th e
WCI RCUSIZ HBAAS ANGRRIVED. PRE SS URE L I F E T U R N S TWO MUSIC / ENTERTAINMENT / ARTS & CULTURE / LIFE / INDEPENDENT / PRESSURELIFE.COM
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CONTENTS A P R I L / M AY 2 0 1 7
30
06 Along Came A Spider
Cleveland metallers return with new sound and album
08
08 SXSW
PressureLife gets the SXSW experience
28
10 You Can Quote Me On That
Podcast Quote Unquote is making major waves
12 Nora Italian Ristorante
Dine with the PressureLife team
14 The Biggest Bang in Town
26
06
Clevelanders create the greatest show in town
20 Out From Behind Bars
A look into the successes and failures of the juvenile justice system
22 Still Fighting
10
The CCPC does not intend to sit passively through Trump’s presidency
26 Anarchy in the CLE
Keeping time with Cleveland Underground’s Alex Leal
28 Different Strokes: Lisa Lorek
A spotlight series of Cleveland area artists
30 Space Dogs
The history of canine-space flight
14 FOLLOW US Facebook // Twitter // YouTube // Instagram @thepressurelife
20
Hey, We're on the Web Too pressurelife.com
Two years in and PressureLife continues to make the internet a weirder place, and considering it’s the internet, that’s saying something! Here’s a look back at some of our favorite pieces over the past year…
Pressure Plays
Dave Sebille hangs out with the area’s freshest bands and dishes on upcoming album releases, tours, and latest news. pressurelife.com / pressure-plays
Chad Weaver’s Chad Weaver
Chad Weaver is our resident Chad Weaver. Eponymous and enigmatic, Chad Weaver’s Chad Weaver is a hilarious foray into all realms non-sequitor. Of all our columns, Chad Weaver’s Chad Weaver is the most Chad Weavery. pressurelife.com / chad-weaver
Pressure (Album) Reviews
He may not know Kendrick Lamar from Kylie Minogue, but he knows what he likes. Our resident new album critic, Adam Dodd, gives anything a spin from the new Childish Gambino or Brian Jonestown Massacre to Neil Young and the Flaming Lips. pressurelife.com / music
Exclusive Interviews
We also have exclusive interviews that you can’t find anywhere else. Check out the latest chats with Vermin Supreme, Jill Stein, Data from Star Trek, Keith Powell, the voice of Batman, and so many more! pressurelife.com / featured
Pressure News Weekly
A weekly round-up of the news the only way PressureLife can do it: absurdly. Join Adam Dodd as he anchors the Pressure News Desk, delivering all the news you never knew existed from death cult turkeys, sentient crystals from outer space, and people getting caught doing really, really dumb stuff. pressurelife.com / news-weekly
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Along Came a Spider Cleveland Post-Hardcore Metallers (and All-Around Good Guys) Are Back with a New Sound and Album
Gennifer Harding-Gosnell Photography // Tyler Church you ever need proof of what big softies most headbangin’ metal guys really are, listen to the boys of Cleveland band Along Came A Spider when they talk about their girl, Lola. Lola became the seventh member of ACAS by default when the guys found her emaciated and shivering on the side of a Texas highway whilst out on tour last year. They went from town to town looking for a vet or a no-kill shelter and eventually found help in Waco where Lola was nursed back to health. A high school friend of ACAS bassist John Calo adopted Lola. She’s living happily ever after in Indiana and occasionally still gets to see the men who rescued her when they tour through the Midwest. A video the band made telling Lola’s story has been viewed on YouTube and Facebook nearly a million times. When not busy rescuing dogs or uploading their genuinely hilarious shenanigans to YouTube, Along Came A Spider is pushing the boundaries of post-hardcore music. A new album, to be released later this year, will see the band take a new direction in sound, style, and scope. “We recorded each song individually as opposed to doing it all in one big month-long recording session,” Calo says. “We actually took a full year to make the record. [That process] focused all our efforts on each
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song individually, keeping each one within the theme and the mood that we were going for. It’s given us a much more focused album. It’s our most mature album.” Part of that maturity and the album’s new sound came from working with producer Evan McKeever (Nine Shrines, Downplay). “He helped us get the sound we were looking for,” Calo says. “We wrote a very big rock record, there’s no screaming. Jamie [Miller, vocalist] has always been a great vocalist, but our producer really channeled a whole different person out of him. On some of the songs, there’s three different types of vocals, all Jamie.” The band is currently in the middle of changing labels. Contract negotiations and settle-
ments will need to be reached before ACAS can determine a release date for the new album, though it is, without question, completed. Changes in a band’s sound and musical direction can create rifts with fans, but ACAS is not particularly worried. “Obviously some fans are going to pigeon-hole us and say, ‘Oh, they’re not metalcore any more. They’re not for us anymore,’ and that’s fine,” Calo says. “This album is a new direction, but it goes back to where we started as musicians, the Chevelle/Breaking Benjamin/Slipknot-era stuff plays a big influence on our new record. It’s the album we’ve been waiting our career to make. We left our previous label in hopes of going toward a different market. They’re going to hear musical maturity. In the three years since our last record dropped, we’ve learned a lot as musicians from touring and being around different artists that are at that next level. This album is our best foot forward as far as reaching into that next level of the music industry. Fans are going to hear an honest album from us.” ACAS’s gig at the Foundry opening for The Devil Wears Prada on March 28, was their first official gig without guitarist Justin Sobota, who is no longer in ACAS, and the stage debut for four of the band’s new songs. The opening track, “American Beauty,” is a ball-buster, bouncing between melody and metal, which delighted the sold-out crowd. ACAS rolled through three more new tracks and finished their set with the anthemic “Dreamers” and an older fan favorite, “Inside The Kill Room,” both of which prompted singalongs from the eager fans in front of the stage. The guys looked and acted like seasoned performers with the vitality and confidence of a band certain of who it is and where it’s going and trusts that its fans have matured along with them.
“Fans are going to hear an honest album from us.”
To keep up on the latest from Along Came a Spider follow @alongcameaspiderband on Facebook Listen on iTunes or Amazon, also streaming on Spotify and Pandora
PressureLife Gets the SXSW Experience Mike Suglio Photography // Clare Welsh
01. Strength of Austin Musicians SXSW started as a music festival and will always be a music festival. By being a festival brought together by local musicians and others in the music industry, it is no surprise to see local acts among big, headlining acts in the schedule. Several Austin musicians performed at many showcases throughout the festival.
Lewis Del Mar
Mastadon
W
henever I return from South by Southwest (SXSW) my friends and family always ask, “How was it?” With this being my third time going, they have now gotten the same response three times: “Amazing.” But a few friends dove deeper this year and asked, “How is SXSW different than other festivals?”
At first I simply could not answer. SXSW is a different experience than any festival or event I have ever been to, so there was no comparison. But as I described my experiences of getting up close to Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, Lewis del Mar, San Fermin, and Mastodon, it finally hit me. SXSW is a series of small festivals within one gigantic one. Most of the shows I went to were at small venues with limited crowds. There were always multiple live performances at various venues across the city of Austin. This allowed for smaller crowd sizes due to the high volume of live shows, leading festival goers to experience up close, intimate performances from the artist. Here are four takeaways from my experience at this year’s SXSW:
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Blues rocker Emily Wolfe played a total of four shows throughout SXSW, including an opening set for Ryan Adams. Wolfe started practicing the guitar at age five and was influenced by her uncle, who had a bluegrass band. She jump started her solo career when she began to play live shows during her college years at St. Edward’s University. Performing at an intimate stage at Lucille Patio Lounge, Wolfe rocked out to a packed audience of rock aficionados. The sheer power of her music and strums of her guitar were moving. Grassroots rock ‘n’ roll is unfortunately being drowned out by overproduced music, so it was a great experience to enjoy a true rock artist. While on tour, Wolfe was Emily Wolfe scouted by a management company and is now recording her debut rock LP with Rob Cavallo who produced multiple platinum-selling albums with Green Day, Goo Goo Dolls, and Dave Matthews Band to name a few. Wolfe hopes to bring on a label soon. Wolfe, who took time in her busy schedule to meet with us, describes her four performances at SXSW as “validation” to all the hard work
she’s done. Her success and advancement in the music scene has lead to a “sobriety change” in her life. Wolfe’s advice to any upcoming artist: “Don’t compare yourself to anyone.”
02. Vast International Presence The festival had more musicians from other countries than I noticed in previous years. This added to a vast diversity of music to experience at SXSW. I checked out Echopark at Numero 28, who was a part of an Italian music showcase.
The Blind Suns
Echopark is an excellent singer/songwriter who seamlessly switched back and forth from Italian to English while performing. I felt like I had teleported to Italy as I nibbled on some Italian snacks courtesy of the owner of Numero 28.
their smooth lyrics and crisp harmony. When they ended their set, I thought they had only played for a short period, but after checking the time, I realized a full 45 minutes had passed. Few artists can keep me that hyper-focused when I’m flooded with distractions. Another international showcase featured artists performing K-Pop as well as artists from Korea. Megan Lee, who stars in the popular Nickelodeon show Make It Pop, led a large band with her powerful voice. Lee constantly thanked her band and the audience, which made her set personal and sincere. The headliner of the K-Pop set was Big Phony who flew in from Korea. Big Phony’s Bobby Choy shared how he was stuck in customs for over three hours and almost missed his flight to Austin. Between his gentle and honest songs, Choy told deadpan stories about married life, which was a funny change of pace.
03. Interactive Gaming Experience
One of my favorite performances was by The Blind Suns from France at the Volstead, a New Orleans-style bar with French overtones. This dream pop band had beautiful color and light visuals to accompany its trance-inducing music. I lost myself in
Last year was the first year SXSW featured gaming as its own entity and not just a piece of the Interactive festival. Expanding on the groundwork from last year, gaming played a bigger role in this year’s programming. Besides featuring several speakers in the gaming community and a large trade show, this year SXSW offered the opportunity all continues on page 25 gamers want: a chance to play more games.
Everywhere You Go, That Ad is Following You
We marketers have something called “cookies.” No, not the chocolate chip kind. Cookies are pieces of code that websites use to track which pages you visit and your activity history. This information allows them to target specific people with specific products so you specifically buy them.
Melissa Mathews
Have you ever felt like an ad is following you online? You may not be paranoid
because you’re not completely wrong. Your online behavior can dictate what ads you see. Let me use a personal example. I lost my glasses a few weeks ago and I decided to try out Warby Parker, an online company that allows you try on spectacles before you buy. After I selected five pairs of glasses and requested them to be shipped to my doorstep, I
logged on to Facebook. In my news feed, I was greeted by a Warby Parker ad for one of the pairs of glasses I chose. That ad followed me for days, stalking me on social media or any websites I visited. And these ads knew me, or at least the products I was considering. Being a marketing professional, I knew that Warby Parker wasn’t really stalking me, they were just “remarketing” or “retargeting” me.
SXSW EXPERIENCE
While business get a ton of information online, this strategy has been used for years. For example, Target used transactional data back in 2012 to send ads for pregnancy products in the mail to women. The catch? Some of the women weren’t even aware they were pregnant and Target was able to figure it out before they did thanks to all of this information.
get more detailed. This means you will see more targeted emails, ads, and content based on your digital behavior and history. While there are ways to be careful on what you share or do online, this data can be used to serve you better and improve your online shopping experience–if you don’t mind them watching.
This article is sponsored by Aztek, a web design, development, and digital marketing agency located in downtown Cleveland. aztekweb.com
Even if you’re not pregnant, the amount of data that is gathered about you continues to grow and
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You Can Quote Me On That Juan Caminero shows his love for Cleveland on his new podcast Quote UnQuote Darrick Tahir Rutledge Photography // Ricardo Cruz
J
uan Caminero is the host of one of Cleveland’s newest podcasts, Quote UnQuote. He talks to guests of many different walks of life, but they all have one common mindset: they want to bring something positive to the city around them.
PressureLife: Have there been any disadvantages, because of your age, that you have had to endure while starting your podcast? Juan Caminero: I’m sure being in my early twenties and looking even younger may influence the way certain people might perceive me, but overall it hasn’t been too much of an issue. Once people can tell I’m passionate about the show, they take me seriously regardless of age. What made you want to start a podcast in an age where many people have such short attention spans? The podcast world is managing to boom despite the common idea that our generation can't focus long. I read somewhere that millennials are really good at multitasking, so listening to something while at work or inside the gym makes an hour long podcast more feasible. I was inspired to take a chance on this by shows that are one or two hours longer than mine. In a world where chaos and information are coming from all angles, I think of my show as a break in the momentum that says, “Hey, see if this helps.”
laugh, but through arenas such as this podcast, I’ve been able to interact with humans of all sorts. The main things I look for in people are authenticity and kindness. Everything else is the sauce on top. What about Cleveland has kept you rooted to this place? What's stopping you from just packing up and never looking back? Love is what definitely keeps me rooted to this place. I know a time may come where I'll need to pack up, but at this point in my life I’m learning some incredible lessons right here where I grew up.
Once people can tell I’m passionate about the show, they take me seriously regardless of age.
What's next for Quote Unquote? When can you look at this creative outlet you have developed and feel that you've made it? I’m constantly asking myself how I can improve the content of the show, and I expect a ton of changes will take place as time goes on. I think “making it simpler” represents a transition into a new phase. I can't predict the outcome, but I love doing this and life seems to have it’s way of rewarding you for pursuing what you love.
What kind of individual do you find yourself flowing in conversation with? I’m the kind of person who looks for the meaning in things, so I riff best with people who are able to clearly define the meaning of what they do. I’m sure it can get taxing on the mind from sitting down with a multitude of personalities. How do you keep yourself grounded? Surprisingly, having conversations with these people isn't taxing at all. The real challenges are staying committed, planning ahead, and thinking on your feet. Aside from my sense of purpose, what actually keeps me grounded are the connections I share with these guests and people who support the show. Do you tend to surround yourself with a very eclectic group of people or individuals who are similar to your personality? My inner most circle consists of creative types who are inspired by life and love to
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To listen or subscribe to Quote Unquote, visit jdcaminero.com
PressureLife Picks Upcoming Events to See
Ramon Rivas II
April 12 // Hilarities
Alan Cox Show Comedy Tour April 14 // House of Blues
Chris Rock
April 19 – 20 // State Theatre
Jim Breuer
April 21 – 22 // Hilarities
Thursday
April 23 // House of Blues
Bill Burr
May 2 – 3 // Hilarities
Mastodon
May 4 // Agora Theatre
Say Anything + Bayside
May 5 // House of Blues
Everclear
May 30 // Agora Theatre
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Nora Italian Ristorante Dine with the PressureLife Team
H
ate onions? Put ketchup on your ketchup? We all have unique likes and dislikes, so when you hear about a new restaurant, whether it be from a foodie or someone who lives off of toaster pastries, you don’t know if their tastes align with your own. So, instead of reading a review from one source, take it from four members of our team. Even though we are woefully under qualified to review a restaurant, at least one of us will likely share some of your distinct tastes. For this issue, the PressureLife crew visited Nora, a small Italian restaurant tucked away, appropriately, in Little Italy. Our crew managed to stop by right in time for the happy hour special, a 20 percent-off deal for patrons who eat at the bar between 5 and 7 p.m. How did Chef Eddie Zalar’s intriguing twists on Italian classics fare in our review? According to our team, pretty well. --------------------------------Loved: I’m an absolute sucker for a good carbonara, and Nora’s fettucine hit the mark. It managed to find a balance of creamy and salty without ever getting too heavy. Also, the matchstick potatoes added a nice crunch to the dish. Aaron’s scallop special was a close second for me.
ALEX
Liked: The bread was a big hit, and rightfully so. It was light and airy with just a bit of a chew. The chive butter was also a really nice touch. The happy hour special was also a great deal (if you’re one of the lucky people to snag one of the six bar spots). Disappointed: This is not really a fault of the restaurant, but parking can get a bit scarce. If you don’t mind hunting for street parking or walking a bit, no worries. Hated: The moment when I had no more fettucine carbonara. It was a sad moment. Rating: 4.5 /5
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JIM
Loved: The bread and the butter. Best bread I’ve had in a long time and the chive butter was on point.
Liked: I enjoyed all four dishes, which were the Pappardelle with duck confit, Fettucine, Chicken and Eggplant Parmesan, and the day’s scallop special. The 20 percent off your whole bill during happy hour is a nice touch. Disappointed: I really enjoyed the scallops, everything married together really well. However the pistachios were whole and I think if they were crushed it would've been less alarming on the teeth. I thought I broke a tooth.
Likes & Dislikes
Get to know the group's taste preferences Alex: Mango is death; thinks garlic is a beautiful
ingredient; can be seduced with a good meat and/ or cheese board but hates blue cheese; loves meat in pretty much all forms Jim: Prefers a salad over a burger but a steak over anything else; loves spicy and sour flavors; despises donuts and dry bakery; will try anything once Aaron: Likes spicy; hates Thanksgiving stuffing or whatever that spice is; favorite food is anything from the sea; will try eating anything for the experience of it Hannah: Enjoys foods that are savory and slightly over-salted; meals are typically a collection of small snacks; hates funky cheeses and properly cooked red meat; generally not a picky eater
Hated: I didn't hate anything. This category is null and void for me. Rating: 4 /5
Loved: I live for seafood. When I was a kid at Seaworld (I know, I know, Blackfish) I would watch them feeding the dolphins out of the smelt bucket and get jealous. That being said, I absolutely loved the scallops, which were just the right amount of sweet and savory. They were crisp on the outside with a nice buttery finish. This item is not on the menu, but it should be. The plate is balanced nicely with a creamy polenta and added pistachios for a tasty crunch.
AARON
Liked: The atmosphere was quaint, very quaint, the kind of quaint that makes you wish you wore a tie and found Jesus, but it was a nice change of scenery for this barfly. Disappointed: This is a tough one, I really enjoyed the whole experience. Future me wishes there were more bar stools. If I wanted to bring a few more people, we would have to sit at a table, and like I said before, I prefer to be at the bar. Hated: I hated, and still continue to hate, the fact that there is no easy way to get to this place from the westside. Nora, if that is your real name, please open a westside location. Rating: 4 /5
Loved: Alex’s carbonara fettucine (I didn’t know I liked carbonara!) and Aaron’s scallops were delicious. I also couldn’t get enough of the polenta they were served with. And who wouldn’t love 20 percent off their entire bill?
HANNAH
Liked: Our server. We were lucky enough to occupy four out of their six bar seats and our server/bartender, who I believe was only on her first or second day, was very attentive and offered up knowledgeable menu recommendations. She also gave a pretty generous prosecco pour which was much appreciated. Disappointed: Disappointed might not be the right word, but I was a little surprised that the chicken and eggplant parmesan that I ordered wasn’t breaded and that it didn’t come with a carb. I probably should have actually read the menu – I don’t think I made it past the title. But if you have “Americana” chicken and eggplant parm in your head, this is definitely a different take. Hated: I don’t recommend sitting in the third bar stool from the door at 6 p.m. in late March. It is perfectly aligned with a small window behind the bar and you’ll be blasted in the face with sun for approximately 13 minutes. Rating: 4.5 /5
Nora Italian Ristorante 2181 Murray Hill Rd. Cleveland, OH 44106 // 216.231.5977 noracleveland.com
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the
BI GGE ST IN TOWN
FUSED FROM SOME OF THE REGION’S WILDEST SOLO ACTS, T H E W I Z B A N G .I C I R C U S H A S A R R I V E D
N
Adam Dodd Casey Rearick @caseyrearickphoto
one of childhood’s flights of fancy bear greater wings than running away with the circus when it comes to town. Initiated into a deeper mystery of colorful characters and uncanny abilities, the scope of reality broadens in the presence of such performers. Curtains rise—romantic with the legacy of traveling caravans and tents—and then fall—leaving the audience witness to the spectacle of imagination. Strongmen, aerialists, sideshow acts, singers, dancers, and magicians—not as nostalgic legend, but here, now.
The Wizbang! is in town. Fused from an amalgam of diverse talents gathered together by showrunners and performers Jason and Danielle Tilk, the Wizbang! has already begun developing a cult following in the few years they’ve been
performing as one. The troupe’s first tents were raised with help from Ingenuity Labs funding and a Kickstarter campaign, which funded their performance at 2013’s IngenuityFest. Not long after, they would be selling out shows for hometown crowds before beginning successful tours of Detroit, Ann Arbor, Dubuque, Columbus, and points in between. Raised on Smothers Brothers reruns as well as the stage acts of magicians Tommy Cooper and Paul Daniels, Danielle’s innate vibrancy proved a rush of oxygen to a fire Jason had kept kindling over the years. A product designer by day with his name attached to over a dozen patents, Jason recalls first meeting his future wife: “She had an accordion when we met. When we got together, she reignited my joy in being a ham. Next thing I know, we’re writing sketches and I’m accompanying her on accordion.”
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THAT’S WHEN I REALIZED NO,
YOU GIVE THEM SOMETHING
ODD & MAGICAL SOUNDING & THEY'LL LISTEN Soon, Jason and Danielle would be taking stages as Pinch and Squeal, respectively. Their alter egos’ costumes and songs are a gonzo pastiche owing to the traditions of carnival and vaudeville acts as well as pop culture institutions like Hee-Haw and Laugh In. While the pair would later meet with other wildly diverse talents to form the nucleus of what was to be the Wizbang!, Danielle’s pursuit of the stage first saw light early in her childhood. “I did musical theater growing up and Russian-technique ballet. At fifteen I realized I didn’t want to do other people’s dances anymore.” Taking cues from inspirations like the Carol Channing, Phyllis Diller, and French singer Edith Piaf, she counts the multitude of styles and acts she’s performed off the tips of her fingers. “I did some Liza Minnelli impersonations in Arizona and learned belly dancing—dancing in restaurants and teaching while I was putting shows together. I kept adding, with my dancers, more showboat stuff, weird costumes. That’s when I realized there was more to this.” “We cut our teeth in the neo-burlesque scene,” Jason adds of their early days. “The groups that were putting on shows, they were having variety performers, like us, in their shows, and then we met all these amazing characters. That’s what started us curating our own variety shows.” Half the thrill for the showrunners lies in finding homes for all the disparate talents they recruit through their travels. From the Hungarian violinist to the cadre of hip-hop dancers in Detroit they’re in the midst of carving places for, the joy of Wizbang! is the breathtaking diversity of its acts.
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“We like to add local talent in while we’re away,” Jason remarks of the ever-fluid lineup. “If there’s a performer in Grand Rapids, maybe it’s a little much to ask her to come all the way to Cleveland, but Detroit is an easier sell.” Jason considers his retinue: “Half of the draw is their stage performance and talent, but another huge half it is their personality. Basically everyone that we perform with is welcome in our home when they’re traveling through town.” “Yeah, it’s like the Happiness Hotel in The Muppet Show,” Danielle laughs. “Fortunately, we’ve never really had a problem with egos. We’ve always communicated really well that we’re in this together.” 2013’s Ingenuityfest served as a baptism by fire with the troupe performing between 20 to 30 15-minute shows over the weekend while still in its infancy. The event offered insight for Danielle on the unique, organized chaos the Wizbang! would run on going forward. “I learned quickly, ‘What can you give that’s different but rhythmic and people get a lot for a little bit of time?’ Then we were doing stuff like putting the strong guy with the cabaret singer. I love people walking away wondering what it was they saw.” Aside from a small handful of performers that have earned a wider latitude from sharing the stage with Pinch and Squeal over the years, the two take ownership of the show, maintaining a level of uncompromising wonder throughout the bill. Danielle explains, “All of
CHRISTOPHER BOGUCKI
CHRISTINE FADER
AKA THE BIG ICKY
AKA MISS THANG
Powers: “I’m something of a pain psychic. I divine my images by having pain inflicted on me.”
Powers: “I play a Jazzercise guru who needs to constantly chain smoke cigarettes and sing at the top of her lungs.”
Origins: “I’ve always had a darker side in general. … I built my own bed of nails. I picked up juggling, oddly enough, on my honeymoon with my ex-wife.”
Origins: “[Danielle and I] used to perform together in a different entity, and then we got together one night and she came up with this brilliant idea of this character and I immediately said, ‘Oh my gosh, this is hilarious. Let’s do this!’”
On pain: “ People know that sensation. They can associate with what’s happening to me on stage because everyone has done something to hurt themselves by accident.”
Inspirations: YouTube clips from ‘70s and ‘80s exercise videos Dream Stage: “The Tiboli in Copenhagen. It’s the world’s oldest amusement park. It’s so charming and kitschy.”
Desired superpower?: “Wolverine’s healing factor. Then I could set myself on fire on stage. It would look horrific, but in a couple hours I’d be fine.”
the
UNUSUAL
YOU’VE MET THE RINGLEADERS, NOW MEET THE R E S T O F T H E W I Z B A N G !P E R F O R M E R S
KEITH CAVEY
RUSSELL TAYLOR
AKA SWEET KEITH
AKA SATORI CIRCUS, CONRAD LEE
Powers: “I take parts as narrator, jokester, singer, and foil to Pinch and Squeal.”
Powers: “I’m a little German theatre mixed with American vaudeville mixed in with surreal humor.”
Origins: “I played [piano] for eight-and-a-half years with various Marine Corps bands and went all over. I played at Reagan's funeral. I met Squeal while I was playing downtown at a burlesque show.”
Origin: “I was in an art band in the eighties. We were still punks, but we were arty-farty punks. Then I carried on that sort of machismo into Satori Circus, which I started in ’88.“
Inspirations: “Tom Lear. Tom Waits. I’ve been on a big diva kick lately, so I’m really into Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Beyonce.”
Inspirations: “Buster Keaton. Captain Kangaroo. I absolutely adored Three Stooges, Charlie Chaplin, Marx Brothers. Then I got into my teens and it was Monty Python.”
What cartoon should join the WizBang!?: “Calvin [of Calvin and Hobbes]. I like his imagination. Who knows what he would bring, but he’s got a ‘bad boy’ spirit and an edgy philosophical air about him.”
Monster Team-up: “It wouldn’t be Nosferatu. We look too similar. I think Frankenstein. Mary Shelley’s version because that dude was smart.”
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the acts in between that, we have them show us what they’re going to do. I’m constantly working with them, so it’s theirs. It’s not me giving them a script.” Jason adds,“The bottom line is we’ve got such insane respect for our performers that, simultaneously, we see a vision for them in their act and if they need any help, it's always a collaborative effort.”
THERES A JOY
elaborate now that we’re working together for a long time. We like to keep it simple though for the audience to use their imagination. I think that’s part of the magic. You don’t want to force a feeling.”
Remaining true to those lessons, learned on the road and between friends, has seen the Wizbang! expand as prolifically as their desire is to perform. With restorations scheduled for completion later this summer, North Collinwood’s vintage La Salle Theatre stands to serve as the group’s de facto base of operations. Jason explains, “We were looking for a home. We’ve got an arrangement with Northeast Shores to put on shows there—big Wizbang! shows.” In addition to staging larger performances that will see portions of proceeds going toward rehabilitative non-profits, the duo is also considering the potential of creating a circus school on the grounds. “We love the idea of bringing kids in and teaching them stuff and putting on little recitals, making variety shows for them.”
NOT AT ODDS WITH OUR REALITY SIMPLY ONE TO WHICH
FANTASTICALLY ALIEN
THEY Possessing a special, manic energy, the shows ARE never spin out of control. Rather, it is this very flirtation with insanity that has come to serve as the Wizbang’s most endearing feature. Whether it a banjolele- and accordion-clad Pinch and Squeal, one of the Big Icky’s feats of self-flagellation, Will Oltman’s triple threat of juggling, puppetry, and interpretive ‘90s nostalgia-dance (replete with Skip-Its, slap bracelets, and pogs), or any number of the night’s other unpredictable acts, the audience hasn’t a chance knowing what they’ll see next. Jason jokes, “We always says, ‘If you don’t like this act, wait five minutes.’” Employing method to their madness, their ever-adapting presence has allowed them all the wider an audience. “We do kids shows every once and a while. Family friendly in the afternoon. Not that our evening shows are that much, but they’re a little more risqué.” “That’s my fault,” Danielle cops with a laugh.
“It was really fun doing [the kids shows],” Jason reveals. “She sings Edith Piaf’s ‘Padam’ and I play the accordion while she brings kids on stage. She makes them hold her sheet music and messes up their hair. Everybody laughs, but she’s singing and there are these kids in the audience the whole time that are just completely enthralled.” The performance offered a profound insight for Danielle. “I almost held back on doing that song thinking they were going to get bored. That’s when I realized, ‘No, you give them something odd and magical sounding and they’ll listen.’” Affording this relentless pace is their learned mastery over efficient stagecraft, working with only the bare minimum before passing the floor to the next act. “We’ve always kept it really simple,” Danielle explains. “We’re on and off—ten minutes. It’s getting a little bit more
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If that wasn’t enough, the pair maintains a regular spot most Friday nights at Pickwick and Frolic and is in talks with Cleveland Public Theatre to begin a recurring nightclub act in addition to the larger Wizbang! performances. Championing invitation over confrontation, politics remain the only subject from which both Pinch and Squeal are strident for the Wizbang! to avoid. The disconnect from our own world is what fosters such wonder in the one they’ve created. A boundless enthusiasm courses through every instant of their live performances. Theirs is a joy that is not at odds with our reality, simply one to which they are fantastically alien. Jason admits, “I would love to make a statement, but simultaneously I want people to just forget for a minute.” Such is the magic of their traveling circus. They are misfits, weirdos, sideshows, and self-avowed oddballs. They are also some of the most incredibly talented, dedicated, generous, and beautiful people on a single bill. That’s Wizbang! for you: they pitch a big tent and there’s room for everybody. “It’s like we say,” Jason and Danielle explain in unison, “Pinch and Squeal: one fan at a time.”
We Turned Two And we have a lot to be thankful for. Celebrating issue 12 and your continued support in allowing us to bring you the best of Cleveland.
Cheers,
PRESSURELIFE.COM
Gennifer Harding-Gosnell Names of individuals in this article have been changed to protect the privacy and the personal safety of those involved.
R
eporters have it simple: we research, we document what we observe, we write the piece, and we go on to the next one. But occasionally, you get a story that becomes something different— very different—than what you expected.
Out from behind
BARS A look into the successes and failures of the juvenile justice system
PressureLife editors assigned me to a story about teenage gang members in prison and the education they can obtain there. They felt I was the best fit because my day job is in social services. I had an idea of what kind of story I wanted to tell, but after I documented and observed, I ended up with a story that raised many questions but provided few answers.
Richard Gooden is a teacher at a juvenile correction facility near Cleveland. Ohio mandates imprisoned youth must receive education while incarcerated, hence the development of high schools within the prisons. They operate just like any typical high school, though the students are anything but.
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“My best classes, we don’t even talk about school. We just talk about stuff,” says Gooden. “Life, things they don’t understand like applying for credit, student loans, trade school. Many of them have never left the state, so we talk about what it’s like to travel, have relationships, how to talk around adults and women.” Gooden’s students occasionally have rap battles, which he says are both impressive and genuinely enjoyable. “It kind of sucks though, thinking about how awesome they could be if they had a different support system. Some of them could have scholarships. [They are] smart guys who could do academics or athletics. They have no support system at home that will teach them a work ethic. It’s like, going to jail is just an expectation for their lives.”
Gooden’s high school graduates about 25 students per year. Though graduation days are rewarding, Gooden’s biggest reward comes from the connection he makes with his students. “I’m a bit of a misplaced soul. I was that kid that didn’t give a fuck. I cared about school, but I did bad things. Being able to relate to these guys and having them treat me as I’m one of their own—where I came from, I actually understand them. They embrace me, rather than seeing me as just some white dude that comes from wherever. They talk to me. They ask me questions.” Gooden adds, “They don’t trust people, but they trust me.”
Gooden invited me to a show at the Agora—one of his most promising graduates was opening for a national rap act. Chris Rodgers, 19, completed high school in jail just last year and is starting school at a four-year university this year. In person he is astute, energetic, and cerebral. “I knew Chris should not have been there,” says Gooden. “With more direction and support, he could easily have been an honors student. He understands life and the importance of education, but was just caught up in not understanding the gravity of his actions. When the status quo abandons you but wants you to be an upstanding citizen, it’s a paradox that is difficult to overcome. I have nothing but admiration for Chris and his ability to learn, adapt, and change.”
When the status quo abandons you but wants you to be an upstanding citizen, it’s a paradox that is difficult to overcome.
Rodgers is an aspiring rapper, defying cliché by being actually good. Think a Cleveland-sized variant of Big L. The lyrics of his signature song are gritty and in-your-face, his delivery of them is clean and on-point, and the music is minimalist—it sounds Cleveland. “I wanted to wake up the current generation,” he says. “Our generation tends to hear what they want. I felt like if I put it in a song people might receive it more strongly.”
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About a month after the Agora show, I was covering a local hip-hop festival for PressureLife and thought of Chris. My media contacts occasionally become social work contacts, usually through a simple, casual conversation about my “other job.” Chris isn’t on my caseload, but for many of us working in social services, we occasionally find ourselves assisting in situations outside of the efforts we earn a paycheck for—it’s all in a day’s work, really. I took a shot in the dark and asked about putting him on the bill and the promoters agreed. Gooden, Rodgers, and I were all excited about the gig. It would be an opportunity for Chris to promote his music and network with the local hip-hop scene. That day, Chris texted me and Richard and told us he wouldn’t be able to make the show for reasons social service providers call “barriers to equal access.” The three of us were then just as disappointed as we had been excited. So now what? Gooden says Rodgers has reached out to him for everything from general encouragement to advice on buying a car. “Their families are either absent, in the same shit because they also don’t have any life skills, or too busy working two and three jobs just to survive,” Gooden tells me. Rodgers currently lives with his sister in a
OUT FROM BEHIND BARS continues on page 23
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Still Fighting The Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus does not intend to sit passively through Donald Trump’s presidency. Kevin Naughton
I
met Tristan Rader back in January of 2016 when I wrote about the grand opening of the Bernie Sanders volunteer campaign office in Lakewood. He was kind enough to stop and chat with me about the office opening despite managing the event and the sizable crowd it drew. Rader has a master’s in public administration and told me that he’s “always followed politics and volunteered where [he] could.”
When Sanders lost the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton, I assumed the little office next to the 5 O’Clock Lounge would close back up and turn into a Crazy Mullets or something. Turns out I vastly underestimated the tenacity of Rader and the activist organization he’s put together. Rader and I sat down for a drink next door to the former Sanders campaign office and he brought me up to speed, starting at the beginning: “Basically, our grassroots Bernie Sanders network transitioned into what is now the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus,” explains Rader. Inspired and motivated by the Sanders campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, Rader set out to volunteer for the campaign. Upon discovering that no local office existed, he created one. “I had a meeting at my house,” he recalls. “I just posted it on the Bernie Sanders website, and the house was packed with all kinds of interesting people, including a couple state senators and representatives.” He added, “Those connections have been vital to keeping this moving.” His work at the grassroots, volunteer-led Sanders campaign office yielded results: most of Lakewood voted for Sanders in the primaries.
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After the Sanders campaign ended, Tristan campaigned for Hillary Clinton—“In order to stop Trump,” he adds as a careful disclaimer— because he wasn’t going to let the large grassroots activist organization that he had created go to waste. Planned to coincide with Sanders’ endorsement of Clinton, the Lakewood office announced its transition into the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus. The initial plan, as Rader puts it, was to “hold Hillary’s feet to the fire” on progressive issues when she won the election, but things obviously panned out differently. Trump’s election victory would require not only a new strategy, but a new assessment of the political landscape.
Author’s Note
I’m writing this for the countless friends and acquaintances I’ve spoken with who have been left feeling angry, frightened, and/or hopeless after the 2016 election cycle. Friends and activists I knew who were inspired and motivated by the Sanders campaign were left feeling defeated and angry by his loss in the primaries; they practically collapsed in a heap after Trump won the election. After the election, my own sister texted me at 2:30 in the morning about how frightened she was of Trump’s victory. Up to that point, I admit to having been resigned to the reality of the results, or even cynically indifferent. Her words snapped me back into reality. I still tear up when I think about how scared and upset she sounded. Journalistic neutrality be damned; that’s the place this article is coming from. So many people have told me they want to protest Trump’s policies somehow, but aren’t sure how to get involved. Well, hopefully this article can serve as a good place to start. I’ve grown tired of people lamenting the futility and pointlessness of getting involved in politics; spare me your cynicism. I walked away from this interview with a (much-needed) renewed sense of hope. Hopefully, it does the same for you.
“I went to a Black Lives Matter meeting,” he recalls. “It was at a church, and it felt like a funeral because so many people were so scared. Scared of Trump and what that meant for the African-American community, the African-American Muslim community—it was an atmosphere of fear. And that’s where it hit me. This is where it’s going to be the most real. And we really have to fight for people of color, people of different faiths and backgrounds. These are the people that are going to get hurt the most by this.” Rader says that the atmosphere after the election made it difficult to organize effectively, at first. “People wanted to vent. People were angry,” he recalls. “I think the marches helped. People wanted to get out there and do something.” The CCPC had a role in
STILL FIGHTING continues on page 24
OUT FROM BEHIND BARS continued from page 21
suburb far from the environment that helped land him in prison, but the location makes transportation difficult and his sister works enough that she is unable to devote all the time and energy needed to support him. Chris would not have made it to his first show at the Agora had Richard not driven him. His social worker from the prison and his parole officer have also assisted Rodgers outside of their professional realm of services. “Equal access” means everyone has the same opportunities to gain access to what they require to live successfully. Not having life handed to you, but having the knowledge and resources in place to be able to obtain success independently. “These kids get released,” Gooden explains, “and they go right back to the same neighborhood with the same people and pick up where they left off. Even if they want to do better, they have very limited resources. They need a life coach, honestly. Someone living with them. You could say ‘Well, they should be responsible for themselves,’ but it doesn’t work that way. You need someone waking them up and telling them, ‘Go to your fucking job’ every single day until they get it. And they probably wouldn’t have any high school education at all if they didn’t go to prison.”
They don’t get the law or society’s resources on their side, so they don’t know how to get back in.
The unwritten rules most of us take for granted—like understanding the importance of being to work on time, how to use public transport when you can’t afford a car, or why you shouldn’t get a neck tattoo—we learned them from family members and mentors many of these kids don’t have and through life experience you can’t get when you’re in prison. I was able to get Chris connected with the promoters of the show he missed and we may get a do-over. I’ve since helped him with writing professional emails and offered him advice. He knows his limitations and respects all he still has to learn. He’s very self-aware, having once admitted to me that he doesn’t manage money well. He’s wise for his age and quite thoughtful. Musically-speaking, he’s talented as fuck and has real potential. My initial motivation to help Chris came from being blown away by the YouTube clip of his track Richard Gooden had sent me for my story. This kid deserves a chance to be someone better than who he was and he can’t do it alone. None of us can, really. In social services, the difference in the amount of success between those that have support and those that don’t is stunning. I have the knowledge, the resources and the experience to help. And if I don’t, who will?
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cidence, as being closely aligned with those of the Bernie Sanders campaign. The “heart and soul of the values,” Rader affirms, “are from that campaign.” “I was actually a big fan of Bernie’s slogan,” notes Rader. “A lot of times you like political slogans. I hate 95% of political slogans. But Bernie’s was ‘A future to believe in,’ and I think that really encapsulates what we want to do with group. We want to create and aim toward a future that we can all sort of be proud of and believe in.” So, Cleveland Bernie-crats who were left feeling disillusioned or defeated by this past presidential election can find hope in the fact that the CCPC and organizations like it are fighting to preserve and forward—with increasing success, mind you—the agenda they fought for during the primaries.
STILL FIGHTING
continued from page 22 planning the Women’s March in Cleveland, contributing 15,000 protesters—fifteen times the expected amount—to the millions who marched across the country.
People can’t get in the door. There’s a hundred people packed into this little room, and people are leaving because they can’t get in.
This trend was to continue. On the surface, Trump’s election may appear to have been a huge blow to the progressive movement, and in a lot of obvious ways it was. However, it can’t be denied that it has had a huge galvanizing effect on the political left—possibly even more than the Sanders campaign, which was one of the largest grassroots political movements in recent history. That’s a bold statement, I know, but the CCPC has thus far lent it some credence. After the election, the organization boasted about 400 members. By the end of November, however, that number more than doubled. Rader recalls the first membership meeting: “People can’t get in the door. There’s a hundred people packed into this little room, and people are leaving because they can’t get in.” This pattern repeated, with the CCPC booking larger and larger venues to hold the meetings only to discover they needed a still larger room to accommodate attendance. At the time this article went to press, the CCPC had over 2,500 members, with more membership meetings planned across the city. I ask Rader about the CCPC’s strategy and goals moving forward, now that we’re settling into Trump’s presidency. He answers, “Setting sights toward the future, we want, and are working very hard, to stick to the core values and principles that were why we got involved in this in the beginning.” Those values include environmental concerns, women’s equality, single-payer healthcare, union and bargaining rights—political positions that you may recognize, and not by coin-
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So what’s the plan? More protests and demonstrations? Of course, Rader says, but he adds, “We’re doing things at all levels. We have a Trump response team that’s reacting to some of the stuff that’s happening nationally, we’re doing things at the state level—to lobby our state officials about the budget—and we’re doing local things.” This flies in the face of a lot of critics who claim that the left are nothing but paid protesters who are just upset about losing the election. “We have a vision for what our country should be,” Rader asserts. “We’re not just doing this to throw a temper tantrum just because we’re upset.” Getting involved in local politics is a crucial, yet often very difficult, step to take in effective political engagement, and the CCPC is doing everything it can to make that step easier.
Another obstacle to political engagement is much more simple, much more human, but often the most powerful: pessimism. I tell Rader I feel like the most common reason people give for not taking part in the political process is that they think it’s futile or hopeless. “It’s not hopeless,” Rader argues back. “I see a lot of people on the ground working really, really hard. I go to these neighborhood connection meetings and 60, 70 people are showing up wanting to run for office, wanting to know how to become committee people.” He continues, “I don’t see why there’s any reason not to be optimistic. People are like, ‘You’re crazy, there’s Trump. That’s a huge reason not to be optimistic.’ If there’s any reason not to be optimistic, it’s if people choose to step back at this point.” Historically, he’s right. The only times in history where major political change actually occurs is when people band together and refuse to accept defeat, no matter the odds. Rader thinks that chance is right now. “I think we have an opportunity here. There’s a lot of energy, a lot of groups that want to change things in the city of Cleveland. I think now is great time to get involved in politics.” Rader isn’t just saying that either; he recently declared his candidacy for Lakewood’s city council in the upcoming election. To learn more or get involved, visit cuycpc.org
SXSW EXPERIENCE continued from page 9
My inner child was in heaven when I walked into a large auditorium filled with new computer games accompanied by the creators of these games. Nintendo Switch occupied a large space and gave eager Nintendo fans the chance to finally play the new Legend of Zelda game. We checked out indie game I Can Feel It Coming in the Air Tonight by developer James Earl Cox III of Legend of Zelda Just404it games, which was easily one of the most original games I have ever played. The game is a simulation of what it is like to be a young boy in the ‘90s who is discovering pornography for the first time online. The game starts with the classic dial-up sound and is complete with loud, spamming pop-ups as you dive deep into the internet.
04. Escape! By the last day of the festival, my friend and photographer Clare Welsh and I were suffering from sensory overload. We needed an escape from the bustling city of Austin, but we were not ready to return home just yet. A friend recommended we check out the Barton Creek Greenbelt. We were not disappointed. The natural springs and waterfalls were heavenly. We hiked up a large hill along a shiny, limestone path, and could view a beautiful cityscape of Austin. We were not the only ones with this idea, as several dogs, often accompanied us with their owners. A combination of dogs and young kids were jumping in and out of the creek and we strolled down the path. We could not help but smile as the dogs seemed like they were having the best day ever.
As children jumped off small cliffs into small pools of natural spring water, I reflected on the beauty of not only the city of Austin, but also the behemoth of a festival, SXSW. I can only imagine what exciting new acts or cool technology to try that SXSW will offer eager patrons next year.
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Gennifer Harding-Gosnell
O
ne man, one scene, a whole lot of shirts. Alex Leal has turned his passion for music into wearable reminders of Cleveland's punk rock history. Let's start from the beginning...
The Past Alex Leal, originally from Sandusky, was
Anarchy in the CLE Keeping Time with Cleveland Underground’s Alex Leal
14 years old when he heard punk rock for the first time. He started making the commute to Cleveland to see shows; his first was the Circle Jerks at the original Peabody’s Nightclub in the Flats. Leal would eventually move to Cleveland, Lakewood specifically, and haunt Madison Village, home of Chris’ Warped Records, Shattered, Capsule Nightclub, Manja, and Chain Link Addiction. The late Ed Wille, co-owner of B-Ware Videos and Books, was a long-time friend.
Leal has also been the drummer for local “Gothabilly” band, Cult of the Psychic Fetus, since its inception in 1992. They’ve shown off their artistry and unusual but very clever sound all over the eastern U.S. and abroad in Toronto and London.
The Present Leal’s love for the punk rock scene and everything in it inspired him to create Cleveland Underground, a line of streetwear clothing and accessories that celebrates our city’s punk history. Leal describes how he made the “Show Night” tee, one of his most popular designs:
“The ‘Show Night’ shirt is pretty much my childhood. My teenage years, my early 20s…The design is a collage of old fliers of shows that I went to in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. I had the idea to put something together to show what the Cleveland scene used to be like. You don’t see fliers as often as you used to because of the internet, but I still have hundreds and hundreds of fliers of shows from that time, so I arranged them and made a graphic to go on the shirt.”
Cleveland Underground’s shirts and other items are available online. Leal has also been peddling his products at local flea markets, record stores, and skate shops, even selling clothing right out of the trunk of his ’56 Buick at car shows. He says Cleveland Underground “has been embraced by the local scene” and is continuing to take shape.
The Future Cleveland Underground is just one aspect of Leal’s vision. Evil Endeavors, LLC, the overhead organization through which Cleveland Underground is operated, was created with the ultimate goal in mind of having one single venue that would specialize in all aspects of Cleveland’s underground culture including burlesque, suspension, sideshow acts, and musical performers. He mentions the early Organ Grinder’s Ball events and the Theatre Bizarre in Detroit as examples of what he envisions Evil Endeavors events may be like. “Cleveland’s a smaller city,” Leal points out. “We get a variety of stuff coming through here and there, but we don’t have just one venue that provides all of these. Because of some of the bigger venues my band plays, we get to see a lot of acts and performers from all over the world.” Leal believes there’s no reason we can’t, or shouldn’t, have that in Cleveland, and with his history and knowledge of The Land’s underground culture, he just may be the right guy to do it.
Keep up with Cleveland Underground on Facebook @clevelandundergroundclothing Shop Cleveland Underground @ inselly.com/cleveland_underground
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Cut From a Different Cloth Jake Miller is churning out quality hats being cut and sewn from the ground up right here in Cleveland
Darrick Tahir Rutledge Jake Miller of Legend Headwear is constantly in pursuit of the perfect hat and shows no signs of settling for anything less. Each cap is hand crafted piece by piece just outside of downtown Cleveland, which to some, may seem too good to be true. Miller prides himself on assuring the consumer that these products are made here because of how many brands or artists come up with a design or idea and then let a third-party manufacturer do the leg work. Miller takes time in cutting, sewing, and embroidering every aspect of the complete product, so it’s more than wearing a hat— it’s wearing art. Legend Headwear is
focused on making a product that the customer will feel proud to wear
All this passion and time that Miller puts into his work is a direct byproduct of working a summer job making embroidered caps with his parents in the 1980s. Summer after summer he would help crank out these handcrafted accessories, and last year he started working on Legend Headwear, which officially launched earlier this year.
Miller vows to not let any baseball caps leave the factory unless he and his team are 100% satisfied with the outcome. Legend Headwear is focused on making a product that the customer will feel proud to wear and give the people a unique style of headwear that will make them one of a kind. Every product that Miller releases is not only handmade, but it’s also a design that won’t be similar to others. Miller has some pop-up shops in the works, but for now, you can follow him on Instagram @Legendheadwear for more updates and check out the site they recently launched at legendheadwear.com
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Different Strokes
Dan Bernardi
W
LISA LOREK
hen Lisa Lorek was a young girl in Mentor back in the '90s, her parents concocted a brilliant plan to entertain her and her siblings while simultaneously keeping them out of trouble. A plethora of animated Disney movies did the trick, and also sparked a creative drive in Lisa.
An Ohio Artist Spotlight
After watching videos on the making of these films, Lisa became fascinated with the idea of becoming a Disney animator. As time passed, she grew out of Disney and into her style with a passion for art and an uncanny knack for bringing letters and words to life.
Part of the beauty in Lisa's craft is her ability to flow between styles with ease.
Music was perhaps the greatest inspiration for Lisa's brand of calligraphy. Lisa admired the melodic wordsmithing of songwriters and specifically loved the lyrics. Like a sort of stenographer karaoke, Lisa captured the essence of the lyrics onto paper in an emotive portrayal of the words as she envisioned them. One of her favorite personal projects is a textbook turned epic sketchbook, in which she inscribed the lyrics to Rilo Kiley’s “A Better Son/ Daughter,” each on a different page in a different font. It was this project that further propelled her down the path of lettering.
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In 2015, Lisa was backed by Free Period Press to illustrate their book Hand-Lettered from A-Z: an Alphabet Coloring Book. In the book, Lisa kicked the alphabet up a notch with a new mix of simple and elaborate designs of the classic ABC's. Around a year later at the end of 2016, Lisa undertook one of her grandest projects yet: a large four-wall lobby mural for Findaway, a content collective out of Solon, Ohio. Finished in January 2017, each wall is plastered with sleek black and white words and images that rep-
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resent the culture of the company, free-handed in Lisa's signature style of seemingly endless textual variety. Part of the beauty in Lisa's craft is her ability to flow between styles with ease, adapting to the context of any given project. Whether she's depicting a quote or lyric, or working on commission for a baby or wedding shower, each of her font choices reflects the mood of the piece with shining attention to detail. For her, part of the fun is matching the visual direction to the project, which boldly shows in each example of her work. As she hand draws with expertly proportional precision, Lisa manages to give character to every character on the page. Living in Ohio City, Lisa works as an art director by day and continues to hone her craft by night, all while preparing for her upcoming wedding to fiancé and go-to critic for her Instagram posts, Mark Quine. It's been a busy year so far, but Lisa hopes to work on more chalk murals in the Flats and arrange group meet-ups with her peers in the budding Cleveland art community, which she reveres as a source of creative motivation. You can check out an array of Lisa's work at lisalorek.com and follow her on Instagram @lisalorek.
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you, Fluffy). They also decided to use female dogs, since women are braver than men. (Also, to pee in the doggie space suit you had to be a female.) Finally, they felt stray dogs were better suited to endure the stresses of space travel because the streets make you hard. Laika the Space Dog was simply a dog roaming the streets of Moscow until she was chosen for the most daring of missions. Those that knew her before her journey described her as kind, but out of place—as if she was meant to do something but hadn’t found it. At the time of her launch, there was no technology for reentering the Earth’s atmosphere, so her mission to space was a one-way trip, which is why her bravery is unsurpassable. In an interview the day before her launch, a stoic Laika said to the Russian people, and to the world, “Though I am about to fly into the sky, do not cry and do not ask why. For the answer is simple, I am a Space Dog.” On Nov. 3, 1957, Laika was launched into space. The launch was successful, but once Laika began to blast through the atmosphere, some of her craft’s thermal insulation tore loose, causing the cabin to heat to 104 degrees. In spite of this, she orbited around the Earth four times before she died. She lived as a hero often does, in obscurity, and died as a hero should, in the heavens. Now that orbit had been achieved, it was time to find out if it was possible to make it to space and back. This time it wasn’t a mission for a lone wolf—it was a job for a duo named Belka and Strelka, who were sent into space on Aug. 19, 1960 and spent a day in orbit before safely returning to Earth. They went to space as two pups trying to make their country proud, and they came back as rockstars.
SPACE DOGS: The History of Canine-Space Flight
Belka and Strelka were prepared for space but not superstardom. Their images were everywhere. “It was Beatlemania before there was such a thing,” Belka said in an interview conducted in 1980. The duo began throwing lavish parties, inviting the biggest celebrities. Strelka explained, “We had this rager one time. Lassie was there. Marmaduke—the cartoon Marmaduke was based off of a real dog—he was alive back then. I saw Marmaduke doing cocaine off of my counter—like how he’d eat pies off the counter—but it was line after line of coke.”
Chad Weaver Illustrations // Aaron Gelston @gelston.design
is only surpassed by its hubris. We believe ourselves to be above the other beings that share the Earth with us. Our evidence for this is many times found in our scientific achievements, none more so than our journey into space. We believe we were the first to space, but we are wrong. Dogs were the first creatures to enter space. Space is the dog’s domain. We are only visitors.
HUMANKIND'S IMAGINATION
Before long the partying led to their downfall, culminating in Belka’s infamous nip slip as she was getting out of a limousine at Old Yeller’s birthday bash. “I was wasted before I got there. Though, honestly, it’s hard to hide your nipples when you have six of them. Also, I’m a dog,” Belka said. Belka and Strelka may have been the first dogs to make it to space and back, but when it came to fame, they crash landed. Sure, the United States did send the first men to the moon, but Russia sent the first living beings, dogs, into space. It’s a feat that we as a nation have never been able to overcome—until now. Now is the time to send the first Party Dog to space. From 1987 to 1989 the United States caught Spuds-fever, as it was the era of Bud Light spokesdog Spuds MacKenzie, the Original Party Animal. Though Honey Tree Evil Eye, the female dog that played Spuds, passed away in 1993, she has a granddaughter named Buzz MacKenzie, whose first name being the same as Buzz Aldrin AND Buzz Lightyear cannot be a mere coincidence.
They say from the moment humans looked towards the heavens, we have always dreamed of flight, but dogs don’t dream—they go fetch. The history of canines’ campaign to conquer the stars began in the Soviet Union in 1951, when on July 22, dogs named Dezik and Tsygan went on a suborbital flight to an altitude of 110km. They parachuted down successfully, and became I saw Marmaduke the first of what would be a long line of Russian rocket dogs. During the buildup of the space race in the 1950s, the USSR decided to use dogs to test if human spaceflight was possible. Soviet scientists felt dogs would be best for spaceflight since they could handle long periods of inactivity (Looking at
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doing cocaine off of my counter—like how he’d eat pies off the counter—but it was line after line of coke.
Why send a Party Dog to space? Partying in space is still an entirely unexplored science. For example, is it possible to have Spring Break in space? What are the logistics of doing a kegstand in zero gravity? And the most important question of all: can you be cool in space? The answer, if we send Buzz MacKenzie to space as the first Party Space Dog, is hell yes.
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