REWIND:1982
Scene
Directed by: Tony F. Sias & Errin Weaver Musical Direction by: Dr. David Thomas
UPFRONT
‘WE DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GONNA HAPPEN’: NORTHEAST OHIO IMMIGRATION ADVOCATES BRACE FOR TRUMP 2.0
MANY IMMIGRATION advocates have a tough time picking out which Trump-era policy shook their foundation the most.
There was the suite of executive orders that banned travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries—the Muslim Ban, as it’s known, which grew to 13 countries come 2020. There was the planned 455 miles of U.S. border wall. The attempt to send DACA kids back to Mexico in 2018. A “zero tolerance” policy on border crossers led to, now infamously, thousands of children being separated from their mothers and fathers following deportations.
This time around, as a rebuilt and re-energized Trump administration zeroes in on remaking the White House yet again come January 20 with promises of mass deportations and other hardline immigration policies, the same attorneys and advocates that were thrown curve balls pre-pandemic are equally as zealous about their work.
To put it simply: they’re more prepared this time around.
“I mean, 2017 was a bit different,” Joe Cimperman, the president of Global Cleveland, told Scene. “We weren’t ready. And I feel like now we are. I feel now [Trump’s policy] is going to be deeper and faster.”
“But that’s part of the problem,” he added. “Nobody knows exactly what, when and where’s it’s going to hit.”
In the year-and-a-half Trump campaigned before clinching a second presidential term, the GOP leader has been undeniably vocal about his immigration wishlist. It’s a policy suite that, whether hollow or possible, comes across as quite severe: re-instating the Muslim ban; ending DACA; canceling the visas of foreign students who participated in pro-Palestine protests.
And, with incoming border czar Tom Holan and Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller by his side, carrying out a nation-wide dragnet of the United States’ 20 million docu-
ment and undocumented immigrants, one that may be all but unstoppable considering the complete Republican takeover of U.S. government.
In a speech last September, Trump hinted at building camps to hold those awaiting cases or flights out of the U.S.
“Following the Eisenhower model,” he said, referring to the 1954 policy nicknamed Operation Wetback, “we will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”
A policy backed up by Miller himself. “Any activists who doubt President Trump’s resolve in the slightest are making a drastic error: Trump will unleash the vast arsenal of federal powers to implement the most spectacular migration crackdown,” Miller told the New York Times last year.
“The immigration legal activists won’t know what’s happening,” he added.
Such a taunt has seemed to have kicked immigration advocates into an
unprecedented gear, as many of them prepare tight legal playbooks while fielding calls from hundreds of clients fretting what might happen when the clock strikes noon on January 20. (Trump on Monday said he would declare a national emergency to begin his mass deportation plan.)
Although several local advocates disagreed with Biden-era policies, which allowed cities like New York and Chicago to manage millions of South American migrants, they simultaneously feared what might happen to the U.S. economy if tens of millions were somehow let go.
Even in Northeast Ohio, where about 22,000 undocumented immigrants—from Mexico to India to Canada and Saudi Arabia—pay some $36 million in income taxes while working low-paying jobs in manufacturing and health care and, with the rest of the U.S. immigrant base, pay billions into Social Security and Medicare.
“I understand deporting felons. I understand deporting criminals,”
Adrian Corona and Beatriz Dunai, employees of Sus Abogados Latinos in Painesville, Ohio. Immigration attorneys and advocates are bracing for what could be another four years of intensive legal battles for their clients.|Photo by Mark Oprea
said Patrick Espinosa, who runs an immigration law firm, Sus Abogados Latinos (“Your Latino Lawyers”), out of Painesville, Ohio. “But at the same point, we’re going to spend billions of dollars on people that are actually adding to our society? Why don’t we give that money to our own citizens?”
Since the morning of November 6, Espinosa and his half dozen associates have fielded hundreds of calls from clients, previous and first-timers, that are anxious they might lose their jobs, might be separated from their spouse, might wake up January 21 in a country they know little about.
“Everybody’s sending us TikToks,” Beatriz Dunai, director of operations, told Scene at a roundtable in Sus Abogados’ office. “‘What do you think about this, TikTok? I saw this in the news! Please tell me what’s going to happen to my case! They said they’re going to deport everybody!’”
“I mean, that’s the part we don’t know,” Adrian Corona, an incoming attorney for Espinosa, said sitting next to her. “And that’s where we’re kind of at a crossroads here. We don’t know what our practice is going to look like moving forward.”
“We tell [them] the correct information,” Dunai added. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. Don’t panic. There’s nothing on your name right now.”
Like potentially tens of thousands of attorneys throughout the country, Espinosa’s firm is mired in nebulous preparation, like studying for an exam that promises an almost limitless number of questions. Could Trump invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to send suspected gang members away without a day in court? Could he abruptly cancel thousands of Special Immigrant Visas of Afghan refugees who came here in 2021?
Until late January, the best playbook to source is Project 2025’s Mandate For Leadership, the conservative policy document that has been connected to Trump on dozens of levels, as the New York Times found. (Eighteen of Project 2025’s writers and editors served in Trump’s first administration.)
According to its section on the Department of Homeland Security, that means the loud tone of Trump’s America First agenda. It calls for the halting of discretionary guest worker visas—like seasonal ones for Mexican farmers—to “stop facilitating the availability of cheap foreign labor in order to support American workers.” It calls for an end to the visa lottery, chain migration, most designations of Temporary Protected Status, and the end of T and U visas, which have, for the past 24 years, allowed victims of crime or human trafficking asylum in
the U.S.
“Victimization should not be a basis for an immigration benefit,” the document reads.
It also gives a kind of preview to how Trump could carry out the behemoth mass deportation sweep he’s been talking about for the past year.
Project 2025, in part, recommends doubling the number of deportation officers in Immigration and Customs Enforcement, from 7,711 to 20,000, and doubling the number of bed space at deportation centers (like the Geauga County Safety Center in Chardon, Ohio) to 100,000 beds for those waiting out cases.
And probably the most alarming: Project 2025 recommends the incoming leadership to permit ICE officers to arrest “immigration violators anywhere in the United States” without a warrant “where appropriate”—in playgrounds, schools, hospitals and churches.
All of which, in Espinosa’s mind, seems counterproductive. Studies have shown that undocumented immigrants commit half the number of crimes that U.S.-born natives do. Paired with the fact that 19 percent of the U.S. workforce—31 million people—are on some kind of immigrant visa.
“To me, it’s just kind of ridiculous,” Espinosa said.
Up the street from Sus Abogados Latinos on Mentor Avenue is the Picante Mexican Grill on North State Road, which is a hub for Mexican restaurants, cafes and grocery stores.
Nancy Guittierez, Picante’s general manager, is there, working alongside cooks and kitchen staff, part of a community where many are on work visas or undocumented altogether.
“A lot of them, they just don’t know,” Guittierez told Scene at the register. “They hear many things.”
Juan, an 18-year-old cook from Chiapas, Mexico, moved to Painesville nine months ago, in February, to send home money to his fiancé and his three sisters.
“Well, the election scared me,” he said. “Because I have family in Mexico. And I give them money. And I want to support them.”
“I want a house, too. I’ve been thinking about a house.” — Mark Oprea
pans, no more blunt assessments of success and failures, and we will all be worse off.
It’s a well-earned respite after decades of chronicling Northeast Ohio’s stages, shining a light on the directors, writers, actors, production staff and theater crews that go perpetually under-recognized in local outlets despite serving as the backbone for the city’s cultural scene.
“For the many years I’ve written theater reviews for Scene, everyone has been monumentally supportive and I can’t thank them enough,” she said. “As for the theaters and the theater people I’ve written about, please know I love you all—even if a particular critique seemed to indicate otherwise. You have all made my life a total joy and I will miss you.”
Howey was an actor and director at Dobama from 1968 to 1984, and after years in advertising and PR endeavored into criticism. But her time on the stage wasn’t done, as most know: In the early 2010s, she wrote and performed her moving, honest, and quite funny one-woman show Exact Change, about her gender transition at the age of 45, to wide acclaim.
That she dearly loves the art is clear. And it’s why she can both bring a fresh perspective to reviewing a show and be trusted to tell us when something doesn’t quite work.
Cleveland’s a small town with fragile egos and dinging someone you know by name or run in the same social/professional circles with can lead to tense feelings. But Howey felt like directness was the only recourse.
“I am aware how much a bad review can sting, but I owe it to my readers to be as honest as possible,” she said. “If I don’t indicate where I believe a production falls short, the times when I praise a production (which I do a lot) become less credible and meaningful.”
The pandemic brought some local theater closures, but the scene has always been vibrant and remains so. Howey’s attention to productions large and small for the last 27 years has been a blessing to this paper and the city. (If anyone from the Press Club of Cleveland is reading and wants to finally and deservingly nominate her for the Hall of Fame, that would be great.)
Cuyahoga
County Exec Recommends
New Meal Provider for Jail
After thousands of complaints across the years about the quality of food service at the Cuyahoga County jail, change could finally be imminent.
County Executive Chris Ronayne introduced legislation at last week’s County Council meeting recommending Summit Correctional Services, a staff and meal supplier for jails that’s based in Charlotte, North Carolina, to replace the controversial Trinity Service Group.
The contract, which comes in at $18 million, would cover meals for thousands of inmates in the next two years, starting this January and ending at the close of 2027. Trinity’s contract was comparable financially.
Inmates awaiting trial or transfer to prison in cells up and down the Justice Center, public records showed, had complained in droves about the meager quality of Trinity’s food over the past three years. A recent tally of complaints put grievances totaled roughly 3,000.
Potatoes or beans were served raw or uncooked; meat was pink and led to mass vomiting; powdered milk was served in lieu of the real thing; maggots were discovered crawling on trays or in heaps of soggy vegetables.
“I am eating toilet paper or paper towels as reported to medical [services],” inmate Aikeen Chambers wrote to admins on May 19, “in an attempt to try and fill up the missing space of the missing or underportioned food items.”
“My food was uncooked today,” Jamille Massingill wrote on July 6. “The meat was really red on the inside of it. It made me feel sick. Something has to change in the kitchen, there are too many occurring incidents in the Trinity staff.”
Ronayne’s decision comes after a request for new proposals from the county over the summer.
In a statement to Scene, Ronayne said he chose Summit out of three possible suppliers—including Edwin’s and Trinity—for the company’s ability to meet “state standards” in food quality for inmates it’s previously served. He suggested Summit could do the job better, and presumably lower complaints. (Edwin’s bid was deemed too expensive, Brandon Chrostowski told Scene last week.)
Scene Theater Critic Christine Howey Has Retired
The curtain has come down on Christine Howey’s tenure as Scene’s theater critic, and as the best theater critic in Cleveland, as she retires to move out of state to be closer to her family.
There will be no more raves, no more
“There are more small theaters in operation now than when I began as a critic. This area is blessed with many professional and amateur theaters— along with talented actors, directors and designers— who turn out high quality productions,” she told me. “I enjoy seeing how theaters grow and prosper. It is enormously difficult to run a theater these days, and I celebrated their successes whenever possible.” — Vince Grzegorek
“Our goal is to provide the highest quality food services to those in our custody,” Ronayne told Scene in a statement. “The decision to replace Trinity reflects our commitment to ensuring our food service meets the nutritional and health standards expected in our jail.” — Mark Oprea
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE
FEATURE
FEEL THE BEAT 12 underground Cleveland dance clubs where the night
moves
By Mark Oprea
FOR THE ENTIRETY OF THEIR
history, it’s been impossible to detach the notion of “underground” from a sense of identity.
You think of the Black gays in Chicago’s Warehouse dancing to Frankie Knuckles in 1986. You think of the ballroom queens in Paris Burning in 1992, the New York Puerto Ricans owning the Copacabana, the Detroit techno heads, the nineties U.K. ravers.
And it’s time to think of Cleveland. No knock on the Flats, but it’s more relevant than ever, we think, to take stock of the city’s off-thebeaten-path clubs where Clevelanders gather, where they seek refuge in the sweet trance of a kick-anddrum, sip champagne to backpack rap, put flowers in their hair and dangle from the ceiling. If underground is where identity is brewed, it feels like Cleveland’s cup is brimming to the rim in the years ahead
As a nighthawk myself, I’ve grown fond of the DJs in hidden space, of the post-2 a.m. romps at Touch or La Cave du Vin that more resemble meditation than any night out with the boys. More than ever, as yet another political storm cloud rolls in, more and more of us are going to seek the distinct communion one can only get with smaller congregation. Of the diehards, of the skilled, of the drunk, the beautiful and the slightly deranged.
Here are 12 places where you can do just that.
Smoke & Mirrors
What may be the latest addition to Cleveland’s resurfacing house scene may also be its most charismatic. Located underneath the also recently opened bar on West 25th, Clandestina, Smoke & Mirrors is what ravers might get if they brought lights and smoke to subterranean catacombs in Southern Mexico. There are walls splayed with oval mirrors, wax-drip-
ping candles, a backroom stone archway that apparently used to tunnel to the bank across the street. Dancing to Sound on Tape spin a Moloko track, drinking Martini & Rossi near a lit Christmas tree, I felt as if I was moving my body to some kind of secret resurrection. (My own?) “You’re just in this escape where you kind of get away from the world,” owner Sam McNulty told me. “And we can party very hard down there, and you would never know it.”
Elite Lounge
What happens when a Serbian family takes over a former male strip club in the Warehouse District? Something exactly like Elite Lounge. Run by Valentina Lucic, a veteran of the Flats East Bank scene, she and her husband opened up a club above Tomo on West 9th in 2023 with intention to cut through Downtown’s saturated dance scene with a more Eastern European touch. Here, amid
the lion statuettes and mirror wall, you can drink to Zana’s “Dodirni mi Kolena” (a newfound favorite of mine) or the occasional American Top 40, if the DJ allows it. Around 2 a.m. recently, Lucic’s niece, manager Lidija Tolo, pulled me into an impromptu Serbian kolo dance, an oscillating arm-linked circle of women with dark eye shadow and white cocktail dresses. Tolo lifted my hand as we stepped. “You’re doing good,” she said.
B Side
Birds Nest
the family’s gymnasium-sized Puerto Rican nightclub on Madison Avenue is a beacon of life in the West Eighties. I bought a $5 Modelo, then soon found myself salsa-ing to Elvis Crespo’s “Suavemente” with an otherwise timid darkhaired woman in her late thirties, as a UFC match played on the TV screen above us. Can life get any more thrilling?
Bird of Paradise
A byproduct of Ciara Ahern’s re-imagining, with husband Sam McNulty, of Bar Cento and Bier Market, Bird of Paradise is pretty much a tropical-ization of the Speakeasy bar that came before it. The couple strove for a “jungly vibe” for the underground counterpart to Bright Side’s swank, McNulty told me, with its accompanying greens and golds, birdcage VIP lounges and feather-y bar lights that float above you like Russian ushankas. Expect a lot of guys in plaid flannel hoodies and girls in jean skirts and knee-high boots holding High Noons. On a recent Saturday, I bought gin and tonics and danced to Fergie and “The Dipset Anthem” near the DJ booth. Paradise? In every sense of the word.
The Brownhoist
Two years ago, in the summer of 2022, 30-year-old Josh Tang opened up his living room in Cleveland Heights for dancers trying to avoid the existential ills of a global pandemic. These days, Tang and his friends at Burning River Blues have rented space at The Brownhoist in Midtown, following a major conversion of one of Cleveland’s oldest buildings by Adam Whiting. Typically held in a second-floor party room alit in purple, one of Tang’s recent blues dances was moved temporarily to some former legal offices on the Brownhoist’s third floor. My dance partner and I shuffled through wannabe swing and ballroom steps to Etta James. “It’s a low-barrier-to-entry dance with a high-skill ceiling,” Tang told me after. “But you can get into it very easily.”
For the past four decades, this postcard-sized building off West 117th and Lorain has been one of the handful of spots where Cleveland’s gay community could gather in peace. And under a handful of names: MJ’s, Apex. Today, it’s Vibe, run by husband-and-husband duo Kevin and John Briggs, and a suitable home for anyone—not just LGBTQ folks—who blossoms while dancing to
Nicki Minaj or Dua Lipa underneath a spinning disco ball. (Like me.) If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a night populated by visiting go-go dancers, drag queens in towering red, or a swaggering collection of men at leather-focused Gear Night. At least, in Briggs’ mind, before the country tries to ban it. “As a gay man myself, it’s scary to go out now that a new administration is going to come,” he told me. “We have to keep safe spaces for everybody. I mean, [John and I] have no idea what could happen to our marriage!”
Mayans VIP Lounge
I want you to imagine your ideal Latin American dance club. Think of the Corona chelas (beer buckets), the silver table hookahs, the multicolored stage exuding mist and flash and head lights that trickle down like waterfalls. That’s Mayans Lounge in brief. Taken over by Louis Mayans and his daughter Helen in 2022, when the club was called Belinda’s,
Judd’s City Tavern
This is the kind of place that slaps you in the face when you walk in. Herein lies a hodgepodge of dive bar and city museum: deer heads, Browns helmets, parking meters, clock radios, an actual police side door on the wall. (Owner Chuck Judd is a former CPD officer, mind you.) “I wouldn’t necessarily say we have an identity crisis, but…” manager Andrea Vann told me. “We’re eclectic, I’ll say.” Underneath the ceiling of
Vibe
Judd’s City Tavern
Crobar
sports pennants is what I’m interested in: small slice of dance floor home to three of Judd’s regular DJs—DJ Raven, DJ John Doe and Kosherkuts. On a recent Wednesday, John Doe played Aesop Rock and Circadian as a melange of ravers got down in their bandanas and light-up Gucci backpacks. “We’ll have tight dresses, people coming here to dance in their pajamas,” Vann said. “Girls with hula hoops, with light sticks and everything. It’s a great little crew.”
Viva Dance Studio
It’s no secret after a few nights at Viva that people come to the city’s largest salsa studio for a multiplicity of reasons. To meet friends or a future fiancé. (I know two.) To replace past highs, like rock climbing or skydiving. And of course to learn just about every dance in the Afro-Latin diaspora. On any given week, as I myself have done for two years now, you can head to Viva’s Thursday night social at Asia Town Plaza, where dozens join owners Rebecca Sweet, Parker Amsel and Heriberto Perez in three hours of no-pressure salsa or bachata, group cha-cha-cha-ing and African kizomba so sensual it might discomfit a nun. A kind of musical awakening Sweet says is Viva’s specialty. “Like, if you go to the orchestra and you hear classical music, it’s the same,” she told me. “It’s just a compass. It’s a different genre. And so you feel the same sense of euphoria.”
B-Side
Oh, B-Side, the undisputed underground gem of Coventry, the host of a myriad hip hop shows, bespoke open mics and the infrequent basement wrestling match-slash-hardcore show. Yet the B-Side Liquor Lounge we all know one way or another is rearing its head from its summer fire as a notable stop in the city’s dance scene—with its hip-hop or house tinged Night Grooves and Hoochie Nights. I returned to the Grog Shop sibling on a recent Friday for B-Side’s K-Pop Night, which, besides introducing me to the music of BLACKPINK and Mamamoo, unveiled the diversity of K-Pop’s devotees, from dreaded college twentysomethings to white women gyrating in cowgirl blouses. Oh, and I took home a glow stick.
Midnight Art Club
A few blocks south of the Asian Town Center at 1790 East 43rd, you’ll find a totally nondescript and eerie warehouse awash in industrial red brick. That’s actually, you must
know, the Duality Complex, a multiuse artist pop-up space founded by entrepreneur Amir Caldwell. It’s also the home of the Midnight Art Club, Cleveland’s best shot at a Burning Man affiliate. And, just like they did in early November, Midnight hosted a kaleidoscopic Halloween party good enough for Black Rock City itself: fire-jugglers in black suspenders, aerial dancers in fishnets, pole dancers in bejeweled socks. All before Midnight’s 600-square-foot cathedral art installation. “We have EDM with lyra hoop dancers,” co-founder Dave Biro told me. “So it can really, really run across the genre of what is possible.”
The Birds Nest
After twenty years as a music producer, it’s no surprise Brian Conti is obsessed with sonic excellence. It’s what propelled Conti, after stints at the Rock Hall and The Agora, to open his own club in Midtown’s burgeoning house district, calling it the Birds Nest. Walking through the liquor-free warehouse off Superior and East 36th, through its Guice Mann mural room, its half-kitchen house space upstairs, you get a clear sense of Conti’s modus operandi: give the late-late night crowd Cleveland’s most underground of underground. “This is the afters for Crobar and the Winchester,” Conti told me. We stood before Birds Nest’s jewel: an Avalon speaker system designed precisely for house music. One, as I would discover around 3:30 a.m., that truly delivers the “waterfall” effect Conti promised it would. “You can actually
walk through, and it creates an illusion of a wall of sound,” he said. “It’s the best in Cleveland.”
Crobar
If Cleveland is to find its spot on the international map of house or EDM, it’ll mostly be due to the rebirth of the Croatian Tavern. It’s now Crobar—as founder Gerard Guhde redubbed it upon its renovation in 2021. On a recent Saturday, Guhde, a DJ himself, invited Chicago House legend Marshall Jefferson to play a midnight set in Crobar’s tiny dance room. A scene developed as Jefferson played “Move Your Body.” A guy with
a cigarette stuck in his sunglasses head-bobbed. A 40-year-old motherof-three “reiki” danced on the dude in front of her. I myself shut my eyes to Jefferson’s hi-hat and jazz piano, doing my best to hold on to the sweet realm of space, to not drift off to the political hellscape lurking outside of it. “I feel like in the political state that we’re at, it’s even more important for us to create these spaces,” Guhde told me in the green room later, “because I feel like they’re going to go away.”
Smoke and Mirrors
Mayans
GET OUT Everything to do in Cleveland for the
WED 11/20
Cavs vs. New Orleans Pelicans
Tonight at 7:30 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the Cavs take on Zion Williamson and his New Orleans Pelicans. The Cavs handled the Pelicans when the two teams met in New Orleans earlier this month, and you can expect the Cavs, one of the NBA’s best teams, to get the win again tonight. 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.
Some Like It Hot
This musical that’s set in Chicago during Prohibition follows two musicians who need to leave the Windy City after witnessing a mob hit. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at Connor Palace, and performances continue through Nov. 24.
1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
THU 11/21
Browns vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
One of the NFL’s best teams and one of its worst teams square up against each other tonight at 8:15 at Huntington Bank Field. The Steelers got off to a hot start and have continued to notch victories, and the Browns are still trying to recover from a miserable start to the season.
100 Alfred Lerner Way, 440-891-5000, huntingtonbankfield.com.
Mahler’s Song of the Earth
Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of Earth), a piece that’s among Mahler’s “most poignant” achievements, is paired with the world premiere of a new work by Bernd Richard Deutsch, the Orchestra’s Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow from 2018 to 2021, for tonight’s concert. It begins at 7:30 at Mandel Concert Hall, where performances repeat tomorrow and Saturday as well. 11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.
FRI 11/22
An Evening with Jon Stewart
The outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential election will likely be the topic for tonight when comedian and commentator Jon Stewart comes to the State Theatre. The event begins at 8. 1519 Euclid Avenue, 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
SAT 11/23
A Christmas Carol Great Lakes Theatre revives its rendition of the Charles Dickens classic about an ornery miser named Scrooge. Performances take place today at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. at the Mimi Ohio Theatre,
and the play runs through Dec. 22. 1501 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
Crocker Park Annual Tree Lighting
This annual event kicks off at 4 p.m. with live music from locals Joe Bell and the Swing Lizards. Then, at 7 p.m. at the center of Crocker Park, a 50-foot holiday tree will light up. With thousands of twinkling lights, the Tree Lighting Ceremony will officially mark the beginning of Crocker Park’s holiday festivities.
189 Crocker Park Blvd., Westlake, crockerpark.com.
Monsters vs. Milwaukee Admirals
The Monsters take on the Milwaukee Admirals today at 5 p.m. at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, and the two teams will go at it again at noon tomorrow. It’s Pride Night tonight and there will be a salute to veterans at tomorrow’s game.
1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.
SUN 11/24
Cavaliers vs. Toronto Raptors
At 7:30 tonight at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the Cavs take on a rebuilding Toronto Raptors team. The Cavs beat the Raptors in Toronto to start the season.
One Center Court, 216-420-2000, rock-
etmortgagefieldhouse.com.
COYO Autumn Concert
Under the direction of conductor Daniel Reith, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra plays pieces by L. Boulanger, Copland and Rachmaninoff. The concert begins at 3 p.m. at Mandel Concert Hall.
11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.
MON 11/25
Cleveland Youth Wind Symphonies
Today at 7:30 p.m. at Severance Music Center, Cleveland Youth Wind Symphonies gives a special performance. Check the Cleveland Orchestra for program details.
11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra.com.
TUE 11/26
Nitro Circus
The extreme sport extravaganza that features daredevil bikers and skaters comes to the Covelli Centre in Youngstown tonight at 7:30. 229 East Front St., Youngstown, 330746-5600, covellicentre.com.
WED 11/27
Crocker Park hosts its annual tree lighting ceremony. See: Saturday, Nov. 23.|Courtesy of Stark Enterprises
Cavaliers vs. Atlanta Hawks
The Cavs take on a tough Atlanta Hawks team that includes sharpshooting point guard Trae Young and solid forwards Jalen Johnson and De’Andre Hunter. The game begins tonight at 7 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. 1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.
Rob Ward & Friends
The local comedian and some of his comic friends perform tonight at 7:30 at the Funny Bone.
1148 Main Ave., 216-696-4677, cleveland.funnybone.com.
THU 11/28
43rd Annual Turkey Trot
With a gigantic lunch/dinner looming on the horizon, why not start the day with a5K. The annual Cleveland Turkey Trot takes place today at 9:30 at Public Auditorium. Pre-race festivities begin at 7 a.m.
500 Lakeside Ave., turkeytrotcleveland. com.
FRI 11/29
Dave Hill
A Northeast Ohio native, this comedian, actor and musician does it all. He’s written several very funny books about everything from growing up on the “mean streets” of Hudson, OH to his Canadian roots. He also plays in the indie pop band Valley Lodge (one of their tunes is the theme song to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver). Tonight at 8, he brings his standup show to the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights. Mike Polk, Victoria Vincent and Picklefight Puppets open.
2785 Euclid Hts. Blvd., 216-321-5588, grogshop.gs.
Monsters vs. Toronto Marlies
The Monsters take on the Toronto Marlies tonight at 7 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. As part of the team’s regular 1-2-3 Fridays promotion, there will be discounted concessions all night long.
One Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.
Rhapsody in Blue
Pianist Marc-André Hamelin joins the Cleveland Orchestra at Mandel Concert Hall for this concert that features pieces by Copland, Gershwin and Ellington. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m., and performances also take place tomorrow and Sunday.
Severance Music Center, 11001 Euclid Ave., 216-231-1111, clevelandorchestra. com
SAT 11/30
Black Nativity
Way back in 1961, Russell and Rowena Jelliffe, founders of Karamu House, commissioned Langston Hughes to write Black Nativity. The retelling of the Nativity Story performed using gospel music became a hit. It returns to the Hanna Theatre tonight at 7:30. Performances continue through Dec. 15.
2067 East 14th St., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
A Christmas Story
The Cleveland Play House revives the holiday story about the kid in a pink bunny suit who just wanted a Red Ryder BB gun. Tonight’s performance takes place at 7:30 at the Allen Theatre, where performances continue through Dec.22.
1407 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
SUN 12/01
Cavs vs. Boston Celtics
The NBA champs come to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to take on the Cavs tonight at 6. This will provide a good test for the Cavs, who’ve established themselves as the best team in the Eastern Conference thanks to their terrific start.
1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.
A Jolly Holiday with the Pops
The Pops Chorus plays holiday tunes, and Santa and adoptable puppies and kittens from area shelters will be on hand as well. Performances take place today at 2 and 7 p.m. at Connor Palace. 1615 Euclid Ave., 216-241-6000, playhousesquare.org.
TUE 12/03
Claudio Simonetti’s GOBLIN: The Ultimate Anthology LIVE
Composer Claudio Simonetti has written and recorded several significant scores and soundtracks in horror, including Suspiria, Dawn of the Dead, Deep Red/Profondo Rosso, Demons and Tenebre. He celebrates his career with a live performance spanning highlighting all the best songs and scores, which will be set to their cinematic counterparts. The show begins at 8 p.m. at the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights.
2781 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland Heights, grogshop.gs.
FULL THROTTLE
Artis cranks the creativity and flavors to 11
By Douglas Trattner
IF YOU’VE DINED AT ARTIS in Lakewood, you now know just how loud a restaurant can be. The din within is so thunderous that diners can’t hear servers, servers can’t hear managers, and the nocturnal creatures in the area have banded together to lodge a formal complaint. Nobody is more hip to the situation than chef-owner Andrew Mansour, who instead of making the rounds of the dining room to recommend dishes, spends much of his time discussing the finer points of acoustics.
In short, he is aware and is exploring solutions.
You know what’s worse than a loud restaurant? A dead one, and since opening this summer, Artis has been very much alive. The former Side Quest space has been utterly transformed into a model of modernity. As such, the space features clean lines, yards of glass, unbroken ceilings and an open floor plan – that is, an acoustician’s anguish.
Before long, a diner’s attention shifts from the sense of sound to the sense of taste. I’ve never had a colder dry gin martini ($11) in my life – and the Autumn in Jalisco ($14), a bracing blend of mezcal, tequila, ginger and grapefruit, managed to put the clatter in the rear-view mirror for good. The house take on a margarita ($14), starring Japanese sudachi juice, had us looking ahead to dinner.
When Mansour first described his restaurant, he said his aim was to open “a steakhouse that’s not a steakhouse.” While that might sound positively sphinxian, that’s precisely what he’s accomplished. Our foursome spent a good 20 minutes discussing, dissecting and digesting the menu before any one of us even noticed the section, positioned lowerleft, titled “Charbroiled.” It’s not that the chops were buried; it’s that the rest of the page was so full of compelling options.
In unskilled hands, a menu that veers from Sichuan-style cucumbers and Korean-style fried
rice to Moroccan-spiced hummus and Nashville hot chicken – and, oh yeah, steak! – would cause the culinary equivalent of whiplash. But a meal at Artis is more akin to a killer road trip, filled with spontaneity, adventure and surprise.
If you think Shanghai-style soup dumplings are irresistible, imagine the standard broth and pork filling replaced with lobster bisque ($19). Served in a steamer basket, the delicate bisque bombs get a quick dip in a sherry gastrique before going in the gob. In advance of opening Zhug with Doug Katz, Mansour traveled to Tel Aviv to delve into the city’s incomparable cuisine. An edible memory of that journey appears in the form of silky, lemon-kissed hummus
($17) topped with warmly-spiced shredded lamb.
Kimchi is making the jump from Korean restaurants to plates everywhere – and for good reason: the fermented condiment enlivens everything it touches. Mansour serves a savory fried rice dish ($12) loaded with housemade kimchi, egg and broken-rice cakes. Artistic and unique, the chef’s take on octopus ($24) will leave its mark. Sliced into wee coins, the adobo-flavored octopus is arranged atop a stripe of olive paste and set against pools of chili and lemon sauce. Thin, crisp tostones are arranged on top.
As is in vogue, Artis champions shareable plates, be they small, medium or large. Orders placed
upfront will be dispatched at a rhythm that the kitchen deems appropriate. In between those pert, peppery cucumbers ($6) and the octopus, our server delivered a fall salad ($16) with ripe fig, pear, greens and creamy blue cheese and an eat-with-your-hands Korean short rib ($26), grilled to chewy perfection and served on the bone.
Artis offers a half-dozen steaks, from filet to dry-aged porterhouse. Grilled, sliced and served with a simple green salad, the Ohio ribeye ($69) made two rounds of the table before vanishing.
After we politely begged off dessert, one very persuasive server managed to cajole a couple orders out of us.
We unlocked our dessert stomachs and savored bites of warm and gooey sticky toffee date cake ($11) topped with vanilla ice cream and orangescented panna cotta ($10) capped with a nest of crispy phyllo threads. These are the kinds of desserts for which there is always room.
They say that humans are the most adaptable species on Earth. After a couple bottles of wine and sips of port and sherry, the topic of noise was as forgotten as yesterday’s breakfast. In the blink of an eye, three full hours had passed since we took our seats, a testament to the company, sure, but also the setting. Artis boasts an energy and vitality that matches the chef’s meticulous attention to detail.
Photo by Doug Trattner
Photo by Doug Trattner
BITES
First look: Wolf & Co., now open in Bay Village
By Douglas Trattner
PARTNERS
DAN DEAGAN AND Mandi Burman just opened the doors to Wolf & Co. (27215 Wolf Rd.), a casual wine bar and pizzeria in Bay Village, located in the Bay Village Square Shopping Center across the street from Cahoon Park.
The name, borrowed from the street outside, is a way to honor the neighborhood at large, says Burman.
“People in Bay really love their city, so we wanted to be a part of the community,” she explains.
The dinner-only restaurant seats approximately 100 guests in the dining room and at a long, curving bar that winds its way past the pizza oven. Executive chef Grant Thrasher is in charge of the menu, which stars salads, hearty shareable plates and thin-crust pizzas.
Wine lovers have approximately 20 wines by the glass and 70 by the bottle from which to choose. That list might grow down the road, says Burman, including the addition of a captain’s-type list with more rarified selections.
To eat, there are Caesar and chef’s salads, seasonal meat and cheese boards, raw oysters, roasted bone marrow, and braised oxtails served with flat bread. The thincrust, deck-oven pizzas range from a classic Margherita topped with housemade mozzarella to a savory pie capped with braised beef, gorgonzola and roasted garlic sauce. There are nine pizzas in all. For dessert, the chef prepares cannoli, tiramisu, crème brûlée and cheesecake.
In spring, patios on both sides of the front door will offer additional seating.
name for herself in the local coffee scene. Thanks to a great product –and a knack for social media – Alcazar cultivated and then grew the roots of Dahlia Coffee that outpaced the small space.
Last month, Dahlia Coffee (2085 W. 114th St., 216-302-7785) got a bigger stage when it opened in a new location, a standalone building in the Cudell neighborhood on Cleveland’s west side. Formerly home to Scoot Cold Brewed Coffee, the charming café provides Alcazar with plenty of room to expand her budding business.
While living in Portland, Oregon, Alcazar developed a passion for coffee. She took that obsession a step further by taking roasting classes in Minneapolis. After relocating to Cleveland with her boyfriend, she left the corporate world behind to pursue coffee fulltime. She currently roasts at First Crack Coffee, a co-roasting facility in Asiatown.
“I focus more on Central American coffee because I’m Mexican,” says Alcazar. “I roast beans from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Colombia. I tend to roast a little darker – not super, super dark. I roast to medium or dark roast, but the quality of the coffee and tasting notes are still there.”
Alcazar roasts beans weekly for sale by the pound at the coffee shop. Those beans also wind up in espresso drinks and drip coffees. They are joined by specialty drinks like Mexican mochas, dulce de leche lattes and café de olla, a Mexican spiced coffee.
conchas, Mexican breakfast bread. Down the road, she plans to increase the food offerings with breakfast sandwiches and grab-and-go lunch items like salads and sandwiches.
If things continue progressing as Alcazar hopes, you can expect to find bags of Dahlia Coffee appearing on the shelves of your favorite neighborhood grocery store.
Coming Soon: Trust Coffee in Bay Village, an All-Day Cafe from Thyme Table Owner Mike Smith
In the coming days, weeks and months, Bay Village will welcome a handful of new bars, restaurants and entertainment destinations. For this once-sleepy bedroom community, it seems that progress is seeping in from all sides.
Scene-watchers can now add Trust to the list. Opening in the next month or so, Trust Coffee (27225 Wolf Rd.) is an all-day café with lofty ambitions. This new project comes from Mike Smith, the chef and owner of Thyme Table, which is still buzzing five years after he opened the doors. Located a half-mile down the road from Thyme, in the same shopping plaza as Wolf & Co., Trust is taking over the spot long held by Java Bay Coffee.
But the true windfall in this situation, says Smith, was buried deep in the history of the property.
“At some point, like the `60s or `70s, there was a liquor store in that spot,” he explains. “So with the weird Bay Village rules, we were able to secure the last available liquor license in Bay. So we have a full liquor license in there.”
Opening bright and early, Trust Coffee will feature brews from Ohio City’s duck-rabbit, as well as some specialty coffee roasters from around the country. Thyme pastry chef Laura Jerina will prepare a selection of scones, cookies and muffins for a light breakfast. At midday, the café will transition to lunchtime fare, with salads, sandwiches and other items. Come happy hour, Trust will offer beer, wine and cocktails alongside café-style foods and desserts. The beverage program is being formulated by Eric Scott, partner and chief mixologist at Thyme.
The Smiths are working with Lakewood-based AoDK Architecture to create a charming interior that Tess describes as “a feminine twist on Thyme Table.”
Despite being previously tucked away in the Pivot Center for Art, Dance and Expression in Tremont, Natalia Alcazar managed to make a
For now, the food options are limited to some pastries and Argentinian-style empanadas filled with chicken or beef and green olives, potatoes and sweet peppers. Alcazar also makes sweet empanadas starring pineapple, guava or strawberry and
Smith says that he and his wife Tess have been attempting to open a local cafe for five years, including some major disappointments. In the end, however, those setbacks proved beneficial because the couple landed the perfect property. In addition to the former Java Bay spot, the Smiths were able to annex an adjacent storefront long home to Andy’s Shoe Repair, which doubled the space.
To start, the plan is to lock the doors at 9 p.m. given the lack of latenight shenanigans in Bay but given the way things are developing in the neighborhood, those plans might shift.
“Yeah, that’s going to be flexible,” Mike says. “With Deagan spots opening on either side of us, that traffic might push things later. It’s been a lot of fun to see cool new things happening in Bay; it’s a ‘rising tides raise all boats’ sort of thing.”
dtrattner@clevescene.com t@dougtrattner
Dahlia Coffee on Cleveland’s West Side Gives Mexican-Focused Java House Room to Grow
Photo by Doug Trattner
YEAR IN REVIEW
Wish Queen celebrates her debut album’s one-year anniversary with Grog Shop show
By Jeff Niesel
LAST YEAR, GRACE SULLIVAN, a local singer-songwriter who performs and records as Wish Queen, recorded her debut album, Saturnalia, with local musician and producer Austyn Benyak. They worked out of Benyak’s dad’s garage all last summer.
Now, to celebrate the album’s one-year anniversary, Sullivan’s Wish Queen will play a special show with Jet Star, Frida and the Mann and Jsszca on Friday, Nov. 22, at the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights.
“The year has gone by so fast,” says Sullivan via a Google Meet call from Italy, where she was attending a wedding and vacationing. “I can’t believe it’s coming up on a year. It’s been great. I’ve been very, very busy. I played my first shows out of state in Nashville and New York. I’m just blown away at how many people have listened to the album because for a while it was just my friends. My New York shows were great. It was so exciting to be in New York. But I will have to say that my favorite show was the release show at the Grog Shop last year. It was Halloween, and everyone dressed up.”
Local and national media have provided her with positive feedback too. Her website features links to articles published by The Fader, Under the Radar and Ideastream.
“We got some great press from Under the Radar and Atwood Magazine and these respected music publications,” Sullivan says. “I was blown away to be featured in some of those articles. I don’t know how to describe my music myself. Hearing other people describe has helped me understand it a little better.”
Sullivan has also released two new singles, “Feeder” and “Floral Sheets,” since the release of her debut. “Feeder” begins with a low, ominous sounding hum and then lets Sullivan’s ethereal vocals take over.
“Floral Sheets” pairs upper-register vocals with a gentle guitar riff and slowly builds in intensity.
“Saturnalia is a breakup album, and these new singles are love songs,” she explains when asked about the new tracks. “It’s the first time I’ve written love songs. I normally can only write when I’m sad, and my songs can be a little dark. There’s a different quality to them that I want to explore more. I am thinking about a new album, but I want to take my time to let everything percolate a little more before the second album. It’ll have some of the same qualities, but I want to walk toward a new phase of writing.”
She says the two new singles work as a unit since the sound of chirping birds comes at the end of “Feeder”
and then returns at the beginning of “Floral Sheets.”
“’Feeder’ came out of nowhere,” she says. “It was one of the songs that came out of a note in my phone. I was reflecting during the days when my relationship was getting more serious. It was love and obsession, but I couldn’t quite tell where it was going, and if it was going to be consuming in a bad way or a good way. I thought that being in love would fix everything that was ever wrong and that’s just not realistic. A lot of that is there. I’m still grappling with those things.”
She says she visualized “Feeder” as “a big long reflection intro that would break into ‘Floral Sheets.’”
“I recorded the nature noises on my iPhone in my yard,” she says.
“I wanted it to sound personal. I wanted to write something romantic. I wanted to write a true love song, different from everything I’ve done before. After the darkness and doubt and grappling of ‘Feeder,’ ‘Floral’ opens into this sweet pure love song. One had to give way to another.”
For the Grog Shop show, Sullivan says she’ll play Saturnalia in full for the very last time since she wants to start writing and recording more new material and place the focus on the next stage of her career.
“It’s going to be kind of bittersweet to play it in full for the last time,” she says.
Wish Queen.|Alison Scarpulla
WISH QUEEN, JET STAR, FRIDA AND THE MANN AND JSSZCA
8 P.M., FRIDAY, NOV. 22. GROG SHOP, 2785 EUCLID HEIGHTS BLVD., CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, 216-321-5588. TICKETS: $11.11-$30, GROGSHOP.GS.
LIVEWIRE Real music in the real world
WED 11/20
Animals as Leaders: Joy of Motion X Tour
The progressive metal band celebrates the tenth anniversary of its 2014 album, The Joy of Motion, with tonight’s show at House of Blues. The album’s single, “Physical Education,” typifies the instrumental group’s approach as it features noodling guitars and precise drums and bass not far removed from something by the Steve Morse Band. The show begins at 7 at House of Blues. 308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.
THU 11/21
Back to Black: Amy Winehouse Tribute Featuring Post Saga, and Mikey Silas This tribute to the late singer-song-
writer Amy Winehouse takes place tonight at 7 at the Beachland Ballroom. Local acts Post Saga, and Mikey Silas (Apostle Jones) will perform Winehouse’s Back to Black album with help from a 12-piece band. 15711 Waterloo Rd., 216-383-1124, beachlandballroom.com.
Luke Grimes
Earlier this year, this country singer-songwriter and actor released his self-titled full-length debut. Produced by Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton), the album arrived on the heels of Grimes’s 2023 EP, Pain Pills or Pews. Famous for his role on the TV show Yellowstone, Grimes, a guy who takes an old-school approach, performs tonight at 7 at House of Blues.
308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.
FRI 11/22
Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening
The son of the late John Bonham, drummer Jason Bonham brings his tribute to his late father’s band to MGM Northfield Park —Center Stage tonight at 8. Expect to hear faithful renditions of classic hits such as “Immigrant Song,” “Good Times Bad Times” and “When the Levee Breaks.” 10705 Northfield Rd., Northfield, 330-908-7793, mgmnorthfieldpark. mgmresorts.com/en.html.
Creed
Recently reunited, the ‘90s hard rock act Creed brings its Are You Ready? tour to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse at 7 tonight. The group’s over-the-top power ballads always irked critics, and the band even famously refused to give comp tickets to Plain Dealer music crit-
ic John Soeder back in the 2000s when it played Gund Arena. Soeder reviewed the concert by listening against one of the stadium doors using a plastic cup, which sounds like the best way to take in a Creed concert.
1 Center Court, 216-420-2000, rocketmortgagefieldhouse.com.
Sammy DeLeon Latin Jazz Septet
This master timbales player has played in New York, Chicago, Miami, San Juan and many places in between. Formerly the musical director of Impacto Nuevo, DeLeon has led his own group since 1996. He performs tonight at 7:30 at the Market Garden Brewery Tasting Room. Moises Borges opens. 1849 W. 24th St., 216-373-0700, marketgardenbrewery.com.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
This year’s tour by the rock act famous for turning Christmas music into arena
Creed, the band that critics love to hate, comes to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. See: Friday, Nov. 22. |Courtesy of Live Nation
rock fodder marks the return of the Lost Christmas Eve, an earlier concert theme that the band will bring back to the road for the first time in more than 10 years. As always, there will be pyrotechnics and lasers, and a second set will feature TSO favorites. The group comes to the Covelli Centre in Youngstown today for performances at 3 and 8 p.m.
229 East Front St., Youngstown, 330746-5600, covellicentre.com.
SAT 11/23
Panza Foundation 10th Anniversary
The local non-profit that nurtures the local music scene celebrates its tenth anniversary with this show that features performances by Napsack, Free Black, Power, Rolin Duo and Teamonade. The concert begins at 8 p.m. at the Happy Dog.
5801 Detroit Ave., 216-651-9474, happydogcleveland.com.
Senses Fail and Saves the Day
These two East Coast-based emo/screamo/post-hardcore/pop punk bands have teamed up for a tour they’ve dubbed New Jersey vs. the World. They bring the trek to House of Blues tonight at 7. Both bands will play albums in their entirety. Senses Fail will perform Let It Enfold You and Saves the Day will perform Through Being Cool. 308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.
Tropidelic
This local jam band doesn’t play Cleveland as much these days now that’s become a national act. This past summer, it released its latest album, Royal Grove, and the album’s lead single, “Floating,” pairs the group with Iration and the Elovators. Tonight, the group makes a rare local appearance when it plays the Agora. Doors open at 6. 5000 Euclid Ave., 216-881-2221, agoracleveland.com.
SUN 11/24
State Champs
Since forming nearly 25 years ago, punk rockers State Champs surged in popularity thanks to tours with Fall Out Boy, 5 Seconds of Summer, A Day to Remember and Simple Plan. The Warped Tour veterans return to the Agora tonight at 6. Knuckle Puck, Meet Me @ the Altar and Daisy Grenade open.
5000 Euclid Ave., 216-881-2221, agoracleveland.com.
FRI 11/29
The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Led by renowned finger picker Reverend Peyton, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band returns to the Kent Stage tonight at 6:30. The group embraces roadhouse blues on its latest effort, the grunge-y Dance Songs for Hard Times. 175 E. Main St., Kent, 330-677-5005, kentstage.org.
Welshly Arms
With three Top 10 radio hits in Germany and a platinum single in Germany and Switzerland, the local blues rock act Welshly Arms has built a dedicated fan base the world. They’ve supported large-scale national tours with 30 Seconds to Mars and Walk the Moon. They play their annual Thanksgiving weekend show tonight at 7 at House of Blues.
308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.
SAT 11/30
Ekoostik Hookah
The grandfathers of Ohio’s expansive jam band scene — culturally and musically — have always maintained close ties to the Cleveland area and regularly venture up to these parts from their Columbus home base. The group performs tonight at 6:30 at House of Blues.
308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.
Underoath
The hard rock band brings its tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of its They’re Only Chasing Safety album to the Agora tonight at 6:30. The handpicked opening acts Static Dress and Twin Stacks represent groups that have played an important role in Underoath’s history and were present during the original touring cycle of They’re Only Chasing Safety. Agora Theatre, 5000 Euclid Ave., 216881-2221, agoracleveland.com.
MON 12/02
Omega X
The South Korean boy band that found commercial success with the 2022 EP Love Me Like brings its Island: Beyond the Horizon tour to House of Blues tonight at 7:30. Poppy songs such as the Justin Timberlake-like “Love Me Like” feature percolating synths and upper-register vocals while lending themselves to choreographed dance routines.
308 Euclid Ave., 216-523-2583, houseofblues.com.
SAVAGE LOVE
TWINNING
By Dan Savage
Imightbe falling in love with my husband’s identical twin brother.
My husband and I have been in a traditional monogamous cishet straight marriage for twelve years. It wasn’t until the last few years that I started catching feelings for my brother-in-law, who is also married. I started to notice my BIL in a way that surprised me when we went on a family vacation together. He’s just so empathetic, compassionate, and articulate. He also has the same body my husband does (obviously), although my BIL is little fitter than my husband. What is really hard to understand is that my feelings for my husband haven’t changed. Do I love them both? Is that possible? Our sex life isn’t suffering. I’ve never been someone who can have orgasms without a vibrator assist, and I’m fine with that. Sometimes though, I find myself thinking about my BIL and feel extremely turned on. When he’s not around I miss him. I’ve even dream about the two of us just talking to each other.
I feel extremely guilty about this because acting on it would mean betraying everyone I love. Sometimes it’s extremely overwhelming. I find myself watching my BIL and wondering if he feels the same way about me. I think he might — to a degree — but I know neither of us would want to jeopardize our marriages and I would never ask my BIL to jeopardize his relationship with his brother. I also love my sister-in-law very much. But I can’t help but wonder that in some weird parallel universe maybe I was meant to be with my BIL. I can’t tell anyone about this and I’m desperate to hear what you think. Could I have chosen the wrong twin? I am afraid the only way forward is to just keep quietly loving my BIL and never say anything.
Crumbling Rapidly Under Stupid Heartache
It’s certainly possible to love more than one romantic partner at a time — please see the hundreds of columns I’ve written over the years about polyamory — but it’s not always possible for a particular individual to have more than one romantic partner at a time.
Like, say, someone in a traditional monogamous cishet straight marriage. You know what else is possible? It’s possible for a cishet married monogamously married person to have one of those run-of-the-mill, allconsuming, life-affirming, harmless crushes on someone they’re not married to. (It’s impossible to have a crush on someone you are married to.) When a married person has a one of those run-of-the-mill, etc., crushes on someone who isn’t their spouse, CRUSH, it’s not a sign — not all by itself — that there’s something wrong with
their marriage. Even happily married people sometimes fantasize about alternative timelines where they’re married to someone else, e.g., that friendly coworker, that hot barista, that unattainable movie star, etc., instead of the person waiting for them at home.
But when the object of a crush is someone explosively inappropriate… when the disclosure of the crush would create a blast radius so wide nothing for miles could possibly survive… that crush can best be understood as a kind of death wish. In other words, CRUSH: sometimes a crush is just a crush and sometimes a crush is a manifestation of a subconscious desire to blow it all up.
What can be done about a death-wish crush? Nothing. All you can do — if you don’t wanna blow it all up — is wait it out, same as you would one of those harmless crushes. It might take a few weeks or months… or it might take the rest of your life... but crushes, death-wish or otherwise, like everything else, don’t last forever.
P.S. I see two upsides to this death-wish crush of yours, CRUSH, given your particular and highly unique circumstances. First, if your husband ever finds out you have a crush on his brother — and here’s hoping he never does — it’s not like you have a crush on his physical opposite. Unlike a woman with brown hair and small breasts who realizes her husband is crushing on a blond with big tits, your husband won’t have to worry that he isn’t your type. And if like all married people you sometimes fantasize about other people while you’re having sex with your spouse, CRUSH, you won’t have to close your eyes to picture your crush instead of your husband. You won’t even have to squint.
I’m36-year-old cis woman and I’ve been with my boyfriend for just over fifteen years. We’ve generally happy and we have a great and very active sex life. We’re monogamous, we’re kind to each other, and we spend a lot of time together. The thing is, we’ve never gotten married. I made it clear at different points in our relationship that I was open to it, but he’s always been against it. He says he just that he doesn’t see the point. It’s never been something I dreamt about, but I figured we’d get around to it eventually. Lately I’ve been feeling more and more like this fact — the fact that we haven’t gotten married yet — is an indicator that something is deeply wrong with our relationship. He’s not anti-marriage. He’s gotten choked up during the vows at every wedding we’ve ever been to. So now, fifteen years in, I fear it’s not marriage he doesn’t want, it’s me.
Other context: I come from a very broken family (abusive home, two siblings died from drugs/suicide, I’m estranged from nearly everyone else), and I’ve always felt that no matter how great my life might seem outwardly, deep down I’m radioactive because of where I came from. I’m also the primary earner in our house, with a very good income. He’s in a creative field and I’ve bankrolled our life together. I’ve been happy to do it. That said, his entire family is super weird about money, and I watched his sister marry and divorce an absolute troll because he was loaded. I’ve got no interest in giving him an ultimatum. Talking
about it can’t change how he feels deep down towards me. What do I do?
Relationship Isn’t Nearing Goal
If you wanna marry this man — if you’re ready to marry this man — stop waiting for him to pop the question and pop it yourself already.
While a person can fake wanting to fuck you and/or spend time with you, a person can only fake that shit for so long. So, based on your description of your relationship, RING, I’d say your boyfriend genuinely loves you. If he was only interested in your earning power and willingness to subsidize his artistic endeavors, boredom and/or resentment would’ve creeped in around the edges years ago. And think about it: if your boyfriend didn’t love you — if he was only after your money — he would’ve proposed to you, married you, and divorced you a long time ago. Again, if you’re still getting wanna fuck/wanna hang vibes from him fifteen years in, odds are good they’re genuine.
And the world is full of happily married men and women who didn’t think marriage was for them, i.e., men and women only agreed to marry because it was what their spouses wanted. In some cases, these reluctant-to-marry-but-nowhappily-married types only had to be asked once, RING, but in others the partner that wanted marriage had to issue a shit-or-get-off-my-face ultimatum: we’re getting married or we’re going our separate ways. There’s always a risk, of course, that a reluctant-to-marry or doesn’t-seethe-point type partner will pick the second option — and end the relationship — but you can’t get what without making demands. And if he can’t have you without marrying you, RING, suddenly marriage has a point, right?
And if he refuses to marry you — if he refuses your ultimatum — you have the option of backing down.
P.S. When people hear “creative” they usually think “extrovert.” But not all creatives are extroverts. If you boyfriend is a behind-the-scenes creative (writer, composer, illustrator) as opposed to a front-and-center creative (actor, singer, contortionist), he may dread the idea of being the center of attention — and the bride and groom at a big wedding are the center of crushing amount of attention. So, if your boyfriend is an introvert, make it clear to him that it’s marriage you want, RING, not a big wedding.
P.P.S. Before anyone jumps into the comments to call RING’s partner a mooch: We can’t condemn straight men who are uncomfortable with their wives making more money than they do — and there are examples out there of straight men so threatened by successful women that they’ve actively undermined and even sabotaged their wives’ careers — and then shit on straight men being “bankrolled” by their committed romantic partners. If we don’t want straight men to feel “emasculated” for earning less than their female partners — and we live in a world where women are increasingly lapping men educationally and professionally — shaming straight men who earn less than their partners is the wrong way to go about it.
I’m a manin my thirties. I have been in several serious relationships with women, but I am also attracted to men. I’m not attracted to
men in any emotional way; my interest in men is purely sexual. I have kept this a secret my entire life. I guess I don’t know if I would be considered bisexual or not. I do enjoy watching gay porn and I fantasize about having sex with a man, but I have turned down several opportunities to be sexual with a man. Which I almost regret. I am now in a serious relationship with someone I love. She wants to settle down, get married, and have kids. Do I owe her the truth? Or do I take this to the grave? The older I get, the harder it is to hide. My girlfriend is very supportive of the LGBTQ community. But I don’t know if she would be open to actually bringing another man into our bed or letting me experiment with another man on my own. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Truth Or Lying Daily
First, you’re bisexual — you’re heteroromantic (only attracted to women romantically), TOLD, but you’re attracted to both men and women sexually.
Second, one of the reasons bisexual people have worse mental health outcomes than straight or gay people — right up there with their own internalized biphobia and the sometimes galling ignorance of monosexuals — is not being out to their romantic partners (and constantly having to hide) or having romantic partners who openly hostile to their bisexuality (and constantly having to apologize). So, for the sake of your own mental health, HOSED, you need to tell your girlfriend the truth before you marry her.
And you owe your girlfriend the truth. When you ask someone to marry you… when you ask a person to enter into an open-endedand-hopefully-lifelong romantic and sexual relationship with you… your sexual orientation is a highly relevant data point. Your girlfriend can’t meaningfully consent to marrying you — she can’t offer you her informed consent — in the absence of this information. And if what you want most is a woman who’ll let you “experiment” with other men (read: fuck and suck other men) with or without her, HOSED, there are two way to find that person: you advertise for a woman like that — and there are women who wanna watch their boyfriends and/or husbands suck dick — or you ask the woman you’re already dating if she’s a woman like that.
Finally, TOLD, if you’re watching gay porn and fantasizing about having sex with men — and your dream woman is one who would welcome another man into your bed — you aren’t going to be able to take this to the grave. You might lose your girlfriend by doing the right thing and coming out to her now, TOLD, but you stand to lose a lot more if you get caught cheating on your wife with a man a decade from now.
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