One pass per person. Each pass admits two. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Employees of all promotional partners and their agencies are not eligible. Entries must be received by 5pm on Sunday, April 3.

IN THEATERS APRIL 8 TheBossFilm.com

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

WWW.SONYCLASSICS.COM Valley View CINEMARK AT VALLEY VIEW & XD (216) 447-8820 Westlake REGAL CROCKER PARK STADIUM 16 & IMAX (844) 462-7342 #303

MOVIES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ARRIVES Believeland and more for fest’s 40th anniversary By Jeff Niesel CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM Festival director Bill Guentzler has worked as the festival’s artistic director for the past 18 years. He literally travels the globe in search of good movies and then coordinates the scouting and acquisition of the films, the creation of the festival schedule, and the smooth operation of the festival during its run. He and Mallory Martin, the CIFF director of programming and projection, went to about 10 festivals each to seek out the movies that will show at this year’s event. This year’s festival, which takes place from March 30 through April 10 at Tower City Cinemas (and a few select off-site locations), will feature 192 feature films and 213 short films from 72 countries. There will even be web series selections and music videos. For the first time, CIFF will screen a 3-D movie, a documentary about the Burning Man Festival called The Art of Burning. One highlight will be the world premiere of Believeland, the ESPN 30-for-30 documentary that chronicles the shortcomings of Cleveland sports franchises for the past several decades. It screens for the first time on March 30 at Playhouse Square. “We had known about the film,” says Guentzler when asked about how CIFF managed to nab the world premiere. “Our shorts program

manager Paul Sloop was connected to a short ﬁlm they were working on and they sent us a rough cut of Believeland. I watched it and our associate director Patrick Shepherd watched it. We knew we wanted to play it, and we wanted to make it as big as possible. Since it’s our 40th anniversary, we decided to screen it at Connor Palace, and we have a panel that will talk about what the ﬁlm means. This is the biggest venue we’ve ever used.” For only the fourth time in the festival’s 40-year history, the festival will present a Legacy Award. This year’s recipient, Michael Loderstedt, works as a professor of art in printmaking and photography at

Kent State University. Winners of the festival’s various awards will receive a piece of his artwork as well. Each year, CIFF also screens a number of local films. This year will feature a slew of them. “We have a really strong lineup of local films,” says Guentzler. “One film that really floored me in terms of the quality of the filmmaking and direction is Mad. It’s directed by Robert Putka. It’s about three women — two daughters and their mother — and the problems they’re having after their mother checks herself into a mental clinic. The writing is fantastic and I’m really happy we’re screening at the Capitol as one of our neighborhood screenings.”

New this year, a “perspectives exhibition” will take over an empty storefront at Tower City Center. It will feature 10 virtual reality films and six other interactive media programs. It’s free and open to the public. “If you haven’t experienced what virtual reality is now, this is the next generation of it,” says Guentzler. “The projects we have are films that immerse you into the film. You’re watching a film take place and you’re inside of it, which is pretty amazing. There are lots of film festivals around the world that are now featuring this and we wanted to get in on the ground floor. It’s a new way of telling stories.” The festival has grown exponentially over the years and now completely takes over Tower City Cinemas. Most weekend and evening screenings will be sold out. So what’s the best way to ensure you get to see the films you really want to see? “Get tickets early,” says Guentzler. “We do have some films on standby already. If a film is on standby, we usually let in 80 to 90 percent of the people that are on standby. There’s still a good chance of getting in even if the film is on standby when you want to come.”

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

SPOTLIGHT: EYE IN THE SKY GAVIN HOOD’S WARTIME THRILLER EYE IN the Sky opens Friday in limited release. It dramatizes the behind-the-scenes calculations that precipitate a drone strike on a Kenyan village where militants have assembled to prepare for a suicide bombing. If you’ve seen the trailer, you know the gist. It seems to have been created expressly to probe the “intricate morality of modern warfare.” And though it succeeds (often splendidly) in that respect, it can be a tad one-note, even heavyhanded. “If [the suicide bombers] kill 80 people, we win the propaganda war,” says a sweaty foreign minister in a British conference room. “If we kill one, they do.” (The line is then repeated immediately to make sure we understand.) At times, Eye in the Sky has the tinge of

political satire, the same hysterical bureaucratic mumbo jumbo of Veep or In the Loop. Decisions here are constantly shufﬂed up the chain of command. A general (Alan Rickman) and a lieutenant colonel (Helen Mirren) want to “send a hellﬁre through that roof right now,” but red tape conspires to complicate the timeline. The anxious foreign minister passes the buck to the British foreign secretary (Game of Thrones’ Iain Glen), who’s suffering from food poisoning in Malaysia. He passes the buck to the prime minister, who’d prefer a go-ahead from the U.S. secretary of state, and so on and so forth. The military personnel bang their heads against tables while the politicians weigh potential consequences. But it’s ultimately a drone pilot in Nevada (Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul) who must pull the

trigger. And it turns out he’s a stickler for rules and regs too. Due to the presence of a Kenyan girl selling bread near the target, he refuses to fire until certain projections are recalibrated. And he (and his “co-pilot,” Phoebe Fox) rescue the other Americans in the film, who come off (accurately, one fears) as heartless hawks. If not for the on-the-ground bravery of a Kenyan agent (the Oscar-nominated Somali actor Barkhad Abdi), the movie might exist at the same remove that its characters do. Around tables and over phones, these leaders debate the merits of hypotheticals, but it’s a single Kenyan man who must infiltrate a perilous neighborhood to do the leaders’ bidding. By turns tense, wicked and absurd, Eye in the Sky is director Gavin Hood’s finest effort since his 2005 jewel Tsotsi. — Sam Allard | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

SATURDAY. APRIL 2 22799 Lorain Road Fairview Park

440-716-1961 Mon-Thu 11a-9p Fri 11a-10p Sat 12p-10p | Sun 12p-9p Join us for the ﬁnest in Colombian and Salvadorian food in Cleveland! Come in for lunch or dinner and try one of our delicious arepas, pupusas, empanadas and more! We’re a little place with BIG ﬂavor! Sample Something From Our Full List Of Beers and Drinks, Or Have A Delicious Margarita!

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

Oklahoma vs Villanova 6:09pm Syracuse vs North Carolina 8:49pm $5.50 Pitcher Specials During All Games!

THE TRIBE IS BACK! Join Us For Opening Day Monday, April 4 $5.50 Pitcher Specials All Season Long!

Saturday - FINAL FOUR

EAT MATCHA, MATCHA, MATCHA! The healthy green drink that’s popping up everywhere By Douglas Trattner Photo by Emanuel Wallace

YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE TRIED a cup of matcha yet, but chances are good you’ve heard of it. The Japanese green tea powder seems to be everywhere right now, appearing not only as a hot beverage in its ceremonial ceramic cups, but also in lattes, smoothies, waffles, ice cream and pastries. Admired for its grassy, vegetal flavor, substantial health benefits and uplifting jolt of caffeine, matcha is becoming a popular sight all over town. Ever since he opened Vintage Tea and Coffee downtown two years ago, Jeff Su has been selling matcha. But he has noticed a decided uptick at his fine tea and coffee shop in the number of customers who either already are familiar with matcha or are eager to give the trendy beverage a try. “Some people already know about matcha, but others come in for tea and see that we have matcha and don’t really know about it,” Su reports. “We explain it to them and then they feel like trying it and then they fall in love with it.” Su explains that matcha is unique from regular green tea in both how it’s grown and how it’s prepared, two reasons that the beverage offers comparatively more health benefits to the consumer. For the three weeks leading up to harvest, tea farmers shade their crops, which encourages the plant to produce extra chlorophyll in response. The hyper-green leaves are hand-picked, steamed, dried and stone-ground into a fine powder. Su spoons a small amount of the bright green powder into a cup, adds three ounces of 185-degree water, and proceeds to blend the ingredients by hand using a small bamboo whisk. After a few moments the concoction is as smooth and frothy as pea-green meringue. The entire contents are consumed, ground leaves and all, which sets matcha apart from all other teas that are steeped and strained. As Cleveland’s leading importer of matcha, Su also sells the powder to other tea shops, as well as a diverse collection of businesses that

range from cold-pressed juice shops to bakeries, all of which use the flavorful powder in myriad ways. “The applications of matcha are endless,” says Su. Michael George and Amber Pompeii, the couple who run Cleveland Tea Revival in Ohio City, offer matcha the traditional way, in wheat grass-style shots, and also as a supplement in their iced matcha latte, made with lavender and housemade cashew milk. “If you consume it the traditional way, with just the water and the matcha, it can be a little hard to take, I think,” says George. “It’s a taste you have to get used to.” Matcha’s characteristic vibrant, grassy flavor is easily destroyed by high heat, so the beverage is consumed at temperatures well below a hot cup of coffee. That alone can put off first timers, says George. But for customers looking for a gentle boost of caffeine, matcha outperforms all over teas. “Green teas are real sensitive to temperature, and there’s this bitterness that will completely

ruin your experience if you use really hot water.” he says. “But with matcha, you are getting the most caffeine that you can get out of tea. It’s not as strong as coffee, but the closest you can come to it is matcha.” Su sells two categories of matcha: high-grade ceremonial and a lower-grade culinary style. Because the high-end stuff can approach $100 per pound, most applications that don’t involve straight sipping employ the more affordable non-ceremonial grade. That’s what Helen Qin and Jesse Mason of Mason’s Creamery use to make their popular green tea matcha ice cream. They also combine the matcha powder with confectioners’ sugar and use it as a topping for the black sesame with squid ink ice cream. “I had been introduced to green tea ice cream long ago at a sushi restaurant,” says Mason. “As we progressed as an ice cream shop, we do a lot of Asian ﬂavors, and one of the most ubiquitous Asian ﬂavors would be matcha. It really

has a fantastic flavor that is a really great complement to pretty much anything we do with it. It tastes like spring to me. It’s bright and green and has this life to it.” That distinctive and refreshing flavor profile, not to mention the flamboyant shades of green the powder introduces, is the reason matcha continues to worm its way into culinary treats around town. Lola pastry chef Summer Genetti uses matcha in truffles and petit fours, pastry chef Bridget Thibeault sells summer-green matcha macarons at Luna Bakery, and Restore Cold Pressed adds the powder to a superfood smoothie with coconut, mint and almond milk. “There’s a lot more interest and a lot more curiosity in matcha,” notes George of Cleveland Tea Revival. “It was not very well known when we first opened, but it seems that it’s becoming more and more well known.”

dtrattner@clevescene.com t @dougtrattner | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

EAT RISING STAR CHEF

Located in the Heart of Cleveland’s Historic Little Italy

Martin McCafferty, chef de cuisine at Thyme

FAMILY FRIENDLY BUTCHER SHOP ALL SAUSAGES AND SMOKIES ARE MADE IN HOUSE WITH OUR OWN SPECIAL BLENDS OF HAND-BATCHED SPICES

Delicious Italian Cuisine & Fine Wine Selection 2181 Murray Hill Rd | Cleve, OH 44106 216.231.5977 s NoraCleveland.com

VARIETY OF SMOKIES

31-4*);) 0=6/):1)6 /-:5)6 ;47>-61)6 416/=1+) ,-*:-+161 +07:1B7 ;)4=51 )6,7=144- ,7:3 ;=55-: ;)=;)/- .1>- 76176 *:)<; 18) 8741;0 *7A; )8) *--: *:)<; 8741;0 *7A;

NOW INTRODUCING OUR NEW HAGGIS STYLE SAUSAGE Tuesday-Thursday: 5:00pm to 10:00pm Friday-Saturday: 5:00pm to 11:00pm Sunday: 5:00pm to 9:00pm

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

By Nikki Delamotte MARTIN MCCAFFERTY CAN claim the American railways as one of his greatest teachers. A self-educated chef, his love for trains lead him to kitchens all along the West Coast. When his hometown Medina reeled him back, he found a like-minded mentor in John Kolar, owner of Thyme (113 West Smith Rd., 330-764-4114, thymetherestaurant. com), who learned under the global cuisine master Jean-Georges Vongerichten. As chef de cuisine, McCafferty experiments with the cross-country tricks he’s soaked up from every town and culture. “If I have my way, you’ll never see just one of those influences on a plate,” says McCafferty. Born on Cleveland’s west side to a family with Irish and Sicilian roots, he learned the ropes at The Oaks and Main Street Cafe in Medina. Then he bought the Culinary Institute of America’s textbook and worked his way through each chapter in his home kitchen. In 2007, he landed a gig as a line cook at Moxie under Jonathan Bennett. Despite being a self-proclaimed rookie, his work ethic earned him a spot on the opening team of Red, the Steakhouse’s Miami Beach outpost. “Everything they rode me on made me a better cook and a better man,” he explains. “In that kind of kitchen, you never make the same mistake twice.” It also was his first opportunity to flex his creative muscles. When his tuna tartare dish with fried plantains and Asian slaw moved from the specials to the regular menu, he realized he was in his element. He left Red for the mountains of Wyoming to manage four fromscratch kitchens, including a hunting lodge where he learned to break down everything from ox to antelope to deer. But the road soon called and he headed further west, working his way by train through Seattle, Napa Valley and San Diego. He relished the fresh ingredients of California cuisine, then

zigzagged backed East, staging at famed Moto in Chicago and learning about molecular gastronomy. When he returned to Cleveland, McCafferty cooked on the line at Lola. He then moved on to Tartine Bistro,

Martin McCafferty behind the line.

where he worked as executive chef. Since coming to Thyme, the chef added Kolar’s Asian expertise to his repertoire, developing dishes such as shrimp with mango coconut curry sauce and Asian slaw. While he likes to take more risks with tasting menus, many of his favorite dishes, he says, “take something basic and tweak it into a fine-dining dish worthy of a high-end restaurant.” Molecular gastronomy makes an appearance in a scallop dish where carrots and thyme are made into a syrup and turned into flavor pearls. “I bring it in to challenge expectations,” the chef says. “You’re playing with their minds and that’s the fun of it.” McCafferty encourages his own cooks to explore as he did, taking weekend trips to other cities to experience the sights and food. “It reinvigorates the passion and when you get home, you’ve got that fire back,” says McCafferty. “That’s what, in my opinion, creates the staying power of a restaurant.”

scene@clevescene.com t @cleveland_scene

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

EAT

bites

PLATFORM BEER TO OPEN BREWERY AND TAPROOM IN COLUMBUS By Douglas Trattner DESPITE LAUNCHING A SHORT 18 months ago, Platform Beer Co. continues to grow and expand its operations at an astonishing pace. The Ohio City-based brewery owned by Justin Carson and Paul Benner debuted with a wee three-barrel system in the summer of 2014. Six months later the team upgraded to its current 10-barrel system, supported by a battery of new 15-barrel fermentation and conditioning tanks. The team took a major leap forward when they purchased the former Leisy Brewery, a 120,000-square-foot complex that already is cranking out a tremendous quantity of beer in cans and kegs. “We brewed 97 barrels of beer in 2014,” explains Benner. “We’re on track to brew 12,000 barrels in 2016.” Up until now, all that beer has been going to quench the thirst of the Greater Cleveland market. But with seven shiny new 120-barrel tanks already en route to the Cleveland production brewery, Platform soon will have the bandwidth to serve a larger market; and the next logical market, the owners say, is Columbus. But rather than simply truck their product two hours south on I-71 a few times per week, the Platform guys wanted to build a more permanent home base. To that end they just closed on a building near the Convention Center, an 11,000-square-foot structure at 408 North Sixth Street, which was the former site of the Carfagna production facility. That property will have a small brewery and taproom, while also serving as the storage and distribution center for its Clevelandbrewed beer. “It’s an opportunity to be in the local market and understand the local market and to have a brick-and-mortar facility to relate with the market,” explains Carson. “Our intention from

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

the very beginning has been to create a platform that doesn’t exist in the brewing industry by connecting and collaborating, whether that’s with retail outlets or homebrewers. That has a lot to do with why we want to be a member of the community and not just someone that’s sending beer down from Cleveland.” Next week, renovations will commence on the Columbus property, with a targeted launch to coincide with Columbus Craft Beer Week in mid-May. Soon after, Platform beers like Speed Merchant, New Cleveland Palesner and Red Cup will begin appearing in area Whole Foods, Giant Eagles and Trader Joe’s, as well as bars and restaurants. Later this summer, the taproom will open. “We’re doing it right,” says Benner. “It will be the same concept as Platform here, an open-air space with no walls and a big patio.” In Ohio City, the taproom, brewery and tank farm are one contiguous, open space. “Because of its previous use as an Italian foods company, the space is perfect. There are ﬂoor drains, upgraded utilities and three large walk-in coolers.” The brewery will inherit Platform’s original three-barrel brewhouse, along with four seven-barrel fermentation tanks. There will be 12 to 20 beers on tap and the taproom will accommodate roughly 150 guests. Already, a local sales team of four to six employees is being assembled to manage the ground operation. As a self-distributing brewery, Platform employs its own team of salespeople and drivers. The team will be comprised of Columbus residents, but also longtime Cleveland-based employees. “I think it’s really cool to know that the sales guys are our employees, who

TUESDAY

See what everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talking about

HAPPY HOUR ALL DAY!

$4 SAM ADAMS DAILY FOOD SPECIALS TALL KONIG $5 â&#x20AC;&#x153;their wedding soup is the best ever!â&#x20AC;?

WING NIGHT WEDNESDAYS

- Wendy - Cleveland

50Â˘ Jumbo Wings

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The 5-layer lasagna is killer, fantasticâ&#x20AC;?

20% OFF TO-GO WING ORDERS s 6!2)%4)%3 /& "%%2 s,)6% "!.$3 s#,%6%,!.$ 3 4/0 $* S s 4 6 S LIVE ENTERTAINMENT | NO COVER

- Rick - Brunswick

SATURDAY, APRIL 2 Offer Monthly Wine Dinners Call Or Visit Website For Details. MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

1/2 PRICED Bottles Of Wine

TACO TUESDAY

Drafts & Slider Special

Bloody Mary & Brunch for Dinner

OKLAHOMA VS VILLANOVA 6:09PM SYRACUSE VS NORTH CAROLINA 8:49PM

VICTORY HIGHWAY 4/2 EASY GLISTENING 4/8 IDENTITY CRISIS 4/9 SPAZMATICS 4/16 303 BAND 4/22 THOSE ABOUT TO DOCK 4/23 Join Our VIP Text Club Text: Brewhouse to: 77948 6395 Pearl Rd Parma Hts | (440) 345-5815 | brewhousecleveland.com

561 W. Bagley Rd. Berea, Ohio 44017

More Than A Pick Me Up!

440.234.2233 perkcupcafe.com

JOIN US FOR BREAKFAST

LUNCH

DINNER

AND MORE!

BOOK YOUR PRIVATE EVENT HERE! | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

EAT Monday — Thursday 4 p.m. – 12 a.m.

Friday & Saturday 4 p.m. – 2 a.m.

Happy Hour Monday – Friday 4 – 8 p.m.

Sunday 5 – 11 p.m.

Kitchen Open All Night Private Parties Upstairs

1307 Auburn Avenue | Tremont | coolplacestoeat.com | 216.589.9112

Catering Service & Party Room Available!

Chicken Paprikash ......... $8.95 Beef Stroganoff ....... $8.95 Lamb Chops ... $9.95

St. Louis Style Ribs

Half Slab ..........................$9.50

Baby Back Ribs

Half Slab ........................ $10.50 BBQ Chicken ................... $7.95 Dine With Us & Enjoy Our Weekly Specials OPEN FOR BREAKFAST WORLD FAMOUS BBQ RIBS & CHICKEN LUNCH & DINNER GGKHL Y | X z Y { { w zB e^ JJGFH © HGLCLIGCLGGG © y y w { D {

“Nick said to make it bigger... have I gone too far?!”

bites

feel like it is as much their business as it is our business,” explains Carson. “We really care about customer service, so to know that those people are out on the street pitching our product — that’s why we continue to selfdistribute.” For its launch in Columbus, Platform will invite a few advanced local homebrewers to come in and brew at Platform, each beer getting a name, design and proper debut at the taproom. Platform will select the best of the three to release in cans as part of a pro-am series. Benner and Carson are bullish on Columbus, both as a city and as a market for their beer. And while not necessarily a commonplace brand, Platform isn’t starting from scratch either. “I think the beer scene is growing a lot, and it’s a market that’s growing in population,” Carson says. “And the times we’ve been down there we’ve been surprised by how many people see a hat or shirt that we’re wearing and say, ‘Oh, you’re from Platform.’ For us, that’s extremely humbling because at the end of the day we’re only a little over 18 months old, and we still remember the day we opened on our little three-barrel system with no real idea what we were getting into. And now to this. It’s exciting.”

MOXIE UNVEILS NEW MENU WITH SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN FORMAT “I think it’s change or die,” Jonathan Bennett, chef-partner at Moxie in Beachwood, told me. And, true to his word, the chef just unveiled the 18-year-old eastside restaurant’s ﬁrst major menu overhaul in years. Starting now, diners at Moxie will notice a considerable menu transformation. Gone is the small-, medium- and large-plate format. It has been replaced by a more straightforward roster of salads, sandwiches and entrees built around smaller portions of protein that allow the restaurant to reduce prices. Diners will also see that some of the popular entrees can be ordered in half portions. “The thought process behind it is that ﬁve to 10 years ago we ate out maybe two or three times a week as a general population,” Bennett says. “Today, we eat out six, seven or eight times a week, but our budget for eating out has not doubled or tripled along with it. You have to accept that you just can’t have the menu price point

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

that we used to have and expect to do 200 covers on a Wednesday night.”

BAINBRIDGE’S POPULAR SIMPLY GREEK OPENS SECOND SPOT IN UPTOWN I was really looking forward to trying Simply Greek (11454 Uptown Ave., 216-707-4976), a new fast-casual restaurant in the Uptown development in University Circle. Residents of the far-eastern suburbs of Chagrin Falls and Bainbridge have been enjoying the fresh and flavorful Greek-American dishes in their own neck of the woods (8533 East Washington St., 440-5434976) for two years now. The Uptown spot, the local outfit’s second location, only recently opened its doors. Simply Greek, which took over the space occupied by the short-lived Wrapz Pita Bar, has potential. Though cramped, the bright, casual restaurant uses fresh ingredients and makes most of its hot foods to order. The menu seems overly ambitious for a fast-casual eatery, with everything from calamari, fried smelts and Greek salads to gyros, burgers and $20 braised lamb shanks entrees. Of course, most folks are buying gyros and burgers, half-pound patties of fresh, hormone-free ground Angus cooked on a flattop. The gyros slowly cook away on twin vertical spits. The issue on the day I visited was one of understaffing. One lone employee attempted to do the work of three, taking the orders, receiving payment, flipping the burgers, slicing the gyro meat, making the sandwiches, delivering the prepared food and answering the phone. He gave up on the phone answering in pretty short order, but it didn’t help shrink the length of the line. In an attempt to get ahead of the problem, the employee would pre-slice as much gyro meat as possible, which was then deposited in the steam table to keep warm (and dry out). He also rushed the cooking process, slicing off the meat well before it had a chance to get all dark and crispy, one the beefand-lamb mixture’s best qualities. Still, the gyro ($8) was delicious, jam-packed with flavorful sliced meat, veggies and plenty of refreshing tzatziki sauce. Given some time and better staffing, I can see this gyro becoming a favorite of many Cleveland diners. Other wraps are made with chicken, pork and shrimp. For dessert, there’s house-made rice pudding or baklava, both of which are also pre-packaged and stowed in a cooler for take-out customers.

dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner

A NCAIN F ALS LS SPECIA

SEMI &

THU. APRIL 1 - 7PM

CAVS VS

NETS FRI. APRIL 1 - 8PM

CAVS AT

FINAL FOUR s SATURDAY APRIL 2 OKLAHOMA VS VILLANOVA s 0SYRACUSE VS NORTH CAROLINA s 0-

CAVS CAVS CAVS CAVS

VS AT VS AT

NETS ..................... !4 0HAWKS................... !4 0HORNETS............... !4 0BUCKS .................... !4 0-

6395 Pearl Rd Parma Hts (440) 345-5815 brewhousecleveland.com

$5 GAME DAY COCKTAILS

*Only During CAVS Games

SUNDAY SPECIALS $13.95 LG. CHEESE PIZZA & WINGS 11AM-3PM BEER SPECIALS ALL DAY

HAPPY HOUR â&#x20AC;¢ M-F 3-6PM MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS

440-234-1001

HAWKS SUN. APRIL 3 - 3:30PM

CAVS

CATCH ALL OF THE

HORNETS

NBA ACTION ON ONE OF OUR 27 HD TVs

TUE. APRIL 5 - 8PM

$2.50 16 OZ DOMESTIC CANS $10 BUD/BUD LIGHT BUCKETS

CAVS

SPECIALS ON 100oz. BEER TOWERS

BUCKS

BAR OPENS AT 11 A.M.

GOURMET HOT DOG SPECIALS 17103 Detroit Ave. Lakewood (216) 303-9700 www.gameonlakewood.com

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

7 6 / : . ;/, .96

/;: =,3(5+ , 3 * + .: = 3 6 96.:/ 7 0+ /;: ) ,<*3 .

:(;

465

:OY\I Â&#x2039; )\TWPUÂ» <NSPLZ

;\UULS =PZPVU

;<,

;9670+,30* ;/, ,?7,5+()3,: <5>90;;,5 3(> -,50? ;? .V +V^U >P[O ;OL :OPW 9LSLHZL :OV^ 7HZZHÃ&#x201E;YL Â&#x2039; 1VU >H`UL [OL 7HPU >,+

;OL 4PZZPUN

>,+

;/, -(3*65 TLTILYZ VM (32(305, ;906 HUK ;/, 3(>9,5*, (94:

>VYYPLYZ Â&#x2039; ;OL 3PWWPLZ )SHJRSPZ[LY

;/<

:<5

8<,,5: 6- ;/, +9,(4,9: 0965 40*

,3,(569 -90,+),9.,9

;/, (92,33:

MLH[\YPUN 05+0*(:70;;: 2HYTH 2PSSLYZ 5NPUH -H`VSH Â&#x2039; -YLZO 7YVK\JL 4HYP :V\S Â&#x2039; (aPaHO +P]PUL

0JL^H[LY

;/<

:63 ;/, /,(+:7(*, ;6<9

;<, 465 79,:,5;,+ >0;/ ,3,=(;065

20,-,9 :<;/,93(5+ -9,++0, .0)):

)YV[OLYZ -YVT (UV[OLY 6[PLUV ;LYY` 4\HTPU *VSSLJ[P]L :<5 >,+

3, Â¸906; )60Â¹ ;6<9 796-

>,+

)3(*2 307:

.OVZ[ 5VPZLZ 4PRL 4PJ[SHU 4Z *YHa` ;LL -\UK Â&#x2039; 146 2PLYUHU 3H]LH\_ 9LMLYLL 5LSZVU

79,:,5;,+ >0;/ ;/, ),(*/3(5+

;/<

)65.A033( )SHJR *VIYH

;/<

-90

;62@6 7630*, *3<) ;/, :<)>(@: 705: Â&#x2039; ;OL :J\aaIHSSZ -YVT 0UKPHU 3HRLZ

2PUNZ +LZ[YV` 3V 7HU

;OLZL 2ULLZ

2875 EUCLID HEIGHTS BLVD CLEVELAND HEIGHTS WWW.BSIDELIQUORLOUNGE.COM

Happy Hour Every Day until 9 PM FOLLOW US! Twitter & Instagram @BSIDEARCADE

WEDNESDAY 3.30 #MUGNIGHT - $2 MUGS OF PBR DJ ELLIOT NASH & GINO XL THURSDAY 3.31 OPEN STAGE SOUNDSYSTEM Hosted by XELA 7-10pm THE HOOKUP College ID night With DJ MIKE FILLY 10pm FRIDAY 4.1 JUKEBOX BREAKDOWN MONTHLY EMO NIGHT with DJ SCOTT SATURDAY 4.2 GRAND SOCIAL SATURDAYS with DJ JL SUNDAY 4.3 HIP HOP & OLD SCHOOL with DJ ESO & COREY GRAND MONDAY 4.4 OPEN DECKS NIGHT Signups for DJs start at 8pm Hosted by BLACKBIRD TUESDAY 4.5 LYRICAL RHYTHMS 7:30PM Open Mic | Live Band | Drink Specials WEDNESDAY 4.6 #MUGNIGHT - $2 MUGS OF PBR DJ ELLIOT NASH & GINO XL

-90 -90

(<;63<? ;/, ;/,94(3: ,\YLRH [OL )\[JOLY :\TTLY *HUUPIHSZ

)3(*2 70:;63 -09,

*OLHW *SVUL 5PNO[Z 7YLZLU[LK ^ )LHJOSHUK

;/, (.69(

;/<

;/, .96. :/67 79,:,5;: (;

),(*/3(5+ )(339664

),(*/ :3(5. 7V[[` 4V\[O /0776 *(47<: 62,;6 ;<,

50*2 +Â» ;/, ),30,=,9: 5VUHWOVLUP_ 4LSSHKYHTH[PJZ ;OL 9HPUIV^ ,TLYNLUJ`

3<*,96 :63+ 6<; >,+ )90(5 165,:;6>5 4(::(*9,

-90

+`RL +YHTH >VYZOPW ;OPZ

;<,

5(7(34 +,(;/

^P[O 4,3=05: HUK 4,3; )(5(5(

:(;

:<5

*/(9+65 7632( )(5+ 1VOUU` [OL (WWSL :[VTWLYZ 4<9+,9 )@ +,(;/ 2L]PU +L]PUL [OL .VKKHTU )HUK

;<,

,=,

(UKYL^ [OL 4HPSTHU

;<,

465

:<5 *6(:;: 2UV_ /HTPS[VU /,@ 4,9*,+,:

:(5 -,9405 (R\ (R\

:`TTL[Y`

;<,

>,+

:,,7,673,: ,YPLUH\[Z Â&#x2039; ;^Paa 1(+(20:: >,+

;/<

-(;/,9 3\P +PHTVUKZ Â&#x2039; 5HYM

-(; >/0;, -(403@ +PSS` +HSS`

3V 3PML 3HUL >HSRLY 6.

/VUL`

;/<

-90

+<5*(5 ;9<::,3 :OHUL ;VYYLZZ *(:/Â»+ 6<; 4* 4PJOHLS 2HTWTHUU ;L_HZ 7SHU[

;/, .96. :/67 79,:,5;: (;

:(;

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

Fri 4/1 KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS SOLD OUT! Fri 4/15 THE WHISKEY HOLLOW Â&#x2021; 0LGQLJKW 3DVVHQJHU Â&#x2021; *URXS 6XQ WESLEY WHO Â&#x2021; 3XQFK 'UXQN 7DJDORQJV Â&#x2021; 3DFN :ROI 0RQ MAKE â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;EM LAUGH MONDAY :HG FRANK SECICH %OXH $VK 'HDG %R\V ,QÃ&#x20AC;GHOV 7KX SEAFAIR Â&#x2021; -HVXV RQ WKH 0DLQOLQH Â&#x2021; 2KLR :HDWKHU %DQG 6DW THE DOWN-FI IHDW CRAIG BELL IURP 5)77 0LUURUV Â&#x2021; +$/) &/(9(/$1' IHDW &KULV %XWOHU +DUYH\ *ROG IURP 7LQ +XH\ GREAT PLAINS &ROXPEXV 2+ OHJHQGV Â&#x2021; 7XIWHG 3XIÃ&#x20AC;QV 7XH GOLDEN STREETS OF PARADISE Â&#x2021; -HQQLIHU +DOO :HG FREDO SANTANA Â&#x2021; 6LU 0LFKDHO 5RFNV Â&#x2021; 6KRUW\ . Fri 5/13 BORN RUFFIANS Â&#x2021; 2Q $Q 2Q 6DW ZOMBI Â&#x2021; 6SDUURZPLON Â&#x2021; $[LRPD 6XQ ALLEN STONE :HG SAVAGES Â&#x2021; +HDG :RXQG &LW\ 7KX WEEKEND NACHOS Â&#x2021; +RPHZUHFNHU Â&#x2021; 9LFH 6DW FAITH & WHISKEY 6XQ ARBOR LABOR UNION 0RQ DIIV )UL ALL DOGS Â&#x2021; -R\IUDPH 6DW THETA WAVES &' 5HOHDVH Â&#x2021; 6DP )R[ PRUH 6XQ 1ST BI-ANNUAL LEVELS SHOWDOWN 0RQ JACOB WHITESIDES :HG HERON OBLIVION PHP RI (VSHUV DQG &RPHWV RQ )LUH

6XQ SUBHUMANS Â&#x2021; 3HDUV 7XH AESOP ROCK w/ Rob Sonic & DJ Zone :HG SUNN O))) 0RQ ATARI JONES Â&#x2021; &XUWD Â&#x2021; -RH\ $LFK Â&#x2021; 7KH 1HZ %OYFN :HG FLAG Â&#x2021; :DU 2Q :RPHQ Â&#x2021; 7KH 'LUW\ 1LO 6DW WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS )UL GUITAR LEGEND DICK DALE Â&#x2021; 7H[DV 3ODQW 7KX RIVAL SONS

)Â&#x2022;95: -90 205. 2/(5 ;/, :/905,: 465

^P[O .,69.06 4<9+,9,9 ;/, .96. :/67 79,:,5;: (;

/6<:, 6- )3<,:

:(;

(5+9,> )09+

;0*2,;: ;6 .96. :/67 ,=,5;: (9, (=(03()3, ;/96<./

^^^ [PJRL[Ã&#x2026;` JVT 3667 Â&#x2039; 4<:0* :(=,: Â&#x2039; 4@ 405+Â»: ,@, Â&#x2039; 9,*69+ 9,=63<;065 ,90, :; .<0;(9: Â&#x2039; ;/, 9,*69+ :/67 Â&#x2039; :8<(9, 9,*69+: 6Y Q\Z[ NL[ ÂºLT MYVT [OL JS\I *HSS

ByCharlesWaldorf

MUSIC ROCKING THE VOTE The current political climate has inspired singer-guitarist Ani DiFranco By Jeff Niesel POLITICALLY MINDED FOLK singer-guitarist Ani DiFranco embarked on a Vote Dammit tour way back in 2000. With a presidential election looming on the horizon, she’s now about to set out on another such tour. She plays the Kent Stage on April 1. “I feel strongly about voting even in the non-presidential election years — all of those smaller elections are equally important, if only on the criminal justice level,” she says via phone from her New Orleans home. “They make concrete differences in people’s lives. If everyone who could vote did vote in every election, we would have such a better country. It kills me how much we squander our right to vote. I went to Burma once and people are ﬁghting and dying to achieve a democracy and overthrow the dictatorship. You come home to America, and people can’t be bothered to vote.” It’s not surprising that the leftleaning DiFranco doesn’t support Republican candidate Donald Trump. “My fundamental optimism is that the majority of Americans see through that fascist rhetoric,” she says of Trump. “To me, it’s fascinating to get a window to see how fascism happens. You can’t imagine how that happens. Now, you see how it’s familiar and charming and something that disguises itself as the ultimate evil that it is. There’s a minority of people buying into Donald Trump, but they’re given so much airtime, the media is participating in the act. It’s like, ‘Why are you listening to a maniac?’” She doesn’t say she’s endorsing a particular Democratic candidate, but she likes both options. “I’ve seen so much divisiveness on the left,” she says. “Whoever the nominee is, let’s be grateful.

Every four years, Ani DiFranco hits the road on her Vote Dammit tour.

Compared to where we’ve been, these are pretty awesome options. Bernie Sanders is by far my favorite candidate in a long time. He’s been a crusader against corporate control of government forever. It’s inspiring to see him take his truth-telling and public servitude this far. Hillary [Clinton] as the ﬁrst female president would be awesome. Unlocking that invisible door affects the future of America so deeply and subliminally in a positive way, that alone thrills me. Goodness will walk through that door, so that’s awesome. She’s more centrist than I want, but they’re both candidates I will be excited by for different reasons.”

An independent artist who cut her musical teeth on the coffeehouse circuit before graduating to theaters and small clubs, DiFranco started her own label, Righteous Babe Records, and never acquiesced when the major labels knocked on her door in the ’90s. Her audience broadened exponentially when she hit the folk festival circuit in the early ’90s. From the start, she formed Righteous Babe Records as a way to not only release her own music but also that of likeminded artists. “We have had a bit of a slow spell for economic reasons,” she says of the label. “I think we are being reborn as a label, and we still have a

future of trying to provide support for other independent musicians in their touring and working musician careers. I think that’s what Righteous Babe does well. It’s a cool team of independent people that we can employ in the service of people who are out there doing it. We’re still kicking.” About the time she released 1995’s Not a Pretty Girl, DiFranco was on the cover of every major music magazine. She was heralded not only for becoming successful without pandering to commercial radio or MTV but also for running her own label and keeping a large share of the proﬁts for herself — all of which suggested that, if only every label were like her Righteous Babe and every artist like DiFranco, the recording industry would be a kinder, gentler place. “It was a blessing and a curse as you can imagine,” she says. “It’s funny to be the subject or object of the media. You have a window into things like how slapdash and inaccurate things can be. When it’s facts about you, you realize it’s all just somebody else’s perception. That can be very claustrophobic if you let it. One thing I learned to do was to tune it out. I had to stop reading what I was supposedly doing. It was melting my brain. It’s like the rock star who can only write lonely road songs. I could only write reactions to the reactions to my songs. It’s like, ‘Fuck all of that.’ It’s funny in retrospect to see how people have an assumption that what you do, you do for the public. I was so bad at persona or being aware of anything on that level. I was dressing to impress a speciﬁc person, and people thought I was changing my image. I was never well-equipped to be in that position. I’ve found my more natural place | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

308 EUCLID AVE. CLEVELAND, OH 44114 216.523.BLUE Complete listing at houseofblues.com/cleveland

US:

@HOBCLEVELAND

CELEBRATE THE TRIBE OPENER WITH

w/NATURAL WONDER STEVIE WONDER TRIBUTE

MARCH 31

w/ Pop VUlture

APRIL 1

APRIL 4

w/josh kelley

THE DAN BAND APRIL 8

APRIL 9

APRIL 13

ANDREW BIRD

A PFR ST A LW EENEO E IBL. 1223 ONNE X KW

W/BOOGARINS

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

LIVE AT THE MASONIC AUDITORIUM

W/DONMONIQUE

APRIL 14

APRIL 16

APRIL 19

THE DARKNESS

IN ASSOCIATION WITH BEACHLAND

WITH RAVENEYE

APRIL 20

MAGIC MEN LIVE! APRIL 21

A P R I L 24

M AY 1

M AY 5

featuring

MIKE POLK, jr. RYAN DALTON • BRIAN KENNY YUSUF ALI • BILL SQUIRE ALAN COX

COMING SOON

APRIL 29 Apr. 17 apr. 24 APR. 28 May 7 MAY 9 may 10

BUY TICKETS AT

Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals the white buffalo cambridge room Emo Is Back Tour w/ Best Kept Secret, An Honest Year, Take A Breath + More cambridge room George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic SILVERSUN PICKUPS W/FOALS • JOYWAVE say ANything w/mewithoutyou teen suicide • museum moth

OCTOBER 1

may 14 may 15 june 8 June 11 june 14 june 14 june 17 JUNE 20

ON SALE NOW

wish you were here - pink floyd tribute blue october W/DANNY MALONE m83 w/bob moses the Neighbourhood birdy b.o.b w/scotty atl cambridge room richard cheese & lounge against the machine MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK W/LIGHT YEARS • HEY MERCY

Buy Tickets at houseofblues.com Order By Phone: 800.745.3000 • House of Blues Box Office

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

MUSIC with a smaller but more meaningful relationship with my audience.” All the while, she’s been revered as an artist whose ﬁerce DIY approach and independent attitude have made her a singular entity in the music world. She likes to brag that she built up her reputation and that of the label prior to the Internet. Righteous Babe didn’t even get a website until 2000. By “hooﬁng it around the country” and playing “every backwoods bar,” DiFranco built a career that’s still reaping dividends. “I got to know the country,” she says when asked about her approach to playing every nook and cranny. “It was in that weird, sixth-sense kind of way. You go back and back to a place. You play for the people there and over the course of time you begin to understand the distinctions between people, who are mostly all the same, everywhere, no matter what country they’re from. But it’s so cool to become aware of the differences. I have fucking loved my life of travel. Over the course of that audience building, I’ve built a skill I can rely on. It’s like a relationship with my instruments that heals me. To have sort of become one with my guitar has become a great blessing. It only happens after all that time. It’s made me stronger and happier. It’s a form of service. It gives my life meaning to be out there trying to uplift people through my music.” About 10 years ago, she moved to New Orleans to be with her husband, producer Mike Napolitano. They started a family, and DiFranco took a break from her relentless pace of releasing an album a year and

The album starts with the decidedly funky “Dithering” and then delivers a set of satisfying songs that allude to the ways in which the once-outspoken DiFranco has chilled out and settled into a good groove. A song about how the thing we need can sometimes be the most difﬁcult thing to obtain and sustain, the title track stemmed from a casual conversation she had with some friends. She says the track started as “a conversation with friends” about pollution and allergies. She was shocked to realize that you could be allergic to water. The album also sounds like an album by a band rather than an individual, and DiFranco speaks highly of her backing band, bassist Todd Sickafoose and drummer Terence Higgins. “The three of us started playing together three years ago,” she says. “It’s been really cool. We’re syncing into having a band and having our own voice. Recording has become extra fun. We pound the songs out on stage at night and we drop into the studio to lay them down.” DiFranco says she’s now at the point where she just needs to tweak the tracks for her next album. “In between touring and parenting I go back to the [forthcoming] record and say, ‘What are you and what do you need from me?’” she says. “It’s a cool process. I hope it’s a cool process because it’s what I got now. We record the bed tracks and then step away and hope you come out with something organic in the end and is true to the songs, which is not always the case in my recorded history when

ANI DIFRANCO 8 P.M., FRIDAY, APRIL 1, THE KENT STAGE, 175 EAST MAIN ST., KENT, 330-677-5005. TICKETS: $37.50-$65.50, KENTSTAGE.COM

touring extensively in support of it. She says she likes the “greasy, easy pace” of living in the Big Easy. Two years ago, she recorded her latest effort, Allergic to Water, in two four-day sessions in her New Orleans home. “That’s the way I do it now,” she says. “You record new songs live as a band, so you get some sense of music happening on the record instead of piecing it together as everything is done now. You do that a couple of times so you have options of what better represents the song. Beyond that, there’s years of having it sit around in the background.”

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

I would work really quickly. I think I released recordings that didn’t do the songs justice all the time.” It shouldn’t come as a surprise to ﬁnd that the new album is “superpolitical.” “It’s a sign of the times,” she says. “You can’t get away from it. I’m coming out with stuff that’s been swirling in my mind, and I recently had this sensation, ‘Can I say this?’ I haven’t had that feeling in a few years. Hopefully, that’s a good sign.”

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

MUSIC A LAST-MINUTE GUY Singer-songwriter Kurt Vile captures raw emotion on his latest album By Jeff Niesel ON HIS SIXTH ALBUM, LAST year’s b’lieve i’m goin down…, indie rock singer-songwriter Kurt Vile pushes the boundaries of his music with a range of instrumentation. The album includes piano, banjo and lap steel as Vile dabbles in folk, rock and country. The vulnerable nature of the tunes holds the songs together, making the album a cohesive work and Vile’s most assured recording to date. The rather astute folks at Pitchfork, NPR, Rolling Stone, Vogue, American Songwriter, Paste, Spin and many other publications rightly proclaimed it to be one of the best records of the year. Not bad for a guy who worked as a forklift driver when he started to pursue his musical dreams. Initially, his working-class background informed his music. Now, he says, that’s not really the case. “It’s been so long since I worked a blue-collar job,” he says via phone from a tour stop in the U.K. “I guess it’s not that long, but I remember I got ﬁred in 2009. The joke was on him because I got a record deal that same year, and I was in every paper in Philadelphia.

these assistants in a massive studio with a big setup.” He recorded and mixed the album in a number of locations, including Los Angeles and Joshua Tree. “It was awesome,” he says when asked about the recording experience. “So many different people helped out so much. Early on, we kept it insular with my drummer Kyle Spence, recording at his home studio. My other bandmate, Rob Laakso, recorded with me in California and New York. We had the Violators involved. Eventually, we worked with Rob Schnapf and he recorded ‘Pretty Pimpin’ and ‘Wild Imagination.’ We thought he was going to mix it but we ran out of time and Peter Katis came in at the end. He’s in Connecticut and had worked with the National and others but nobody like me. He came into the picture in an emergency situation. He saved the record. Everybody played a part. That’s the beauty of jumping around and not knowing exactly what’s going to happen. You make these connections that you wouldn’t otherwise make. It’s an honest moment captured. I’ve always been a last-

KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS, PURLING HISS

You couldn’t escape me. I guess I’m not blue-collar anymore.” Vile has said he wanted the songs on b’lieve i’m goin down… to sound “unguarded and vulnerable.” “I think I do that all the time, but it was always working to get that way,” he explains. “A perfect example that’s so easy to go to is the Neil Young album On the Beach. I’m speciﬁcally thinking of ‘Ambulance Blues.’ It’s about capturing something that was in the room — the raw emotion — without too much of a technical process to take away from that. Just do what you can to fake yourself out and make yourself feel comfortable and go over the song when you just wrote it on your couch and you’re really feeling it. You can do that in a hi-ﬁ studio too, but with my headspace now [that’s hard] if you’re trying to do it with all

minute guy.” There’s banjo on “I’m an Outlaw” and piano and lap steel on “Life Like This.” There’s also farﬁsa, resonator, horns and synthesizers sprinkled throughout the album. Vile says he’s always been interested in “multiinstrumental types of things.” “Everyone in the band has to be able to play multiple instruments,” he says. “Not like in a session-y way, per se. They have to be able to pick up something they don’t know that well. You can make music with a couple of notes. It’s just an extension of that, I guess. I was thinking more about piano. I’ve used plenty of pianos and synthesizers in my recordings, but they were mostly accompaniment. They were never quite driving the songs. The banjo I grew up playing, so I just picked that back up. I was

Photo by Marina Chavez

9 P.M. ,FRIDAY, APRIL 1, GROG SHOP, 2785 EUCLID HEIGHTS BLVD., CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, 216-321-5588. TICKETS: $22-$25, GROGSHOP.GS

Singer-songwriter Kurt Vile takes a multi-instrumental approach.

thinking about banjo and acoustic guitar and electric guitar. I thought it would make it not sound too same-y.” The album veers all over the place: The twangy “Pretty Pimpin’” evokes Dylan with its clever wordplay, and “I’m an Outlaw” has an old-time country feel to it. And yet the album still sounds cohesive. “Stylistically and lyrically, [the songs are] all from the last couple of years of my life and they represent whatever was going through my head at the time,” says Vile. “It would be

different if we worked on it for ﬁve years or something. Who knows how cohesive that would be? Probably not very.” Vile says he’s started to give the next record some thought too and doesn’t think it will be a huge departure from b’lieve i’m goin down…. “It’s all generally the same,” he says, “but I’m sure my recent obsessions will trickle into there.”

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

LIVEWIRE

all the live music you should see this week Photo by Robin Laananen

WED

3/30

Dreamers/Arkells: If the guys who comprise this indie pop trio aren’t poster boys for millennial attitude, they’re likely to attract that crowd in droves anyway. The band’s biggest hit, “Drugs,” features soaring guitars and arena anthem swagger in an ode to getting high (“and higher and higher”). Though the hits on their latest album, You Are Here, are good enough to enjoy sober, beware their candycoated aesthetic, which can be hard to stomach. Their website features brightly colored, trending millennial clichés (purplish astral background and rainbow-ﬂashing social media links included), and their “Manifesto,” which declares that they “rewrite the rules” and “are asleep to the waking world” — whatever that means. Lucky for concert-goers, their brand of pop isn’t nearly as nauseating. (Jacob DeSmit) 8:30 p.m., $12 ADV, $14 DOS. Grog Shop. Charlie Puth: Pop singer Charlie Puth originally studied jazz before his YouTube videos turned him into an Internet sensation. Last year, he released his major label debut, Nine Track Mind, a collection of catchy pop tunes that has already yielded singles such as “Marvin Gaye,” a duet with Meghan Trainor that possesses a soulful vibe, and the ballad “One Call Away.” For “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” a song that features pop singer Selena Gomez, Puth adopts a falsetto and successfully incorporates some synths into the mix. He says he’s excited to make his Cleveland debut tonight. “I think I stopped in Cleveland once for a hot dog, but I haven’t spent a lot of time there,” he says. “I’m excited to play. The town is really legendary.” (Jeff Niesel) 8:30 p.m. House of Blues Cambridge Room. The Shivas/Alan Madej: Perfect for summer porch swingin’, the Shivas’ ﬁfth album comes just in time for rising temperatures. While previous efforts claimed stronger connections to surf rock, Better Off Dead is pure twangy dream pop, a marriage of the Velvet Underground and Brian Jonestown Massacre. It is the Portland three-piece’s third collaboration with Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening, who recorded and released the Shivas

Puscifer returns to Northeast Ohio to play Akron Civic Theatre. See: Monday.

on K Records. Standout tracks “Maryanne” and “Off Axis” hint at the twee sound for which the label is famous. (Bethany Kaufman) 9 p.m., $5. Happy Dog. 10 X 3 Hosted by Brent Kirby (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Acoustic Harvest Band/Jonn Ones/ Highbeams: 6 p.m. Barking Spider Tavern. Astronauts, Etc./Harriet Brown/ Punch Drunk Tagalongs: 9 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Mahall’s 20 Lanes. Cliff Barnes: 7 p.m., free. BLU Jazz+. Robert Lockwood Jr.’s 101st Birthday Party: 8 p.m., free. Beachland Ballroom. Nathan McEuen/Bill Lestock: 8 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Beachland Tavern. Meat Loaf: 7:30 p.m. Hard Rock Rocksino.

THU

3/31

Kimock: To kick things off with a bang this year, the eminent Steve Kimock embarked on a new solo project. Anchored by a new album, Last Danger of Frost, Kimock is really stretching his imaginative legs this year and examining more closely his relationship with music. (The ﬁrst four cuts on the new album are titled “Music Tells a Story, 1 through 4.”) “There are other spaces and experiences music

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

ﬂows into, ﬁlls, and conforms to: family, nature, travel, quiet study and contemplation, imagination, to name a few. For me, the balance of the music has shifted to ‘other,’” Kimock says. It’s a contemplative little piece, and surely Kimock’s live show tonight will evoke the lessons he’s learned from his inner journeys. (Eric Sandy) 8 p.m., $25$40. Music Box Supper Club. The Big Black Galactic/Electric Orange Peel/Nick Reese: 9 p.m., $5 ADV, $8 DOS. Beachland Tavern. JD Eicher/Ryan Humbert/Diana Chittester (in the Supper Club): 8 p.m., $10. Music Box Supper Club. The Goddman Gallows/Gallows Bound/Whiskey Daredevils: 8:30 p.m., $12 ADV, $15 DOS. Beachland Ballroom. Chris Hatton’s Musical Circus (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Fred Hersch Trio: 7 p.m., $20. Bop Stop. Roger Hoover: 9 p.m., free. Happy Dog. Jam Night with the Bad Boys of Blues: 9 p.m., free. Brothers Lounge. Lysol/Cruelster/Splat: 9 p.m., $5. Now That’s Class. Phil Markowitz/Zach Brock/Jay Anderson/Clarence Penn: 8 p.m., $15. BLU Jazz+. Jen Maurer Project/Neon Don & Eva Dilcue/Troubadours of Divine Bliss: 8 p.m. Barking

Spider Tavern. Nathan Paul: 8 p.m., $5. The Euclid Tavern. The Rocket Summer/Farro/ Royalties: 8 p.m., $15. Musica. Uncle Moe’s Pea Pie Cafe/Carlos Jones & the PLUS Band/Hal Walker: 7 p.m., $5-$15. The Kent Stage.

FRI

4/01

Archie and the Bunkers/Samfox/DJ Alright and DJ Mr. Fishtruck: 9 p.m., $8. Beachland Tavern. Breakfast Club: 9:30 p.m., $5. Brothers Lounge. DJ Lawrence Caswell: 6 p.m., free. Happy Dog. Diamond Dogs: The Sound and Vision of David Bowie: 8:30 p.m., $20. Tangier Cabaret. Ani DiFranco: 8 p.m., $27.50-$65.50. The Kent Stage. Diller/Surf Dear/Shag: 9 p.m., free. The Euclid Tavern. DuValby Bros./Burning Fragiles/ Ex-Astronaut: 9 p.m., $5. Happy Dog. The Gaither Vocal Band: 7 p.m., $24.50-$72.50. Akron Civic Theatre. Get Happy! Judy Garland Tribute Featuring Joan Ellison.: 8 p.m., $10. Bop Stop. Fred Hersch Trio: 7 p.m., $20. BLU Jazz+. Into the Blue: Grateful Dead Revival: 9 p.m., $12. Beachland

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

WEST END TAVERN presents

WEDNESDAY

TUESDAY

MONDAY

$3 OFF $2.00 TACOS ANY Burger or Sandwich Beef, Pulled Pork or Fish,

Including Choice Of Side

Red Cabbage, Cilantro & Tequila Lime Mayo

$2 Cuervo, Mezcal, Margaritas, $2 0MJWFT t $2 Fireball Coronas, Modellos $3 Domestic Beer/Well Liquor

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

$2.00 Absolute Moscow Mules

CAVS SPECIALS

in the Copper Mug Long Islands & 40Â˘ Boneless Wings

$2 Three Olives PLAYOFFS COMING Lunch/Dinner 11:30am

New HAPPY HOUR Specials! Monday - Friday: 1pm - 7pm

ALL DRAFT CRAFT BEERS $2 CAVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S GAME DAY SPECIAL! ÂŠ:H Three Olives ÂŠ:H Domestic Beers & Well Drinks

$2 â&#x20AC;&#x153;You Chooseâ&#x20AC;? Including Domestic, Imported & Craft Bottles Stolis t Morgan t Fireball t 3-Olives Titoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s t Absolute t Cuervo t Bacardi UV Blue t Tanqueray t Skyy & MUCH MUCH More!!

SATURDAY BREAKFAST & LUNCH @ 11am

SUNDAY Gourmet Ala Carte Brunch 10am

Featuring:

Featuring

Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Very First & Original Create Your Own Bloody Mary Bar

ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Megaâ&#x20AC;? Mimosas

With FRESH FLOWERS See Below For Specials Starting At 3pm

- SUNDAY KARAOKE 9pm-1am -â&#x20AC;&#x201C; AND-â&#x20AC;&#x201C;

$2 You Choose 3pm-2am

Including Domestic, Imported & Craft Bottles iÂ&#x160;Â&#x2026;Â&#x201A; Â&#x2030; ÂŠ cÂ&#x2026;Â&#x2C6;}wÂ&#x201E; ÂŠ \ Â&#x2C6;{xwÂ&#x201A;Â&#x201A; ÂŠ ICeÂ&#x201A; Â&#x152;{Â&#x2030; j Â&#x160;Â&#x2026;=Â&#x2030; ÂŠ WxÂ&#x2030;Â&#x2026;Â&#x201A;Â&#x2039;Â&#x160;{ ÂŠ YÂ&#x2039;{Â&#x2C6;Â&#x152;Â&#x2026; ÂŠ XwywÂ&#x2C6;z kl XÂ&#x201A;Â&#x2039;{ ÂŠ jwÂ&#x201E;Â&#x2021;Â&#x2039;{Â&#x2C6;wÂ? ÂŠ iÂ Â?Â? < ckY^ ckY^ cÂ&#x2026;Â&#x2C6;{7

We Have Wi-Fi | visit us at westendtav.com | Like us on

18514 DETROIT AVE | LAKEWOOD | 216ď&#x161;ş521ď&#x161;ş7684

LIVEWIRE Ballroom. Jimmy Jack (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge. King Chip/Sniper Gang Musix/ Dolla Rida$/Preast/Iconic Vision: 6 p.m., $17 ADV, $22 DOS. Agora Ballroom. Dennis Lewin: 10:30 p.m., free. Nighttown. Major League/Forever Came Calling/Sudden Suspension: 6:30 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Mahallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 20 Lanes. The Nod Factor Featuring Neil Chasten/DJ Know1: 10 p.m., free. Now Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Class. Colin Shoff & Co./Uptight Sugar/ Slymar: 9 p.m., $6. Musica. Frank Sinatra Tribute with Michael Sonata (in the Supper Club): 8 p.m., $10. Music Box Supper Club. The Sonic Poets: 8:30 p.m., $15. Nighttown. Terrain/The Del Rios/George Foley & Friends: 5:30 p.m. Barking Spider Tavern. Whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bad/Natural Wonder: The Stevie Wonder Experience: 8 p.m. House of Blues.

SAT

4/02

Pookie & the Poodlez/The Safeties/ Brain Wave: Part of the Bay Area garage punk gang, Pookie & the Poodlez cracks its collective knuckles next to the likes of Hunx & His Punx and Shannon & the Clams. Nobunny released the Poodlezâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s debut EP, The Last Thing I Did as a Teenager, on his own Rubber Vomit Records. Are these dogs really more bark than they are bite? Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d stay on their side just to be safe. (Kaufman) 9 p.m., $5. Now Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Class. Tadpoles 7-inch Release: The former members of the Tadpoles, the band that featured the late Happy Dog co-owner Sean Kilbane on vocals and guitar, will celebrate the release of their one and only album, which was recorded at Kilbaneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; house by Mike McDonald, on vinyl as a 7-inch and as a repressed CD with tonightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s show at the Happy Dog. Additional liner notes will accompany the releases. The band will feature guitarist Mandy Look, bassist Dave Molnar, drummer Jason Look (who will sing and play guitar) and drummer Greg Boyd, who didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t play in the original band. Local singer-guitarist Chris Allen will join the group for a song as well. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It will be a tribute

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

to Sean and a way to celebrate the music and record,â&#x20AC;? says Allen. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And I think he would have loved having the album out on vinyl.â&#x20AC;? The Boys From the County Hell, the local Pogues tribute act that was a favorite of Kilbaneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, will also play a few select songs that Kilbane would have liked. Other guest musicians will participate as well. (Niesel) 9 p.m., $5. Happy Dog. Diane Coffee/Teddy Boys: 8:30 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Beachland Tavern. Norman Connors: 8 p.m., $30. Nighttown. Crown Larks/Hiram-Maxim/ Swindella/Another Motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Milk: 9 p.m., $5. Now Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Class. Cruisinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;: 9:30 p.m., $5. Brothers Lounge. Terry Lee Goffe/Jason Denny/Hard Drive Band: 7 p.m., $20-$30. Lorain Palace Theater. The Legendary Shack Shakers/Pine Hill Haints/Lords of the Highway: 8:30 p.m., $15. Beachland Ballroom. Bill Lestock/The Original Waysiders: 8 p.m. Barking Spider Tavern. The Moondog Coronation Ball with Michael McDonald, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, The Spinners, and Donnie Iris and The Cruisers: 7 p.m., $38.75-$68.75. Quicken Loans Arena. The Old Adage/Sexy Pig Divas/ Village Bicycle/Sweepyheads: 9 p.m., $5. The Euclid Tavern. Organ-Ism: 8 p.m., $15. Bop Stop. Rachel and the Beatnik Playboys (in the Supper Club): 8 p.m., $7. Music Box Supper Club. Spirit of the Groove: Jazz & Gospel Hosted by Dominic Farinacci and Johnny Parker: 7 p.m., $15. BLU Jazz+. Spring Sound Music Festival: 4:30 p.m., $10 ADV, $12 DOS. Agora Ballroom. Paul Thorn/Joe Ely: 8 p.m., $30 ADV, $35 DOS. Music Box Supper Club. Jeff Varga (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Jackie Warren: 10:30 p.m., free. Nighttown.

SUN

4/03

Rob ClearďŹ eld Trio: 8 p.m., $10. Bop Stop. Cleveland Opera Theatre Presents Cole Porter at Nighttown: 6 p.m., $40. Nighttown. George Foley & Friends: 6 p.m. Barking Spider Tavern. Irish Sundays: Ballinloch (in the Supper Club): 4 p.m., free. Music Box Supper Club.

APRIL 1

APRIL 8

APRIL 10

APRIL 15

APRIL 17

APRIL 24

APRIL 1 - 2

APRIL 8 - 9

PRESENTS

EVERY THURSDAY • 6:30PM

ROCKIN’ COUNTRY NIGHTS THIS WEEK’S FEATURED ARTIST

BACKROADS

Live music, Line Dancing, DJ, trivia & prizes! FREE ADMISSION!

SCOTTY K

MIKE GARDNER

Scotty has been winning crowds internationally for over a decade with his high energy and animated performances. With improv, characterizations and music, his content is smart, creative and fun for all audiences—even your momma!

Mike Garnder’s autobiographical humor will take you on a roller coaster ride of subjects from his Redneck Mother and growing up with 6-sisters... to his celebrity run-ins during his life as a prestigious Country Club Golf Pro.

TICKETS AVAILABLE ON TICKETMASTER.COM AND AT THE ROCKSINO BOX OFFICE, OPEN DAILY FROM 1PM - 9PM. 10777 NORTHFIELD ROAD | NORTHFIELD, OHIO 44067 | HRRNP.COM | 330.908.7625 ALL SHOWS 21 & OVER

SCHEDULE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. FOR FREE, CONFIDENTIAL HELP 24/7, CALL THE OHIO PROBLEM GAMBLING HELPLINE AT 1.800.598.9966 | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

HAPPY HOUR

LIVEWIRE

- & s 0- !,, $!9 35. /&& !,, $2).+3

Mike Petrone (in the Wine Bar): 5:30 p.m. Brothers Lounge.

LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

$%42/)4 !6% #,%6%,!.$ \ brotherslounge.com

Fri. April 1

SHOUT!

,)+% 53

#(%#+ /54 /52 -%.5 @"%34 /& 4(% 7%34 7)..%2 '3* t

4"5 t

8:30pm

CRUISINâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Sat. April 2

46/ t

CLE IMPROV GROUP â&#x20AC;&#x201C; COMEDY â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 56& t

BILL COAKLEY

SOLO DRUM PERFORMANCE .0/ t 8*/( /*()5 5:00-10:00

9:00pm (Big Band Jazz) 8:00

Tues. April 5

56& t 464)* /*()5 5:00-10:00 8&% t #63(&3 /*()5 5:00-10:00 5)634 t 5"$04 5:00-10:00

ERNIE KRIVDA & THE FAT TUESDAY BIG BAND

1. ". 8*/& t ."35*/*4 t $)".1"(/&

Thurs. April 7

7:30pm

-"%*&4 /*()5

#"% #0:4 0' #-6&4 +". /*()5 9:00

THE RAT PACK

WINE BAR

FRANK, DEAN & SAMMY

FEATURING

FRI 4/1 t 8:00

7:00pm

JIMMY JACK

Fri. April 8 4"5 t 8:00

FIFTY AMP FUSE

JEFF VARGA &7&3: 46/%": t

MIKE PETRONE

EVERY MONDAY - JAZZ

VELVET VOYAGE 8:00 56&4 2 SET TUESDAY

JERRY POPIEL

9:00pm

COMING SOON

&7&3: 8&%/&4%": t 9 4*/(&3 40/(83*5&3 SHOWCASE W/BRENT KIRBY

ACE MOLAR ............April 9 PAT DAILEY ............ AprIl 23

&7&3: 5)634%": t

Great music, food and drink BOOK YOUR SPECIAL EVENTS WITH US.

contact: harvesttownmusic@gmail.com

CHRIS HATTONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MUSICAL CIRCUS

"-- (&/3&4 t "-- 45:-&4

1414 RIVERSIDE DRIVE LAKEWOOD Ă&#x201C;ÂŁĂ&#x2C6;Â&#x2021;Ă&#x2021;Ă&#x2C6;Ă&#x2021;Â&#x2021;xĂ&#x201C;Ă¤Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;6Â&#x153;Ă&#x192;Â&#x2026;VÂ?Ă&#x2022;LÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

MON

4/04

Bent Shapes/Bummed Out: When you get tired of chasing the newest fads in indie rock (and countless revivals to boot), bands like Bent Shapes remind you of the main tenets that hold the loose genre together. With the warmth of â&#x20AC;&#x2122;90s bands like the Lemonheads dialed up in speed by happy-go-lucky jangle pop a la the Feelies, Bent Shapesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; second album, Wolves of Want, is a straightforward joyride. (Kaufman) 9 p.m., $5. Now Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Class. The Expendables: Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be surprised if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re passed a peace pipe or two when you check out this reggae rock quartet from Santa Cruz, whose biggest hit, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bowl For Two,â&#x20AC;? came out more than 10 years ago. Since the early days of opening for stoner-staples Slightly Stoopid and Pepper, the Expendablesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; have reďŹ ned their (mostly) laid-back sound as theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve achieved headliner status. On their latest album, 2015â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sand in the Sky, the band gives an aging sound a modern twist, particularly on tracks like â&#x20AC;&#x153;Anti Social,â&#x20AC;? in which lead singer Geoff Weer calls out the braggarts who keep clogging up his Facebook feed. Despite the harsh messages behind some of their latest songs, the Expendables continue to hit the high marks that have turned a streak of chill tunes into a 17year career. (DeSmit) 8:30 p.m., $18 ADV, $20 DOS. Grog Shop. Puscifer: While Pusciferâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2007 debut features songs and ideas that singer Maynard James Keenan had accumulated for over a decade, Conditions of My Parole and the just-released Money Shot serve as more cohesive records that represented the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s transformation into a â&#x20AC;&#x153;full-ďŹ&#x201A;edged, vaudevillian touring troupe.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everything about Puscifer presents some juxtaposition between incredibly meaningful seriousness and hilarity,â&#x20AC;? says singer Carina Round in a phone interview. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The more Maynard [Keenan] ďŹ nds the connection between those two, the more comfortable he feels in

a way. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also contrarian. His satisfaction comes from putting things together that seemingly donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t belong together. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not in a way that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s completely confused and avant garde. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not Dali or anything, but thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a connection between the sensitivity and the thing that makes you laugh for 10 minutes and you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know why.â&#x20AC;? (Niesel) 7:30 p.m., $35$52.50. Akron Civic Theatre. Skatch Anderssen Orchestra: 8 p.m., $10. Brothers Lounge. Joshua Smith Trio: 8 p.m., $10. Bop Stop. Tricky Dick & the Cover-Ups/Pop Vulture: 7 p.m. House of Blues. Velvet Voyage (in the Wine Bar): 8 p.m. Brothers Lounge.

TUE

4/05

Nap Eyes/Cian Nugent/Edwin Agustin Jr. (in the Locker Room): Straight outta Nova Scotia, Nap Eyes dropped another slacker-rock gem this year with Thought Rock Fish Scale, a gentle collection of tunes recorded in the living room and screened-in porch of a seaside home up north. Singer-guitarist Nigel Chapman tells Scene that the band often ducks into the recording process in a burst of creativity â&#x20AC;&#x201D; no plan, necessarily, with only the urge to leave a musical footprint driving them forward. This time around, their instincts served them well. With reďŹ&#x201A;ective tunes like â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lion in Chains,â&#x20AC;? itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard not to place yourself on the shoreline, looking eastward to the rising sun and the converging lines of your quickly revolving world. (Sandy) 9 p.m., $8 ADV, $10 DOS. Mahallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 20 Lanes. Banger/Las Pinas/Tonawandas/ Mtn Isl/Mr. California: 9 p.m., $5. Now Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Class. Being as an Ocean/68/Capsize/ Listener/Movements: 6 p.m., $14 ADV, $16 DOS. Mahallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 20 Lanes. Belinda Carlisle: 8 p.m., $49.50$65. Trinity Cathedral. Chris Duarte: 8:30 p.m., $15 ADV, $18 DOS. Beachland Tavern. Junior Boys/Jessy Lanza/Borys: 8 p.m., $15. Beachland Ballroom. Two-Set Tuesday Featuring Jerry Popiel (in the Wine Bar): 7 p.m. Brothers Lounge. Unwritten Law/Fenix TX: 8:30 p.m., $15 ADV, $17 DOS. Grog Shop.

scene@clevescene.com t@cleveland_scene

| clevescene.com m | March 30 30 - April 5, 22016 0166 01

BAND OF THE WEEK TROPIDELIC By Jeff Niesel MEET THE BAND: Matthew Roads (vocals), James Begin (trombone/vox), Bobby Chronic (guitar), Darrick Willis (drums), Pags (bass), Tim Younessi (sax), Derek McBryde (trumpet) STRAIGHT OUTTA KENT: Tropidelic formed in 2008 in Kent and built a following after self-distributing over 10,000 free copies of its selfproduced first EP, Rebirth of the Dope. After releasing their second EP, Tree City Exodus, and relocating to Cleveland, the group opened for acts like Slightly Stoopid, 311, Pepper, the Dirty Heads, Sublime w/Rome, Soja, the Wailers and Flobots. After appearances at Warped Tour and New York’s Bamboozle Festival, the group released its third EP, 2011’s Erie Vibes & Irie Tides. Following several member changes, including the addition of a horn section and a percussionist, the group finally released its first full-length album, All Heads Unite, the following year. “Since [singer Matthew] Roads started

everything in Kent, the legwork has been there for so long,” says guitarist Bobby Chronic. “It’s just a matter of being out there grinding and revamping the set into the party that you want it to be. You want to look and sound like you’re having as much fun as you are.”

WHY YOU SHOULD HEAR THEM: Last year’s Police State features appearances by East Coast reggae/ rockers Sun-Dried Vibes and Bumpin’ Uglies. After its release, band members immediately started writing the songs for Go Down with the Ship, the band’s most diverse effort to date. Tracks such as “Bad Cookie” and “Batter Up” evoke the Red Hot Chili Peppers as they show off the group’s hip-hop skills; the songs also beneﬁt from funky bass riffs. The horn section really thrives on “The Line,” a song that concludes with a wicked guitar solo. “It was really positive,” says Bobby Chronic when asked about the recording experience. The group

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

recorded in Solon with long-time producer Cary Crichlow. “Everyone came in and did their parts and it went really well. Everything ﬂows out. Roads will come to rehearsal with an idea or fragment, and we’ll build on that, a hook or melody. It evolves from there and everyone puts their own twist on it. You have so many different inﬂuences in the band. My favorite band is [the speed metal group] Pantera. There’s a lot of diversity.” The band has already started writing tunes for the next release and will be busy this summer when festival season starts. “Honestly, as busy as summer gets

for us, there’s not one time of year that’s busier than another,” says Bobby Chronic. “We’re just trying to make it happen.”

WHERE YOU CAN HEAR THEM: tropidelic.com WHERE YOU CAN SEE THEM: Tropidelic performs with Bumpin’ Uglies and Shrub at 9 p.m. on Saturday, April 2, at the Grog Shop.

jniesel@clevescene.com t@jniesel

$1 pints $5 mules HAPPY HOUR

till 8p

m DAI

SLASH

BOOK YOUR PARTY TODAY FOR FREE.

LOVES OUR GAMEROOM!

GO TO TIMEWARPBAR.COM FOR RESERVATIONS

• BIG BALL BOWLING • BILLIARDS • SHUFFLE PUCK • GOLDEN TEE • POWER PUTT • NBA JAM

BACHELORETTE, CORPORATE, BIRTHDAY OR ANY OCCASION.

FRIDAY APRIL 1

“Coolest local live band venue I’ve seen in a long time” - Slash

SATURDAY APRIL 2

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

HAVE A PICNIC, RELAX & ENJOY

NO COVER

LIVE MUSIC b a r k i n g s p i d e r t a ve r n . c o m

SOUL SINGER

Thursday March 31

Alvin Frazier successfully balances singing and acting

Friday April 1 The Del Rios 8:00 (rock) Terrain 10:00 (rock)

Saturday April 2 The Original Waysiders 8:00 (alternative, folk) Bill Lestock 10:00 (bluegrass, folk)

Sunday April 3 Nostalgia Factor 3:00 (jazz) George Foley & Friends 6:00 (jazz) STORY TIME: A Story Telling Open Mic 9:00 (Open Mic, Story Telling) GGIGF `kd_f[h hZDB Yb[l[bWdZ © 216.421.2863

THURS., MARCH 31

Grooves Anonymous 8:30-10:30PM FRI., APRIL 1

The Bobby C Three & Lost State of Franklin 9-1AM SAT., APRIL 2

Chris Hatton & The ISM 9-1AM SUN., APRIL 3

School of Rock 4-8PM MON., APRIL 4 Open Jam Night with

Good Energy 8-12AM

food menu available 2247 Professor AVe. tremont

216.274.1200

www.coda.danteboccuzzi.com

By Emanuel Wallace ON A CALM AND CHILLY THURSDAY night late last January, a booming voice could be heard outside reverberating from the walls of a place formerly known as Jezebel’s Bayou (after a change of ownership, it now operates as Valo). That voice belongs to Alvin Frazier. With only an acoustic guitar and amplifier, he plays a rendition of his song, “Better,” which is currently making waves on several radio stations in the area and beyond. The atmosphere is dimly lit as couples and small groups dine, chat and enjoy the ambiance as Frazier croons original material and also covers versions of songs like the Isley Brothers’ “Footsteps In The Dark,” Outkast’s “Prototype,” Michael Jackson’s “Lady In My Life” and Jermaine Jackson’s “Do What You Do.” “I gotta hit you with a curveball,” he says when speaking on the decision to include the elder Jackson’s 1984 tune. “That was the jam though.” Cleveland-born and bred, Frazier takes pride in being able to reach the level of success he’s had in his career thus far without having to take his talents to a larger market. “Back when my first album [Love & Faith: Volume 1] came out in 2007, I was thinking that Cleveland was too much work, and I was looking into relocating back then,” he says. “But then I thought to myself, ‘You were born and raised here. How would it look if someone called back to get a reference for you and no one knows who you are?’ That really struck a chord with me, so then I thought to just build at home. Just work your hand here first. Thankfully, I was able to show that you can establish yourself as an international artist living here in Cleveland.” However, with two albums released and several years of experience under his belt, the multi-faceted actor and musician is beginning to think that the time to make a move to a larger market may be nearing soon. “I’m kind of at a glass ceiling right now,” he says while discussing his plan to relocate to New York soon. “You can get real complacent and be cool with being the big man on campus here, but the vision I have for myself was always bigger than that. The clothes are starting to get snug and you’re still trying to do the same

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

Photo by JazzyMae Photography

Troubadours of Divine Bliss 6:00 (americana, blue) Neon Don & Eva Dilcue 8:00 (rhythm and blues, rock) Jen Mauer Project 10:00 (roots/blues)

C-NOTES

Alvin Frazier has a role in the new Miles Davis biopic.

things and you can’t because the seams are starting to bust out. That lets you know it’s time to do something different.” In the meanwhile, Frazier plans to continue to promote his latest album, A Wonderful Love: Love & Faith Vol. 2, an album of soul tunes that show off Frazier’s strong voice, perform at various venues across the area and work on recording his third album. And then there’s the movies. In a set of follow-up interviews with Frazier, he was able to talk more about some of the successes he’s been having on both the big and small screen as well as his progress with his latest album. “I’m not sure that we got to talk about it, but I’ve been doing some acting as well. I was just in With This Ring with Jill Scott and Gabrielle Union,” he says. In addition to that ﬁlm, Frazier has also made appearances in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, A Murder in the Park and #50Fathers along with a pilot for a webseries called DAP. Over the summer, Frazier worked with a group of kids from Open Doors Academy and took them through the entire process of creating a movie over the course of two weeks. “That was a great experience because I love working with children,”

he says. “Now, I had never done a summer camp before but it was a good challenge for me to take the things that I had learned over the years and in turn put together a comprehensive camp for kids. They worked hard. I took them through so much stuff, I don’t know how we did it.” His latest role finds him playing a member of Miles Davis’ band in the Miles Davis biopic Miles Ahead, which has its nationwide release on April 1 (a Cleveland release is TBA). “It’s a good feeling. I’m excited,” Frazier says about the buzz the movie has been generating. “I was a Miles fan long before I was a part of this film. I had read his autobiography three times before I got a part in the film, so I was already real hip to Miles.” If Frazier were able to assemble his own fantasy lineup, he would reach back into the past and enlist the services of a few legends that’ve passed on. “I would definitely say George Duke and Joe Sample on the keys,” Frazier carefully says as he mentally flips through his influences. “Stanley Clarke, George Benson and Bernard ‘Pretty’ Purdie on the drums. I like his style on the drums. Second bass player would be Louis Johnson from the Brothers Johnson. If I initially had to make up a unit of about five or six cats, off the top of my head those guys would be it.” His new album is slated for release later this summer, and Frazier says he looks forward to getting the first single out to radio stations in the near future. “The new album is a little different from my first two,” Frazier says. “But you know as an artist, you kinda need that. When I was trying to work on new material, I was feeling like I had hit a wall. So I said, ‘Let me think outside of the box of how I normally produce and go a different way,’ and that helped to spark some ideas and led to some really good music. I have a few more songs to finish. I have a good idea of what the first single is going to be and I think we’re going to look at getting that to radio in middle to late May, definitely by June.”

scene@clevescene.com t@cleveland_scene

4630 Ridge Road Brooklyn, Ohio 44144

216-749-5509

Learn More At www.agostinos.events

ROCKIN’ FRIDAYS....Great Food, Great Music, Great Fun! Back by Popular Demand - BALL & CHAIN Joplin Tribute, Friday, April 1st, 8-11pm. (Dinner from 6pm to 9pm - Fabulous Pastas and more!)

15335 WATERLOO | WEST OF BEACHLAND

ITALIAN NIGHT DINNER DANCE, Saturday, April 9th,

OPEN BOCCE BALL

Doors open 6:30 with Cocktails & Appetizers; Dinner 7pm, LIVE Music with The Cavalieri Reale Band 8pm-12midnight $55.

JOEL GOTT WINE TASTING, Thursday, April 14th, 7pm, $45.00

ALL DAY SATURDAYS THUR. 31 • 4-7PM DRUM & BASS HAPPY HOUR

WED. 30

GAME NIGHT & FREE BAR BOWLING

GUINNESS BILL IRISH NIGHT AT 7PM FRI. 1

BLUE LUNCH

(BLUES)

SAT. 2

UMOJAH NATION

(Reggae)

MON. 4

TUE. 5

VINYL NIGHT

KARAOKE

WED. 6

OPEN MIC

WITH

SHAWN MISHACK

OFF ONE FREE ANY10% DVD, GAME OR VHS

ADULT MOVIE RENTAL with 2 or more paid. Expires 4/9/16

purchase of $25 or more. Expires 4/9/16

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

2 Domestics $ 00

Mon-Sat 2-8pm

Open Sundays @ 7pm

NO COVER!

Full Kitchen Open Daily

GREAT FOOD! Saturday 3-9pm

$5.99 Steak Dinner + =kbgd Fbgbfnf Â? Dine In Only

Join Your Favorite Entertainer in Our

Private VIP Lounge

12820 BROOKPARK RD. @ W. 130TH | 216-458-1131

OPEN: MON-SAT 2:00PM-2:30AM | SUNDAY 7:00PM - 2:30AM

Check out our second location

Club 1245

1245 E. Tallmadge Ave. Akron, OH 44310 Mon-Sat 4pm - 2:30am. | Closed Sundays | clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

SAVAGE LOVE JCCSF By Dan Savage I WAS HONORED TO SPEAK AT JCCSF — Jewish Community Center of San Francisco — last week as a part of their “Uninhibited: About Sex” lecture series. The audience submitted questions on cards, which were ably put to me by Jourdan Abel, who was wearing a wonderful uterus-themed sweater. (Check out my Instagram account — @ dansavage — to see Abel’s sweater!) Here are some of the questions submitted by the uninhibited JCCSF audience that Abel and I didn’t manage to get to during our conversation.

Find your happy hour. 'RZQORDG 6&(1(·V RԀFLDO KDSS\ KRXU app! clevescene.com/happyhours

Dear Dan, I had the best sex of my life with my ex. He fucked me hard, had a huge cock, and made me eat his come with a spoon. I loved it. Needless to say, we were incompatible in other ways. My current BF is vanilla. Very. Vanilla. When I masturbate, I think about my ex and can’t help but wish my current guy would make me slurp his come up from a utensil. We are very compatible in other (nonsex) ways. Am I doomed to fantasize about my ex? You are — unless you open up to your current BF about what’s missing in your sex life and/or get his permission to get your hardfucking/spoon-feeding needs met elsewhere.

Dear Dan, How do you combat homophobic remarks in a culture that condones and promotes homophobic tendencies?

REAL PEOPLE REAL DESIRE REAL FUN.

Try FREE: 216-377-6292

More Local Numbers: 1-800-926-6000

Ahora español Livelinks.com 18+

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

You combat homophobia — and misogyny, its big sister — one terriﬁed middle-schooler at a time. Bearing in mind, of course, that “terriﬁed middle-schooler” is a state of mind, not an age bracket.

Dear Dan, Got any advice for a bi girl, formerly submissive, who wants to start dominating men? Move to San Francisco — oh, wait. You’re already in San Francisco. Leave the house — get involved in local kink orgs, if you aren’t already involved, check out local sex-positive events (bawdystorytelling.com is a

great place to start), and let people know what you’re looking for. There’s no shortage of submissive guys in the Bay Area, and no shortage of dominant women up for mentoring women who are curious about topping.

Dear Dan, In gay male relationships, what can you say about the psychological boundary between being Alpha in the world and Beta in bed? The boundary between Alpha In World/Beta In Bed is pretty fucking porous — it’s not studded with guard towers, barbed wire and death strips, à la the Berlin Wall. (Google it, kids.) That boundary only exists in our heads. And once we get that fact through our thick heads, not only do we discover that the Alpha/ Beta boundary is easily crossed, we quickly learn that crossing it repeatedly — brutally and joyfully violating it at will — is a total blast.

Dear Dan, Is Savage your real last name? It’s mine, too! My mother kept her maiden name, I took her name, and she’s a sex therapist! We’re both huge fans. Could you say hi to Dr. Linda Savage? She’ll die! Hi, Dr. Linda Savage! Please don’t die.

Dear Dan, What do you do when you can’t make your partner come? Me? I hand him back his dick and go get myself some ice cream — but you shouldn’t do what I do when you can’t make your partner come. Here’s what you should do: Keep trying, ask your partner what they need, and encourage them, if need be, to “ﬁnish themselves off” (without pouting, without laying a guilt trip on them about how they’ve made you feel inadequate, and without treating them like they’re broken). Cheerfully offer to hold ’em or play with their tits or eat their ass while they ﬁnish themselves off — or, hell, offer to go get ’em ice cream. Whatever helps!

ADULT SERVICES A MOUNTED “MAN TO MAN” MASSAGE *HOTEL DISCOUNTS*

Let a man rub you down like only a man can! Full Body/ Full Service “Man to Man” Massage given by hot naked masculine white dude. 24 HRS Hotel & house calls welcome or stop by my Massage Studio. Versatile any scene. 2 guys also available. Low Rates. Well equipped and ready to play... Call 216-491-4501

ADULT HELP WANTED DANCERS WANTED

1335 Brittain Rd. Akron No tip outs for House Mom & DJ APPLY IN PERSON

PHONE LINES $10 Buck Phone Sex

Live 1 on 1 1-877-919-EASY (3279) 18+

CALL NOW, MEET TONIGHT! FREE to try! 18+ 216.626.7777 / 440.325.7777 Other Cities: 1.888.257.5757 www.questchat.com

Call FREE! 216-377-6292 or 800-926-6000 www.livelinks.com 18+

EXPLICIT CHAT WITH SEXY LOCALS

MEET GAY & BI LOCALS

Browse & Respond FREE! 216-912-6000 Use FREE Code 2642, 18+

Get your FREE TRIAL! 18+ CALL The Night Exchange NOW! 216.502.4388 / 440.499.6400 www.nightexchange.com

FREE PARTYLINE

PRIVATE CONNECTIONS TRY IT FREE!

712-432-7968 18+ Normal LD Applies

1-708-613-2100 Normal LD Applies 18+

FUN SEXY SINGLES

SEXY HOT SWINGER’S LINE!

Send Message FREE! 216-912-2222 Use FREE Code 3229, 18+

1-800-785-2833 1-800-960-4328 EROTIC PLAYGROUND! 1-888-660-4446 1-800-990-9377 HOT LIVE SEXY CHAT!!! 1-888-404-3330 1-800-805-8255 18+

Gay & Bi Local Chat!

1-708-613-2103 Normal LD Applies 18+

Hot Guys! Hot Chat! Hot Fun! Call FREE! 216-377-6300 or 800-777-8000 18+ www.guyspyvoice.com

100’s OF SEXY LATINO SINGLES

HOT LOCAL URBAN SINGLES!

Meet Hot Latin Locals! Get your FREE trial! 18+ 216.626.7777 440.325.7777 www.questchat.com

Are looking to hook up now! Try it FREE! 18+ 216.367.1010 / 440.424.0303 www.metrovibechatline.com

ALL KINDS OF SINGLES

LOCAL LESBIAN SINGLES

Straight 216-912-2222 Curious 216-912-6000 FREE Code 3227, 18+

Make a Connection. Real People, Flirty Chat

Where Local Girls Go Wild!

Call 216-377-6290 or 800-700-6666 Try FREE! www.redhotdateline.com

WHERE SINGLES MEET

Listen to Ads & Reply FREE! 216-912-2222 FREE Code 3228, 18+

Reply to Ads FREE! 216-912-6000 FREE Code 2643, 18+

FREE TO LISTEN AND REPLY TO ADS Free Code: Cleveland Scene

FIND REAL GAY MEN NEAR YOU Cleveland:

(216) 912-6000

www.megamates.com 18+

Akron:

(330) 315-3000 Canton:

(330) 437-0100

Your premier choice for classy & fun entertainment providing firstrate entertainment for all occasion, including a wet & wild bachelor parties, divorce parties, birthday celebrations & retirement parties! Whatever the reason is that you request our services, rest assured that we have what you’re looking for! Our carefully selected adorable playmates cater to any occasion! We offer a diverse selection of exotic, classy, sophisticated & gorgeous ladies for you to choose from.

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

Merchandise For Sale

Dating made Easy

Professional Services

CASH PAID FOR UNWANTED cars, trucks, vans etc ... Running or not. Free towing, cash on the spot. 440-341-5209

AUTO INSURANCE

WE BUY OLD ROCK CONCERT T-SHIRTS

UNCONTESTED DIVORCE $195 Plus Filing Fee, Attorney 216-.621.4100

FREE to Listen & Reply to ads. FREE CODE: Cleveland Scene

Massage - Certified CARING MASSAGE

Days & Evenings, weekends. Warm candlelight atmosphere. Lakewood/West Suburbs Linda 216-221-5935

Cleveland

216.912.2222 For other local numbers:

18+ www.MegaMates.com

Talk to the woman of your choice! TABOO TOPICS CALL NOW

www.lipservicephonesex.com

SR22/Bond, Tickets BEST PRICES DAVID YOUNG INSURANCE 440-779-9800

BIG FUN

1814 Coventry Rd, Cleveland Hts. 216-371-4386

Announcements/Notices NOTICE GARY PALMER

The State of Tennessee, Department of Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Services, has filed a Petition against you seeking a finding of dependency and neglect in regards to your child. It appears that ordinary process of law cannot be served upon you because your whereabouts are unknown. You are hereby ORDERED to appear in the Juvenile Court of Warren County, at McMinnville, Tennessee on the 9th day of May, 2016, at 9:00 A.M. for the Hearing on the Petition by the State of Tennessee, Department of Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Services. If you fail to do so, a default judgment will be taken against you pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. Â§ 36-1-117(n) and Rule 55 of the Tenn. R. of Civ. P. for the relief demanded in the Petition. You may view and obtain a copy of the Petition and any other subsequently filed legal documents at the Warren County Juvenile Court Clerkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office, McMinnville, Tennessee.

BROOKSIDE OVAL APARTMENT Located on Park Fulton Oval near the Cleveland Metroparks! 216-351-6936 Choose from any of our newly remodeled 1 & 2 bdrm apartments, all w/ modern kitchens & bathrooms. All feature air-conditioning & Garage parking also available. Brookside is located close to I-480, I-71, and I-90, just minutes from downtown Cleveland. Come home to the beautiful park-like setting of Brookside Apartments! Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be happy to call Brookside home.

ELBUR

Located on a private tree lined street, 1BR and 2BR suites available. Off-street parking available. Heat included. 216-392-5384.

Massage - Licensced REAL EYES RELAXATION

The Touch Your Body Deserves Experience The Touch !!! 3834 W.140St. Cleve,OH,44111 (216)322-7895 Mon-Fri, 12-10pm, Sat-Sun 1-7pm

Bulletin Board WANTS TO PURCHASE

minerals and other oil & gas interests. Send details P.O. Box 13557, Denver, CO 80201

Professional Services THE OCEAN CORP.

10840 Rockley Road, Houston, Texas 77099. Train for a New Career. *Underwater Welder. *Commercial Diver. *NDT/Weld Inspector. Job Placement Assistance. Financial Aid available for those who qualify. 800-321-0298.

NORTH

LAKEWOOD CLIFFS APARTMENTS

18900 Detroit Extension Newly Renovated 1-2 Bedroom Apts Heat & Water Included Updated Laundry on Site Off Street Parking Air Conditioning Secure Entry Lake and Park Views Call for our Specials 216-392-5384 *****some restrictions apply*****

Real Estate Services

Upgraded suites. Efficiencies and 1BR available. Off-street parking available. 216-392-5384

PARK PLACE

Spacious 1BR and 2BR suites available. Steps from Edgewater Park. Heat included. Off-street parking available. 216-392-5384

Rentals: West/Suburbs

$24/15 min â&#x20AC;˘ $45/30 min â&#x20AC;˘ $68/ 45 min MC-Visa-Amex-Disc

EDGECLIFF

Large, upgraded suites. Heat included. Overlooking the metro parks. Free off-street parking available. 216-392-5384

Open desires... Hidden identities...

WE WENT OUT WHEN YOU COULDNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T. EVENT SLIDESHOWS. ONLY AT CLEVESCENE.COM SCENE

Try FREE Now: 216-377-6290 More Local Numbers: 1-800-700-6666

redhotdateline.com 18+

FREE TRIAL

Discreet Chat Guy to Guy

216.626.0320

PARKSIDE

Spacious 1BR and 2BR suites available. Steps from Lakewood Park. Heat included. 216-392-5384

WATERBURY

Large, remodeled 1br and 2 BR suites. Heat included. Off-street parking available. 216-392-5384.

AVAILABLE NOW Âą20,000 SF FOR LEASE 737 Bolivar Road | Cleveland, OH

RNC

Meet sexy friends who really get your vibe...

Â&#x2021; Ideal Temp Space For The 2016

Try FREE: 216-377-6303

Â&#x2021; Unique Open Floor Plan, High Ceilings & Exposed Brick Walls

More Local Numbers: 1-800-811-1633

Â&#x2021; Across The Street From Quicken Loans Arena & Security Entrance

Â&#x2021; Suites Range From 3,500 SF To 25,000 SF Â&#x2021; Dedicated & Secured Indoor Parking For Leasing Information Contact:

vibeline.com 18+

FREE TRIAL

Discreet Chat Guy to Guy

216.626.0320

| clevescene.com | March 30 - April 5, 2016

CONOR M. COAKLEY +1 216 687 1800 conor.coakley@cbre.com

| cle clevescene.com eves esscene cenee.com .ccom m | March March c 30 30 - Aprill 5, 22016 0 6 01

6 67

Get ďŹ t. Get paid.

McKenzie Apartments 1310 W. 116th Street

For part-time Package Handlers at FedEx Ground and Home Delivery, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like a paid workout. The workâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s demanding, but the rewards are big. Come join our team, get a weekly paycheck, tuition assistance and break a sweat with the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s package delivery leader.

Career Opportunity!! Window Nation Now hiring Outside Appointment Setters for our Cleveland and Twinsburg, Ohio locations. This is a Full Time 40 hours per week position, must be able to work weekends early shift. Base salary plus bi-weekly bonuses usually average 600$ to 900$ per week. Full BeneďŹ ts (401K,medical, paid vacation and holidays)

Call Bill at 216-903-1744 for immediate interview or email resume to Careers@windownation.com

Part-time PACKAGE HANDLERS QualiďŹ cations: s !BILITY TO LOAD UNLOAD SORT PACKAGES s YEARS OR OLDER s 0ART TIME DAYS WEEK HR PLUS BENElTS TO start, scheduled raises s-UST PASS BACKGROUND CHECK

HOME BUYERS!!! Vintage Building with all the Modern Amenities. The McKenzie Apts. have been completely renovated while maintaining itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s classic architecture. The suites feature new kitchens w/dishwasher, new bathrooms, new mini blinds, lighting, ceiling fans & double pane vinyl windows. Walking distance to everything: grocery, cafĂŠ, restaurants, public transportation, parks, banks, etc. These are a Must See!

www.watchasort.com

Call Today

216-288-2485

FedEx Ground #OLUMBIA 2OAD

2ICHlELD /( %QUAL /PPORTUNITY !FlRMATIVE !CTION %MPLOYER - & $ 6 #OMMITED 4O ! $IVERSE 7ORKFORCE

&EDEX COM US CAREERS

Studios Starting at $475 1 BR Starting at $550 www.WinwoodProp.com *w/12 Month Lease for well qualiďŹ ed applicants

ATTORNEY KORDIC 33 years of Social Security experience. Representing clients in 40 states. ATTORNEY BRAUN 23 years of experience. Tenacious, determined and uncommonly successful.

No Fee â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;til You Win Social Security ii_ ÂŠ fÂ&#x2C6; Â&#x152;wÂ&#x160;{ _Â&#x201E;Â&#x2030;Â&#x2039;Â&#x2C6;wÂ&#x201E;y{ A T

Gregory Kordic awÂ&#x160;~{Â&#x2C6; Â&#x201E;{ XÂ&#x2C6;wÂ&#x2039;Â&#x201E;

(216) 621- 6684

BUY YOUR DREAM HOME!!! Plus Get Up To $100k + More* (for new kitchen, new roof, new carpet, appliances, paint, basement waterprooďŹ ng, windows, heating & cooling)*

NEVER EVER EVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO BUY A HOME!!! Great Low Fixed Interest Rates* When YOUR dreams come true... OUR dreams come true!!!

440.342.7355 (SELL) To Buy...or Sell

Call Grizzell *Some restrictions may apply *for those who qualify... we consider...

'//$ #2%$)4 s "!$ #2%$)4 s "!.+2504#9

REAL Disability Lawyers

A T T O R N E Y S

FREE MONEY!!! DOWN PAYMENT PROGRAM*

L A W

NHF m{Â&#x2030;Â&#x160; iÂ&#x2039;Â&#x2020;{Â&#x2C6; Â&#x2026;Â&#x2C6; WÂ&#x152;{Â&#x201E;Â&#x2039;{B iÂ&#x2039; Â&#x160;{ GFF YÂ&#x201A;{Â&#x152;{Â&#x201A;wÂ&#x201E;zB e~ Â&#x2026; JJGGI