Last Chance for Change: Jay Z Concert hosted by LeBron James

When I heard that Jay-Z was giving a free concert in Cleveland I figured it would simply be him jumping behind a DJ booth at a local club and rocking it out to just a few of his most popular hits. I would have been fine with that, overjoyed actually, after all he is my favorite hip-hop artist/business mogul. But when I heard it was for the Barack Obama presidential campaign and would be hosted by LeBron James, I knew it was going to be huge, monumental even. How could you go wrong LeBron James and Jay-Z together in one night sharing the same stage, it doesn’t get better than that. However, I never imagined in a million years it would be such an amazing event — complete with a live band, a DJ, an awesome light show and a video message from Barack Obama.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen Jay-Z in concert, but this is definitely the most memorable. The first time was in 1999 during his Hard Knock Life tour while I was an undergrad at The Ohio State University. Now that was a great show, but it was only his second album so he didn’t have very many songs to perform. Tonight was an entirely different story. He rocked songs from his first album, released in 1996, to his latest hot single, “Jockin' Jay Z”. Fans of all ages got down at this concert and my 12-year-old son, Jordan, and I surely did. We left the show sweaty and voiceless. This was his first concert and one that I doubt he will ever be able to top. Jay-Z is a tough act to follow.

Special thanks to LeBron James, Shawn “Jay-Z" Carter, and the Chance for Change campaign for taking the time to put on such an awesome event and for encouraging people to vote.

Modern at the Metropolitan

I heard that there was some very intriguing Mr. Wizard stuff going on behind the bar at the Metropolitan Café so I went to the Warehouse District to check it out. It seems they’ve begun to mess around chem lab style to create a line up of out-of-the-ordinary and over-the-top cocktails.

Consider the new deconstructed dirty martini. The drink starts out the usual way- a chilled pour of vodka, in this case Hangar One but then things get…well, unusual. It’s presented with a big spoonful of green “caviar” on the side. To make it, pureed olives and their juice are combined with agar agar, a natural gelling agent. The briny pulp forms soft tapioca-like pearls. To get down and dirty with this drink, sip and then slurp up a few the salty “eggs” before swallowing. The taste is really good, and the extra shot of tongue in cheek humor makes it even better.

A red version of the faux caviar uses cranberry juice. What looks a bit like pumped up salmon roe floats in a fizzy white lime vodka cosmo producing a lava lamp effect. (If you find yourself staring at the glass instead of sipping from it, you’ve had too many and its time to call a cab and go home). To carbonate the drink, a batch- sans roe- goes into an empty plastic liter soda bottle, a hose retrofitted with a tire valve is inserted in the top, and the alcohol gets a hit from a Co2 tank. Sort of a cross between soda and champagne, these go down way too easy. So does the pomegranate martini. It features a float of citrus foam on top. A combination of egg whites, simply syrup, and lemon and lime juice, the stuff looks just like whipped cream, and is produced the same way, with a nitrogen canister.

What’s going on here is officially called molecular mixology. That’s a fancy and somewhat pretentious phrase for what is basically playing around in a food science kind of way, and it’s all the rage in trendy big city watering holes. Great new things happening here with the food too. The peripatetic and skilled Michael Herschman has taken over as Executive Chef and it shows. He completely overhauled the menu and reading it makes clear that everything- including steaks, chops and seafood entrees- has been benefited from his experience and creativity. There’s an appealing selection of appetizers, salads, gourmet pizzas, and reinvented bar food standards. A seared rare tuna starter gets nice sweet heat from a sugared wasabi vinaigrette. The pizza topped with wild mushrooms, parmesan, truffle oil and grapes (yes, grapes) is a mouthful of heaven with a wonderfully chewy crisp crust. For sheer indulgence- and something you’re not likely to make in your own kitchen- order a twin filet a la Oscar- two rounds of tender beef topped with roasted red pepper béarnaise and plated with butter poached blue crab.

I’m getting hungry and thirsty writing about all this. I may need to grab a seat at the Metropolitan again soon for more research.

Glass-half-full PR, economic crisis edition

We got a press release today that starts like this:

FLATS PROJECT TO MOVE FORWARD
Developers say Flats East Bank will happen, despite troubling economic times, but work to be temporarily suspended

Note how that last clause contains the real news, and it how totally contradicts the headline.

The journalist-cynic in me wants to rewrite it. But the wordsmith in me marvels at its nouveau-Depression tenacity, its Believe-In-Cleveland, ISG-forged-steel resolve in the face of a global credit seize-up.

In the rest of the release, developer Scott Wolstein, Mayor Frank Jackson, and the would-be development's top prospective tenants pledge they're still committed to the project, which they hope will get financed when the credit markets "return to some level of normalcy," as Wolstein puts it.

Kudos to local PR professional Nancy Lesic, the release's contact person and presumed author.

Actually, I can't resist rewriting it:
FLATS PROJECT WORK SUSPENDED
Developer insists Flats East Bank project will happen, despite company's debt and faltering stock price

Here's the Plain Dealer's rewrite:
Flats East Bank project put on hold
Work on the $522 million Flats East Bank project has been suspended, and the credit crisis raises questions as to whether the long-awaited development will happen.

A (Frog) Leg Up

Why is Kermit crooning with native Clevelander Jim Brickman?

You'll have to wait until the December issue to find out for sure, but here's a sneak peek at the illustration for that story by one of our favorite illustrators, Ryan Ostrander. Check out more of his work at his blog or web site.

(And in case you just love Jim, you can send a free e-card to a friend that features his single "All I Ever Wanted.")

Live Karaoke

Ready for more than your usual karaoke? Playing Guitar Hero in the basement lost its luster? Tonight, you can take the stage with New Decade at the Boneyard in Mayfield Heights for the first time since we proclaimed it Cleveland's Best Live Karaoke in our October issue. Register here, submit up to two songs (since Halloween is right around the corner, may be suggest AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" or the Cranberry's "Zombie" from the extensive song list), and invite your friends to check out your rock 'n' roll debut. (Or, if you just want to dance, Disco Inferno (Best Revival Band 2005) plays after the OSU-Penn State game at the Mayfield Heights Boneyard.) You can also check out the photos from our Best of Cleveland Party.

Melissa Etheridge visits Cleveland

Last night Melissa Etheridge made a short stop at Cleveland’s Public Theatre in order to support the person she considers the “most important member of Congress right now… Dennis Kucinich.”

Speaking to reporters, Etheridge, wearing a crushed velvet green jacket, distressed jeans, and a striped collared shirt, was as earnest as she was warm. “The first time I hear him speak, I thought ‘who is this perfect little man?” she said, in her famous, deep Melissa Etheridge voice. “He sees the world exactly as I see it. He sees the world and what we need to do with perfect clarity. I instantly fell in love with him. [My wife] was like, ‘stop drooling.’”

Etheridge, married to actress Tammy Lynn Michaels since September 2003, cited Kucinich’s support for gay rights as one of the reasons for her undying devotion to the man. “I met him at a Gay LOGO thing last year,” the singer said. “A couple of Democratic candidates showed up. Obama gets up and goes gay rights, gay rights, gay rights, I’m just not gonna let you get married. Then Hillary comes up and goes gay rights, gay rights, gay rights, I’m just not gonna let you get married either. Bill Richardson same thing. Then Dennis comes up and says this is an issue of equality. ..It was just so powerful, so fresh.”

The singer believes that it is people’s general “fear of sex” that contributes to America’s inability to accept homosexuality. “They think sex itself is bad, and since gays are just having sex for fun, well, that must be the worst of the worst.”

Etheridge, a native Kansan, believes that its Dennis’ Midwestern upbringing that accounts for his accepting nature. “We’re both from the Midwest where there’s an understanding that you work hard, be nice, and play by the rules,” she says. “We get mad when people don’t do that.”

Dennis, for his part, claimed that Etheridge’s crush was, like, totally requited.“Melissa’s got this voice – kind of soul of America type music,” he says. “She’s great.” When pressed to name a favorite Etheridge song, he came up blank and instead starting mumbling about a concert he’d gone to in DC of Etheridge’s, and how great it was that a celebrity of her stature would come to Cleveland.

Etheridge, seeming not to notice this um,” temporary memory block” kept beaming. After the two finished their discussion, they left the stage, little hand in little hand.

Jay-Z and LeBron Rally for Obama at The Q

LeBron James is appearing with seven-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist Jay-Z at Quicken Loans Arena Oct. 29 to rally Barack Obama supporters and encourage early voting. (The event will include a special concert by Jay-Z.) The 6:30 p.m. event is free and open to all Ohio residents and students, but (you guessed it) you need to pick up tickets early at Obama "Campaign for Change" offices across Northeast Ohio. Tickets will be available starting noon tomorrow