Wow -  I just realized Pere Ubu is in town tonight for a concert promoting their rave new album, "Why I Hate Women" - 10:15 PM at the Beachland Ballroom, with the New Lou Reeds opening at 9 PM. I had seen a glowing review of the new album in CoolCleveland this week but didn't notice about the show, which is a must see.... wee need a better way to spread word about arts and culture in NEO. Luckily, there was a feature in the Plain Dealer Friday section today, which gives the new album huge props too.

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I was at the Cleveland Institute of Art today to review the subtle "Home House Show" of green affordable housing and noticed across the street the extravagant, stony Cleveland Museum of Art expansion is really taking shape. While not scheduled to open until Summer 2008, contractors are already adding the skin to the East Wing and it is now possible to visualize what the finished product will look like. Most visually dominant, the surface of the addition is covered in marble that is similar to the light gray of the original 1916 Beaux-Arts building, transitioned with horizontal thin dark gray lines in a pattern lifted from the more recent 1971 Breuer addition, and the new structure is overall very much in that modern, brutal style. Still to come is all the glass, which should give the structure greater lightness. I now look forward to the end result.

Over the past few months, Phillip Williams and I have been working with one of the world's most important art galleries, Material Matters Contemporary Glass Gallery, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to develop their virtual community. The site has been up for about a month now, and has generated lots of global traffic (and congratulations to the gallery on that), and this weekend the site really paid off, as we can attribute a first major sale of art by Material Matters to the fact the new website exists - the buyers (from Cleveland, as a matter of fact), saw two major works by an amazing Canadian glass artist they otherwise would not know, and they bought his only available work I know of in the world. The Canadian glass artist made money, the gallery made money, Phillip and I made money, and the collectors in Cleveland got two amazing works of art (for a great price), shown in their new NEO home above. This is just a small beginning for Material Matters' virtual community, which already represents the greatest glass artists of Canada, as they are in the process of going glocal in many important ways, in the process improving Toronto's Glocal arts economy. NEO arts leadership may learn more here...

While I still “live” in NEO, I now largely work in Toronto, and post most of my insight from there. I believe such global insight sharing offers unique perspectives to NEO not otherwise available and encourage more cross-boundary insight trade. As someone long associated with the Northeast Ohio economy and arts, I can't help but compare what I experience in Toronto (and Canada) with my experiences in Cleveland (and the USA), and I feel lessons learned far and wide, like in Toronto, will help NEO develop a stronger new economy at home. For those far and wide, I encourage you to post your observations here!

Two weeks ago saw the second birthday of REALNEO. I started REALNEO in October, 2004, to provide “Regional Economic Action Links for North East Ohio” and implement for the region some exciting open source social networking technology. While the outcomes have not been entirely what I expected, and these years have in ways been rough, I've been thrilled to help drive and support some great developments in the community.

 “Even when it comes to a problem as big as global warming, doing Just One Thing can have an enormous, positive impact on our planet. For instance, replacing four light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs will keep a ton of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that causes global warming, out of the air. And if everyone in the U.S. unplugged their electronics, such as TVs, computers, DVD players, and stereos when they're not using them, we'd prevent 18 million tons of carbon from being released into the atmosphere. Just One Thing is so easy--and so effective.”

The Plain Dealer finally has their headline article in the battle to protect citizens against lead poisoning - Sherwin Williams is suing East Cleveland, Toledo and Columbus for them filing suit against Sherwin Williams over lead poisoning... this, rather than the impacts and history of lead poisoning, is what has made the headlines in the paper, featured on top of the business section (rather than the front page, where the news belongs). So, Sherwin Wlliams and their local attorneys Jones Day feel they can intimidate or perhaps bankrupt Ohio cities by attacking them over what has already been determined against Sherwin Wiliams and Jones Day in Rhode Island and is in court in 26 other states, all because  Sherwin Wiliams and Jones Day believe Ohio and our courts are so in the pockets of this rich and powerful local company and law firm they will endorse Blackmail.

Two major art exhibits opened Friday night, September 29, showcasing the importance of glocalization of NEO art at its best. Barbara Stanczak is showing a large body of recent sculptures, photo manipulations and constructions at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens Gallery, and Painter Dana Schutz and photographer Catherine Opie are exhibiting large bodies of work at Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). Each artist has strong ties to NEO, yet are globally successful and influential in their own unique ways - rooting their accomplishments back to NEO is how glocalization of arts propels our economy to a higher level, as NEO leverages the  global significance of our arts industry.

In a unique and powerful arts development in town, the Cleveland Foundation has started an initiative to showcase artists studying at the Cleveland Insitute of Art in a series of exhibitions at the Foundation offices, at 1422 Euclid Ave., Suite 1300, starting with "Heterotopia", now showing - the public is welcome to view the exhibition at The Cleveland Foundation offices Monday through Friday during normal business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.)

I just got the following event details from our Tech Czar Michael DeAloia about an important international conference coming to Cleveland - The International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers - with keynote by Case VP of IT Lev Gonick (congratulations, Lev). I've worked with lots of high level global IT managers and they are an excellent draw to Cleveland... they like to explore and they spend money, so this conference is a gem. And they are offering a special deal for Cleveland IT companies worth checking out. Most interesting to me and you is how they are selling Cleveland to their international membership... check out our forum on 22 reasons to attend this conference in Cleveland, Ohio, and add your ideas to share with these important guests of our community, and all others! See conference details below...

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While hard to compare to shootings and murder, I can't think of a worse development for NEO, local arts and culture and my neighborhood than the news I recieved just now - Gallery 1300 is closing. I don't know enough details to know if it is "our" fault - not enough money flowing from the community to the gallery and artists - or just that the smart, great people who have made 1300 a core part of the NEO scene have other opportunities to pursue, but I know we all owe it to their team to really put out for them in their closing months. More to come on this as I learn details... for now: the Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE           

Title of the Exhibit: Leave ‘Em Wanting More – The last shows of 1300

Opening Reception: 

5 - October 20, 7-10 – Grant Smrekar, Paul Sydorenko, Bill Rupnik

The 7GEN development team of Phillip Williams and myself are thrilled to work with the important Cleveland Club of Washington, DC, to provide technology to their leadership and members. From their new Drupal website, found at http://clevelandclub.org: "The Cleveland Club of Washington, D. C., founded in 1957, is an association of Washington men and women who share a keen interest in Cleveland. Most of the more than three hundred members are former Clevelanders or graduates of its universities. Participants include United States Representatives, judges, prominent federal officials, journalists and others of diverse background and occupation."

This weekend the Toronto arts and culture scene was world-class beyond belief, featuring the final weekend of the Toronto Film Festival, the opening of the new Four Seasons Opera House (premiering Wagner's Ring Cycle), many smaller community arts festivals, and two major arts festivals – the Queen West Arts Crawl, featuring over 500 artists and galleries along mind-blowing Queen Street) and the august 11th Annual Canadian Art Gallery Hop. The Queen West Arts Crawl was way cool, but I stayed in Toronto an extra day for Software Freedom Day and the Canadian Art Gallery Hop, as that featured a free “Glocal Live Roundtable” of many of Canada's arts leaders. “The term GLOCAL fuses global with local and points to the meshing of macro and micro realms of experience in the contemporary world of Internet technologies and instant information. The speed and collapsing distances of this new reality hold challenging implications for traditional identities and communities, along with promising opportunities.” The roundtable was astounding... see below for detailed notes of interest to all concerned about arts, culture and the economy, local to anywhere in the world and global.

Susan Miller posted very exciting news about NEO today: former editor in chief of the Free Times and now columnist for the esteemed New York Times Lisa Chamberlain (props, Lisa!) published in today's New York Times a real plum of promotion for NEO, with an article titled: "Filmmakers Say Hooray for Cleveland". The subject is very smart and progressive local real estate developer David Perkowski, shown above on top of his Hyacinth lofts, which David developed to serve the unique live/work needs of local artists and film and music makers. Anyone who knows NEO knows David for transforming the historic Tower Press building from a dilapidated shell into a spectacular and bustling arts loft complex... one of the most innovative historic restorations and downtown redevelopments in Cleveland History. Well, the Hyacinth is as impressive and significant in similar and other ways.

At the Meet the Bloggers benefit last week, at Tower Press, I hoped I would see NEO's top filmmaker Bobert Banks, who has his studio in the Tower Press. Robert showed up, as is his style. Not only did I learn it was his 40th birthday (happy b-day... shush) but that he was having a filmfest birthday party today, 09/10/06... not to be missed, to celebrate a great man and artist's b-day and enjoy some retro film of Robert's choice. As Robert was born in 1966, and Star Trek was apparently invented then, the evening started out with some crazy Star Trek film that I suppose was the pilot of the series, and was totally freaky... rampant green dancing aliens, booze and sex.

I've totally appreciated Convivium 33 Gallery in Josaphat Arts Hall since I first heard of its creation - one must love people who resurrect an abandoned church on West 33rd Street in the unblessed heart of Detroit Superior, and pump a ton of money into it, and make it into a major showcase for art (equal love must go out to the Saltzmans for operating a great Dave's Market a block away). While lots of economic development dreamers talk good talk about transforming midtown and developing the arts economy, here it is happening day in and out. So I was thrilled to learn an old friend Clarence Van Duzer is showing there this month

What a week for fine art in Cleveland! In a wise move to spread the cultural-wealth and art enthusiasts time, Spaces made great noise and started the weekend early by throwing their "Street Repairs" opening party on the relatively quiet 09/07/06 Thursday night, drawing in a huge crowd. Read on about Friday's festivities...

Shiva's Classic Dances, International proudly presents a world premier production of THE DANCE OF MOTHER EARTH - TANDAV - Third Annual Fundraiser and FREE performance

TANDAV is just not a  multicultural extravaganza showcasing the beauty of dance but has lot more to offer to the community. It is an evening with a variety of dances expressing the different colors of life- Love, Stress, and Compassion. The main purpose of this evening is to listen to what Mother Earth is trying to convey to all of us “GLOBAL WARMING" "WILD LIFE PROTECTION". Do you attribute the recent changes in the climate  to Global Warming-leading to deadly effects of human life????

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I always thought there was something innately good about Cleveland Tech Czar Michael DeAloia but didn't know why or what, and then I learned he's a poet, who has published a book of his work and is now participating in area poetry reading for good causes. That enough tells me he is special, but no way to tell how without reading or hearing the poetry. So I asked him to send over a few works to post with him as this Poet of the Day, for us all to preview... and tomorrow, September 7, we all can experience the complete poet Michael DeAloia as he reads more of his work at a fundraiser for Meet the Bloggers. Thanks for the good words for Cleveland, Michael. Read on, and be there, you all!

The Jazz Influenza

The high sounds of strings

Are teased by petite one-sixteenths

Infecting my soul,

Making me want to dance.

A whole note engulfs my sense of style.

My fingers snap!

Sweat rains on my forehead.

I perish under blue fever.

There rests my anger

On a lofty quarter note.

High….

Buzzing sounds of life

Are being played by a maestro,

By a drug addict,

By a man with a matter-of-fact life.

Ready your souls for cheap brass.

Rich men play money.

Poor men drums.

And I fly away riding on an eighth-note, waving.

Launching the academic year, each fall, the CIA faculty show is always one of the most dynamic art exhibits in Cleveland... eclipsed only by the showing of student work at the end of the school term, in the spring. The annual faculty show will be held from September 8-October 14 in Reinberger Galleries, 11141 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio. Exhibition free and open to the public Monday-Saturday 9am-5pm. Be sure to attend the Artist’s Reception Friday, September 8, 6 pm – 8 pm.

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I just got the following invitation from my favorite economic development leader in NEO, Cleveland Tech Czar Michael DeAloia, and I am intrigued he is not only a technology visionary but a poet. It will certainly be worth checking out the next event where he is reciting his poetry, as this is also a good cause of a group of other great NEO community leaders who operate "Meet the Bloggers". See more about the event below, and more about the poet Michael DeAloia in our feature of him as poet of the day. From poet Michael DeAloia, you are invited...

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As a largely grey and blue crowd of arts and peace lovers assembled in Lakewood to think and talk about renowned contemporary artists John Jackson and Masumi Hayashi, now living only in spirit and retrospect, a young and multi-colorful crowd gathered in the "Market Square" pocket park at W.25th and Lorain (across from the West Side Market) to give props to scores of nameless contemporary artists that live on in the streets of Cleveland's urban core, through their art of aerosol paint, rap, scratch and break... otherwise known to the establishment as counter-culture, noise and pollution.

Today the bleak Beck Center for the Arts had a heart pounding inside, to the beat of a Masumi Hayashi retrospective... that is the power of art, even when the artist is dead. 100s of friends of slain artists Masumi Hayashi and John Jackson consoled themselves and those who joined them, with staged remembrances to the memorial gathering, which were broadcast throughout the center and had great impact. There were places to read some of the articles that have been written about Masumi over the years... mostly since her death... and a project of having attendees write messages to the artists on tissue paper and tying them to cords strung in front of the center, in what was described as a Japanese tradition.

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