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SUNDAY JULY 6th
Happy Birthday to The Agora, which opened its doors on July 6th, 1967, as a members-only dance club. Take a tour of its haunted history here, its official history here, or dig on Rory Gallagher in '74, AC/DC in '77, Todd Rundgren in '78, The Clash in '79, Metallica in '83, and Weird Al Yankovic in '94 tearing it up on their stage.
SATURDAY JULY 5th
From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today, take a free tour of the Veterans Memorial Bridge and Subway! Free parking is available at the County Engineer's Bridge Garage, which is located at the tour's entrance. That's a lotta Free!
FRIDAY JULY 4th
Get a lump in your throat by visiting the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument at Public Square, which was dedicated on the 4th of July in 1894. You should also investigate the 'travelling restaurant' concept developed by Spice of Life Caterers and the Pop-Up City project. Pop-Up City hosts temporary events and installations that occupy vacant buildings and activate vacant land in ways that shine a spotlight on some of Cleveland's spectacular but underutilized properties. Combine that mission statement with locally grown food prepared by ace chefs, and you've got Plated Landscapes-temporary restaurants in dramatic settings! They're launching the Urban Landscapes Rooftop Fireworks Dinner today. Be sure to tip your waitstaff...or don't! You'll never see them again!
THURSDAY JULY 3rd
Another historic day, and another great moment in Municipal Stadium lore. The Schmeling-Stribling fight took place today in 1931, and it was not only the first heavyweight championship waged in Cleveland, but it was also the first sporting event to take place in the newly completed Stadium. German-born Max Schmeling defeated popular favorite "Willie the Wrecker" Stribling in 10 rounds. See if you can last 10 rounds tonight at The Happy Dog...that's where we'll be puttin' em back.
WEDNESDAY JULY 2nd
The Tribe takes on the division-leading Chicago White Sox again tonight. Let's face it, gang, we're in trouble. We suggest you watch the game at Hoopples, so at least the view of the city will lift your spirits. Watch out on the patio...your screams will carry further.
TUESDAY JULY 1st
Today is big day in Cleveland history. Cleveland Municipal Stadium was opened on July 1 way back in 1931. Stroll through some of its history, like the 1952 Indians home opener, the day The Beatles came to town, and the day Art Modell secured himself a dark place in hell. For more on the stadium's history, may we recommend Cleveland Stadium: The Last Chapter by Jim Toman, Gregory G. Deegan and James A. Toman; and From The Crowning Jewel to the Mistake on the Lake: The Story of the Construction of Cleveland Municipal Stadium by Dryck Bennett. While we're at it, we'll also plug Tribe hurler Paul Byrd's first book, Free Byrd, which was released today by Simon & Schuster.
MONDAY JUNE 30th
Supe's 70! Not Super Host, the other Cleveland celeb with the red cape and blue tights-Superman! Clevelanders and Glenville High chums Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created the original caped crusader back in the early 30's. Of course, they got royally screwed out of the future of the franchise, but what else is new? To celebrate the Man of Steel, the Cinematheque rolls out the original 1948 Superman, with all 15 parts of the black-and-white serial played in its entirety! Tonight at 6.30p.m.!
SUNDAY JUNE 29th
Happy Birthday to Slider, the amorphous Indians mascot! The Egg Heads at KK HQ have found you an appropriate theme song to help you celebrate! Wish him a good one in person as the Tribe takes on the Cincinnati Reds today in the final chapter of the Battle of Ohio. For more on Slider, click here. For more on a slider, click here. For a moron on a slide, click here.
SATURDAY JUNE 28th
The Beachland owns Saturday night. Hip independent record store Music Saves celebrates it's 4th birthday tonight in the Tavern and legendary Queen of Rockabilly Wanda Jackson holds court in the Ballroom. Music Saves lined up Hot Cha Cha and Marie Corbo to sound the birthday horn, while The Muttering Retreats celebrate the release of their self-titled debut album, featuring tracks like 'The Capitalist And The Communist Vie For Our Hero's Affection' and 'Screw You And Your Beachfront Property.' Meanwhile, in the Ballroom, Wanda Jackson hosts a meet & greet prior to her concert. Ms. Jackson is one of the first women of rock, beginning her recording career for Decca in 1954. Her earthy, visceral voice transcended genres-she scored hits in country, rockabilly, and rock 'n' roll. And she's totally down with Elvis. She ain't the only one. Presented in conjunction with The Rock Hall, the meet & greet is free with a ticket to the 8:30 performance or with a Rock Hall Membership.
FRIDAY JUNE 27th
The Aspiring Filmmakers Boot Camp comes to Cleveland this week. Sign up, make a picture, and add it to the pantheon of films shot in Cleveland. Become pros like us!
THURSDAY JUNE 26th
Today marks the 5th anniversary of LeBron's arrival to the Cavaliers organization, after the 2003 NBA Draft brought King James to our court. We've got the 19th overall pick this year. Check in with the Cavs for a Draft Preview, info on tonight's official Draft Day viewing party, and a stroll down Draft Memory Lane.
WEDNESDAY JUNE 25th
Walk with the dinosaurs! No, we don't mean hang out with the old-timers in Little Italy. Based on the award-winning BBC series, Walking With Dinosaurs: The Live Experience comes to the Q tonight, and runs for the rest of the week.
TUESDAY JUNE 24th
It's a chain restaurant in a gaudy shopping mall, but it's dollar burger night! Put away the snobbery and put back some Angus beef, as Bar Louie at Legacy Village hosts dollar burger night Tuesdays in summer. Another 50 cents gets you bacon, cheese or onions, and draft beers are only three bucks. Beats the hell out of Burger King's new $200 burger.
MONDAY JUNE 23rd
Drew Carey isn't just the new Bob Barker-he's also hosting The Drew Carey Project on Reason TV. Drew takes on hot-button topics like immigration, medicinal marijuana, and the illegal sale of bacon-wrapped hot dogs in Los Angeles. But don't get too excited, it's just a webisode.
SUNDAY JUNE 22nd
Cleveland native Scott Raab is a successful celebrity profiler whose steel-town sensibility gets right to the meat of matters when interviewing A-listers from Robert Downey, Jr. to Mister Rogers. He's also a hardcore Tribe fan. His writing has appeared in GQ, Esquire, and Entertainment Weekly, and he'll sign his new book Real Hollywood Stories tonight from 7p.m. at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.
SATURDAY JUNE 21st
More hard luck for Clevelanders in the entertainment industry. Lester Russaw, founding member of Cleveland's Coronets, a doo-wop group backed by legendary DJ and promoter Alan Freed, was sentenced this week to 9 years in prison for bank robbery. The Coronets scored a hit with 'Nadine' in 1953, which reached No. 3 on the national R & B charts and remained there for 10 weeks. Russaw was diagnosed with prostate cancer in February, and told prosecutors that he robbed the Wickliffe KeyBank to pay medical bills. Russaw is allegedly connected to the July 2007 robbery of a Huntington National Bank in Richmond Heights, and he served six years in prison in the mid-1960s after he robbed and shot a man during a holdup in East Cleveland. He fought the law...
FRIDAY JUNE 20th
The Torso Murder Tour! We've been waiting months! Haunted Cleveland hosts the event, which includes a private tour of the Cuyahoga County Coroners Office and a private tour of the Cleveland Police Museum with special guest speaker Dr. James Badal. For further reading, we recommend Torso: Eliot Ness and the Hunt for the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run by Steven Nickel and the excellent Torso: A True Crime Graphic Novel by Clevelanders Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko. Also, today marks the release date of the film Get Smart, and if you think it's a tragedy that Hollywood is attempting to reinvent Don Adams' brilliant character, wait until you hear the tragedy that befell one of the show's original writers. Clevelander Jack Hanrahan wrote for some of the most popular television shows in the 1960s and 1970s, including "Get Smart." He won an Emmy for Rowan & Martin's "Laugh In" and also contributed to "Police Woman," "The Waltons" and "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour." But by December of 2006, he returned to Cleveland from California by bus, penniless and disheveled. He was found destitute in March 2007, living in a Cleveland homeless shelter, and he died at age 75 earlier this year in a nursing home on Cleveland's West Side. And the saddest thing is, that story is about as funny as the movie is going to be.
THURSDAY JUNE 19th
Meet infamous local curmudgeon and American Splendor author Harvey Pekar at Mac's Backs during the Coventry Street Arts Fair. If you want to know what you're getting into, have a gander at Harvey's appearance on the Travel Channel's 'No Reservations,' or rent the Oscar-nominated and multi-award winning flick starring Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis.
WEDNESDAY JUNE 18th
The Rock Hall has a great hump day in store for you. Murray Lerner, Oscar-winning director of such rock docs as "Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who," "Jimi Hendrix at the Isle of Wight" and "Festival," will screen his film "The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan Live at the Newport Folk Festival" at 6.30pm. The movie will be followed by a Q&A session with Lerner and an autograph signing session. Free with a reservation! Or head outside the hallowed hall for a free concert at 7pm with Mystery of Two and the blissfully odd Machine Go Boom. Don't forget to howl at the full moon! Here's another Moon for you to enjoy. And another.
TUESDAY JUNE 17th
More birthday wishes, this time going out to Anthony Henderson, a.k.a. Krayzie Bone, a.k.a. Leatha Face, Silent Killer, Mr. Sawed Off, a.k.a. Pablo. They may have fallen off the radar, but Bone Thugs-N-Harmony had some great cuts back in the day. And you can't get much more Cleveland than this. We also extend birthday wishes to Joltin' Joe Charbeneau (scroll down to #2), 1980 AL Rookie of the Year who opened beer bottles with his eye socket in the clubhouse after the games! Let's all join in a chorus of "Go, Go, Joe Charbeneau!"
MONDAY JUNE 16th
Indians Season got you down? Head to the Western Reserve Historical Society for 'A Proud Tradition: Cleveland Baseball History,' and relieve moments from the early 20th century to the glory years at Jacob's Field. Might lift your spirits. Speaking of museums, happy birthday to Night at the Museum star and Clevelander Bill Cobbs, who was born on this day in 1935. His credits include, but are by no means limited to, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, New Jack City, and The Hudsucker Proxy. And, according to the Muppet Wiki, he was even on Sesame Street! K is for Keep up the good work, Bill!
SUNDAY JUNE 15th
Happy Father's Day, Cleveland! Celebrate with a game of catch on Progressive Field, and while you're out there, tip your hat to C. C. Sabathia, who was named American League Player of the Week after defeating Greg Maddux and racking up 15 strikeouts in 17 innings!
SATURDAY JUNE 14th
Remember when bands like Sunvolt and Cake had hits on the radio? There was a narrow window there when 'alternative' wasn't synonymous with tattoos, hair gel, and pandering punk, and we had 107.9 WENZ-FM to tell us about it. The station wasn't perfect, but it was ours. Local filmmaker Mike Wendt made a documentary about the station and the mass media programming trends that brought it down. "The End of the World as We Knew It" premiers tonight at The Cleveland Cinematheque, along with "Catching Salinger," another locally produced doc about three fans of Salinger's seminal work Catcher in the Rye retracing Holden Caulfield's steps and searching for the reclusive author himself. Hopefully they don't get depressed and shoot Julian Lennon in the process.
FRIDAY JUNE 13th
Today, we mourn the loss of political journalist Tim Russert. Russert was a Buffalo native, but had many ties to our town. He received his B.A. from John Carroll University and his Juris Doctor from Cleveland State University's Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He served on the College of Law's National Advisory Council and for many years co-chaired the annual fund drive. He was also a rock 'n' roller-Russert booked a concert at John Carroll that featured then-unknown Bruce Springsteen, who charged a mere $2,500 for the appearance.
THURSDAY JUNE 12th
We are eagerly anticipating the return of fantastic funnyman and friend of the Kardiac family Nick Griffin who is in town thru the 15th at the Improv. He's a regular to Cleveland so make him welcome! This week also marks Nick's fourth appearance on Late Night with David Letterman; be sure to tune in tomorrow night. Dig the last time he was on Letterman, coming onstage to Paul Schafer and the boys playing Guided By Voice's "Glad Girls".
WEDNESDAY JUNE 11th
Poppa's got a brand new free screening. In honor of Black Music Month at the Rock Hall, go watch Jeremy Marre's James Brown: Soul Survivor at 6pm for free on the 4th floor of the Museum. From the PBS American Masters series, the film is a 90-minute biography featuring extended interviews, rehearsal, and performance footage, along with interviews by those close to him and those influenced by him.
TUESDAY JUNE 10th
The band At-The-Drive-In sucked, but Plain Dealer reporter Michael San Giacomo's Tales of the Starlight Drive-In doesn't! Released by Image Comics earlier this month, Tales contains 32 stories (one written and drawn by local artist Derf! Who went to high school with serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer! And wrote a comic book about it! Weird!) that take place in a mythical drive-in theater. Cap off the night by going to a real one! The Aut-O-Rama Drive-In in North Ridgeville, operating since 1965, will take you back in time. Delorean optional.
MONDAY JUNE 9th
You drink Stroh's? You like a good mystery? You gotta meet Les Roberts. After doing the Hollywood Shuffle writing for Hollywood Squares, The Andy Griffith Show, The Jackie Gleason Show, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., among others, he turned his eye to mystery writing, and to Cleveland. A Chicago native who calls Cleveland Heights home now, Les is the mind behind Milan Jacovich, the Cleveland gumshoe who always gets his man. Roberts signs copies of his latest Jacovich adventure, King of the Holly Hop, tonight at Joseph-Beth Booksellers.
SUNDAY JUNE 8th
Cleveland Public Theater artistic director Raymond Bobgan's original play Cut To Pieces is a solo show featuring the theater's education director, Chris Seibert. The show, presented for four evenings only as a work in progress, will ultimately culminate in a fully realized production sometime next year, but catch it in its nascent stages tonight at 7:30!
SATURDAY JUNE 7th
A young Toby Granger got his first taste of the stage and the spotlight at the historic Chagrin Valley Little Theater in Chagrin Falls. And he wasn't the only one! Howard da Silva, Alan Alda, Tim Conway, Martyn Green, Ruth Chatterton, Ethel Waters, Lee Meriwether, and Diana Barrymore all performed at the theater. Head there tonight to see Toby's father W. C. Meyer embody the role of Dr. Brubaker in The Seven Year Itch!
FRIDAY JUNE 6th
Speaking of haunts, the Haunted Cleveland Ghost Tour departs today from the parking lot of the Powerhouse. Sign up now for a fun and fact-filled tour of the most macabre historic sites in Cleveland!
THURSDAY JUNE 5th
Ohio City was annexed to Cleveland on this day in 1854. It had previously been an independent municipality called the City of Ohio. Celebrate its 54th year under Cleveland rule with a stroll through The West Side Market, grab a coffee at Talkies, and a beer at the ABC Tavern, The Great Lakes Brewing Company, Duck Island, or any of the other great Ohio City haunts.
WEDNESDAY JUNE 4th
Today marks the 34th anniversary of the Cleveland Indians' ill-advised attempt to bring people to the seats of Municipal Stadium for a game against the Texas Rangers with a Ten Cent Beer promotion. We were forced to forfeit after alcohol-fueled mayhem (including but not limited to fans running onto the field, throwing objects, stealing opponent's gloves, and mooning) evolved into a full-fledged riot. And we thought Bottlegate was ugly! Future Tribe leader Mike Hargrove, then playing for the Rangers, was pelted with hot dogs and spit, and at one point was nearly struck with an empty gallon jug of Thunderbird. "You can even commemorate the event with a neat shirt. Let's hope cooler heads prevail when we take on Texas tonight. And for a spiritual riot, head down to the Rock Hall for a free concert featuring Uncle Scratch's Gospel Revival and the Not So Good Ole Boys.
TUESDAY JUNE 3rd
Shaker Heights native David Wain, fresh off his run on Comedy Central's Stella and still reeling from the big screen success of his Ten commandments-themed comedy Ten, keeps us laughing with Wainy Days, a series of short films in which he doesn't get the girl. He has also hopped behind the lens as director for the upcoming feature films Little Big Men, starring Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott, and Seniors, with Lily Tomlin. Me, I just try to get up in the morning and I figure it's been a good day.
MONDAY JUNE 2nd
We mourn the loss of rock legend Bo Diddley, a true pioneer. Bo had promoters hire local bands to back him up on his tours, and when he came to Cleveland in 1991, The Janglers got the nod. Here's a behind the scenes look at him during the soundcheck for his gig at Peabody's Down Under. Bo's the one that's not white. And we congratulate Scott Remer, the Beachwood Middle School 8th grader who made it all the way to fourth place in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Scott was knocked out with the world "thymele," an architectural term referring to the small altar dedicated to Bacchus in the orchestra of an ancient Greek theater. Duh! Oh, and New Kids On the Block tickets go on sale today. Do you have the right stuff to hang tough and go step by step with them at the Q? Do us a favor and please don't go.
SUNDAY JUNE 1st
Remember Hough Bakeries? Do ya? I never had a birthday without a Hough cake growing up. Not one. Well, happy days are here again courtesy of Archie Garner, a 25-year Hough Bakeries employee who opened Archie's Lakeshore Bakery at 14906 Lake Shore Boulevard. Archie is flying the flag, having wrested the legendary Hough recipes from the hands of the evil Kraft Foods conglomerate that bought the Cleveland company out in 1992. My 16-year ban on birthday cake finally comes to an end! Thanks, Archie!
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