1970-2024
REWIND: 1971
Jazz great Dizzy Gillespie’s appearance at Severance Hall got the full front-page treatment to start the new year in 1971.
UPFRONT
FEARING A BANK DESERT, BUCKEYE RESIDENTS
TELL HUNTINGTON IT CAN’T LEAVE
THE NOTICE FOR BUCKEYEShaker neighbors came in early February: the Huntington Bank branch that sat right off East 117th Street and Buckeye Road would be closing in the spring. Crime was a growing issue in the area, they said. Thirty-four other branches across the state would follow suit for similar reasons. And most would close.
That is, except the branch in Buckeye.
Shortly after Huntington’s announcement, a burgeoning group of locals and public interest groups rallied to deter—and change the minds of—the regional powers that be at the Columbus-based financial institution.
For months, this group of adamant locals have gathered hundreds of signatures, worked with Cleveland police on a half-mile “safety quadrant,” and agreed to meet with vice president of community development Donald Dennis to do their best to convince Huntington they’re better off staying and servicing their customers.
Customers that, nearby resident and advocate Tamara Chappell said, rely on still having a brick and mortar close by to manage their mortgages, deposit physical checks, chat about car loans.
“This still a community where people have flip phones, and they don’t do online banking,” Chappell, 70, who lives close to Moreland Courts off Shaker Square, told Scene. “Buckeye is not a dot-com area. Mount Pleasant area is not a dot-com area. People here still go to the bank.”
Like the wave of pharmacies and grocery stores that have given up on certain neighborhoods across the U.S., either due to bankruptcy or Amazon, a bank leaving a block has similar consequences. Elderly and handicapped folks, and those without cars, have to consult neighbors for rides. Others have to increase already long bus commutes just to complete errands on-time.
It’s the gist of what the Buckeye coalition has tried, they said, to tell Huntington: leaving due to so-called crime concerns or better investments elsewhere have larger issues than they realize.
For Charles Bromley, the director of the Shaker Square Alliance and organizer of this group, a sneaking suspicion has crept up on him since February—that bank directors have used “crime” as a red herring, he said, to distract the public.
Speaking up, forming connections with the Shaker Square Alliance and Neighborhood Connection, involving City Hall and City Council, returning letters and texts with truth telling and heated complaints -- this, he said, is what the group’s done differently that the 33 other neighborhoods Huntington’s pull-out as affected.
“I don’t think the bank ever been challenged, to be honest,” Bromley said. “They get to do whatever they want to. They have $184 billion in deposits.
“Well, they figured that you bring a check and everybody goes away,” he added. “And that wasn’t really the case here.”
After three months of meetings and back-and-forths with Dennis, Bromley, activist Julian Khan and Neighborhood Connection’s Greg Groves filmed a twelve-minute mini-documentary called “Rallying
for Huntington Bank,” as a followup to their gathering of 700-plus signatures.
In it, residents like Chappell help put a human face to disinvestment, as do local owners of nearby barbershops and clothing stores. Those that do business with the branch across the street.
“And Huntington is trying to sever that business,” Khan says in the video, “by closing and walking away.”
But has the area gotten safer, as some suggest? Though Scene couldn’t confirm it with CPD’s Fourth District, all parties interviewed claimed that the half-mile quadrant of increased police presence helped solve what was Huntington’s main issue.
The data’s more complicated. From March 1 to July 23, there were 1,871 crimes total in Ward 6, the ward Buckeye-Shaker’s in—an increase of about 70 crimes, according to the city’s data portal.
Though weapons charges and burglaries went up from the same time period in 2023, traffic violations, drug abuse, traffic violations and felonious assault charges did diminish.
Which is another point of contention for Chappell, who had gone to the branch for years for loan management and, she said, to buy pies a nearby neighbor was selling.
“Nobody was bothering the bank. People were sitting in the parking lot drinking booze that they bought at the liquor store across the street,” she said. “You know, you have panhandlers at the Vatican.”
Donald Dennis, that vice president of community development at Huntington, did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Tuesday.
Huntington will have, residents said, an answer as to the branch’s sure future come August 10. – Mark Oprea
Cuyahoga County to Plant 1,500 Trees in Canopy Restoration Effort, But Residents’ Role in Solution Looms
Fifteen-hundred trees are to be planted and grown on public land in Cuyahoga County in the next few years, the result of $1.2 million in
Photo by Mark Oprea
The ATM at the branch was stolen earlier this year
grant rollout, county representatives said this week.
That money, which hails from the county’s annual investment into trees, will equate to some 200 trees planted in Parma; 128 in Olmsted Township; 130 in Bedford; 18 in Lakeview Cemetery; along with a dozen other projects intending to keep parts of our canopy we’ve let go over the decades. (Cleveland got its tree due in 2023.)
And, according to data from the last county survey in 2019, there’s a lot of space to fill: the current tree coverage of Cuyahoga County—some 96,000 acres—is roughly a third of the land area that’s viable for greenery.
With the Urban Forestry Commission set to mesh its goals with Cleveland’s new Division of Forestry, optimists might see this influx of millions of dollars dedicated to sprouting new elms or sumacs across the city as a fine beacon of good things to come. Meaning the possible restoration of our depleted canopy by 2040.
Yet, city and county specialists share similar anxieties about an aspect of grant dollars not easily influenced: the plots of private land that lie where the sidewalk ends.
In other parlance: the pesky, vague sphere of the tree lawn.
“It’s been my personal experience that residents have a wide variety of attitudes towards trees that shed leaves on their property,” Jenita McGowan, the county’s chief of climate and sustainability, told Scene.
“If the residents wanted it, they thought there’d be an overwhelming want and need,” her colleague, Mary Cierebiej, the county’s director of Administrative, Planning, Information and Research, added.
In past years, “people were not interested because again, the maintenance of leaves and trees falling or limbs or other bad things— maybe they’ve taken trees down in the past? Yeah, I mean, there’s a wild difference of opinions.”
Besides the historic neglect the city had in the late 20th century for its grated trees, as the 2021 Tree Plan showed, the deeper problem of restoring the canopy to a level Clevelanders can be proud of deals with a tough navigation between private and public property.
The city cannot and does not plant on private land. Tree-planting incentive programs have existed for the better part of the past decade, which often offer planting and maintenance gratis—yet these are the best bets for City Hall to convince neighbors that the benefits outweigh having to rake a little more.
There are innumerable benefits, after all: Higher tree canopies help lower rates of heart disease and
asthma, help combat high summer temps on street level, help raise land values when planted strategically.
And strategy, at least in the Tree Plan guidebook, means planting saplings with an equity planner’s lens: on streets and tree lawns in Lee-Miles, in Jefferson and Clark-Fulton, where tree canopy coverage is a third of what it is in leafier neighborhoods.
“I think that the geospatial data bears out that we cannot street tree our way into a restored tree canopy,” McGowan said.
“And it shades an area of our communities that are important when you’re walking around,” she added. “But if we planted a tree in every tree lawn in the county, I still don’t think we solve our tree canopy issue.”
A solution, both McGowan and Cierebiej, admitted that could also stem from more accurate data. The last full-on tree count of Cuyahoga’s stock—which was by satellite image— is five years old.
“I think Mary and I are in agreement in order to continue this program, it’s probably time to assess it,” McGowan said, “so we can make sure that we’re targeted in how we use public funding for trees.” – Mark Oprea
Gordon Park Redesign Feedback Makes Future Makeover Clear: More Stuff for Families
Like countless Clevelanders of her generation, Lorraine Bradley has always seen Gordon Park as the go-to place for softball and barbecue on the east side.
At least as it was in the eighties and nineties, when Bradley would accompany her husband for league games on one of the park’s five baseball diamonds. The whole trip, typically a short walk from her home in Hough, grew into weekly association. Sundays. Softball. Cookout.
“We always made it into a family affair,” Bradley, 75, told Scene. “The kids played. You’d go to the aquarium. All the families would gather. You know, we didn’t all live in the same community, but the park’s where we all met.”
And as it was for countless Clevelanders, the image and aura of Gordon Park as a vibrant gathering space hugging Lake Erie has all but eroded in recent years. Today, the park is a shell of what it once was: 48 acres of underwhelming grass and field comprising a mountainous island surrounded by highway and industry.
Gordon Park’s hopeful resurrection was the subject of a town hall situated in the Kovacic Rec Center on St. Clair Ave. two weeks ago, a public engagement procedure studded with
the usual stickers and Post It notes nearby residents used to help direct the park’s future.
Spearheaded by the Metroparks, which took over Gordon’s lease in October, and a smattering of architecture firms, including LAND Studio and the SmithGroup, the event went through the idea-gathering phase used in just about every recent parks project in Cleveland’s recent history—from Irishtown Bend Park to the elusive and yet-to-be-fully-funded North Coast Landbridge.
The ideas, discussed over two hours with some 25 locals, pointed to not just cleaning up and rejuvenating Gordon Park, but bringing one of Cleveland’s largest park spaces into the 21st century: add interactive art, butterfly gardens, food kiosks, playspaces, hiking trails, fitness equipment and restrooms.
In other words, the people spoke, reshape Gordon Park for everyone
“I feel like the amenities have to be diversified. To where it’s just not basketball, or not just softball,” Rodney Middleton, 66, a trustee of the InterCity Yacht Club that’s rooted just north of Gordon, told Scene after the meeting sporting a sailor’s cap.
“And safe,” he said. “We have to be mindful of the age groups that utilize the park. It’s just not young people. It’s just not young Black men. You know, we’re talking about a space that families should be able to utilize.”
All entities involved in the infogathering on Tuesday declined to say Gordon Park should be this, or should be that, yet promised that the ideas gathered would help produce a working plan for the park come early 2025.
The $8 million donation from the Mandel Foundation, which permitted Tuesday’s session, would also, said Chad Brintnall, an architect with the SmithGroup, be used for some public art installations—”a project that delivers significant impact to the community.” And, separately, 200 new trees on behalf of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy. Metroparks also reportedly put in new benches, tables and trash cans shortly after their lease takeover.
But at the same time, as Brintnall exemplified that day, hunched over a table with a marker in his hand, such engagement helps right the wrong of two ideas of park planning. Ideas that separate Clevelanders who use the park on a regular basis, and those that have, historically, shaped and planned a city from afar.
Those “who feel as if they’ve been left out of the conversation, who don’t feel the same attention. It’s vital that you have meaningful dialogue with those folks,” Brintnall said. “There’s so many empty and broken promises.
How do you get over that?”
Which only somewhat appeases Bradley. Those “who feel as if they’ve been left out of the conversation, who don’t feel the same attention. It’s vital that you have meaningful dialogue with those folks,” Brintnall said. “There’s so many empty and broken promises. How do you get over that?”
Which only somewhat appeases Bradley.
Because Gordon Park was split in two by the construction of I-90, and the extension of the CSX railroad line, an ongoing silo effect has only harmed access to the parkland. Gordon Park, to put it simply, is not easy to get to. Residents complain often, as they did Tuesday, about its poor signage. A tiny bridge over a six-lane highway is the only link between Gordon’s north and south ends.
“Honestly, I’d love to just see that bridge widened,” Bradley said. “So that we can go over it—safely.”
Safe may take two decades. To the northwest, in front of the East 55th Marina, will be the primary location of the Metroparks’ gargantuan CHEERS park build, which vows to create six bays of new lakeside green space all from dredged material. (Like Burke and the Shoreway itself.) CHEERS won’t be finished until 2042, at the earliest.
Kelly Coffman, an architect with the Metroparks involved with both projects, told Scene she sees Gordon’s future geographically intertwined with CHEERS, linked by a brand new bike trail on Marginal Road.
All of which makes Coffman call up old pictures of Gordon Park in its glory days, of postwar women in white one-pieces, lounging on a crystalline lakeside, near bathhouses and hotdog stands. Images destroyed by a highway and decades of neglect.
“I think it’s just of a previous era,” Coffman mused, regarding past planning. “Like those are the decisions they made, they dealt with in the past.
“I think we get so many more benefits out of the park now by building out, and just kind of working around it,” she added. “We can improve crossings, we can reduce interchanges. We can make it better.”
The coalition working to restore Gordon Park will meet again for a second engagement session, with early conceptual drawings, Brintnall said, in September. – Mark Oprea
FEATURE
MUSKA COMES HOME
The pro skater wants to build the “best skatepark in the Midwest” in his hometown
By Mark Oprea
THE HISTORY OF SKATEBOARDING is a history of injury. Of arms and ankles bent in ways nature did not intend somewhere in an empty pool in seventies Sacramento. Of inverted boards jabbing groins on the streets of Japan. Of Tony Hawk, knees bruised and reddened, weeks before he landed the world’s first 900 at the 1999 X Games.
Injury is a strange friend to professional skater Chad Muska. And Muska—you know him as the boombox-wielder in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater—has had his fair share over his tumultuous and resilient past 47 years of life. There were the broken legs and ankles, the herniated disc at a park in Mexico City. And then, there was that time, at 15, Muska broke his leg after attempting a frontside kickflip on a quarter pipe in Las Vegas. Doctors had “to take out my existing titanium metal rod,” Muska said, “and put another one in.”
“There’s a lot of injuries,” Muska told Scene in April, sitting in a coffee shop on Cleveland Street in Lorain, Ohio. “There’s something like hundreds, I think? My career has been plagued with injuries, pretty much. Like one after the other to be honest with you.”
This, it could be said, is a different Muska than the one effortlessly grinding ledges in front of ebullient crowds in Madrid or Paris in the late aughts. In 2020, after two decades solidifying his legend in the West Coast skate scene, Muska moved to a former flower farm in Collins, Ohio, in a bifurcated effort to focus on his merch business and live closer to the family he grew up around. At 47, Muska has replaced jovial skate contests and Hollywood clubbing with an existence marked by smallteam corporatism and caretaking for an assortment of farm animals. As Muska puts it, “a complete 180.” But not entirely. For the past four years, Muska has been partnering with a group of city boosters and like-aged skaters and BMXers to design and hopefully build his hometown’s first official skatepark.
A park, that is, worthy of Muska’s reputation: some ten-thousand square feet of launch ramps, faux staircases, jellybean bowls, hand rails and stands for spectators of future contests. The only problem?
Money, of course. So far there’s a $200,000 grant from the city, which arrived this year and portions of which have been spent on design and renderings. It could be renewed for 2025 if certain benchmarks are met. Outside of that, other fundraising hasn’t gotten off the ground much, with $20,000 secured so far.
But the goal is a park that would lift Lorain to national levels. “I want to see people of all ages and abilities,” Linda O’Connor, an administrative assistant in Lorain’s Department of Public Property, said sitting behind her desk, in some industrial park on the west side of town. “I want to see families having picnics. I want to see skateboard competitions. I want eyes to be on our skatepark.” She held up a piece of paper that resembled a skater’s mood board, of ramps in Colorado and Tennessee. “I think we have the potential to have a park unlike anything this part of the country has ever seen.”
A city working with a pro skater to build a million-dollar park is like a Big Tech company hiring a hacker to code its security system. But skate culture, once an image of delinquency and cop evasion, has seemed to mellow out as the 21st century brought it mainstream. Skaters land six-figure contracts with Nike and Adidas. The New York Times profiles quinquagenarians competing in the Olympics. Today, skateboarding—a $2-billion industry—wrestles to keep its anti-establishment image while the same punks that made it anti-establishment enmesh their mid-life bodies in wellness cures and yoga routines.
A reality that Muska isn’t pushing away. Since March of 2020, when O’Connor first asked for Muska’s help, the Lorain group has been leveraging the myth of The
Muska to ensure their skatepark is built right. They’ve auctioned off a signed board. They’ve hosted a biker raffle at a riverside concert. They’ve bitten their tongues and approached corporate sponsors. “Jesus, we’re definitely willing to jump through the hoops,” local BMXer Dominic Jacobs said, “to get more money.”
In October of 2021, roughly a year after Muska bought his farm in Collins and a home for his mother in Amherst, he was invited to speak at a breakout rally for the new park, at the Lorain Palace Theater. To the city’s surprise, Muska fans of all ages swarmed the space, wanting autographs, holding boards with Muska’s name on it. “Most town
hall events we have average about twenty to thirty, maybe fifty people,” Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley said. At the Palace “there was well over 200 that showed up that night.”
Muska viewed the event as more of a survey than a celeb meet-andgreet. “I wanted to listen,” he said. “When you bring in one BMX kid, one street skater, one vert skater, one rollerblader, one wheelchair rider, and you ask them, ‘How do you want this park?’ You’re gonna get a million different answers.”
Most saw a relaxed Muska. One who had been increasingly cautious since healing a bad back injury in the Hollywood Hills; one who hadn’t competed since a Europe tour
Chad Muska at the site of a future skatepark in Lorain’s Longfellow Park, in April. | Photo By Mark Oprea
with Supra in his thirties. (“We’re alive, battled and bruised,” Muska said in the tour video. “You can’t stop us.”) Who appeared more in videos hawking new shoe lines and rotating boards than films showing Muska jump entire staircases.
At least until last summer. Tony Hawk was on a national lecture circuit, and was telling crowds about his friends, about landing his famous 900 for the last time, at 48. “Chad actually moved back to Ohio recently,” Hawk told fellow podcast host Jason Ellis. “He’s living on a farm and raising chickens.”
“Yo!” Ellis said. “He’s raising chickens.”
“Yeah,” Hawk said.
Following a talk at Youngstown State, Hawk called Muska, and the two reunited at an indoor skatepark in Columbia Station. “I’m working on my 900,” Muska joked, as dozens of skaters watched him on the lip of a bowl. “But I got my 180 down.”
“Alright,” Hawk said, smiling. “Let’s see it.”
Muska dropped in. He did fiftyfifties. He attempted his signature Muska Flip—a front side maneuver of the board—twice. On the third try, he landed awkwardly on his right foot. His ankle snapped. The room went silent. “Oh man,” Muska
shouted, holding his leg. “Who’s gonna take care of my chickens!”
An ambulance came. Hawk and paramedics carried Muska out on a gurney. “Skateboarding!” Muska shouted in the ambulance. “You cannot stop me!”
If skateboarding is a history of injury, it is also a business of image and apparel. Every collage of a skateboarder’s tricks in Thrasher or Transworld were placed next to an ad selling their hat, wheels, shoes. It’s a mentality that still seems to jolt Muska today. “If I want to compete with the machine,” he wrote on Instagram recently, captioning a post for a new board, “I must think like the machine; I must work like the machine, study and adapt like the machine. I must become the machine.”
But diving face-first into the machine was how, as Muska likes to tell it, he escaped a somewhat directionless youth and an upbringing shaped by itineracy and outside addiction.
Born in Lorain in 1977, Muska grew up around Longfellow Park on the city’s east side and was influenced by his grandmother
Helen’s garden art and his grandfather Rudy’s homesteading and ice fishing on Lake Erie. After his parents split, he moved to Philadelphia, then to New Jersey, Delaware, Phoenix, then to Las Vegas, where he found skateboarding after a neighborhood punk stole his bicycle. At 14, he dropped out of school, and lived with his mother or in an apartment with a bunch of local skaters. “A lot of ups and downs,” Muska recalled. “Divorce, back together, divorce, back together.”
When Muska turned 15, he got his first sponsorship, from a burgeoning skate company in San Diego called G&S. A skater he’d admired, Paul Smith, had tipped off a G&S manager, and soon Muska was sporting their shirts and boards—flowing product, as he calls it. A teenage Muska saw the light. He and two girls drove out to San Diego’s Mission Beach starry-eyed and never really looked back. The result was quintessential nineties SoCal skatehood: squatting, public showering, smoking, graffiti, breakdancing, emceeing, DJ-ing, vandalizing. “All of these things were a part of my life,” he said.
In the next three years, Muska, a towheaded looker and friend to
everyone, managed to find himself on the good and bad ends of the skate hierarchy. He developed a reputation as the showman—kids called him Muskrat—and hyped up circles in a white tank top, gold chain, toting a boombox playing the Wu Tang Clan or Souls of Mischief. We see that image in a massive stair jump in Toy Machine’s Welcome To Hell video, on the 1995 cover of Thrasher, in the red Shorty’s hats and baggy grey tanks that budding skaters would be wearing at the next meet.
By 1999, Muska’s persona went global. He was one of the first skaters called up by Tony Hawk to appear as a character in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, the video game that would tie into the interest teenagers across America had for the life. Muska’s own exploded. He moved to the Hollywood Hills. Wearing his own Circa shoe line (with a stash pocket in the tongue), he went on world tours, was bum rushed by hoards of kids like Beatlemania. With his contemporaries—Jamie Thomas, Rodney Mullen, Paul Rodriguez—Muska helped solidify skateboarding’s shift from gymshort half-piping of the eighties to the baggy-jeaned ledge-grinding
Renderings |Courtesy Spohn Ranch Skateparks
of the nineties. Muska was street; street was Muska.
“He totally changed the image with the style of tricks, with style in general,” said Adam Eichorn, the 51-year-old director of Spohn Ranch, a skatepark designer based in California. Meeting Muska in 2021, Eichorn saw Muska beyond the badassery. “He’s actually pretty humble, he’s a good guy,” he added, “and he uses his persona and his power as a skateboarder in the most positive way.”
As others saw. Muska used his persona to get into LA’s most revered nightclubs. He was soon partying with Mick Jagger, Prince and the Olson Twins, dating Paris Hilton and recording music with Flavor Flav and Ice-T. “I was making a lot of money,” Muska said in his episode of VICE’s Epicly Later’d. “But spending it just as fast.” In 2011, shortly after his father, Joel, died, Muska was caught by LAPD tagging two buildings looking like Gregg Allman on a heroin binge. He called security guards racial slurs. He spraypainted “MUSKA KILLS” on the front of the El Capitan Theater. He was booked for felony vandalism. “Eventually the drinking took over, and it was just too much,” Muska told me. “Something that was a positive thing in my life eventually became a negative.” He didn’t compete or tour for two years.
Muska’s partying-driven low point, and his herniated disc from a Mexico City fall, inched him into a new state of mind in his midthirties. After the last tour came a major wake-up. “You travel across the world, meet all these people who wanna see you ride,” he said, “you’re hurt, you’re sore, you’ve flown, maybe you partied the night before—but you have to perform. You have to do it. You have to skate.”
“But at some point, no matter how much you love something, if you do it for money or you do it for a living,” Muska said. He paused. “It can be just complicated.”
In June, I biked to Cleveland’s Rivergate Skate Park both out of personal intrigue and influence from Muska. At 33, I hadn’t skated consistently in almost two decades, and feared an injury akin to Muska’s, a shattered ACL or twisted ankle. But Muska had awoken something in me. I started having dreams where I bought a new board, where I attempted 360 flips with childlike ease. After all, as a kid I’d owned Muska’s Circa shoes (green), I’d bought Muska’s board (and broke it), I’d studied Muska’s backside grinds in Feedback, vibed to the
everything’s-alright soundtrack of drum and bass, this window outside the doldrums of white suburbia.
At Cleveland’s park, my expectations were tilted. There were only three kids, two with bikes. I walked up to one, contemplating asking to borrow his board.
I asked if they knew Chad. “Who?” the bike kid said.
“Chad Muska,” the only one with a board said. “Tony Hawk,” he said.
“Yeah,” he added. “Muska’s sick.”
In late April, roughly four years into the attempt to build the best skatepark in the Midwest, Muska drove thirty minutes from his farm in Collins to take me on the tour of Longfellow Park and the site that could, one day, bear the handiwork of his team of eleven.
Handiwork that’s deeper for Muska. Meaning, if the group raises the $600,000 to $1 million needed for their park, it will be situated on land no more than a block or two from where Muska grew up on Kentucky Street. As Muska drove the SUV around the blocks, a certain kind of understanding warms over him. This was only the third time he’d driven through the neighborhood since he’d returned home to Lorain, so Muska’s goofy schtick took a back seat to what I can only call nostalgia.
“There was a willow tree, I swear,” Muska said, as his eyes ran along the houses on Louisiana. He stopped in front of a modest home with sunflowers near the garage. “There it is, the one right there with the porch—this is it! Holy shit!” He rested his chin on his palm and put the SUV into Park. “It’s trippy,” he said. “It looks different. Different.”
Afterwards, Muska drove us a block up, past the elementary school he went to, to the southern end of Longfellow Park, where a tree line nestles up to a railroad line. The area is spacious and could easily fit twelve-thousand feet of rails and ramps. There’s so much grass and open space that, if money wasn’t a problem, Muska could put five parks in.
But could Lorain do it without Muska? Most of his group told me that it wouldn’t be the same process without him. O’Connor, the development director, was a lot more blunt. “It’s just the facts,” she said. “Chad was from here, and we have a chance to do something in Lorain that nobody else can do. He was only born in one place. And that was here.”
Muska parked in a lot closest to
the site and grabbed his eponymous board from the back seat. In his beige fisherman’s vest and oversized denim shirt, Muska looked like a cross between a punk musician and a deer hunter. He calls himself a hermit. “I had the gnarliest beard yesterday,” Muska said stepping into the day’s sun. “I feel naked right now. Like I shaved a small animal off my face.”
At that, for the first time since his ankle-twisting episode twisting in Columbia Station, Muska hopped on his board, and took off briskly. He left the parking lot and zigzagged up and down the sidewalks that run parallel to the tree line. He teased a few ollies and manuals. He ran his board into the grass.
As Muska rode, I thought back to a story he told me. Of course, an injury was tied to it. It was 2015, and Muska had just been told by doctors that he would have to have back surgery to remedy the pain from that herniated disc. It spooked him. “Back surgery is a whole other thing,” he said. He spent months in anguish, semi-paralyzed in bed. “But one day, I said, ‘Fuck this, I’m not
going out like this,” Muska said. “I left my house in the Hills with my skateboard. I made it all the way to Hollywood Boulevard, threw my board down and started pushing. I started pushing, and felt this, like, energy come up through my whole body, up through my spine. I just kept pushing, pushing for, like, seven hours, skating all over the city. All around the city and came back.”
At Longfellow Park that day in April, Muska looped back and skated towards me. He kicked his board up into his hands, catching his breath, saying, “It feels good, good just to roll!” He held his board out. “Careful. The trucks are mad loose.”
“I don’t know, man,” I said, my right foot in position. “I don’t want to injure myself.”
“Just do it,” he said. “Ride.”
I looked down at Muska’s board, then the sidewalk, then the grass, then the sky.
I looked down again. I pushed.
Muska wants to build a park of national standing. “If a skater’s going to be the next Olympic champion,” he said, “they need to have the proper tools to train on.” |Photo By Mark Oprea
GET OUT Everything to do in Cleveland for
WED 07/31
Fin Fest
The month-long celebration of sharks and rays at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium features multiple activity pages, scuba diver talks, aquarist shark feedings, daily public stingray feeds, videos, trivia, photo opportunities with the landshark mascot Finn, as well as crafts and experiments with a rotating array of community partners. The aquarium is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Fin Fest continues through Aug. 6. 2000 Sycamore Street, 216-862-8803, greaterclevelandaquarium.com.
MJ
A talented if controversial performer, the late pop star Michael Jackson was a singular talent. This Tony-winning musical celebrates his musical legacy. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at the State Theatre, where performances continue through Aug. 11. 1519 Euclid Avenue, 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
THU 08/01
10-Year Anniversary Kickoff
The local group Nitebridge plays Motown hits at tonight’s special show at the Music Box Supper Club. The concert celebrates the club’s ten-year anniversary, and there will be $10 food and beverage specials. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.
Guardians vs. Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles, one of the best teams in the American League, roll into Progressive Field tonight for the start of a four-game series against the Guardians, who also happen to be one of the best teams in the American League. First pitch is at 6:40. 2401 Ontario St., 216-420-4487, mlb. com/guardians.
FRI 08/02
Legally Blonde
Based on the hit movie and the novel by Amanda Brown, this musical follows Elle Woods as she “shows us the true power of determination and believing in yourself.” Near West Theatre presents its version of the play tonight at 7:30. It runs through Aug. 4. 6702 Detroit Rd., 216-961-6391, nearwesttheatre.org.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Under the direction of Ludwig Wicki, the Cleveland Orchestra presents a screening of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King with live orchestral underscore tonight at 7 at Blossom. The Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus will perform as will the Blossom Festival Chorus. The program repeats tomorrow and Sunday.
1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra. com.
WWE: Friday Night SmackDown
The popular wrestling event comes to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse tonight at 7:45. The event serves as a warmup for tomorrow’s SummerSlam that takes place at Browns Stadium.
1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.
SAT 08/03
Lakewood Arts Festival
The annual Lakewood Arts Festival is a juried show with more than 175 regional and national artists and makers displaying paintings, prints, photography, art glass, ceramics, jewelry, sculpture, fiber and more. Founded in 1978, the festival helps fund an annual scholarship for Lakewood seniors continuing to art school. The festival takes place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Detroit Rd. between Belle and Arthur. Details are on the website. lakewoodartsfest.org.
Martin Lawrence
The comedian who just re-teamed with Will Smith for the Bad Boys sequel, one of the year’s biggest movies, brings his standup show to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Gary Owen opens the show. It begins at 8 p.m.
1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.
WWE SummerSlam 2024
One of summer’s biggest events, WWE SummerSlam returns to Cleveland for the first time since 1996. The event takes place at Browns Stadium, and doors open at 4:30 p.m. 100 Alfred Lerner Way, 440-891-5000, clevelandbrowns.com.
SUN 08/04
NEO ComicCon
This annual event features what organizers claim is the area’s largest selection of comic book and pop culture
vendors as well as new and established artists. Proceeds from this year’s event benefit Superheroes to Kids in Ohio, a group of volunteers who make costumed visits to children’s hospitals, special needs centers, and various charitable events. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the North Olmsted Soccer Sportsplex.
31515 Lorain Rd., N. Olmsted, 440-9799997, neocomiccon.com.
MON 08/05
Guardians vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
The Guardians take on the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team struggling to stay in this year’s playoff race, tonight at 6:40 at Progressive Field. It’s the start of a three-game series against the Diamdbacks, a team that made it all the
way to the World Series last year. 2401 Ontario St., 216-420-4487, mlb. com/guardians.
TUE 08/06
Golden Girls — The Laughs Continue
This play imagines what Miami’s “sassiest seniors” would’ve been doing in 2023 if the popular TV show had continued into the future. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at the Hanna Theatre, where performances continue through Aug. 25. 2067 East 14th St., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
WED 08/07
Wade Oval Wednesdays
John Legend performs with the Cleveland Orchestra. See: Thursday, Aug. 8. | Courtesy of the Cleveland Orchestra
A summer tradition continues tonight from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Wade Oval in University Circle. It’s Wade Oval Wednesday, and there will be local food vendors, a beer and wine tent, a farmers market and free kids’ activities — all laid out on the Wade Oval lawn, adjacent to Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Cleveland Art Museum and the Cleveland Natural History Museum. Some museums will stay open late too. Details are on the website. 10820 East Blvd., universitycircle.org.
THU 08/08
An Evening with John Legend
The gifted singer-songwriter comes to Blossom tonight at 7 to perform with the Cleveland Orchestra. Press materials for the concert promise “intimate re-imaginings” of hits such as “All of Me,” “Ordinary People” and “Tonight.”
1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.
Summer on the Square
This bi-weekly series of community events takes place every other Thursday throughout the summer on Shaker Square’s green space. The familyfriendly events will showcase some of Cleveland’s finest artists and local businesses. The events are free. 13000 Shaker Blvd., Shaker Heights, shakersquare.com.
FRI 08/09
Loganberry Books 17th Annual Author Alley
This annual literary event featuring local authors talking about and selling their books returns to Loganberry Books in Shaker Heights this weekend. The event begins with a ticketed opening reception that takes place today from 6-8 p.m. Free events then take place from noon to 4 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday.
13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights, 216-795-9800, loganberrybooks.com.
SAT 08/10
Browns vs. Green Bay Packers
The Cleveland Browns’ season literally kicks off with this exhibition game at Browns Stadium against the Green Bay Packers. Starters such as Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson are likely to rest to avoid injury, but the preseason game launches what should be a tough season as the Browns’ schedule is much more difficult than last year. Kickoff is at 4:25 p.m.
100 Alfred Lerner Way, 440-891-5000, clevelandbrowns.com.
Cleveland Cultural Fest
The Rock Hall celebrates Cleveland’s diverse cultures and communities with this special event featuring live music and family activities. It takes place from noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free. 1100 Rock and Roll Blvd., 216-515-8444, rockhall.com.
Groundworks Dance Theater
After 25 years, the nationally recognized and critically acclaimed GroundWorks DanceTheater presents its final performances at this special show at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights. The event begins at 8 p.m. 14591 Superior Rd., Cleveland Heights, 216-371-3000, cainpark.com.
SUN 08/11
All White Affair
DJ K-Nyce & DJ Corey Grand will man the wheels of steel at this special event that features specialty cocktails, music and dancing. It takes place at 4 p.m. at the Grand Foyer at Severance. 11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.
MON 08/12
Guardians vs. Chicago Cubs
The Chicago Cubs might’ve beaten the Cleveland Indians to win the 2016 World Series, but Cleveland’s baseball team has arguably been the better team in the aftermath of that win. This year, the Guardians lead their division while the Cubs has struggled in the NL Central. The two teams face off for three games this week at Progressive Field. First pitch tonight is at 6:40 p.m. 2401 Ontario St., 216-420-4487, mlb. com/guardians.
TUE 08/13
Come from Away
This musical centers on the aftermath of 9/11 when air flights descended en masse in Gander, Newfoundland, stranding an international array of travelers in this tiny Canadian town. Written by Tony nominees Irene Sankoff and David Hein, and helmed by Tony-winning Christopher Ashley, the play comes to Connor Palace, where performances continue through Sunday. 1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
MUSIC
THE SUITE SPOT
Mourning [A] BLKstar returns with sophisticated set of new songs
By Jeff Niesel
THE SEEDS FOR WHAT would become Mourning [A] BLKstar, one of Cleveland’s most experimental bands, first started when band members RA Washington and LaToya Kent, who’d been friends since high school, opened for the hip-hop group Shabazz Palaces at Mahall’s 20 Lanes in Lakewood in 2015.
“We played the show, and we were outside talking,” says Kent one afternoon from the band’s grungy studio/rehearsal space/ living quarters in what must be one of the last un-gentrified corners of Tremont. The group’s new album, Ancient/Future, came out this month, and the band performs with Gold Dime, Thunderbird & the Shaman at 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 2, at CroBar. “[Washington] said he wanted to do this thing and make it a big orchestra with a bunch of musicians and singers. I said, ‘I’m down. Lemme know.’ He called me up, and a bunch of our friends were going to Zombie Proof Studios. When I got there, it was me and him and [producer] Paul [Maccarone], and then James Longs shows up.”
Longs knew of Washington but wasn’t entirely prepared for an onthe-spot audition that would turn into a recording session.
“I could sing, but I was only doing karaoke,” says Longs, who sits across from Washington and Kent in a living room that’s overrun with mixing equipment and musical instruments. “He said to stop by this house, and I stopped by and thought it was a meet-and-greet. I walked in, and there were people at the house drinking and getting high. It got quiet, and this beautiful woman starts singing from this sheet of paper. She’s done, and RA is typing and hands me a sheet and says, ‘This is you, so let’s see what you got.’ I’m
competitive, so I thought, ‘You can’t play me.’ I sang it based on how I interpreted, and it worked out. That wound up being Blk Musak, our first album. It was just first takes.”
Since then, the group has continued to regularly release new music and tour. In the past year or so, it’s gained some serious traction thanks to touring with Lonnie Holley and completing a series of collaborations with Adult Swim, Berlin-based dance company Christoph Winkler and the Cleveland Museum of Art.
The group recorded its new album last year at Brad Puette’s Field Day Recordings. Puette has worked on music by the likes of Justin Bieber, Teyana Taylor, Alina Baraz, Ellie Goulding and Kevin Garrett.
“It’s a nondescript building off Hamilton,” says Washington when asked about the studio. “Brad has since moved to L.A. He’s a very accomplished producer and mixer and mastering dude and recording engineer. He had his own situation. We recorded with him, and it sounded good.”
“We agreed to try to be as clean and perfect as possible and learn from what that experience would be,” says Longs. “I think we went back to our roots with Ancient/ Future.”
Washington says the band also wanted to emphasize the collective nature of its approach to making music.
“With collectives, everyone gets
a chance to add their sauce to it, and that is something we had never done,” he says. “We usually made everything live. When it was just the three of us in the band, we did it right there on the spot. I think you just do it. There’s no expressed process per se. I think the new album sounds just as dirty and weird as all our other records. We’re on an indie label. There’s no reason for us to consider any level of polish. You can tell we didn’t AutoTune the shit. That would be funny, though, if we did.”
Band members sang lead vocals without the rest of the band in the room. While that represents a departure from previous recordings, the difference isn’t noticeable in the finished product. Album opener “Literary Witches,” which features a scream and dissonant horns at the onset, has a real intensity to it, and so does the Sonic Youth-like “Along the Red Rim, the Sun Settles.”
A suite of songs that pivots around the album title, the album explores “ancestral information” from the last 50 years of popular music and looks to the future too.
“The ‘future’ is us in our most non genre-specific pushing kind of way,” says Washington. “The songs pivot between those two marks. We like the fact that we play so many
different styles of songs. I think it speaks to how people should be. It’s very collaborative and it has a lot of dialog implicit in it. And it’s a wink and nod to those bands you love that don’t toe the line on genre. We can just take it a little bit further because, like, we’re Black. We can take it way further on that tip. We have songs that are New Orleansstyle bop. We can play that at a rock club with Cloud Nothings.”
With fall shows in Detroit and Chicago on the horizon, the group will continue to cultivate its national audience. And it’s got another record, Flowers for the Living, in the can too. Washington says it’ll likely be released in November.
“We’re playing with [Cleveland rockers] Mr. Gnome in the fall,” says Washington. “We’ve been wanting to do that. We want to spend this time that we’re not in pandemic to let everyone know we feel passionate about what we’re doing and the aspects of collaboration. We want to keep that message rocking. No better way to do that than to put out more than one record in a year.”
MOURNING [A] BLKSTAR, GOLD DIME, THUNDERBIRD & THE SHAMAN
8 P.M. FRIDAY, AUG. 2. CROBAR, 3244 ST CLAIR AVE
TICKETS: $15, CROBAR1921.COM.
MOURNING [A] BLKSTAR.| Emanuel Wallace
HOMEGROWN
Sweet Pork Wilson’s is carving out a slice for itself in Cleveland’s crowded BBQ scene
By Douglas Trattner
DONE RIGHT, TEXAS-STYLE
beef brisket is a deliriously indulgent affair. Cooked low and slow over wood, sliced to order, and served warm, juicy and fragrant, the long-smoked meat is the pinnacle of real barbecue. Done wrong, the meat is dry, stringy, tough and regrettable given the hefty price tag.
Brisket is notoriously challenging to get right, as evidenced by two recent plates dished up at the same restaurant. On my first visit to Sweet Pork Wilson’s on the Lakewood-Cleveland border, my brisket dinner was worth every bit of its $35 price tag. The beef arrived with a deep, dark crust – or bark – and smelled of gentle smoke and assertive spice. The slices were tender enough to drape over an outstretched finger, and they literally almost melted in the mouth. A second visit netted completely opposite results. One glance revealed slices dark with age, typically a sign the brisket had been refrigerated and reheated. The beautiful bark had turned to mush, the meat was dry, stiff and chewy, and I regretted forking over every single cent of that $35.
Inconsistency aside, Sweet Pork Wilson’s can be an endearing little roadhouse. St. Ignatius grad Jason Brooks opened the lively bar and restaurant last summer in the former Highland Tavern at the corner of Madison and 117th St. When he wasn’t playing collegiate football, Brooks was hosting massive tailgating events that instilled in him a deep-seated love of barbecue and entertaining crowds.
Sweet Pork Wilson’s is equal parts bar and restaurant, featuring that familiar split between barroom and dining room. That lengthy bar has become a popular haunt for locals, especially during happy hour. We sipped on habanero lime margaritas ($5) and ice-cold Dortmunders ($6) while deciding where in the restaurant we would eat the rest of our meal. Snack plates like smoked wings ($5) and pulled pork sliders ($4) arrived hot and fast. The plump sliders were piled high with moist, flavorful meat. The jumbo wings were nicely
smoked, crispy and meaty, but definitely on the chewy side.
On Wednesdays, apparently, there’s live music in the dining room, a feature that pushed pretty much every single diner in the joint into the bar side. Even across the restaurant it was difficult to communicate with the bartenders, who were upbeat, friendly and accommodating. It’s not that the band was bad, it’s that they were bad for the room.
In addition to the “good” brisket platter we enjoyed a half slab of exceptional ribs, cut into single bones for easy enjoyment. After even just those few items – sliders, wings, ribs – it was clear that the kitchen had a heavy hand when it came to applying sauce. Happily, the bartender asked our preference when ordering the brisket (none, thanks). Platters come with a choice of sides, with the tender baked beans and the smashed redskin potatoes both great choices.
That follow-up visit wasn’t a total
SWEET PORK WILSON’S 11634 Madison Ave., Cleveland 216-938-5673 sweetporkwilsons.com
loss. In addition to the “bad” brisket, we enjoyed a hearty platter of smoked chicken ($22), nicely smoked thighs that are chopped into large chunks and tossed in that house sauce. This time around we went with a mild-flavored mac and cheese and crispy steak fries for our sides. If you are looking for a great Polish Boy ($12) – that heavenly stack of smoky sausage, creamy slaw, BBQ sauce and fries – you would be wise to head to Sweet Pork Wilson’s. Ours was well-built, sturdy and utterly delicious, rising above many others thanks to crispy – not soggy, as usual – fries. In this application, that slightly thick, slightly sweet, slightly smoky sauce happens to be the “secret sauce” behind this home-grown creation. For two bucks more, you can order a Polish Girl, which adds a layer of
pulled pork to the fun.
Before creating Sweet Pork Wilson’s, Brooks came up with his own personal brew, which he now bottles and sells at the restaurant. The owner says the multidimensional barbecue sauce is an apt representation for the food and city that he loves.
“Cleveland is diverse – it’s everything – and it’s who I am,” he says. “That’s what barbecue should be: it should be a reflection of who you are. I’m not trying to copy anybody. I call our sauce ‘America’s Sauce’ because Cleveland is everywhere and we have everything. It’s what I ate growing up.”
dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner
Photo by Doug Trattner
BITES
First look: STEAK, opening in Tremont the first week of August
By Douglas Trattner
“THIS ISN’T YOUR PARENTS’ steakhouse,” says Jason Beudert, grabbing the meat-cleaver door handles and leading the way into Tremont’s newest restaurant.
It’s been a year since Beudert and partner Terry Francona announced their plans to open a steakhouse in the former Parallax property. In that time, crews worked hard to transform both the interior and exterior of the building, giving both a fresh new look that leans bold, sexy and slightly irreverent.
STEAK (2179 W. 11th St.) is the latest creation to join the Hangry Brands family, a local hospitality group that includes Geraci’s Slice Shop and Lionheart Coffee downtown and The Yard on 3rd in Willoughby. The goal from the start, says Beudert, is to disrupt the steakhouse category – to fill a niche between budget brands like Outback or Texas Roadhouse and prohibitively expensive whitetablecloth steakhouses.
“There are some really elegant steakhouses in Cleveland, but we don’t have a trendy steakhouse,” he explains. “We need a trendy steakhouse, something that’s affordable but cool.”
STEAK, promises management, will be suited equally well for a casual weeknight dinner or a celebratory blowout. Its biggest differentiator is the all-inclusive format that combines steak, salad, unlimited waffle-cut fries and unlimited popcorn for just $35. Also unique is the house cut, a USDA Prime coulotte steak, also referred to as the top sirloin cap or picanha.
“It’s affordable, popular and eats like a filet,” says chef Jason Simon. Diners can opt to upgrade (for a price) to the Baller Cut, a meaty ribeye, or the Wahoo Cut, a 32-ounce tomahawk chop ideal for sharing. There are plenty of sides, toppings and sauces to customize the main event.
STEAK also offers a vegetable option for the main course, a smash burger, and kid-friendly menu.
Other Instagrammable features include weighty meat cleavers for knives, a shareable cocktail served
in a shimmering disco-ball goblet, a gold-leaf option for steaks, an order of “Francona fries” served in a batting helmet, and the ice cream sundae service that includes a tabletop Ferris wheel loaded with toppings.
The façade got tricked out with sleek black trim, scorched-wood paneling, red neon piping and a new blade sign. The barroom features a sleek quartz-topped bar, swanky booths and some high-top seating. Bull-themed stained-glass panels cast a psychedelic glow over the main dining room, where a neon sign reads: Meat Your Maker.
Throughout the space are butcher shop-style elements like scales, cow heads, meat-hook chandeliers and a 60-cleaver art installation behind the bar.
The former two-season patio has been enclosed, conditioned and converted to year-round dining space.
Now Open: Wine Dive in Lakewood, From the Owners of Lakewood Truck Park
Jackie Ramey and Dan Deagan, who run the nearby Lakewood Truck Park (among other spots), have spent the past three months converting the former El Carnicero space in Lakewood into Wine Dive (16918 Detroit Ave.), which opened this week.
The mission behind the place, says Ramey, is to “toe the line between dive bar and wine bar.”
“Dan and I love going to dive bars – and honestly the shittier the better,” she says. “But I like to drink wine, and at a dive bar that means the little bottles of Sutter Home or a regular bottle that’s been open for six weeks and tastes like vinegar.”
In contrast, Wine Dive is a comeas-you-are place that happens to serve wines from Ramey Cellars in Healdsburg, Trefethen in Napa Valley and Pride Mountain Vineyards, which famously sits on the county line between Napa and Sonoma. There are about a dozen wines by the glass, including some drafts “from the tank.” Bottles range from modestly priced -- like the Richter
dry Riesling from the Mosel Valley -to high-end chards, pinots and cabs.
The beauty of a “wine dive” is that low-brow beverages like Blatz and Hamm’s sit shoulder-to-shoulder with heavy hitters like Orval Trappist Ale, Three Floyds Zombie Dust and Duvel Belgian Ale. There are both classic and contemporary cocktails as well.
The spacious restaurant has been opened up a bit by the removal of some half-walls. A stage was constructed in a corner, heaps of beverage paraphernalia will cover the walls, and new TVs have been installed for sports fans.
“We wanted a place where you can enjoy a great bottle of wine while watching the Cavs in the playoffs,” Deagan says.
To eat, there’s a “pub-style” menu offering snacks like buttermilk-fried chicken skin, spicy shrimp tacos and chicken wings alongside housemade chili, chicken club sandwiches, lamb burgers and more.
In a few weeks, the bar will roll out its lineup of nightly specials, such as Monday Steak Night, Taco Tuesday, Wednesday Wing Night, Two-Buck Shuck Thursday and Sunday Sauce Sunday. Weekend brunch will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Sacred Vortex Teahouse and Kombuchery to Open in Former Platform Beer Space in Ohio City
In 2022, David Kovatch opened Sacred Waters, the first kava bar in Ohio. Since then, he’s watched the kava market take off hand in hand with the functional beverage market.
“It’s massively growing – here and around the country,” Kovatch says. “There are about 500 kava bars throughout Florida alone.”
Kovatch currently operates Sacred Waters Kava Bar in Lakewood and North Olmsted. In the coming weeks, he will be winding down the North Olmsted property in order to open a new location in Ohio City, specifically in the former Platform Beer space
(4125 Lorain Ave.).
When it opens in late August or early September, Sacred Vortex Teahouse and Kombuchery will bring something unique and beneficial to the community. In place of beer – or any alcohol – this teahouse will offer beverages that aim to aid rather than impair personal health and wellness.
“There’s this huge sober-curious movement going on,” Kovatch explains. “There are a lot of people who are waking up to the fact that alcohol is not good for you and are looking for an alternative.”
These functional beverages might boost brain function, reduce pain and inflammation, ease anxiety, or enhance energy and vitality. Kovatch will repurpose the existing brewing equipment for making kombucha and botanical sodas, including kombucha from kratom tea.
Kovatch says that since opening his two kava cafes, he’s been overjoyed to watch a community take shape in front of his own eyes. The cafes are peaceful, welcoming and comfortable, he says, places that cultivate kinship.
“These are safe spaces for people to come and build community –that’s what we need most of these days,” he adds. “The community that developed as a result of me starting this business is nothing short of amazing. It’s a very large healing community – healers of many different modalities. We’ve developed this wonderful family.”
The Ohio City cafe will feature the same sort of laid-back interior found at the other shops, with couches, sectionals, comfy chairs and a few tables. Regular programming will include live music, karaoke, openmic nights, and health and wellness events like yoga, meditation and creative writing workshops.
Unlike the other cafes, Sacred Vortex will not prepare food but instead partner with area restaurants.
Photo by Doug Trattner
LIVEWIRE Real music in the real world
THU 08/01
Music Box Supper Club 10-Year Anniversary Kickoff
The local group Nitebridge plays Motown hits at tonight’s special show at the Music Box Supper Club. The concert celebrates the club’s ten-year anniversary, and there will be $10 food and beverage specials. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.
FRI 08/02
Mike.
This former baseball player has established himself as a credible country artist. Mike., who raps, delivers his vocals with a bit of a drawl on his latest effort, the heavily produced the lows. a 35-track album of highly personal tunes about overcoming emotional obstacles. He performs tonight at 7:30 at Jacobs Pavilion.
2014 Sycamore St., 216-861-4080, jacobspavilion.com.
Jane Monheit
The New York-based jazz singer and her band perform at 7:30 tonight at the Market Garden Brewery Tasting Room. Monheit raised eyebrows with her 2002 debut album, Never Never Land, and has toured the world and played venues such as the Hollywood Bowl during the course of her career that now stretches back decades. Dinner is available at the venue before the show, and a late-night menu is also available.
1947 West 25th St., 216-621-4000, marketgardenbrewery.com.
SAT 08/03
John Fogerty
When John Fogerty, the former frontman of Credence Clearwater Revival performed at Jacobs Pavilion back in 2015, he reveled in revisiting his glory days. The set featured boisterous renditions of CCR tunes such as “Born on the Bayou,” “Travelin’ Band” and “Up Around the Bend.” Expect something similar when Fogerty returns to the venue tonight at 7. George Thorogood & the Destroyers
and Hearty Har open.
2014 Sycamore St., 216-861-4080, jacobspavilion.com.
SUN 08/04
New Long Road
A new and very different version of an older Cleveland band called Long Road, New Long Road makes its debut today at 2 p.m. in a free concert in Cain Park’s Alma Theater. The band is an updated edition of the aforementioned Long Road, a folky 1960s-style group that played around the Cleveland area from 2007 to 2016.
14591 Superior Rd., Cleveland Heights, 216-371-3000, cainpark.com.
MON 08/05
Primus and Coheed and Cambria The two groups bring their co-headlining tour to Blossom. While both bands play progressive rock, they come at the music from different angles. Primus draws from funk and punk, and Coheed and Cambria caters more to the metal crowd. The
concert begins at 7 p.m.
1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, livenation.com.
TUE 08/06
Hozier
An Irish singer and songwriter from Bray, County Wicklow, Hozier shot to fame after “Take Me to Church,” the single from his debut EP, became a huge hit (the song is also on his self-titled full-length debut). A gospelinspired tune, it’s a surprisingly soulful and passionate ballad that showcases Hozier’s husky voice. Hozier brings his Unreal Unearth Tour to Blossom tonight at 7:30.
1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, livenation.com.
WED 08/07
Gin Blossoms and Toad the Wet Sprocket
These two ‘90s acts known for their radio friendly approach to alternative rock bring their co-headlining tour to Cain Park in Cleveland Heights. The
Hozier comes to Blossom. See: Tuesday, Aug. 6.|Ruth Medjber
concert begins at 7 p.m., and Vertical Horizon opens.
14591 Superior Rd., Cleveland Heights, 216-371-3000, cainpark.com.
Stephen Sanchez
The singer-songwriter with a gentle croon channels everyone from Elvis Presley to Roy Orbison and Frank Sinatra on his 2023 album, Angel Face. On tour in support of a new deluxe version of the album, Sanchez performs tonight at 6:30 at Jacobs Pavilion. Ray Bull opens.
2014 Sycamore St., 216-861-4080, jacobspavilion.com.
Thirty Seconds to Mars
The group led by actor Jared Leto brings its Seasons World Tour to Blossom tonight at 7:30. The trek supports the band’s latest album, It’s the End of the World but It’s a Beautiful Day. The LP’s lead single, “Stuck,” is a big hit thanks to its Maroon 5-like pop sensibilities.
1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, livenation.com.
THU 08/08
Dale Watson
This honky-tonk icon takes his inspiration from the likes of Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and George Strait. A true American treasure, he performs tonight at 7:30 at Music Box Supper Club. Local singer-songwriter Thor Platter opens. 1148 Main Ave., 216-242-1250, musicboxcle.com.
FRI 08/09
Dan + Shay
Dan + Shay’s music effortlessly crosses over from country into the pop world, something that’s apparent on the band’s debut, Where It All Began The group brings its Heartbreak on the Map Tour to Blossom tonight at 7:30.
1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, livenation.com.
Lamb of God and Mastodon
The two veteran metal acts bring their co-headlining tour to Jacobs Pavilion. Mastodon’s Leviathan and Lamb of God’s Ashes of the Wake were both originally released on Aug. 31, 2004 and so this tour is dubbed Ashes of the Leviathan. Both bands will play the albums in their entirety. Kerry King and Unearth. The show begins at 5 p.m. 2014 Sycamore St., 216-861-4080, jacobspavilion.com.
08/10
Iration and Pepper
These two SoCal-based alternative acts bring their co-headlining tour to Jacobs Pavilion. Denm and Artikal Sound System open. The concert begins at 5 p.m. 2014 Sycamore St., 216-861-4080, jacobspavilion.com.
SUN 08/11
A Harmonica Salute to Reese Black Germany
Today at 5 p.m., the Beachland Ballroom will celebrate and remember the life and times of Reese Black Germany, a popular local harmonica player who passed away last year at age 64. Local harp players as well as the bands that Reese shared the stage with will be on hand at the Cleveland Blues Society event that’ll be held in conjunction with the nonprofit Cleveland Rocks: Past, Present and Future.
15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com.
LoveMuffinPalooza 2024
LoveMuffinPalooza 2024, the annual music festival/fundraiser put on by locally based Love Muffin Records, returns to the Bop Stop today. Doors are at 5:30 pm and the music begins at, 6:30 pm. The event is a fundraiser for The Gathering Place, a cancer support center with locations in Beachwood and Westlake. In addition to performances by local acts, there will also be a raffle with over 150 prizes from local Cleveland businesses.
2920 Detroit Ave., 216-771-6551, themusicsettlement.org.
TUE 08/13
Bush
The British rock group that famously copped its sound from the Pacific Northwest comes to Jacobs Pavilion today at 5 p.m. Jerry Cantrell and Candlebox open.
2014 Sycamore St., 216-861-4080, jacobspavilion.com.
Tedeschi Trucks Band
This blues rock act that features guitarist Derek Trucks and singerguitarist Susan Tedeschi performs tonight at 7 at Blossom. Country singer-songwriter Margo Price opens the show.
1145 W. Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, 216-231-1111, livenation.com.
SAVAGE LOVE
QUICKIES
By Dan Savage
1. I’m a neg boy who loves getting bred by mature poz men. I want their loads in me, no questions asked. I’m not on PrEP. Too deviant?
Too stupid, too reckless — and old and tired too. the gay world was roiled by “bug chasers” (HIV-negative gay men who were trying to get themselves infected) and “gift givers” (HIV-positive men/sociopaths who were willing to infect other people) a couple of decades ago. The stakes were higher then literally life and death — but you’re flying with a net: since you have access to HIV medications, you’ll be fine. But I wouldn’t take that net for granted. Religious conservatives don’t just want to make abortion illegal and ban birth control — they wanna ban the death control pills gay men have come to rely on, e.g., PrEP (protects neg guys from infection) and antiretroviral treatments (keeps poz guys alive). Taking loads from poz guys — immature men, regardless of age — may wind up having consequences you didn’t see coming.
2. Best resources for newly selfdiscovered ace? I’m sex neutral.
I’m guessing you’ve already found you’re way to some online resources, seeing as you’re using ace-y jargon like “sex neutral.” But just in case: The Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (www.asexuality.org) remains an invaluable resource — but if you prefer something more informal, Cody Daigle-Orians, aka “Ace Dad Advice,” has built a supportive community on Instagram (@AceDadAdvice) and his Substack (acedadadvice.substack.com).
3. How much masturbation is too much masturbation?
If you’re beating holes in your dick and/or overtaxing the grid with your vibrators, you might need to dial it back a bit.
4. Do I qualify as gay if I’m not into oral or anal at all but I love absolutely everything else about men?
If you’re a man, yes. If not, no.
5. What are your thoughts on Wicked being two movies? I’m a triple threat — I enjoy oral and anal and movie musicals — and the more movie musicals, the better. So, I’m fine with Wicked being not one movie, but two. But the Stephen Schwartz musical I’ve always wanted to see adapted for film is Pippin. Get on it, Hollywood!
6. As a female Dom, do I need verbal consent to slap/squeeze the balls of a new male sub?
You should bring up ball play/torture when you’re negotiating a scene with a new sub — if CBT is something you’re into — but it is possible to incorporate ball play into a scene that’s already underway by giving your sub’s balls a gentle squeeze. And if that gentle squeeze elicits a positive response, use your words: “Do you like it when I hurt your balls?” If he asks for more, squeeze a little harder. But more extreme forms of ball play — slapping, punching, kicking — can’t be ventured without prior discussion and consent.
7. Why are hetero men embarrassed to be uncut while gay men are proud of it?
Because uncut gay men tend to get a positive response from other gay men (“Yay! More cock to suck!”) while uncut straight men tend to get a negative response from straight women (“Shit. More cuck to suck.”)
8. How common is it for someone to actually fuck a hot delivery driver?
Hot delivery drivers, hot stepmoms, hot coaches — it’s easy to dismiss all three scenarios as porn tropes. But just because something happens in porn doesn’t it never happens in real life. So, I’m sure there are people out there who’ve fucked a hot delivery driver and/ or their dad’s hot new wife and/or their college wrestling coach. And since only the delivery driver is the only scenario that — if realized in real life — doesn’t involve an unforgiveable betrayal and/or an abuse of power, here’s hoping it’s the one that happens most often.
9. Can I ask my husband to wear a condom for anal? I don’t like it when he comes in my bum.
You get to decide where, when, how and how long someone gets to fuck your ass — it’s your ass — and if you don’t enjoy the aftermath of taking your husband’s load in your ass, you can tell (not ask) your husband to wear a condom for anal and/or pull out.
10. I’ve read lots of letters in your column from cuckolds and their wives but none from a Bull. I am a Bull. I love fucking other men’s wives in front of them and I love humiliating a cuck in front of his wife. My best friend insists that makes me a little bit gay.
I don’t know if you’re a little bit gay — are you one of those Bulls who lets the cuck “clean up” (read: suck) your cock? — but it sounds like your best friend is a little bit jealous. (For the record: Bulls who let cucks suck their cocks are a little bit bi.)
11. What if I don’t like how someone smells or tastes? Can that change?
If the issue is poor personal hygiene they don’t bathe regularly, use deodorant on demand, floss and brush their teeth on a daily basis adopting good personal hygiene practices could make a difference. If someone is already doing all those things and you don’t like how they smell
or taste, it’s a chemical clash that no amount of mouthwash or cologne can mask.
12. Why as I’ve gotten older has my cum gotten thicker?
The quality of sperm cells and the volume of ejaculate are both “negatively correlated with age,” according to this very depressing study from The Journal of Assisted Reproductive Genetics.
13. Is the rimjob/blowjob combo the closest a man ever comes to heaven?
Some men, sure. But not all men like having their asses eaten — hell, not all men like having their dicks sucked.
14. Couples that share a douche bulbs are gross, right?
Sharing a douche with a partner is little like sharing a toothbrush with one, in as much as it grosses us out more than it probably should. If you’re already going down on each other and/or eating each other’s asses, why so precious about a toothbrush or a douche bulb? (I say that as someone who is — for the record — extremely precious about toothbrushes and douche bulbs.)
15. How do I stop going back to an ex that I know isn’t a good long-term fit when the sex is so good?
If you can’t fuck that not-a-good-fit ex without fantasizing about getting back together again — or, worse still, actually getting back together again — you need stop fucking your ex. But if you pivot to FWBs, you might wanna revisit your assumptions. Great sexual chemistry isn’t everything, but it isn’t nothing either. Sometimes the sex is so good you find a way to make the rest of it fit.
16. What’s the likelihood of infection when going between cunnilingus and anilingus?
You don’t want to accidentally introduce fecal bacteria into the vaginal canal — so never go from anilingus to cunnilingus. If you want to finish with cunnilingus, you need to start with it and stick with it.
17. Is it possible to swallow too much of your own partner’s cum over time? Asking for a friend.
Dr. Josh Trebach, an emergency medicine physician and a toxicology expert, weighed in on this question in a column published in February of 2002.
18. If you had “word art” in your house — think signs that say “Eat/ Pray/Love” or “It’s Always 5 O’clock Somewhere!” — what would your sign say?
Eat/Gay/Ass.
19. Why is my hole so tight yet I yearn for the fist?
Your hole is signaling that it’s ready to exit its tight era and enter its gape era.
20. How do you tell an emotionally immature and very stubborn man that he is emotionally immature and very stubborn and make him listen?
On your way out.
21. Is pegging just straight sex? My baby gay best friend thought it could
refer to lesbian sex too and I was like, “Oh, honey…”
Not according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The OED (“the unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and usage of 500,000 words and phrases past and present, from across the English-speaking world”) defines “pegging” as “a sexual activity in which a person (typically a woman) penetrates the anus of a sexual partner (typically a man) using a strap-on dildo.” So, lesbians — so long as those lesbians are having anal sex with a strap-on dildo can peg too.
22. I know you don’t always like going to the clubs and bars and I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been to one. There is a high chance I’m going to one soon. Is there anything you recommend trying to feel more comfortable in that environment?
Half a pot lozenge and permission to leave at any time. Whether you need to give yourself permission to leave or you need to get permission from your partner and/or posse, knowing you’re free to go without having to make the rounds to say goodbye — helps you stick around.
23. Are there any AI programs out there that are almost as good as cam girls on commercial websites, who can both talk in a friendly way to you and have enough video bandwidth to move in a sexy way?
No clue.
24. Settle a vocabulary debate: is it “splooge” or “spooge”? We defer to your expertise!
Both work, both mean the same thing but sploshing means something else entirely. Asking for splosh when you wanted splooge/spooge or vice-versa is messy mistake.
25. Is there a positive, constructive way to raise the topic of toys — dildos to a loving partner of many, many years who is in denial about his erectile dysfunction? I am seeking a way to talk about this in a way that empowers, not diminishes him. Thank you for your attention to this request. You could try incorporating handheld toys into your play, e.g., dildos, plugs, vibrators. If he likes them you could suggest getting a harness — one he can wear on his thigh or his forehead or his crotch — in order to leave his hands free for other things (including his own).
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