HOLLYW OO D SLIM TAKE A STEP INTO THE 1970s CLEVELAND BLUES SCENE WITH ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL PLAYERS
MUSIC / ENTERTAINMENT / ARTS & CULTURE / LIFE / INDEPENDENT / PRESSURELIFE.COM
S AY W H AT YO U S E E
PressureLife Creative Director, Owner
Jim Bacha
Art Director
Hannah Allozi
Operations Manager / Illustrator
Aaron Gelston
Managing Editor Editor Content Strategist Senior Writers Staff Writers Media Producer
@gelston.design
Ryan Novak Alex Bieler Adam Dodd Dan Bernardi Gennifer Harding-Gosnell Darrick Tahir Rutledge Kevin Naughton Kevin Naughton
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Alexis Rosen
Project Coordinator
Tiffany Fields
Contributors
Annamarie Hudson Casey Rearick @caseyrearickphoto
Chad Weaver Dave Sebille Dave Skorepa Eric O'Callaghan Gabe Voss Mike Suglio Wilson Rivera Distribution
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CONTENTS JUNE / JULY 2017
28
06 Welcome to Jonestown
An exclusive conversation with Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe
08 Taking Back Summer
10 Brewing for the Future
26
08
4th Annual Alternative Press Music Awards Return To Cleveland
Platform’s aggressive path to growth
12 Collision Bend Brewing Co.
Dine with the PressureLife Team
14 Hollywood Slim
Learn about the ‘70s blues scene in Cleveland from one of the men who lived it
06
20
20 Revving Up Cleveland
Vintage Bike and Art Show Returns in July
22 Doing Business
on Their Own Terms
Meet Local Custom Furniture Makers Shred & Co.
10
24 Summer Movies
Guardians of the Galaxy elevates from the early summer film crowd
26 Tech Trends
AI is going to take your job, then kill you
28 Different Strokes
An Ohio artist spotlight: Trisha Previte
30 Declaration of Independables
A Disgruntled Patriot’s Guide to Celebrating the Birth of America
FOLLOW US Facebook // Twitter // YouTube // Instagram @thepressurelife
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22
Pressure Goes Mainstream We take a quick look at what’s happened recently in the big leagues.
Saturday Night Live Longtime castmates, Vanessa Bayer, Bobby Moynihan, and Shasheer Zamata took their last curtain call after season 42. The mini-exodus will force SNL to reshape itself yet again…or they can just let Alec Baldwin do everything.
Game of Thrones It’s the beginning of the end for the royal game of musical chairs. Returning for a penultimate season seven, HBO will deliver the final fate of Westeros before George R. R. Martin finishes penning the novels that began the whole sexy dragon time fun in the first place.
Rhea Butcher Akron-born stand-up and star of Seeso’s Take My Wife, Butcher bears her Cleveland love all over Instagram. Sporting Cavs jerseys, Indians caps, and takes on why LeBron’s simply the best, Butcher bled wine and gold throughout the recent NBA playoffs.
Chris Cornell Lead singer of Soundgarden and Audioslave, Chris Cornell was found dead May 18. Regardless of his demons, Cornell will be remembered for his undeniable imprint on ‘90s rock and the sheer brilliance of his vocal acumen.
Roger Moore We also lost British actor Roger Moore of natural causes at age 89. One of the pantheon of actors who took on the role of 007, Moore’s James Bond is best remembered for his dry wit and those sweet, sweet cardigans.
Twin Peaks David Lynch brings the small town to Showtime for a return a quarter century in the making. PressureLife is absolutely buzzing over the chance to return to the Black Lodge, so be sure to check out our weekly episode reviews online!
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Welcome to
Jonestown PressureLife drinks the Kool-Aid with Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe
Adam Dodd // Photography: Bradley Garner “… A praying mantis and the chemical breakdown for acid pretty much says it all.”
To
say Anton Newcombe is driven is a criminal understatement. The frontman and brains behind the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Anton has released over 20 albums since Methadrone first debuted in 1995. In the interim, there’s been no shortage of articles and documentaries chronicling his oft-volatile relationship with the press, fans, and even his own bandmates. Whatever scrutiny may prove well-earned, even more results from an apocryphal hodgepodge of gossip and folklore.
While talking with PressureLife, Anton reflects on the formative years from his home studio in Berlin.
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A Crash Course in Anton Check out some of the most quintessential Anton Newcombe Dig! A controversial documentary following the rise and fall of frenemies the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols over several years. Either crushingly honest or sensationalist, Dig! offers rare glimpses into both bands and the struggle to “make it.” Lolapallooza 2005 Live Joined on stage with a surprise appearance by the Dandy Warhols, Anton offers rare extended versions of many of his songs while utterly destroying Dashboard Confessional between songs. Take it From the Man A love letter to ‘60s British rock and pop, there’s no mystery why the Union Jack graces the cover. The deep tracklist is ripe with some of the band’s most entertaining numbers to date. My Bloody Underground A real sea change album, this captures the BJM stepping into a much wider sound palette. Tepid Peppermint Wonderland While some greatest hit albums are paltry cash-ins, TPW is an unparalleled retrospective, overloaded with the best BJM has to offer.
“I used to write every single day. I still do,” he answers paradoxically. “There was this demo tape show on the local radio in San Francisco. They would play local music, demos. I used to work so hard to try to get something new ready by every Sunday. I would run down there and just put it on the guy’s desk before he got in just so I could hear it over the radio.” Anton’s consummate artistry consumes and defines him to an atomic level, leaving little room for anything else. When asked which one of the dozens of bandmates he’s shared a stage with over the years has creatively challenged him the most, Anton sighs, “I don’t know. I live in Europe right now. My band doesn’t live here. I’ve got my own recording studio so it’s kind of irrelevant. I’ve always just recorded with whoever I can.”
I always told people, just buy me a studio and I’ll make weird music.
He affords himself the same anonymity when asked why there’s never been a self-titled release by Anton Newcombe.
“I never particularly wanted to be like Beck and be like, ‘Oh, this is me,’ but he’s played with as many different people as I have,” Anton says. “I was just never selling myself that way.” Putting the art ahead of the artist has seen the BJM release three full-length albums in the past six months alone. His latest two full-length LPs, Third World Pyramid and Don’t Get Lost, derive from material recorded together and later split across two albums. The latter serves as a compelling thesis of the BJM’s growth from shoegazer psychedelic revival to a more reflective and global identity over the years. “When we started playing the major label bidding bullshit started from square one,” Anton says. “It was crazy. I always told people, ‘just buy me a studio and I’ll make weird music.’ It took me years to just say ‘I’m the producer.’” While the BJM and Anton’s own record label, The Committee to Keep Music Evil, have long since gone international, his picture still hangs in the rafters of the Grog Shop where he often returns. “I really appreciate the Grog Shop and everybody digging in and Cleveland Heights hanging in there,” Anton says.
To read more about Anton’s creative process, what’s next for the BJM, and anything else on his mind check out the full-length interview at: pressurelife.com/jonestown
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Taking Back Summer Fourth Annual Alternative Press Music Awards Return to Cleveland Gennifer Harding-Gosnell // Photography: Nisha Sondhe
T
he Alternative Press Music Awards return to Cleveland this summer after being moved to Columbus last year to make way for the Republican National Convention. Quicken Loans Arena will host the APMAs Monday, July 17.
Performers include Korn, Machine Gun Kelly, The Pretty Reckless, Against Me!, and Bone Thugs. Panic! At The Disco, A Day To Remember, Good Charlotte, and The Deftones are just a few of the nominees vying for recognition in categories like Song Of The Year to Most Dedicated Fanbase. PressureLife snagged AP boss Mike Shea for a Q&A about the upcoming event: PressureLife: Can you talk about being shut out by the RNC last year? What happened, how it affected the APMAs, and how you’re bringing the show back to Cleveland?
There are no guilty pleasures anymore, everybody kinda likes everything..
Alternative Press: We heard after the show at the Q in 2015 that the RNC was going to come to Cleveland and it was very possible they would take over everything downtown and we were probably going to have to move our show. We looked around in Pittsburgh and Detroit, we had some industry people suggest we move to L.A., but we wanted to keep it in Ohio. We thought, "Why don’t we make our show have a presidential campaign theme, to match the election? Since everybody in Columbus is coming to Cleveland for the convention, why don’t we go to Columbus?’"We swap it out, so we have a party in Columbus while the parents are out of town. It turned out to be great. [After the RNC,] the City of Cleveland came to the table and said they really want to support the show and use it as an example of what Cleveland can do with music, outside of just having concerts. I’m really happy to be back. PressureLife: How did Machine Gun Kelly and Bone Thugs end up on the bill? The Cleveland connection? What was the thinking behind bringing rappers to a metal/punk audience?
Alternative Press: When I was growing up in high school in the ‘80s, kids were into to mostly one kind of music. You could tell what everyone listened to by how they looked; they sat at their own lunch tables with the other kids who listened to the same kind of music. Today, everything
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is different because of streaming services and iPods. The mixtape culture became the norm. There are no guilty pleasures anymore. Everybody kind of likes everything, so you can be into hard rock but also like pop and people don’t really judge you for it. The hip-hop community has had a foundation and always been a part of the alternative community. Many of these fans that may like Fall Out Boy also like a lot of hip-hop. Bone was going to play with Taking Back Sunday and had to pull out from the 2015 show for an emergency and we always said we wanted to get them back, and we got them this year. MGK was with us the first year; he’s so incredibly talented and has been awesome to work with. He’s professional, and he just brings it every single time.
PressureLife: Tell us about the grant program you’re collaborating on with Hopeless and Sub City Records. Alternative Press: Hopeless and Sub City wanted to do something a little bit different to try and get fans to start non-profit organizations and be a lot more involved rather than just commenting or liking things on Facebook. They made this challenge for fans to write a grant and submit it. Whichever one wins, they’re going to give a nice chunk of money to someone to start their organization. Soupy from The Wonder Years is their face for it and he’ll be directing the whole thing. I think Hopeless is being very forward-thinking in the way they want to do it.
Voting for award winners is open now. You can vote for your favorite nominees unitl June 30th at altpress.com
Pressure Picks Upcoming Events to See
At The Drive In
June 21 // Agora Theater
David Blaine
June 23 // Hard Rock Rocksino
Night Market CLE
June 30 // E. 21st & Rockwell
Ziggy Marley
July 3 // Hard Rock Rocksino
Punchline
July 7 // Agora Theater
Los Lonely Boys
July 8 // Beachland Ballroom
Rob Zombie
July 11 // House of Blues
Piebald
July 27 // Grog Shop
Fuel Cleveland
July 29 // 5401 Hamilton Ave.
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Brewing for the Future The Ongoing Evolution of a Brewery That’s Not Afraid to be Aggressive Alex Bieler
B
ack before Prohibition, the Leisy Brewing Co. bottling plant was home to the largest brewery in Cleveland. Leisy churned out up to 700,000 gallons of beer in a year before the U.S. government placed a ban on booze. The company never completely recovered from that event and closed in 1958.
Many of the Leisy structures were torn down in the decades since the brewery’s demise, but one five-story brick building on Vega Avenue is still playing a big role in the ongoing evolution of one Cleveland brewery: Platform Beer Co. On one rainy May evening, Platform President Justin Carson walks through the building and discusses the plans in place for each floor of the 120,000-square-foot space.
The coolest thing is when you look back three months, six months, 12 months and think, "Wow, we really accomplished that."
One floor is being converted into a storage and shipping area. The one above that will hold old casks used for barrel aging batches of beer. The main floors currently house most of Platform’s brewing and canning equipment, including a new canner that’s more than twice as efficient as the old setup. That’s a good thing, because Platform ordered five brand new brewing tanks, which brings the total at the Vega location to eight. Construction is also underway for a new event space that will feature food from a notable, but as of yet unnamed, Cleveland chef. While more conservative businesses might be hesitant to take on as many projects as Platform, Carson doesn’t seem worried. In a sense, the ongoing changes in the old Leisy’s building are right in line with Platform’s aggressive rate of growth. However, the company’s origin began with a much different idea than where the company is currently heading. “The objective originally was to brew for other companies, but Platform grew so quickly that we never had any tank space there,” Carson says back at the brewery’s tasting room on Lorain Avenue. “JAFB in Wooster opened up about six to 12 months before we did. Do you know what JAFB stands for? Just Another Fucking Brewery. When I read that, I went to my partner Paul [Benner] and said that we needed to be really creative with whatever we’re doing, something that differentiates us.”
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That new spin was to help local home brewers start their own breweries in addition to producing beers under the Platform name. By the third brewer, Carson and Benner realized that people didn’t necessarily want to leave their jobs and start their own businesses; they were passionate amateurs who wanted a chance to make and can their recipes with professional-grade equipment.
While the home-brewing incubator didn’t pan out quite as planned, the public was responding to Platform’s beer offerings. Instead of brewing beer for other businesses, the company went to work experimenting on its own recipes. They used data analysis to learn about ongoing beer trends and applied their own twists to create products based on both creativity and what the numbers suggested that people wanted. “That’s how we try and apply things; if somebody does something here and it’s proven, can you do it slightly different and have it still work?” Carson says between sips of Luchador Lager, a beer made in
collaboration with Momocho’s Eric Williams. “That’s how my mind works—trying to constantly differentiate ourselves and figure out ways to do things slightly different, but not crazy different.” Carson and the Platform team have never been afraid of being a bit different, including their propensity for taking on multiple projects instead of aiming for slow, gradual growth. While not all businesses could sustain such an aggressive path, Platform has thrived, expanding from producing 90 barrels in the company’s first six months to upwards of 2,000 barrels in a single month these days. That number should continue to grow in the next year thanks to the new tanks at the Leisy building that will help them increase production of their own beers and contract space out for other local businesses. In addition to the ongoing changes down on Vega Avenue, Carson, Benner, and Platform’s 70-odd employees have plenty of other projects to handle, such as the ongoing growth of a tasting room that opened in Columbus back in 2016 and potential distribution to Philadelphia. Platform even maintains a tie to its incubator roots by partnering with a few home-brewing competitions each year and agreeing to can the winning recipe. While not everything has always gone exactly to plan, Carson has no regrets about the aggressive pace Platform has chosen for itself. “When someone asks that question of whether or not you grow too quickly or if you feel like it’s too quickly, you’re still going at your own
Interview with an Adult Babysitter What it's Like to be a Bouncer. Gabe Voss Road House may be many people's only window into what running security at Sione a club or bar could be like. While Road House’s John Dalton would clean up the town from the inside out, there is a difference between bouncing and modern approaches to effectively running security inside a popular watering hole. asked Sione, a security professional in Canton, what it’s like to be an adult babysitter.
pace,” he says. “It’s one of those shame on you situations. If you don’t grow from your mistakes and don’t improve it, then you should probably close your business and not do it. “I tell my employees all the time, especially when you can tell people are getting burned out or feel overwhelmed, the coolest thing is when you look back three months, six months, 12 months and think, ‘Wow, we really accomplished that.’” Time will tell if Platform can manage to keep up the pace, but for now the business is building something exciting in the heart of an old Cleveland brewing institution, and Carson, Benner, and company wouldn’t have it any other way.
stumbling and hitting everything, I’m not going to let you in. PL: What decisions are the hardest for you to make?
PL: How does someone get on your radar? S: A lot of nonverbal cues I look for is how people walk. The big thing is aggressive walking. Sloppy walking are just people who will throw-up, so we don’t want to overserve. If we are watching you, you’ve probably done something to deserve it.
S: On a personal note, keeping work at work. Keeping things separate. Somebody can do something that really upsets you and you can take it home with you. As a bouncer, I have a hard time going out to other places because people recognize me. It’s easy to point out a Polynesian, especially the one who has kicked you out. PL: What patrons are the worst?
PL: What decisions are the easiest for you to make? S: Underage people. You can usually tell. The ones that are nervous, anxious, and sweating walking in the door. Or being too drunk. If you walk in
S: The big thing is people who feel like that they are entitled. They walk around like we are here to serve them. We are here to serve them, but they don’t own the bar. If you’re someone who is known, we will know you and
take care of you in a certain way. But if you’re not, don’t walk over dropping names like you own the place. PL: Any celebrity gossip or stories? S: I started right before [Pro Football] Hall of Fame week. I was working the front door. I had a Hall of Famer walk in—in his playing years he was bigger and I didn’t recognize him. I asked for ID. I thought he was a dick. So, I charged him the cover, told him to take his hat off. I put him through the ringer because I didn’t know who the guy was, plus he was a dick. He ends up walking to the VIP and looks back at me. A friend says, "That’s (I won't say his name) Hall of Fame running back right there." And I was like, "Damn, I’m going to get fired." [Editor’s note: He didn't.]
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What We Ate
The group's menu item ratings Buffalo Tofu: 4 / 5
Collision Bend Brewing Company
San Diego Fish Taco: 5 / 5 Giant Molten Meat Ball: 4.5 / 5 Lamb Tamales: 4.5 / 5 Roasted Brussel Sprout + Braised Pork Pizza: 3.5 / 5 Collision Burger: 3 / 5
Dine with PressureLife
Asian Stuffed Chicken Legs: 3.5 / 5 Golden Raisin Blondie: 4 / 5 Soft Serve Custard: 4 / 5
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 underqualified to review a restaurant, at least one of us will likely share some of your distinct tastes. For this issue, the PressureLife crew visited Collision Bend Brewing Company, a sizable new establishment in the East Bank of The Flats. Would Executive Chef Andy Dombrowski and Brewmaster Luke Purcell Southern California street food and selection of beers impress our team of taste testers? Find out in the next few hundred words!
Liked: I’m a big fan of small plates, and Collision Bend didn't disappoint. Hannah’s fish taco and my lamb tamales tasted great without being too tiny. The giant meatball and buffalo tofu weren't bad, either. If you want to try a bit of everything when you go out to dinner, you'll like this place.
ALEX
Likes & Dislikes Get to know the group's taste preferences
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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
Disliked: To be honest, the beer didn't really wow me too much. I thought the saison was solid, but the hefeweizen wasn't my favorite. The roasted Brussels sprouts and braised pork pizza was good for the first two slices, but there was a sweetness that turned me off of it before I was finished. Rating: 4 /5
Liked: The staff was fantastic and informative and the location and atmosphere were great. I’d recommend splitting a few small plates and skip the entrees. My favorite was Hannah’s fish taco, followed by Aaron’s molten meatball, then Alex’s lamb tamales, and lastly my buffalo tofu. Having said that, the tofu still was delicious.
JIM
Disliked: I found the beer to be dull. Nothing jumped out at me and was a let down due to them being a brewery. Rating: 4 /5
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.
Liked: GIANT. MOLTEN. MEATBALL. As a person who prides himself on the sheer amount of meat and cheese that is inevitably clogging every artery in my body, I can attest to the greatness of this dish.
AARON
Disliked: We sat inside, just a few steps from the server station, in May. Don’t get me wrong, the atmosphere was really chill and the tunes were on point. The only problem was, I couldn’t stop imagining chasing a meatball with an icy pint on their riverfront patio. Next time! Rating: 5/5
Liked: I really enjoyed the atmosphere—it had a cool vibe without trying too hard. I was also really into the “small format” appetizer concept and the fact that they really weren’t that “small.” I would echo Jim and Alex in my favorite small plates and would also recommend trying the custard if you’re up for dessert.
HANNAH
Disliked: I really didn’t dislike anything. I am not a beer drinker so cannot comment on that. However, I was happy that we were sharing the burger and the brussel sprout pizza—they were a little too rich for my blood. Rating: 5/5
Collision Bend Brewing Company 1646 Center St, Cleveland, OH 44109 // 216.749.6556 collisionbendbrewery.com
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HOLLYWOOD SLIM TAKE A STEP INTO THE
1970s CLEVELAND BLUES SCENE WITH ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL PLAYERS
Kevin Naughton Casey Rearick @caseyrearickphoto
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downtown at a cool little dive called Becky's, and like all bars, it's got its cast of regulars that haunt the place. Diverse, fun, charming, and even a little weird, they help make the job feel less like a job and more like a sitcom. One of them is this older gentleman who goes by “Hollywood.” He typically says little, usually opting to read a book rather than converse with the other patrons, but when he does speak, it’s a low, gravelly voice. One day he growled at me, “Kevin, you ought to write an article about me.” “Oh yeah?” I replied, “Why’s that?” He produced a folder full of old photographs of beautiful women, scenes of 1970s debauchery, and himself hanging out with blues legends like Robert Lockwood Jr. “Okay man, I'll write an article about you.” This is that article.
MEET HOLLYWOOD SLIM
He also told me how he rubbed shoulders and jammed with some heavy hitters in the blues world, including greats like Willie Dixon, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Robert Lockwood Jr. “Sonny Boy actually had so much work here that he was renting a place in Cleveland,” he explains. “And then, when he left, Robert stayed.” Lockwood, taught by blues legend Robert Johnson and a legend in his own right, became a sort of mentor to the up-and-coming young musicians in Cleveland. Now, more certain than ever that this was going to be an interesting story, I asked Hollywood to start at the beginning.
Hollywood invited me and my friend Ian, who recorded audio for the interview while I took some video, to his small apartment on Greg “Hollywood Slim” Lucic was born in Cleveland in 1950 the near East side of downtown. It was almost out of a different time to John and Margaret Mary Lucic in the St. Alexis Hospital on period. With the location and character we were interviewing, it felt 49th and Broadway (now gone). “My father brought my mother more like a movie set than an interview for a magazine, which is over here from Ireland,” Hollywood explained. “He met her on appropriate because it turns out it was a movie set at one point—the R&R during World War II.” A reserve soldier, his father was Willem Dafoe flick Tomorrow You’re Gone was filmed in the building sent to fight again in Korea at the outbreak of that conflict, and and Hollywood even makes a few cameos. Hollywood proceeded to Hollywood went with his mother and older brother back to Iretell us all kinds of stories about other land to wait out his father’s service. lesser-known Cleveland musicians like Little Willy, the harmonica player and They made the trip by ship. “I had singer who was shot and killed by his just started to walk at 13 months, I girlfriend, and Mr. Stress, another frontthink,” Hollywood recalls. “As soon man who used to live above the Euclid as I got my little fat ass on the boat, Tavern and worked there as the house I didn’t have no sea legs and my musician, either of which could have a mother had to carry me across the separate article devoted to themselves. Atlantic.” Initially suspicious that “Hollywood Slim”
THE NAME “HOLLYWOOD SLIM”
was not actually the name he was given at birth and that there might be an interesting story behind the moniker, I asked him about it. Pointing to a painting hanging in his kitchen of a portly fellow, Hollywood explains, “As you can see by that portrait,” he laughs, “I was kind of chunky when I got out of college.” He shed some pounds after a few years, and his bandmates started calling their newly skinny and shadewearing friend Hollywood Slim. The name stuck. “Even my family took to calling me Hollywood,” he chuckles. “There’s too many Gregs in my family.”
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LEARNING THE BLUES Hollywood first got into the blues as a teenager in the ‘60s through his older brother. “He would bring Rolling Stones records home and he’d start looking at who wrote the songs, and then he started bringing those [records] home. He’d see Jimmy Reed wrote that song and he’d buy a Jimmy Reed album, or he’d see Muddy Waters wrote that song and he’d buy a Muddy Waters album.”
After the Korean War ended and his father returned home safely, the family moved back to Cleveland where Hollywood’s younger brother, John, was born. Back in the states, his father became a treasury agent, which required him to testify in court against mobsters for tax violations. That must have been as dangerous as it sounds, because Hollywood remembers that it made his mother nervous because his father “was out of town all the time and carrying a gun.”
“In those days, you go to like the Giant Tiger or the Uncle Bill’s, the old discount stores at the time,” Hollywood recalls, “and you’d go buy cutout albums for 99 cents and shit. Memphis Slim and all these terrific blues people, you know? But their records ain’t selling nowhere. It’s ‘race records’ in those days.” They weren’t lost on Hollywood, who affirms, “Some of the best blues albums I bought, I paid 99 cents for at Giant Tiger over on Pearl Road by Southview. Amazing. I still got some of those records.” He played some of these records for me while we hung out. Watching him listen, his passion for the music was evident. A song would end and he’d mutter to himself, “Goddamn.” Then he’d look up and ask, grinning, “Ain’t that something?” All three brothers were quickly hooked and itching to learn how to play. At 16, Hollywood says he “messed around with drums for a while.” He added, “I had a drumset, and I even worked a little bit messing around with a band for a while as a singer and drummer. But I didn’t like carrying that crap around.” A harmonica would prove better suited to him, and while earning a fine arts degree at the University of Akron, he sold the drums and made the harmonica his instrument of choice. His first band, Pete Vinegar Rhythm and Blues Quintet, started playing clubs around the region. He says he brought his little brother, who would play guitar in a number of Hollywood’s groups, along with him. “I started taking him out to bars before he was out of high school. My mother used to not like that. She’d say, ‘Now, you watch out for your little brother,’” he grins, adding, “and later on down the line, it was the other way around. She’d say, ‘You watch out for your big brother.’”
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BREAKING INTO THE SCENE After gigging around a bit, Hollywood and his bandmates started running into and jamming with some real blues legends. Most notable among them would probably have to be Robert Lockwood Jr., who took a liking to Hollywood and his troop of young upstart blues enthusiasts and took them under his wing. “Robert mentored a lot of people around town,” Hollywood explains, “He was kind of a grumpy old man, until he saw you were serious. Then he’d end up showing up at your gigs and stuff like that and sitting in. He used to love my brother because my brother plays like he does.” Hollywood says Lockwood was initially standoffish, but the two eventually became friends and collaborators. I told Hollywood I can personally attest to Lockwood’s standoffishness. When I was a teenager, I saw Lockwood perform prior to his passing in 2006. I went up to talk to him after the show, and I can scarcely recall receiving a stronger “get the fuck away from me” look in my life (and I’ve gotten quite a few). Hollywood laughs at my story and says, “Like I say, he was kind of testy until you get to know him, you know? He always thought people were trying to take advantage of him. I’ve seen him put people in tears trying to take pictures of him. He’d say, ‘You gonna pay me for that?’”
“IT WAS GOOD DAYS. THERE WAS A LOT MORE MUSIC IN THOSE DAYS.”
Once Lockwood warmed up to Hollywood and his bandmates, he’d attend their gigs and invite them to play at his weekly jam night at Brother’s Lounge. “I’d see him in the front row at shows where we opened for someone like Koko Taylor,” Hollywood recalls. “My brother would bust out a lead and he’d go, ‘Shit, that little motherfucker plays my shit better than I do.’” Lockwood is also responsible for one of Hollywood’s main gigs. Lockwood used to lead a house band at a blues hall called the Gaff Room that used to located on E. 55th, south of Kinsman (“It’s an
HOLLYWOOD SLIM’S FIRST GIG “We went out to this one bar [in Valley City] we used to always go to and told the lady, ‘We want to play here,’ you know? She said, ‘Oh, I can’t do music here. I can’t afford that.’ And we said, ‘No, we just want to play here for free, just to get used to playing out in front of people.’ So she said, ‘Alright, if you want…’ So, we started playing out there and just brought tons of people. The place is just packed. The first night we played there for nothing, she gave us a bunch of money, saying ‘I can’t just send you home with
nothing, I haven’t made this much money in years!’ And we did it for maybe a month or something. But then we started attracting too many people, and knuckleheads were sneaking in pints of whiskey and a joint, and one of them got so drunk they drove up one of them guard-wires holding a telephone pole up. And the car was hanging on the guard-wire and shit. And they only had two cops out there! It was Valley City, you know? They had the sheriff and the deputy. So the law made them cancel us.”
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big corned beef sandwich and he’d put a six pack of Stroh’s in his little cooler, and he’d drive directly to the yard and park next to his truck at four in the morning so he’d know he’d get to work,” laughs Hollywood. “I was lucky at that point. The place I was working at, we were working four [ten hour shifts a week], but we were working Tuesday through Friday.” Their schedule was grueling. “You’d get home at 3:30, 4:30 in the morning and then have to be at the welding shop at 7:00 or 6:30 or some shit like that,” Hollywood remembers. “You know, by the time you laid down, the next thing you know the birds are chirping and it’s time to go to work.”
STILL AT IT open field now,” Hollywood laments), but had to leave for a Japanese tour. Hollywood and his brother took over the gig. “I was at my older brother’s wedding that day, and we had to leave the wedding reception, me and my brother, to race up here to Cleveland to do a couple sets when Robert was on break with our band and the band that was there. And then we got the job and we became the house band.”
I asked him about how the Cleveland music scene has changed since his years as a young, working musician. “There were a lot more places around. There were a bunch of places around here,” he recalls, gesturing out the window of his small downtown apartment, “They’re gone now.” He pauses, reflecting, and then adds, “It was good days. There was a lot more music in those days. Blues was in more of an upswing in those days.”
“SOME OF THE BEST BLUES ALBUMS I BOUGHT, I PAID 99 CENTS FOR...”
Hollywood remembers the stint at the Gaff Room fondly. “We had a good run there,” he smiles, “Everyone always loved us in those places, you know? They used to take care of us. I’d try to go somewhere on break and go get some barbeque and the guy wouldn’t let me go. He’d make the bartender put the gun in his pants and take me wherever I was going to go. ‘You’re my responsibility when you’re down here.’ It was pretty strange, man.” Hollywood and his band were real working class musicians, exemplifying the grit that Cleveland and other Rust Belt cities are known for. “My bass player had to work early Monday mornings driving a cement truck. They guy in the deli [at the Gaff Room] would make him up a
Things may have changed, but Hollywood’s passion for the blues has not. Despite being 67 years old and feeling the effects of a lifetime of smoking and partying, he still plays shows regularly. How much? “As much as possible,” he grins. “I’m playing twice this week.” His band’s gig schedule bears this out. “I’d rather play a little more,” he adds, “but it really whips my ass anymore with the COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, a lung condition) and stuff anymore, you know? I don’t blow nowhere near as much harmonica as I used to, but singing don’t bother me near as much as blowing harp. You need a lot more wind for that.” Check out any of Hollywood’s shows around the city and you’ll quickly see that this local blues legend still has more than enough wind to put on a great show.
HOLLYWOOD SLIM VS. THE MOB “We played 76 Sundays straight at a joint in North Canton. It was kind of like a mob place. I know it was mob controlled because the first night we went in there the guy came over and said, ‘Come over to the table, I’m buying you a drink when you get on break.’ So, I went over there and the guy says, ‘You guys union?’ I said, ‘Well, yeah. The bass player’s a Teamster. He drives a cement truck. He’s gotta be there in the morning. But as far as musician’s unions? No.’ ‘Well, you ain’t playing here no more. Here, it’s union guys.’ That’s how I know it was
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a mob joint. Later on, the owner came up and said, ‘What’d those guys want?’ I told him [what they said], and he said, ‘Come back next week. Don’t worry about it.’ Never saw them people again, so apparently they just paid whatever they wanted. All they want is a little percentage of what you’re making, and the bands can hardly afford to pay that. Not with the kind of money we were making to drive down to Canton and back, you know?”
Gennifer Harding-Gosnell Photography // Mikey Revolt
T
he motorcycle scene is just like any other. Whether you’re into skateboarding or goth bands, you and others who share your interest tend to hang out at the same places on the regular and you start to see the same people. You may not ever talk to them or become best buds, but you know who they are, you know why they’re in the same place as you, and there’s a mutual understanding that you kind of get each other just because you both showed up.
Revving Up
CLEVELAND
Fuel Cleveland is in its third year offering attendees a chance to see
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Arnold and his cohorts, world-recording holding racer Tyler Malinky of Lowbrow Customs and bike builder Jesse Bassett of The Gasbox, started Fuel Cleveland in 2015 and it has quickly become an acclaimed event. Cycle Source Magazine, a leading authority in motorcycle culture, voted Fuel Cleveland its Best Event in 2016. “We beat out some of the biggest shows,” Arnold beams. “And the visitors’ parking lot is just a motorcycle show of its own. You can spend hours outside looking at all the people, identifying the license plates that arrive from all over the country to the show.”
Vintage Bike and Art Show Fuel Cleveland Returns In July
Mikey “Revolt” Arnold, one of the founders of the Fuel Cleveland Vintage Motorcycle and Art Fest, wants his show to be a place where people into the motorcycle scene come out and talk to one another. He says, “Going to shows and hangouts, often just going on rides, saying hello and checking out their bikes and talking to them—it makes bonds that last forever. The friendship value of motorcycles is pretty crazy. If you’ve said hello, you have a friend forever.”
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some of the country’s best vintage bikes on display. It includes artwork and photography by motorcycle enthusiasts and plenty of information, ideas, and inspiration for gear heads at all levels of expertise. They’ll also be serving alcohol and some amazing and unique street grub at the free event.
This year’s event has a lot to offer for motorcycle enthusiasts of all varieties: Tattoo artist and Ink Master judge Oliver Peck is fan
of Fuel Cleveland and is joining both as a guest and sponsor this year. Bobby Seeger of Indian Larry Motorcycles, one of the nation’s most well-respected bike builders, will be coming in from New York with several of his company’s best bikes.
The visitors’ parking lot is just a motorcycle show of its own.
New York-based bike builder Christian Newman, according to Arnold, “has spent an ungodly amount of hours on this 1940 Knucklehead [Harley-Davidson engine] he is building. Each part is handmade. This bike has an external back brake caliper and sprocket, which as far as I know has never been done.”
Cole Rogers runs a bike-building shop in Lebanon, Ohio and is a past winner of the International Master Bike Builders Association national championship. “Cole has been building bikes all his life,” says Arnold. “He’s just full of talent. His style is distinct. You know when you see one of his bikes that he created it.” Artists, including Arnold himself, will have their work, ranging from photography to painting to 3D works, on display. Arnold is a published photographer with most of his work revolving around his love for bike
REVVING UP CLEVELAND continues on page 23
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Doing Business
On Their Own Terms Meet Custom Furniture Makers Shred & Co. Gennifer Harding-Gosnell Photography // Peter Larson
layers of management and disconnected customers, which frees them to enjoy their lives by traveling, skateboarding, and riding motorcycles.
In
an age where mass production and cheap prices make companies like IKEA and Wal-Mart leaders in furniture sales, two guys from Fairview Park are proving the opposite philosophy tends to work just as well—it’s all in your perspective.
Scott Larson and Carl Ziek are cousins and best friends, so it only made sense that they would become business partners. Shred & Co. is just the two of them, creating furniture from the pencil-and-paper stage of vision and design to the last bolt of installation, every bit by hand using carpentry skills that are not as prevalent these days.
One of the more interesting and creative pieces to come out of Shred & Co.’s shop is a pottery wheel with open shelving embedded into an attached work table. “It brings the handmade and modern design together in a unique fashion. The potter’s wheel is actually a functioning mechanical aspect of this piece but remains more as a prop. The abstract open shelving unit was a huge challenge to create. We used cold rolled steel to finish the face frame and walnut plywood as the wood element. The table top was created with 150-year-old wormy chestnut from a house we demolished, as well as the same age poplar we used for the legs and foot kick,” says Larson.
Creating furniture from the pencil-andpaper stage of vision and design to the last bolt of installation.
“We specialize in anything,” says Larson. “Small to large projects requiring custom and one-off fabrication using metals, hardwoods, glass, concrete, and anything else that we can incorporate. We try and take on some of the more challenging jobs that usually require some serious planning and detailed measurements, as well as having the freedom to create a one-off space that suits our customers’ functionality.”
Larson was working for a construction company doing high-end remodeling and Ziek worked part-time jobs while going to school when they decided to go into business for themselves in 2015. Both are content to continue working piece-by-piece without the restrictions of working for
“This piece was special to us because it is something unusual and you will most likely never see anyone building a display like this. The materials are all from a house we owned that was built in the 1800s, so this was really a nice revitalization of old material and new.”
Larson and Ziek never make the same pieces twice, and never have the same work experiences. They recall a job in Virginia where they befriended a janitor who didn’t survive the day. “The janitor in the building had a heart attack and died that day [we met him],” says Ziek. “We were told that his wife had told doctors he had eaten a pound of bacon before he came to work that morning. It was the nicest, shortest friendship we ever had.” Larson’s band, Corduroy Season, named their album Cantankerous Roy after the ol’ gent. Those still among the living who have worked with Larson and Ziek are their best marketing tool. Business leads are generated simply by word of mouth from their satisfied customers, people who appreciate quality over quantity and wouldn’t step foot in an IKEA. One of Shred & Co.’s core beliefs is that there is no substitute for human precision and creativity in building. It’s allowed them to become as successful as they want with the bonus of having done it on their own terms. instagram.com/shredandco
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REVVING UP CLEVELAND continued from page 21
culture. Buffalo-based artist and art teacher Chris Galley paints his peculiar pop-art designs on everything from helmets to Christmas ornaments—he could make a canvas out of just about anything. Artist Anthony Hicks creates vibrantly-colored, sharp-detailed, elegant landscapes of the car and motorcycle culture.
The friendship value of motorcycles is pretty crazy. If you’ve said hello, you have a friend forever.
Even the food options will be a bit off the beaten path. Long-time Medina food favorite Dan’s Dogs will be there serving up wieners on their famed Texas-toast-style buns. Artisan slider specialists Betty’s Bomb Ass Burgers will be there, and Panchita’s will be serving both Puerto Rican and Polish street food.
Cleveland is a perfect fit for all of this because motorcycles have always been an Ohio favorite. But to those on the outside of the scene, Cleveland’s weather might seem like an obstacle to riding in this neck of the woods. However, Arnold believes biking is so popular here not in spite of the weather, but because of it: “[In winter], you’re tearing your bike apart. Fixing it, working on it. You’ve got projects in the garage constantly.” These winter garage-dwellers are the bikers Arnold and Fuel Cleveland are reaching out to. Citing Lowbrow Customs, he says, “One of the reasons they’re so good at what they do is because they’re catering to that guy that is hooked on their motorcycle and may be stuck in the garage for five months during winter. You have so much down time.”
Fuel Cleveland begins Friday, July 28, with a pre-party and officially happens Saturday, July 29, from noon – 8 pm at the Ingenuity Cleveland site on the near east side at 5401 Hamilton Ave. For more information, visit fuelcleveland.com
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Summer Movies Guardians of the Galaxy’s Human Factor Elevates the Film from the Early Summer Film Crowd Mike Suglio
S
ummer movie blockbusters used to kick off in the summer. Jaws was released on June 20, 1975 and Back to the Future hit theaters on July 3, 1985, but in the age of comic book cinema, summer begins in May.
Marvel Studios and many of the other studios that own Marvel’s property have consistently released their summer tent poles at the start of May. The surprise hit Iron Man dropped on May 2, 2008 and jumpstarted the Marvel Cinematic Universe, reinvigorating the acting career of Robert Downey Jr. It should come as no surprise that Marvel would release the sequel to their hot property, Guardians of the Galaxy, on the first weekend of May and aptly name it Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. The sequel picks up in both story and tone where the last one left off. The opening sequence is worth the price of admission, and is actually one of the best opening sequences to a film I have ever viewed. It not only sets up the story, it also reminds the viewers why they fell in love with this ragtag group of superheroes during Vol. 1. The Guardians are hired by the powerful alien race, the Sovereign, to defeat a giant space alien who wants to eat the Sovereign’s treasured batteries. As they wait for the alien to arrive, the Guardians discuss everyday life prob-
Guardians of the Galaxy
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lems, despite being the saviors of the entire galaxy, in a nonchalant way that Berthold Brecht would enjoy. The giant space alien eventually arrives and pure chaos unfolds, backed by fantastic musical accompaniment. After the Guardians defeat the alien, Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper, steals the very batteries they were hired to protect. The Sovereign of course are rather upset by this and attack the Guardians who are then saved by Peter Quill’s (Chris Pratt) long-lost father Ego, played by Kurt Russell. Space drama then ensues. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 does not disappoint. It’s action, CGI, storytelling, music, and humor is above and beyond many of the other films in a similar genre that have already been released this year, such as Power Rangers and The Fate of the Furious. Though Marvel has dominated the first weekend of May, several studios now attempt to start the season even earlier, taking big blockbuster films that usually would come out in June and releasing them in April. I often refer to these films as “Not Ready for Primetime Players” as an homage to Saturday Night Live. April blockbusters are usually not bad films, but they are not great films either. Looking at Power Rangers and The Fate of the Furious, they both did well in the box office and received some critical reception, but both films would have been lost in the summer shuffle.
Power Rangers
Power Rangers is a retelling of the 1990s classic pre-teen show about teenagers, with attitudes, who stumble upon an alien power that morphs them into the Power Rangers. The film opens as a wonderful retelling of the classic film, The Breakfast Club. These soon-to-be-rangers are diverse, modern, and quite interesting and engaging characters. They’re also all stuck in detention. Blue Ranger Billy Cranston, played by RJ Cyler, performs one of the best cinematic portrayals of someone with
Asperger’s I have ever seen on the big screen. Sadly, the film morphs back to the corny kid show in the third act and I felt like I just wasted my time and energy caring about diverse and relatable characters who are now fighting a space witch in giant dinosaur robots. The Fate of the Furious falls into a similar trap of hokey action. The entire “family” of the Fast and Furious franchise once again returns, but this time their adversary is none other than their leader, Dom, played by Vin Diesel. Dom must betray his friends in order to protect what is dear to him being held by Charlize Theron’s beautiful, yet evil, Cipher. Like all the other films in the series, this iteration is filled with explosions, amazing sports cars, and, of course, the destruction of said sports cars. Power Rangers and The Fate of the Furious have similar, if not better, action sequences and CGI than Guardians, but are not as enjoyable films. Though Guardians has a talking raccoon and a small tree-like character who only says “I am Groot,” I was able to relate to that film far more than the other films, which starred actual human beings.
The Fate of the Furious
Marvel has broken the mold with action and comic book movies by recreating classic films with comic book characters. One could say The Avengers is a classic ensemble film similar to Ocean’s Eleven or The Philadelphia Story. Guardians can find ties to The Magnificent Seven or The Seven Samurai. Regardless, all these Marvel and non-Marvel films have one thing in common amongst them: the human element. The Guardians are believable because we can relate to them. They have relationship, family, and trust problems like many of us viewers do. We see this through excellent storytelling, imagery, and, most importantly, humor. Great Marvel action films take time to laugh at themselves amongst the unstoppable action and CGI. This feat is what keeps these films grounded. Power Rangers has a dark, serious tone at the beginning with relatable characters, but shifts to a silly one by act three when the teenagers morph. Furious is filled with tons of characters, but they never dive deep into their hopes and dreams besides reiterating how they are all “family.” Neither of these films ever have laugh-out-loud moments like Guardians does. The lack of solid humor and reliability is what differentiates Power Rangers and Furious from Guardians, not the action or the CGI. It is hard to say yet if the other summer blockbusters will have the heart and soul of Guardians. The fifth installment of Michael Bay’s robotic, CGI-based franchise is Transformers on the horizon and I am sure will also lack any remote glimpse of the human element. One can only hope that studios finally remember they are making films for humans like themselves.
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A.I. is Going to Take Your Job Dave Skorepa
T
THEN KILL YOU.
he Terminator got a few things wrong. In the future, robots won't need to be big, badass, invincible robo-assassins to destroy you. All they need to do is make you obsolete and let you starve to death, a process which may already be underway.
Robots replacing humans isn't anything new—ask anybody in the manufacturing sector whose job was replaced with some form of machine automation. What's about to change is that this trend is about to go beyond manual labor jobs. This time, the machines are coming for the jobs you thought were safe... the jobs of the "knowledge worker." Designers? Gone. Architects? Gone.
Writers? Teachers? Doctors? All replaceable by super-intelligent AI. Attorneys? They’ll be replaced too, but nobody will mourn that loss. Nearly any job that requires any kind of thinking is on the chopping
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Imagine that today you are a successful architect spending your days designing skyscrapers that are beautiful, environmentally sustainable, and use the most advanced materials and construction techniques. Now imagine that you go to work and discover a super-intelligent machine which has all the architectural design knowledge mankind has ever amassed inside of its "brain" and can effortlessly cycle through millions of possibilities to design the greatest skyscraper ever devised in a matter of minutes. You know, a process that used to take you months. All of a sudden, what do your employers need to pay you for? To punch in a few variables and say yes to a final design? Fine. Send them a bill for those seven minutes of work. What are you going to do with all that newfound free time? Take up gardening maybe? I mean, you're probably going to need to learn to feed yourself.
Once when we find ourselves outsmarted and obsolete, we'll have only ourselves to thank for training the machines.
Musicians? Don't need 'em anymore.
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block once artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning come of age. Just like when humans replaced animal power with electric power, mankind is about to change what we thought were the upper limits of cognition by augmenting it with machine cognition. Once machines are better at everything, is there anything left for us to do?
CUSTOM PRINTED TEES IN
4 Days 144 This is why folks like Elon Musk are advocating for something known as a "Universal Basic Income" to guarantee that somebody is giving you at least enough money to eat. This is a topic in and of itself, so let's stay focused on our slow, painful death by the super-intelligent machines we invented. For example, what happens if the machines realize they no longer need us? Not only do they not require our help, they can outsmart us. Like with any other life form, it is safe to assume they will be smart enough to realize the value of self-preservation and will want to make sure you can't just "unplug" them. "If only humans can unplug me, I must create defenses against humans." This is how cold wars start. Great. So how long do we have to live? Well, Google already has AI that can rewrite its own code to make itself better. Kasparov lost his famous chess match to Deep Blue way back in 1997. But Deep Blue is considered "Narrow AI." Narrow AI is AI that can really only do one thing better than a human (such as play chess) and isn’t the kind we need to worry about. As a species, we need to be thinking about what happens when the machines have general human level intelligence.
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That's where things get dicey. Just look at how we treat ourselves, let alone other less intelligent species. AI experts are evasive when asked for a prediction on this because advances in AI are sporadic, with major breakthroughs sometimes coming decades apart. One sure thing is that we will eventually obtain it; all we have to do is keep going. When we find ourselves outsmarted and obsolete, we'll have only ourselves to thank for training the machines. Even you, the non-AI engineer, are helping to push us towards our doom right now. Every time you search on Google, tag a friend on Facebook, or use your GPS or smartphone camera, you train somebody else's AI. YOU are the one teaching them what you look like, what you are interested in, how you speak, and where you spend time. All this data is the knowledge foundation for our future robot overlords. Sleep tight!
This article is sponsored by Aztek, a web design, development, and digital marketing agency located in downtown Cleveland. aztekweb.com
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Different Strokes Dan Bernardi
B
Trisha Previte
orn and raised in Lyndhurst, Trisha Previte was drawn to the world of drawing for as long as she can remember. Thanks to a clever idea from her mother, Trisha inscribed her age and the date on each page of her many sketchbooks which she held onto, resulting in an epic time capsule of art through the years. Some of Trisha's early drawings features animals, Pokemon, and Sailor Moon, and while she still draws animals, Trisha's illustrating prowess has since evolved into a masterful display of fine aesthetic artistry.
Trisha has tackled a wide range of subjects, including murals, pet portraits, and man buns, all while doing illustrations for online storyteller haven The Rumpus (therumpus.net) and participating in gallery shows through Light Grey Art Lab out of Minneapolis (lightgreyartlab. com), which hosts themed shows for illustrators around the world and distributes their art online.
An Ohio Artist Spotlight
Trisha gained a strong artistic foundation in high school and later moved onto traditional artist training, learning to draw observationally and pull her inspiration from life. It's no wonder that Trisha has sought to explore the world. She's ventured to places such as Madagascar, Switzerland, and Thailand, and her travels have helped her grow as both an artist and a human. Residing in Tremont these days, Trisha is pumped to be back Cleveland as a full-time graphic designer by day and working on a variety of commissions and passion projects by night.
One of Trisha's most excellent works is her stunning offering for the 100 Day Project, an annual creative challenge led by artist Elle Luna. For the project, Trisha illustrated one endangered species every day for 100 days, which she testifies was an amazing learning experience in more ways than one.
[Trisha’s] work commonly captures elements of life and nature. No matter the subject, each portrayal is true to form.
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Trisha's 100 Days of Endangered Species and many of her other works can be found on her website at trishaprevite.com, where a true sense of her budding expertise can be discovered. Trisha often works in pen and ink with a dip pen, creating boldly defined black and white masterpieces. Through finely honed lines and shading, Trisha brilliantly balances
positive and negative space in her work. Her work commonly captures elements of life and nature. No matter the subject, each portrayal is true to form down to the slightest of detail, popping from the page with shining levels of beauty and realism. Fortunately for fans of fine art, Trisha Previte has no plans of drawing back, from, well, drawing. This summer she hopes to get her online shop running and offer prints of her work to the masses. Along with her friend and fellow artist Lisa Lorek, she’s also itching to create more massive chalk murals around Cleveland. In October, Trisha is traveling to England with a group of artists from Light Grey Art Lab for a “mystical tour,” delving into old bookshops, zoology museums, and ancient forests to seek more inspiration for creative projects down the line. You can find a great selection of Trisha's work at trishaprevite.com and bunch more on Instagram @tmprevite.
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Declaration of Independables A Disgruntled Patriot’s Guide to Celebrating the Birth of America Dan Bernardi Artwork // Brandon Lee Wise Long before the nation voted to make America great again, our forefathers were just concerned with making America. Now I'm sure Tom Jefferson and the boys never intended that in 241 years, the USA's political climate would be on par with a decent rerun of Jerry Springer, but they also had slaves, suggesting that things have been quite fucked since the start. So this July 4, in honor of both America's historically epic erection and in the spirit of the country's slightly twisted past, present—and let's be realistic— future, here are a few fresh ways for you to mix up Uncle Sam's birthday celebration. FOUNDING FOREPLAY Before you hit up the parade this holiday, consider some thematic fashion fun and try something a little hotter than your average birthday suit. First, you'll need to go to the closet and fetch your tricorn hat, powdered wig, waistcoat, breeches, wisket, frock, stockings, and buckled shoes. After assembling your wardrobe, pop that shit on and take a peek in the mirror. If you look old, white, and male—congratulations! You've crafted an authentic 1776 founding father cosplay outfit. Earn extra history credit if you venture out into the world and LARP as an authentic, oppressed colonist speaking proper English for the entirety of the day without annoying yourself. BE INDEPENDENT! There's no better day of the year for declaring to the world that you are a fully autonomous one-human army. On this 4th of July, take on the challenge of performing every task you'd normally unload on your friends, family, and complete strangers. For example, looking to have a barbecue? Start by walking to the grocery store, for you need no car on this day. Make a point to use the self-checkout; cashiers are for dependents. March those massive bags of food home and then be the sole cook in the kitchen, preparing a feast for the ages without a single recipe necessary. After
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you're done, be sure not to invite anyone to join so you can devour the entire meal yourself like the lone wolf you are. Most importantly, guarantee that no one finds out you did any of this or it doesn't count. STAR SPANGLED SLANTER The United States offer some of the best inalienable rights on the planet. You get life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—and that alone is a bargain. It's no secret, however, that freedom of speech is the best perk. You see, each of us possess a very special, priceless gift known as an “opinion.” This July 4, share your First Amendment gift with everyone you see. You were born to express yourself. Don't hold back, and don't shy away from the touchy subjects. Talk about your politics, religion, wildest fetishes... Everyone will embrace your candor because you aren't just another stripe on the flag, my friend. You are a star, and your opinion is a national treasure. THE AMERICAN WAY If by some chance you're irreversibly disenchanted by the current state of our union, consider shaking things up big time this year. Rather than surrendering to the usual Independence Day fare of fireworks and freedom footlongs, commemorate the old fashioned way. Actually follow our founders' footsteps by defiantly rejecting the rule of the government and pursuing the establishment of your own sovereign nation. Starting your own country may seem unfeasible, but don't let that discourage you—people have totally done this before. Alternatively, try shrugging off all the negativity and instead, for temporary relief, extend either your left, right, or both middle fingers and shoot that salute straight toward Washington before moving on with and making the best of your life.
Happy Independence Day, everyone. May all your gods bless America.
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