Pack your lunch Friday

As someone who has a top eight favorite places to see the city skyline (The magazine revealed its favorite view during last year's Best Of Cleveland issue), I was intrigued when I heard about Positively Cleveland's latest selection for its lunchtime DVD Series.

The film's tagline: "If you think you know Northeast Ohio...Think again" has me jonesing to find out more hidden gems that I haven't found yet. Sites Unseen will be aired at noon and 1 p.m. on Friday in their downtown offices, where Higbees used to be in Tower City.

Hated it!

Roxetta ... quit hatin' on us.

It's Important to Have Goals

The Cleveland's A Plum blog has been lobbying for inclusion in our pages as a "Hot Blog" for some time now. Though we haven't done another installment of the roundup in the mag since the campaign started, we're detecting a note of ... hmm ... let's call it "turning it up a notch" as of late. From today's Cleveland's A Plum post:

"why does cleveland magazine hate me? my only goal when i started this flippin' awesome cleveland themed blog a year and a half ago was to get a cleveland magazine mention. seriously, they won't even follow me on twitter! don't make me beg - i preach cleveland for christ's sake."

Right now, we'd like to emphasize, as our parents did to us: a.) it's important to have goals, and b.) all we expect of you is to do your best. As long as you've done that, everything else will take care of itself.

Anyway, we recommend checking out Cleveland's A Plum ... and, we're now following on Twitter.

Even better, follow us on Twitter, too.

LeBron Says Cheese

The Cavs might be resting this week after sweeping the Pistons to move on to the next round of the playoffs but that doesn't mean you can't get your fill of LeBron highlights. ESPN The Magazine puts King James on its cover and names him part of its NBA All-Hunger Team. Not sure what that means? Read the story and check out some video from the photo shoot of the cover and team photo at the Cavs practice facility here. Our favorite part? The never camera shy LeBron telling everyone: "I'm hungry for a championship, I mean so hungry that my belly right now is grumbling for that gold trophy so I'll see you all in late June." We'll be there. 

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere

I won’t be home this afternoon. I’ll be out drinking. And I’m not ashamed to admit it. Whole Foods in University Heights is hosting a Meet the Winemaker event today from 3-5 PM. Bonterra Vineyards’ assistant vintner Jeff Cichocki (originally from Ohio) will be on hand to chat about these organic wines from Sonoma, and I plan to be there. It’s an informal drop in type gathering, and two more are planned: Friday May 8 French winemaker Diane de Puymorin will be in the store representing Chateau d’or et de Gueles, and Saturday May 9 it’s all about Tuscan reds with Sebastiano Capponi of Villa Calcinaia. Cost for each is just 25 cents per pour. These offer a great opportunity to try new things and learn about how they are produced in a casual, unpretentious setting. More info here

1970s Swine Flu

Here's why we were scared of the Swine Flu 40 years ago. (Thanks to WCPN's Dan Moulthrop's twitter for the link)



(If the YouTube video isn't loading above, click here.)

Plain Dealer's circulation falls 12%, to below 300,000

The latest big-city circulation figures are out, and the Plain Dealer's decline looks dire.

Its circulation has fallen to 291,630, down from 330,280 a year ago — an 11.7% drop. That's even faster than the average newspaper's scary-enough decline of 7%.

In my January 2007 article, "The New Dealer," I wrote: "Many more ad dollars are leaving the paper than readers. Unlike people in Web-savvier cities, we’re not abandoning the newspaper for online news." Not so today.

I can see a few plausible explanations for the steep decline.

1) Perhaps the Plain Dealer's readers are just going to cleveland.com. Editor Susan Goldberg told an audience of Cleveland State students this February that the web site's readership has doubled since 2004. As of late 2007, cleveland.com had a readership of about 1.2 million unique users a month, up from about 1 million a year earlier.

2) Maybe people are canceling subscriptions to save money during the recession.

3) Some newspapers these days are deliberately stopping circulation in areas far away from their home city and expensive to deliver to.

4) Perhaps, as the paper gets smaller, a vicious cycle kicks in: people cancel, thinking they're not getting their money's worth anymore.

We'll see if the Plain Dealer covers its own circulation decline in tomorrow's paper. They've been making a point of commenting on news about themselves lately, instead of leaving it to others. For now, cleveland.com just has a wire-service story about the new numbers.

RTA considers elminating 7-day-a-week service

Facing a $9 million shortfall, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority is considering big cuts to service, including the potential elimination of Saturday or Sunday routes.

RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese mentioned the possibility at an RTA board meeting last week. He said cutting Saturday service would save $12 million a year and scrapping Sunday service would save $10 million a year. Calabrese, in the same meeting, didn't exactly endorse the idea: "That service is crucial to a lot of riders and eliminating it would be catastrophic," he said.

For Clevelanders who can't afford cars, that could mean not being able to work weekend shifts, attend religious services, or run errands on a day off.

RTA spokesman Jerry Masek says cutting a full day of service is an option, but the staff will look to the board of trustees for direction.

"It was mentioned in passing. There has been no discussion. A lot of other communities have done it, but I'm not sure it's something that could be done in Cleveland."

The board will meet with staff in May to discuss options.

RTA is required to balance its budget each year. Making a cost-saving move earlier in the year can prevent greater cuts if the decision is put off, because the savings will be realized for a longer period of time, Masek says.

When RTA faced a serious deficit last year, Gov. Ted Strickland helped steer enough money to eliminate major service cuts. At the time, former Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell, then an RTA board member, said if service cuts were necessary in 2009, RTA's customers should understand that "it's going to be the state imposing the cuts."

Masek says assistance from the state could still come through, but RTA has to move forward as if it isn't.

"We are talking to state officials every day about a lot of things. We're still talking to them to see if there are any other solutions to the issues," he says. "We have to be pro-active and look at our budget issue. We can't sit back and wait for someone else to help us."

Cavs: Superfly Mode

We wish we had more information about this creation, but we don't. Another round of spot-on viral marketing Cavs-style? A fan who really, really should have put some sort of credit on this? Who knows. But it ended up in our inbox this morning and we thought you might enjoy it as much as we did. And if anyone has any idea where this originally came from, please comment below. We'd love to give credit where credit is so obviously due. Bring on the Hawks/Heat ...

UPDATED: Commenter Russ points out it's from the Cavs wallpaper page. Why didn't we think to check there? And, it is by far, the sweetest wallpaper on that page, according to us.

When Vegetarians Attack ...

It's not that we hate vegetarians, it's just that we know Clevelanders love eating meat so much.

A Google alert, um, alerted as yesterday that the Vegetarians Taste Better blog deemed our May Best Restaurants issue disappointingly light on vegetarian coverage, even proclaiming "Cleveland Magazine hates vegetarians." (At this point, if you're saying, "I didn't even know the May issue was out yet," it's time to subscribe.)

For the record, we did cover meat-free options from VegiTerranean, Lola, Melt, Tommy's and Taza. For a meat-and-potatoes kind of town that's not too bad. (We're also guessing Roxetta hasn't see our vegetarian vs. carnivore face off in the pages of our October 2008 issue. Nevertheless, her blog is good. You should check it out.)

And, in retrospect, maybe we shouldn't have put the vegetarian story directly below a piece in which chef Jonathon Sawyer talks about how delicious baby goats are.

Browns Are No. 1!

No, not in the standings (please!).

But the team could be the best rumor mill in the NFL as draft day approaches on Saturday. With the No. 5 overall pick (perfect for teams lusting after a USC quarterback) and several players available via trade (Braylon Edwards, Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson, anyone?), the Browns might just be the most interesting team in the league.

CBS Sportsline has a fun little graphic (at right) promoting its "Double Vision: Bold Draft Day Predictions." Despite all the noise out of Berea that the team was put off by Michael Crabtree, NFLDraftScout.com senior analysts Rob Rang and Chad Reuter predict that if the Browns select the Texas Tech wideout, Braylon Edwards is headed to the New York Giants. However, the New York Daily News' Ralph Vacchiano says the Giants-Browns deal is all but dead. (Oh, the contradictions!)

On the quaterback front, the Browns haven't even had a personal workout with USC's Mark Sanchez. But maybe that's just sunscreen in eveyone else's eyes. Pick Sanchez, the theory, goes and Quinn could be headed to the New York Jets. But doesn't Denver need a quarterback? What happens to Anderson? And is Sanchez hunky enough to replace Quinn as the good-looking-but-unproven savior category?

See, isn't this fun? Only about 48 hours left.

Enjoy it, because it might be the last time the Browns are relevant this season.

Cavs: Having Too Much Fun?

Its been a lingering question all season: Have LeBron and company been goofing off just a little too much? And with this parody of the popular Heineken commercial to promote the NBA playoffs people are buzzing with knocks on the Cavaliers again. As long as they keep winning, why not enjoy the ride and entertain fans off the court too? As soon as that game clock starts ticking, the Cavs have proven they are all business: Best record. Coach of the Year. Soon-to-be-named MVP. Enough said.

Bonus: Joe Smith (aka Joe Beast) shows off his rapping skills here with a song about what else? The Cavs.

Food As Art

The husband and I went down to the Akron Art Museum on Saturday to see an exhibition of photographs by Edward Weston. It’s a retrospective of this 20th century artist’s entire body of work. The black and white images are stunning and it was interesting to see how his vision evolved, both in terms of how he looked at a single subject and his seeing over time. There are nudes and landscapes, portraits of people and places.

His sensuous rendering of a pepper has become iconic but I was especially taken with his photos of edible things that were less familiar to me- eggs, a mushroom, cabbage, all receptacles for light and shadow. Days later I can still see the long, leggy bunch of radishes he paid homage to, as lovely and intimate an expression as anything he ever did of a woman. Of course, such work speaks mostly to his incredible talent but it is also a reminder for me of the beauty lurking in ordinary moments and simple insignificant things. Suddenly a handful of strawberries spread out on the wooden cutting board are more than just something to slice onto a bowl of cereal. I stop, stare, consider their curves and colors, their relationships to one another and to the little bit of late morning sun that makes its way through the window and into my kitchen. If I were a photographer, I’d take a picture. Instead I just take in the scene and give a mental nod of thanks to Weston for awakening my perceptions.

Only four more days to see this terrific show- it closes Sunday. Well worth the trip and the time.

Let's Make a Dinner Deal

The first sighting was in February in the Canadian press.
Pay what you want in this Montreal restaurant
Crescent St. Tavern hard hit by drop in business tries something new

Tough times, I thought to myself, demand unusual and inventive responses.

Three weeks ago, I saw the following headline from the Dallas Morning News in food industry newsletter: Arlington cafe serves gourmet food and lets customers pay what they want .
I read the article, which described a lunch spot that eschews fixed prices, and then promptly forgot about it. Then I saw an AP piece titled Spanish restaurant lets diners pay at will, and another from Reuters: At Sydney bistro, you decide what you pay which also mentions a London restaurant doing the same thing. The following week, I got a press release about all this from The National Restaurant Association announcing that dining establishments in Australia, Spain, and Texas- an interesting and unlikely geo trio- are telling patrons to pay what they can afford or what they think the meal is worth.

Do I smell a trend brewing?

Pondering this question, I suddenly remembered a conversation I had with Marlin Kaplan, the last time I visited Luxe Kitchen , his place on Detroit. It seems that as the world goes, so goes Cleveland. Because he told me that on a whim one night he randomly picked two tables- a group of ten, and a party of four-and offered to cook them a variety of dishes, served family style, that did not appear on the menu. Both accepted his offer of a multi-course meal. He collected some information about their preferences- pasta, yes, fish no, and headed for the stove. Money was not discussed. When the dishes were cleared away and it was time for the check, he surprised everyone by asking them to come up with a per person amount they felt was appropriate for the food they had eaten. (Beverages, tax, and gratuity were not part of the offer). Needless to say his customers were shocked.

“I trust patron’s better natures, and their impulse to do the right thing,” said Kaplan in a follow-up phone call yesterday. “They paid a fair price and we all felt good.”

If you go to Luxe and ask for the same treatment, he might be in the mood to say yes. Or he may just pick you out of the crowd, sidle up beside your seat, and make you an offer only a fool would refuse.

The inside story about how Andrea Vecchio ended up on our cover

If you haven't listened to April's podcast yet, you're missing out on the surprising details of how WKYC's Andrea Vecchio ended up on our cover. She's a lot of fun, and she not only talks about the cover shoot but about some of her favorite places around northeast Ohio for shopping and wine purchasing.

It's definitely worth a listen. And if you like what you hear, join our thousands of subscribers to the free podcast by subscribing through iTunes. (If you have iTunes installed, just click here to bring up the page!)

How negative was the Plain Dealer to The Cleveland Orchestra music director?

My April piece Critical Sinking — a close look at the conflict between The Cleveland Orchestra, the Plain Dealer and critic Donald Rosenberg which lead to the reassignment of a highly skilled music critic who covered one of the best musical institutions in the world — prompted a letter asking for more details.

I read your recent article "Critical Sinking" with great interest. I thought it was fairly balanced, however, one paragraph left me wanting more.

On page 73 the article states: "For the meeting, Julie Clark, working for the orchestra’s media relations department, assembled a point-by-point critique of all 150 sentences Rosenberg had written about Welser-Möst, from his guest-conducting performance on Feb. 12, 1993, to the latest concert before the meeting. She rated each sentence as “positive,” “mixed” or “negative."

I wonder if other readers had the same reaction as me. I would have liked to know the results of that critique. Did the research show a predominant slant to these sentences or not? Why was the result of that study not revealed? Was the information denied to you, not requested or merely not pursued.

For those interested, I've scanned the chart described in the story. Each X represents an individual sentence. So for each article Rosenberg penned about a Welser-Möst-led performance, there may be several Xs under each category.

You'll need a hat with this rain

The Tribe opens up their season today at Progressive Field, so why not brush up on your baseball history and show off your knowledge of obscure franchises with BallCap.com?

The company behind the site will build a vintage baseball hat to your specifications, from a host of teams from across the country and history. If anyone knows anything more about the Cleveland Spiders (c. 1896), please let me know.

Based in Cooperstown, N.Y. (naturally), Ball Cap Co. uses original machines to sew athletic flannel, horsehide sweatbands and "the highest grade peak stiffeners" to make caps from teams dating back to 1860.

For your erudition, some other things that happened in 1860:

• April 3 - The Pony Express begins its first run from Saint Joseph, Mo., to Sacramento, Calif.


• May 1 - A Chondrite type meteorite falls to earth in Muskingum County, Ohio, near the town of New Concord.


• Nov. 6 - Abraham Lincoln beats John C. Breckinridge, Stephen A. Douglas and John Bell and is elected the 16th President of the United States. He is the first Republican to hold that office.


• Dec. 20 - South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the United States.

The vintage caps are a bit pricey ($48 for most versions), but they look a lot cooler than most of the selection at MLB.com. And, they might earn you the respect of longtime Tribe fan and hat afficionado Tom O'Toole.

You can buy a lot of happiness for 27 cents

My favorite thing to send (and receive) in the mail is a postcard. They're quick to write and cheap (postcard stamps only cost 27 cents). If you want to add some intelligence to the front of your cards, check out Jessica Hagy's latest book.

Hagy, the Cuyahoga Falls native behind Indexed, just launched a book of postcards based on her popular and witty webcomic.

She describes it thusly:

It’s just what you’ve always wanted: A pile of analog opportunities to reach out in to your pals in an increasingly digital world AND an excuse to buy delicious stamps!

You can find the book at Amazon, and more about Jessica here.

Taming the Tab

I stopped by Light Bistro in Ohio City for happy hour recently and discovered that co-owners Chef Matthew Mathlage and Erich Dietrich have made it even happier. Show up Monday through Friday between 4:30-6:30 pm. and you can order selected lunchtime salads, sandwiches, and burgers at mid-day prices. These options plus daily drink specials and a bar menu of small plates makes for some seriously appealing bargains.

My companion and I had three cocktails- two whiskey sours for him, one sloe gin fizz for me- and shared a trio of dishes: crispy buttermilk-coated fried chicken livers with a few forkfuls of garlic spinach; big flavored pork belly on brioche with fennel slaw; and a round of charred flatbread topped with oven roasted tomatoes, pesto, and provolone. The total cost was only $28.40 plus tip.

Light’s also partnering with Grovewood Tavern on the east side for another great deal. Spend $60 on meals at each place between now and May 15, mail in your receipts, and you’ll get two $20 gift certificates, each good for your next dinners at these restaurants. In other words- enjoy yourself to the tune of $120 and you get a gift worth $40…with lots of good food and good times thrown in. Click here for details.

Deals like these can mean the difference between staying home or going out. These folks know that money’s tight for many people, and they’re in the same boat. To help themselves and get us in the door, they’re making it more affordable to eat at their restaurants. And that’s an economic survival strategy that’s easy for me to support.

The Seat-Filler Chronicles

The parties are presumably over, but I had a small part in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Saturday at Public Hall. My duty for the evening: to be a seat-filler for the Fuse TV broadcast.

It wasn’t exactly like the Seinfeld episode when Kramer fills seats at the Tony Awards. "They don't like to see empty seats on TV, so when somebody gets up I just park my caboose on their spot until they get back,” Kramer says.

However, Kramer's right about the “they,” meaning television producers and public relations cronies.

I moved only once, from Row J down to the first row in the upper balcony. Who would want to move after that switch? Not me.

I was lucky, it turns out. Four seat-fillers in the first row, to my left, were booted early from their prime spot overlooking the stage.

With the improved view, I give you what the live television audience probably didn’t catch.

* Mayor Frank Jackson telling the crowd before the ceremony he “looked forward to Cleveland hosting the event every three years.” The mayor watched the entire show one table away from Max Weinberg, Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band drummer and the future Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien band leader. Check out Jim Vickers’ April story on what’s happening now at the Rock Hall. Hint: It’s Bruce-related.

* The giant teleprompter. Presenters Rosanne Cash (for Wanda Jackson), Weinberg and Garry Tallent (for Bill Black and DJ Fontana), and Paul Shaffer (for Spooner Oldham) used it for their speeches.

* Wanda Jackson needing what appeared to be a wooden crate to reach the microphone and accept her induction.

* Some people at Run-DMC’s table wearing the group’s signature Adidas kicks and toe-tappin’ to Metallica at the end of the ceremony.

* While it was still hard to tell one penguin from another with all the tables (Is that the Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood or inductee Jeff Beck?), Metallica fans easily outnumbered the other inductees’ and, arguably, the band received the loudest cheers. The highlight was a toss-up between the thrashers’ three-song closing act and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page joining Beck to play guitar. The Page and Beck performance made its way to YouTube this morning.

Check out the Fuse TV running blog for even more insight on Cleveland's night.

Cleveland's party

Last night, the Rock Hall's induction ceremony came back to the city where every Clevelander thinks it belongs. Rock dignitaries and cheering fans filled Public Hall to see Metallica, Run-DMC, Jeff Beck, Wanda Jackson, Bobby Womack, D.J. Fontana, Spooner Oldham, and Little Anthony and the Imperials inducted into the hall of fame. Another crowd of Clevelanders watched the ceremony simulcast at the Rock Hall itself (pictured).

Rock Hall foundation CEO Joel Peresman said he was looking forward to bringing the induction back here every three years and told the crowd about the beautiful Public Hall's history, including the Beatles' 1964 concert there.

You can read three pages of coverage in the Plain Dealer today, but for a different take, check out the New York Times report, which picked up on how a Cleveland party is different than a New York party:

For only the second time in their 24-year history, the inductions were held in Cleveland.... The show was opened up to the public for the first time, with thousands of shouting, fist-pumping fans lining the balconies of the Public Auditorium here. Perhaps as a result, a streak of populism ran through the speeches.

“Rock ’n’ roll is about possibilities and about dreams,” said Lars Ulrich, the drummer of Metallica.... “Anything is possible if you just have the guts to believe it.”

Eminem, inducting Run-DMC, mentioned the video of "King of Rock" I linked to yesterday (below):

He referred to the storyline for Run-DMC’s video for “Kings[sic] of Rock” in 1985, saying: “The group set themselves up as the gatecrashers of popular music by forcing their way into a museum very similar to the one we’re inducting them into tonight. Run-DMC were told in the video that they didn’t belong in a rock ’n’ roll museum, and 25 years later, man, here we are.”

(Photo of crowd at the Rock Hall for the induction simulcast last night. From Positively Cleveland's Flickr photostream.)

Kings of Rock

Tonight's the Rock Hall induction ceremony at Public Hall. It'll be simulcast in the Rock Hall itself: $5 admission, doors 7 pm, show 8 pm.

I'm most excited about Run-DMC getting in. Raising Hell was the second album (cassette, actually) I ever bought.

Because of my unusual last name, I have a complicated relationship with the song "It's Tricky" -- but when I ran (unsuccessfully) for high school junior class president, I used the sleeve of the 45 RPM single on my campaign poster.



A couple of months ago I got into a debate about Run-DMC's induction -- with a guy who didn't think rappers should get into the Rock Hall because they're not rock!

That guy needs to see this: Run-DMC's eerily prescient 1985 video for "King of Rock" -- created the year before the Rock Hall picked its first inductees and chose to locate in Cleveland. Believe it or not, Run-DMC walks into a "Museum of Rock and Roll" and a security guard tells them they don't belong. They bust in and prove him wrong. Today's the perfect day to watch it.

Happy Birthday to Us!

We've been so busy with deadline that we almost forgot that today is Cleveland Magazine's 37th birthday (no joke!). If it wasn't for one of our MySpace friends sending us celebratory wishes and our profile page letting us know we are one year older we might have completely forgotten all together. While there aren't any lavish parties planned, not even a cake baked in our honor (though the one above does look mighty tasty), we went all out back in December 2007 for our 35th anniversary issue. Check it out here for a recap of Cleveland's history — all the highs and the lows and how we've been dedicated to bringing you great reporting since 1972. We're not trying to gloat, but now that's something worth celebrating. 

Wait, Cleveland is in OHIO?!

I thought it was odd when a pair of Venezuelans told me they wanted to crash on my couch in Cleveland since they were attending a conference so close. In Atlanta.

But, relative to Maracaibo, I figured Cleveland is close. And they are NBA fans. I know I would travel to see LeBron James if I wouldn't otherwise get the chance. They bought pricey tickets and said they were going to arrange travel plans.

I met these Venezuelans through the site couchsurfing.com. (I wrote about the couch surfing experience in August 2007, and I've been using it to travel ever since.) They seemed like great folks, so I said my couch was their couch.

A day later they e-mailed me back. They had looked on the map and saw Cleveland was only 100 miles away. Cleveland, Georgia, that is. Cleveland, Ohio? Wow that's north.

Despite that, the Venezuelans (Ricardo y Daniel) came anyway, booking a 17-hour Greyhound ride. I had to lend them ski caps. They hadn't planned on seeing snow, but got that "treat" on Sunday — they were in agreement that snow would be far better in summer temperatures. They had a great time, and I got to show them all around our city.

They said they'd return the favor if I'd like to come to South America. Don't worry. I've already triple checked. There's only one Maracaibo in Venezuela.

Sweet Read

Devouring a good book is a special kind of pleasure. The concept takes on a whole other dimension this Saturday, April 4, when the good reads are served up as cakes, cookies and other tasty tidbits. Loganberry Books and Strong Bindery are the Cleveland co-hosts of the Edible Book Festival , a competition that celebrates the intersect of print and plate. The bookish banquet is actually an international event , held in cities all over the world on or around April Fool’s Day.

Here’s how ithe local gathering works: Participants bring their culinary creations- which in past years have included sheets of printed pasta and bound "pages" of peanut brittle- to the store on Larchmere. Entries must reference a particular title, character or text, or look like something you'd find on library shelves, but there’s a lot of room for interpretation. For many who get into this, humor is a main ingredient- think Ezra Pound Cake, The Chard in the Stone, Lard of the [Onion] Rings, The Invisible Gingerbread Man, and Reader’s Digest(ibles).

You can still register if you want to try for top honors in this year’s contest categories: Most Inspiring, Most Literary and Most Delectable. Contact Harriett at 216.795.9800 or harriett@logan.com. Otherwise simply show up. Admission is free if you just want some food for thought. $3 gets you a fork, eating privileges, and a chance to vote for your favorites Viewing begins at 1 PM. Winners are announced an hour later, and then it’s time to dig in.