Why don’t zombies eat clowns? Rare grooves: How the Rock Mill will Altered Realm Radio knows (pg. the hidden history of make you glad to climb the 10) Akron’s Soul Toronadoes (pg. 25) walls this winter (pg. 31)

DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 • THEDEVILSTRIP.COM The Devil Strip FREE ture Akron Music, Art & Cul

When being home for the holidays means you work the bar (page 10)

Welcome

Akronites clearly love this city but it’s anchored by cause to remember this city is more than where the something heartbreaking and heavy, the residue world’s tires were born. That means we can reclaim of a 30-year-old story that Akron is a place people our cultural touchstones, from Devo and Rita Dove leave. However, that story is falling apart. Folks to Michael “Dynamite” Dokes and Dick Goddard… are realizing Akron is more than that. The faithful, I mean Jim Jarmusch and Lux Interior to Ruby & the whether they’ve been at it for two years or two Romantics. decades, aren’t just succeeding. They’re growing in number. Devo, Rita Dove, Chrissie Hynde, the Knights, Ruby & the Romantics, Jim Jarmusch, Lux Interior, The Devil Strip Cleveland is hanging on for the Cavs to win a title, Dynamite Dokes, James Ingram, Lewis Miller, ture Akron Music, Art & Cul but Akron won the moment LeBron announced he Stanley Ovshinsky, Clark Gable and Dick Goddard Publisher >> was coming home (though he never really left the (just kidding), to name only a few. As impressive as Chris “Somehow missed the 330). If you’re going to turn your narrative around, that bunch is, bouncing back has more to do with email you sent in June” Horne it helps to have the greatest NBA player of his the small, local stories because they’re our mortar. Art Director >> generation on your side. Little things help too. Alesa Upholzer, Talented and Patient This is how we see ourselves at The Devil Strip, Visuals Editor >> Little like TinyCircuits (page 38), which ships wee telling stories about Akron to remind ourselves that Svetla “The Balkan Comrade” Morrison arduinos all over the globe, creating jobs for young, this place isn’t just capable of greatness but that talented folks here. It’s also about people who it’s achieving it on the regular already. Our writers, Copy Editor >> Jessica “My name is not Jecca” Cherok Once upon a time, not all that long ago, my aren’t household names, like Robert Keith, who photographers, editors, street team and sales folks favorite restaurant was the Marathon gas station came back from NYC to teach drama at Miller are all after the same thing: To be the mirror this Sales Director >> on MLK in downtown Macon. I’d given up on South (page 14), his alma mater. It’s about small community deserves. TJ Masterson – [email protected] using the kitchen in the apartment I shared with shops, like Sweet Mary’s Bakery (page 20) which The Editorial Team >> Roger Riddle, and I was often too broke to dine is run by boomeranged native Mary Hospodarsky, Thanks for giving us the opportunity. We’re excited Arts Section Editor: Bronlynn “Space Kitty” Thurman out. Except at gas stations. who became my hero when I read this: “It dawned about the 2016 that lies ahead for us all.

Assistant Arts Editors: on me that the reason there’s nothing down here Megan "insides made of cheese" Combs, On a typical visit, I’d buy two packs of cigarettes is that people like me won’t take the initiative to Take Care, Chris recovering loser/hoser/poser then grab a hot dog from the roller, load it down bring something down here.” After nine years of Noor Hindi, Will Get Back to Chris about That with free condiments, especially relish and mayo hustle, she’s just opened a storefront downtown. Community & Culture Section Editors: for added heft, and chase it with Little Debbie M. Sophie Hamad, ambitious wordsmith and mama cakes. A bag of Tom’s salt and vinegar chips was This issue is unintentionally, but also unsurprisingly, Katie “Miss Scarlet in the Conservatory with a candlestick” Jackson 99 cents, and the Powerade was usually two- thick with good stories coming out of the University for-$1.50. This Marathon also served sausage and of Akron, ringing with this new narrative about Assistant Culture Club Editor: egg biscuits, made from scratch. When I couldn’t expats returning and transplants setting down Ilenia “Our Short, Tired Garbanzo Bean Eatin', WTF Video Girl Writer” Pezzaniti afford anything “fresh” from the warmer, I settled roots. for a Slim Jim. I may weigh more now, but I’m Music & Entertainment Section Editors: healthier, which isn’t saying much. The Akron Poetry Prize (page 12) is run out of UA Jenny Conn, Real O.G. Storyteller Mackenzie “Needs a whimsical middle name” Mehrl Press by Mary Biddinger (Issue #1), who hails from I believe the two most important stories in the Illinois and was recently awarded a NEA grant as Music Editor: Brittany “Sass Master Flash” Nader world are the story we tell ourselves about a professor poet at the university. California native Staff writers >> ourselves and the story we tell the world about Marie Bucoy-Calavan (page 7) is doing big things Andrew “Has a mighty fine beard” Leask; Christopher who we are. We don’t choose whether to tell these for UA’s choral program. with K “not to be confused with Chris H” Morrison; stories but we can choose what story we tell. If Roger Riddle, Wears the Purple Pants; Elizabeth “Only in Akron” Tyran; Joanna Wilson, you leave it to chance, you can end up on the gas Then there’s Liz and Nathan Yokum (page 31), Director of the Dept. of Tattoos & Morrissey station diet. I let my ego go unchecked because a former Zips who already run one business here, column I wasn’t paid to write made me popular on Rock Candy Holds, and are about to open up Columnists >> Holly “The Wanderer” Brown; Dominic Caruso, Swiss one side of two blocks in our small town. Without another, Rock Mill Climbing. But don’t sleep on Artsy Knife; Emily “Potty Perfectionist” Dressler and meaning to, I lived down to a story I told myself current students like our own Sophie Hamad and Marissa Marangoni, Bathroom Culture Enthusiast; about being a funny, likeable drunk who could Noor Hindi (page 13), or Josh Gardy (page 29), who Chris “the Film Freak” Kessinger; Kyra “Drama Queen” Kelley; Natalie Warren, a Life in Red Lipstick; Katie string together words. I was, and can still be, a came from Phoenix but talks passionately about “Um, can you repeat the question?” Wheeler funny, likeable drunk, but I was, and am, more. I this town like a hard-core Akronite. just hadn’t realized it then. The A/V Club >> Paul “I don’t write” Hoffman; Jacob Luther, To think the university’s impact is only, or even the Towny Townie Toonist; Bronlynn “Enemy of largely, relegated to the economics of our largest Avocados, Destroyer of PEEPS” Thurman; employers is to sell UA and its people short. It is The Shane Wynn Supremacy bigger and more meaningful than the “run it like a Contributors >> business” argument. (You can run it like a university Allie Angelo, Mary Menzemer, Shelby Heitzenrater, Brit and still “balance your checkbook.” Businesses Charek, Craftiest Staff Writer/Maker of Empires; Jessica About the Cover Conti, Says She’s Not That Clever But Must Be Lying; are about making a profit, which shouldn’t be Mario Nemr (left) and Ray Nemer (right) Heather “Doctor, Doctor” Braun; Eric Morris, Was UA’s goal.) There are numerous reasons here and are cousins and grew up in very similar Abducted By Jojo Pizzaface’; Scott Piepho; Bert Stevens elsewhere to celebrate the cultural contributions to households: their parents' bars. They came ————————­­­———————————— this new Akron story by the people who make UA up in now iconic Akron establishments CONTACT US: “one of our most valuable and treasured assets,” Maddy and Liz like Thursday's Lounge, Manny's and The Office ...... (330) 842-6606 to quote my favorite Akron Beacon Journal ad. Matador, so while most of us are napping off General Info ...... [email protected] our holiday meals, folks like them--people in Advertising ...... [email protected] Distribution ...... [email protected] That changed after I met the smart, smokin’ hot Until recently, the city has struggled with the the service industry--are going to work. Since Website ...... www.thedevilstrip.com blonde who would later become my wife. She saw same mindset, having limited its value to what they're the ones we turn to when we want Facebook ...... Facebook.com/thedevilstrip things in me I couldn’t fathom. Whatever it was, it produces and thinking mostly of that output to blow off steam with our extra time off, Twitter ...... @akrondevilstrip I began to see it too. This former two pack-a-day in economic terms. But even in the boom years, it only seemed fitting to turn our attention Instagram ...... @thedevilstrip smoker has run three marathons without dying this place was always more than just the Rubber to what the holidays are like for them. The Devil Strip is published bi-monthly by Random Family, LLC. Akron in any of them. I’m also co-creator of a darling Capital of the World, and that is as true now as Fortunately, photographer Shane Wynn was Distribution: The Devil Strip is available free of charge, limited to one copy per reader. Copyright: The entire contents ofThe Devil Strip little girl who turns 5 shortly after this issue prints. it was when the rubber factories closed and the also available to fit into Mario's and Ray's are copyright 2015 by Random Family, LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Sometimes, I eat vegetables. population plummeted. It’s more evident these tight schedule for a few great shots. Publisher does not assume any liability for unsolicited manuscripts, days, perhaps. King James and the Black Keys have materials, or other content. Any submission must include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. All editorial, advertising, and business When I changed my story, my behavior changed. carried a torch for Akron, giving us and others correspondence should be mailed to the address listed above.

AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 3 the agenda >>

THE AGENDA 19 ways to enjoy the 12 Days of Christmas (and then some)

compiled by Danny Durst and staff

hether you celebrate Christmas or not, performance by Lita Rabbit and the Promenade and professional artists. On Family Day, for the you’re probably familiar with this “12 of Krampus through Highland Square. Your 11th year, the museum will open its doors for WDays of Christmas,” which doesn’t even ticket includes an authentic European buffet with free to encourage donations of new, unwrapped start until Christmas Day. That’s a long ways off bratwurst, spaetzle, sauerkraut balls, meatballs, toys for children in need. Hours and more info at still—and it runs through January 6?—so to make glühwein and more. AkronArtMuseum.org sure you get your money’s worth, we’ve got a killer list of things to do to get you in the spirit of the The Arcs season, Akron-style, so you can really enjoy yourself Akron Civic Theatre when you get to those 12 special days. Tuesday, Dec. 8 Never heard of ‘em.

Hoseff Annabell’s Lounge Wednesday, Dec. 9 at 8pm What would you get if you put a guitar and some keys in front of a couple of gypsies? If you Neil Zaza's 'One Silent Night' missed the show at Annabelle's in November or Hard Rock Rocksino, Northfield Park in Cleveland the night before, this is your chance Saturday, Dec. 12 to find out. If you don’t know the music, Hoseff This guitar-slaying Akronite dropped a new album, has been compared to the sound of Frank Zappa “Peach,” on October 1 and then went off on a and Gorgol Bordello. Does that help? We only month-long tour of Asia. Now he’s back, we all Jeff ‘JCK’ Klemm hope Angie Haze will take the night away from her get to rock in the holidays with Neil Zaza at the Musica Angie Haze Project to relive parts of their helm of his legendary “One Silent Night,” an Saturday, Dec. 5 last album. evening of instrumental rock takes on traditional Archie the Talking Snowman While JCK’s first solo album is set for launch Dec. Christmas classics. Someone called it “Hendrix Chapel Hill Mall 11, the Maid Myriad frontman is offering local meets Beethoven under the Christmas tree,” which Ongoing during mall hours music lovers a chance to drink it in almost a week sounds like a winner to us. You think this holiday tradition isn't an event worth early when he performs the whole album, “Burying talking about? Joanna Wilson would probably the Shadows,” live on stage at Musica. Sancat and Missle Toe at Akron Art Museum disagree. Make sure you have a copy of her latest Hell & Highwater will open. Tickets are available at Dec. 17 from 6:30-8:30pm book, The Story of Archie the Talking Snowman, in akronmusica.com and the album will be available Is this really the world’s greatest Christmas band? hand when you go. You never know when Joanna at thisisJCK.com when it’s released. (Catch JCK on Dr. Sketchy’s Outta This World Holiday This may be one of your best opportunities to judge might be watching...or that other guy up north. Dec. 20 at Annabell’s for free with Ricky Miller of Extravaganza for yourself. Missile Toe began celebrating the (Story on page 15) Red Sun Rising, Chris Bentley of The Most Beautiful Jilly’s Music Room holiday season with their Pants Optional Holiday Losers, Nick Wilkinson and more at Sad Songs Wednesday, Dec. 9 from 7:30 p to 10:30 p Tour back in October alongside most retailers. The Twelve Dates of Christmas For Sad Bastard's By Sad Bastard's presents Imagine yourself an alien landing on our planet Akron Art Museum will host the group on one of Summit Artspace ‘Holiday Tear’) smack in the middle of the holiday season. That’s their Free Thursdays in December. Walk through Dec. 4 - 19 with Thurs.-Sat. shows at the set-up for the next Dr. Sketchy’s when Nina the museum while you are there, but you should 7:30pm and 2pm shows Sun. Bellina returns to embody the aforementioned probably wear pants. Is Elizabeth Allard a modern-day superwoman of extra-terrestrial holiday guest. the theater? She may only be a librarian in real Jon Mosey Trio life. But come night, she will be taking the stage Holiday Pops: Home for the Holidays Jilly's Music Room in Ginna Hoben's one-woman show. This new E.J. Thomas Hall Thursday, Dec. 17 at 8pm holiday classic comes as a gift from Rubber City Friday, Dec. 11 at 7:30 pm; milk & cookies at It might be hard to beat a pants optional show. But Shakespeare Company. The production is new in 6:30 pm there’s no reason you can’t see two bands in one their season and a step away from Shakespeare. Kids, grab your fancy jammies. The Akron night! Simply put, the Jon Mosey Trio is an Akron- It’s nothing like that Scottish play, but be warned. Symphony Orchestra will be playing holiday based, all original Blues/Rock band. According to It might still be a good night to spring for a favorites in the company of dancers from the them, "We play the music that gets the asses a babysitter. Martell School of Dance. They say they'll have shakin' Hell Yeah!" Any questions? Island of Misfit Toys Family Day music, dancers AND a visitor from the North Pole? 3rd Annual Krampusnacht Akron Art Museum We’re guessing one of them won't be a penguin. The Scintas Christmas Show Annabell’s Sunday, Dec. 6 Tangier Saturday, Dec. 5 at 6 pm This quirky exhibition, curated by Rob Lehr, the Friday, Dec. 18 - Sunday, Dec. 20 Don’t chance upsetting Krampus. Go to Annabell’s gallery director for Summit Artspace, runs through You might think you’re buying a ticket to see The in costume and enjoy live music with Seance, February 28, 2016 and features blank vinyl Munny Scintas sing—and you will hear their great music The Hot Wings and FleischGewehR, plus a fire toys customized and decorated by both students and hilarious comedy—but you’re going to see

4 | THE Devil Strip / DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM the agenda

Dino and Jerry, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Ray institution in our book. You should plan to Charles and a slew of others. party accordingly. THE SCENE Frankie Starr Band Mustard Seed Cafe’ Saturday, Dec. 19 Arts editor Megan Combs paints This Cleveland-born bluesman got started in music a polka dot Bill Murray portrait at age 8, eventually playing drums in his mom’s with help from smArt Studios band. He switched to guitar and has since opened owner Jennifer Davis up for BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Cray and Leon Russell, among others.

First Night Akron Various locations around downtown Akron Thursday, Dec. 31 Some of our favorite live local music all on one big night in family-friendly environs from the John S. Knight Center, Akron Library and Akron Art Museum to the Civic and Greystone Hall, and many more. There’s too much to name, but you can take Friends feast on the spread at in performances by Brian Lisik, Theron Brown, the the Devil Strip's first annual Gage Brothers, the Angie Haze Project, Copali, Kofi Family Reunion. Boayke, the UA Steel Drum Band and Shivering Timbers. Plus, fun stuff like Silent Disco, lots of kid stuff and something special with Wandering Aesthetics. Get the details at firstnightakron.org

Get On Up Tangier 7th Annual Ryan Humbert Thursday, Dec. 31 Holiday Extravaganza Akron's retro 80's funk band, Get On Up, helps Akron Civic Theatre you ring in the New Year at Tangier with their Sunday, Dec. 20-Monday, Dec. 21 at 7:30 pm butt-shaking grooves while you prepare for the It’s a country-fried Christmas at the Civic with champagne toast and balloon drop. You get a Hillbilly Idol and Emily Bates joining headliner Ryan deluxe bar and appetizer buffet to boot. Call 330- Humbert in a cabaret setting show to benefit Akron 376-7171 for details. DJ Roger Riddle gets some General’s Muffins for Mammograms Program. It’s bodies moving at a cause close to Ryan’s heart after his mother beat The Mighty Soul Night. cancer. Now he wants to help other woman get The Juke Hounds screened early. Jilly’s Music Room Thursday, Dec. 31 19th annual Illstyle Rockers Christmas Jam Rock in the new year at Jilly’s with the horn-based Annabell’s Swizzle Stick Band and the bluesy boogie of the Saturday, Dec. 26 Juke Hounds. Gobble up the goodies on the For almost two decades, the Illstyle Rockers crew buffet line all night then cap the countdown with has unleashed the four elements of hip-hop in this a champagne toast with the JMR flute you get to annual Christmas Jam. That makes it an Akron take home with you. Details at jillysmusicroom.com

United Way of Summit County Through Bridges Summit county, United Way is building a more prosperous and sustainable community – for all of us. WWhahaTT TThhISIS ppLLacacEE NEEDSNEEDS ISIS To donate or volunteer, go to UWSUMMIT.ORG papaTThhWWayaySS OUTOUT OOff ppOVERTOVERTy.y.

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AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 5 FN-Devil-Strip-ad-2015.ai 1 11/17/15 11:24 AM

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PhotosREINVENTINGREINVENTINGREINVENTING courtesy of Svetla Morrison THETHETHE CLASSICSCLASSICSCLASSICS HOW CONDUCTOR MARIE BUCOY-CALAVAN ‘SELLS’ JOINING THE UA CHORAL PROGRAM

by Roger Riddle

Marie Bucoy-Calavan, the University of Akron’s choir director, is destroying stereotypes that are normally associated with millennials, the arts, and choral music. Through passion and hard work, she is reaching into the past to grab music from as far back as the 15th century. Even better yet, people are jumping aboard this bandwagon to go for the ride.

Growing up between Los Angeles and Orange instructor. On top of that, she was a vocal major counties in southern California, Marie Bucoy- but really didn't enjoy singing solo. Calavan’s first musical memory was of her as a toddler turning a chair over and using the legs as The memory of singing with the choir was still a microphone. She says her parents still have a strong in her mind, and when she told her picture of that moment. And though they may find professor and mentor, Robert Istad, of her plans it amusing now, it was probably the first sign that to leave the program, he convinced her to stay in her parents would have some concern about their school and do her thesis as conductor instead of as daughter's future ambitions. a soloist.

Her parents were both chemists. As Bucoy-Calavan Istad was young, talented, and brand new as grew, she leaned more and more towards music. the director of choral studies at the university. Although they supported her passion, allowing After convincing her to stay and complete her her to take flute lessons through high school and undergraduate degree, she became his first dabble in the French horn, they dreamed of a conducting graduate student taking on a Master’s future for their daughter in the fields of science degree in choral conducting. Since Istad was so and technology. So much so, that they sent her to a new to the program, there was a sense of the technical high school. blind leading the blind, however he promised her that she would learn a lot about how to develop a It only intensified her pursuit of music. collegiate choral program really quickly. The transition to classical music began when “I think it's so cool that when you sing in a choir You would think that someone who has become so she joined the choir in high school. Because of and everything is so perfectly in tune and so Bucoy-Calavan stresses how important those days entrenched in classical music would have that style her interest, the choir director started giving her perfectly blended that the sound that comes out is were once she took on the position of concert as the foundation of her musical tastes, but that’s conducting and music theory lessons on the side. not just your own. You're an intricate part of this choir director at the University of Akron. Now she not what she listened to growing up. fabric that's so much bigger than yourself, creating has a sense of history repeating itself as she takes By the time she began college at California a sound that only a group of people can make.” on her first graduate student while she is building “My colleagues in my doctorate said their parents State University, Fullerton, she was placed in the the program. brought them up on the Mahler symphonies and graduate choir due to her ability to read music well. And this was just her first day of classes as an the Beethoven symphonies, and I did not grow up undergraduate freshman. When she started with the university, there were 22 that way whatsoever,” she said. Her parents played “Once I sang and I felt my voice get lost in these members in the concert choir. It had grown to 41 ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s pop music, and she lists ABBA, really mature singers' sound, I went, 'This is it, right Surprisingly, she almost quit the program in her members by the end of her first year. At the start of the Mamas and the Papas, and Michael Jackson here',” she remembers of the moment that set her last year of studies. She had been competing as this semester, there were 86 members. among her early favorites. firmly in the world of classical music. a ballroom dancer and received a job offer as an (continued on page 10)

AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 7 arts

Artistic Repurpose Summit ReWorks, local artists capitalize on Akron’s penchant for reinvention

written and photographed by Bronlynn Thurman

n creating their work, artists typically attempt recycling ReWorks effectively drawing them out of their comfort to make a statement. What better statement and waste are left with zone, as well as bringing this idea of functionality Icould be made than that of rebirth? By taking management tons of and repurposing to the forefront. All of the pieces the trash of others, artists convey to the viewer strategies.” unrecyclable are on sale and one in particular is a collaborative that everything has a second life. The evening of paint. effort with proceeds going to Project Rebuild in November 7, several art shows in the area honed in Both executive Canton. It brings with it the sense of community on this concept. director Over the that seems to be ingrained in many Akronites. Yolanda Walker course of Summit ReWorks, a local nonprofit that was and education/ three days, Humans create a remarkable amount of waste on a developed out of Ohio’s 1988 solid waste law, promotion these artists daily basis. To be able to take those bits of material H.B. 592, created an event called “Make Art specialist received and utilize them in an unconventional manner Not Waste” where 12 artists were given the Shelly Kadilak access to both keeps them out of the ever growing dump opportunity to create pieces with used latex paint. say it can be Summit pile, as well as remind others of the versatility of The company’s mission statement states that it incredibly Artspace many objects. “provides solutions and leadership to empower our hard to discard of latex paint. It must be dried out and developed stunning pieces. For every piece community, institutions and businesses to develop or mixed with absorbent materials like kitty litter. that is sold, part of the proceeds go to the artists In Akron, we’ve recently witnessed a slow push and utilize environmentally sound, cost-effective Because many people don’t know this, places like while the other portion goes to ReWorks for its towards the recycling and “zero waste” lifestyle educational programs. over the last few years from events like Big Love to these art shows. Hopefully, it’s a trend that Two floors up, within the Summit Artspace Box continues to grow for years to come. Gallery, the “Reborn” exhibit was midway through its show run. This exhibit features six artists who // As an elfin wanderer, Bronlynn is compelled to share the created sculptures from recycled materials. Some of news of recycling, upcycling, and “zero waste” efforts. You the pieces were massive and quite impressive. can find her at @_bront_ on Instagram and Twitter.

While all of this was happening in downtown, Hazel Tree Interiors, a mile or so up the road had its “Art Reclaims Function” opening party that honored the late Russ Ensign. Ensign was a Hazel Tree artist who repurposed Akron tire company tire patterns to create clocks, mirrors, etc.

This event was the last showing of his work and several local artists were invited to create pieces from repurposed materials

8 | THE Devil Strip / DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM arts

ALL DOLLED UP FOR CHRISTMAS How to make a Christmas-themed dollhouse lantern

written and photographed by Megan Combs

Holiday decorations don’t get any easier than is optional. I chose a living room setting with this (unless you don’t put any out). I’ve seen a Christmas tree, rocking chair, table, coffee, variations of these dollhouse lanterns on Pinterest cookies and a cat sleeping in a basket. and decided to try one for this holiday season. Picking the pieces for the scene is the best part, I also chose small christmas lights that I strung Comics Everlasting besides plugging it in and gazing at your work. around the outside top and bottom of the lantern, similar to how a house would be Honoring the past while connecting the now Shopping for the pieces took longer than putting decorated. it together. I finished in about 30 minutes. The written and photographed by Bronlynn Thurman project cost was about $70, with the lantern and the lights being the most expensive items.

I let my geek flag fly on Saturday, Nov. 7 at the comics growing up. “The Kirby Effect!” with Tom What you’ll need fourth annual Akron Comicon where approximately Scioli was the first that I popped into and then (All found at Hobby Lobby): 5,000 cosplayers, fanatics, geeks, freaks, artists The 30th Anniversary of Marvel’s “Secret Wars” • Lantern with a removeable top or opening and purists converged upon the Quaker Station discussion with John Beatty and Mike Zeck, which side panel downtown to rub elbows, talk shop about celebrated its incredible history. • One box of white Christmas lights universes and enjoy themselves. • Various pieces of dollhouse furniture The main room was flooded with people. On one • Glue (optional) A merging of the past, present and future, Akron end they could get their photo taken with props • Tape Comicon focuses on newspaper comics and comic at the Pop! The Comic Culture Club booth, while books, bringing in a legend like Allen Bellman, who on the other they could interact with some of worked for Timely Comic which became Marvel, the bigger names. In between, they could buy art as well as contributors to classic works like Craig prints, figurines, comics and more. Boldman, an illustrator for Archie Comics and The Adventures of Superman, and Mike Zeck, who I couldn’t leave without purchasing something to has drawn for “The Punisher” and “Marvel Super remember my time there. I scored two really sweet Step 2: Heroes Secret Wars”. fan art prints from JM Dragnunas. One features Remove the Christmas lights from the box. Adventure Time characters while the other features Unbundle the adapter end of the lights and stuff Yet, they realize that times are changing. In an familiar characters from many of Hayao Miyazaki’s them into the top of your lantern. Keep the lights age where print is fighting digital and the major films like “Spirited Away,” “Howl’s Moving Castle” in place by affixing a few strips of tape across the publishers are sticking to the classics, many creators and “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” The amount of detail top of your lantern. Remember to leave some have begun to tackle new frontier. Akron Comicon that went into each illustration leaves me in awe string hanging out of the top to plug in. brought in independent publishers like Broken Icon and is a testament to the amount of skill gathered Comics and Scott Comics because self-publishing, in one room. Step 3: indie publishers and web comics have become a Attach the lid, making sure not to smash any major driving force in the industry. Next year, Akron Comicon takes over the John S. light bulbs, and plug it in! Cute! Knight Center and that is exciting. Within the conference room, they hosted panel Step 1: // Megan is a Decorative Doris during this time of year. discussions, a cosplay contest and comic book // Bronlynn, elfin comic collector, cartoonist and sworn Open the lantern and arrange all your furniture workshops. I attended a portion of two of the enemy of the standard, can be found hoarding her prized to your liking. Gluing down the pieces panels in between shaking hands with some of comics in her treehouse. She can also occasionally be the people who had a hand in making my favorite found at @_bront_ on Instagram and Twitter.

AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 9 arts

(continued from page 7)

When people see those numbers, she is typically asked, “How do you sell a choral program?” She says you sell excellence and musical integrity. She holds her students to a high standard and they all jump to exceed it. She now sees students meeting at 9 am to practice on their own, and when she ends rehearsal, they break into groups and practice more. Her passion is infectious.

Because of the students’ passion, they have formed a chamber choir that has been invited to sing with the Cleveland Orchestra during its Christmas performance, and award-winning composer Daniel Elder was commissioned to compose a work for the University of Akron choir.

With all the bad press the university has received of late, Bucoy-Calavan hopes Akron's arts community will take note of the great story unfolding around her students. From left: Jason Miller, Joseph A. Michael, Brian Dunphy and Dan Gorman, hosts of the radio show. Photo by Megan Combs. “The concert choir has quadrupled in a year,” she points out. “Not only has the choral program burst open at University of Akron, but the students – these millennials – are showing the community, through the quality of their music that they're not Let’s Make Some Radio the stereotypical millennials.” The Summit Choral Society asked Bucoy-Calavan These four Akron area geeks host to guest conduct their spring concert last year based on the success of the work she had been Altered Realm Radio every Saturday night doing at the university. She chose to perform Haydn's “Lord Nelson Mass” and shortly thereafter, written and photographed by Megan Combs they approached her about becoming the artistic director of the society. The fresh ideas that she Why don’t zombies eat clowns? They taste funny, calls Gorman’s dad. They say hello and then let Proctor, a “Zombie Hero,” (a walker) on AMC’s brings to the table help produce concerts that jokes Dan Gorman, one of the voices and founder him rant for 20 minutes about anything and “The Walking Dead.” captivate all ages. behind the Internet radio show Altered Realm everything. Then there’s Georgio Pelogrande, the Radio. His fellow co-hosts chuckle and then a song parody sports, weather and traffic reporter who is “There are a lot of radio shows that are geared She has one of these fresh ideas coming in April. about zombies plays in the background, featuring notorious for getting all his facts wrong. The part is toward geeks, and they dabble around in a bunch A concert entitled "Dance With Me" will draw Gorman on the guitar. played by Dunphy. of different things,” Gorman said. “But there is upon her experience in conducting and her passion no stream that covers what we cover. We give for ballroom dancing. “We are engaging the Gorman, a comic book illustrator who lives in “I wrote his bit a couple times and ‘called in’ as experienced insight into the things we know best.” University of Akron ballroom dance team, and two Cuyahoga Falls and grew up in Green, had always him, and they just loved it,” Dunphy said. “He professional couples from Viva Dance in Cleveland been interested in hosting a radio show. The story touts himself as a journalist, but he never gets The team also recently did a rebroadcast of H.G. and we are going to do choral waltzes by Brahms.” of how he landed one goes way back to 2006 anything right. For example, he called in when Wells’ “War of the Worlds.” when he and his friends Jason Miller and Joe Dutt the Cavs lost the championship and said that they While the choir sings the dancers will waltz and created a paranormal group called Team Spectre. won.” “It was incredible,” Dunphy said. “We rewrote when the concert concludes, the director of Viva Together the team went on several ghost hunting it and lined up a mix of serious and concerned Dance will teach a small ballroom class so that missions and were eventually asked to be on the Members of the show include Gorman, a trained callers.” the concert goers can immerse themselves in Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventure” show. Season medical and comic book illustrator; Miller, owner of the experience. It is this type of creative thinking 3, if you’re wondering. Stuff Genie Emporium in Barberton; Brian Dunphy, Catch Gorman and the team every Saturday night that the Summit Choral Society is banking will a comic book illustrator in Akron; and Joseph A. from 8 pm to midnight on www.KRMAradio. shine a new light on a music that has come to be “After we were on the show, radio host Bob Earley Michael, illustrator and creator behind the “Only com. Find recorded episodes by searching “Altered perceived as stuffy and uptight. asked us to come on his show to talk about it,” Human,” zombie comic book series. Realm Radio” on SoundCloud.com. Gorman smiled. “And it was just so much fun. The “It's not 1860. I realize that, but the music from callers were really into it.” “We laugh for four straight hours,” Gorman 1860 can absolutely still be relevant today,” Bucoy- said. “We talk about video games, comic books, Calavan said. “I think the music that was written After being on Earley’s show, Gorman said he and movies, TV shows, all of it.” back then is just that good. Only good music Miller “caught the bug.” They started connecting can be preserved that long. It's just as relevant with other media friends to find out how they Gorman said the show is a creative outlet for as Michael Jackson's “Bad.” It's still around. The could get their own time slot. Eventually they him, his co-hosts and their listeners. Beatles, their music is still around. 'I'm A Barbie caught wind of a startup Internet radio station Girl', people know but I don't think it's going opening in Kent: KRMA Radio. “We get to showcase our skills and talents to last.” that we haven’t showcased before,” Gorman In April 2015, the opportunity came. Gorman and said. “I’m an illustrator, but there’s a whole // Roger does cool things. Miller created a format for a three-hour show that other facet to our personalities.” started in the 9 p.m. to midnight slot on Saturday nights. Their official launch was in July, and the The show is starting to gain traction, gathering // Megan conducted this interview at the Akron Comicon show was moved to the 8 p.m. to midnight time as many as 500 listeners per night, Gorman said. and was dressed as FBI Agent Dana Scully from the slot. An estimated more than 7,000 people have tuned “X-Files.” Above: Megan Combs interviewing radio host in over time. They have interviewed fellow comic Brian Dunphy at Akron’s ComicCon. Photo by For example, a regular feature is when the team book creators, and even celebrities such as Tim Megan Combs.

10 | THE Devil Strip / DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM arts

where the geeks are. Akron’s got its fair share, as do the surrounding towns and cities.”

Calvert written well over 100 short stories organized into anthologies and three novels. These were all self-published by FastPencil. The stories in each anthology have little in common with each other except for the wild imagination it took to produce them.

“like, what if a rabbi and demon hunt monsters together?” Calvert says. “Or, a murder mystery where the main suspect is innocent but his imaginary friend isn’t?”

In his newest novel, “Murder Sauce,” and his upcoming March 2016 novel, “Frag Code,” the villainous protagonist Benjamin Cly is the main character. Calvert’s version of his protagonist is an aberration from typical heroes of stories in the sense that Cly is actually a villain cajoled into fighting other villains. But there’s more to that, of course﹘SPOILER ALERT!

In Calvert’s words, “Cly’s primary goals are to survive, create a viable crime-fighting business, and make a ton of money doing it. Saving the world’s just good for business.”

There is no catharsis or redemption. If you are into unapologetic, witty anti-heros like Sherlock Holmes or Holden Caulfield, Benjamin Cly just may be your next fixation.

An African-American man, Calvert says being unusual is more important than just skin color in establishing one’s image. “Picture this: You walk into a room at a comic expo or something, right? You see a black guy in his forties with cover art for ‘Murder Sauce’ behind him. He’s wearing what looks to be a cowboy hat and a plaid shirt. Wouldn’t you be a little curious? Then this guy gives you a truly unique pitch. You’ll remember him, won’t you?” he says.

He gives this advice to writers: “So, you’re a woman? Someone of color? In a wheelchair? Walking around with three eyes? Use your uniqueness. Catch the public’s eye, lure them over, and give them a winning pitch of your books.”

Despite the ongoing technological disruption in the literary business, Calvert says there are a couple of old fashioned paths to success that will hen I asked Marcus Calvert, Akron local and never change with the times. Wauthor of science fiction, why he moved to LOCAL AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT Akron, he responded, “Akron’s a decent place for a “Readers determine your success. They’re the writer to hang one’s hat and find himself.” lifeblood of your dreams. Treat ‘em right and keep them entertained. Do it well enough and the Originally from Detroit, Calvert initially settled literary universe should like you just fine﹘in time.” Marcus Calvert in Ohio while attending John Carroll University Marcus Calvert talks about Akron’s arts presence, as a political science major. After a brief stint at Check out Calvert’s website and read some sample the importance of being unique, and Northern Illinois University, he moved back to Ohio chapters and stories at talesunlimited.net. with the intention of living close to Cleveland. of course-monsters Instead, he discovered that Akron was actually a // Mary Menzemer once used her telekinetic powers to pretty cool place for creatives to live and work. move Mount Everest two and a half inches. by Mary Menzemer “Akron’s got a strong art presence,” he wrote via email, “which makes it easier to be a writer. Even if it didn’t, and you want to write sci-fi for a living, be

AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 11 arts ‘Further Problems with Pleasure’ UA Press bounces back with Akron Poetry Prize winner Sandra Simonds

by Noor Hindi

If you’ve stayed tuned to the news, you would have “If Coleridge, Plath, Ovid, and Celan started a love UA Press website. Biddinger says there is much to celebrate about probably thought that the University of Akron Press commune where they built a manifesto Molotov the press. Its national recognition and eclectic had taken an early grave. But despite its near-death cocktail out of the pastoral, eros, blank verse, “‘The Veronica Maneuver’ leaped out of the publications makes the press stand as a critical part experience, the UA Press remains strong. and kitsch: it would be this book,” writes stack of manuscripts and announced that it was of our community, and among university presses in Giménez Smith about Simonds’ work on the UA ready to be out in the world. One quality that sets the United States as a whole. “The fact of its restoration has revitalized the press, Press website. Jennifer Moore’s work apart is her use of images. I think. I’m overjoyed, beaming, really, to see that ‘The Veronica Maneuver’ takes numerous layers of “What we aspire to do now, and hope to continue Biddinger, who has worked disparate ideas and lets them work together in a to do at the UA Press, is to publish an eclectic with the press since 2008, says brilliant sort of harmony,” Biddinger says. catalog of work that will please our current she read 509 manuscripts this readership while bringing new readers back to summer. She chose Simonds’ Moore says the title of the collection came from poetry,” Biddinger says. “Whether they’re seasoned work as one of the finalists of reading Ernest Hemingway’s “Death in the poetry fans who are checking out every new Akron the Akron Poetry Prize because Afternoon.” Series in Poetry collection, or people who loved of the voice. poetry back in the day but somehow drifted away “The more I learned about its etymology, its from it, we have just the right book. [We] like to appropriation into the bullfighting arena, its publish collections that help readers rediscover historical and religious significance, the more I poetry, and in doing that we have an obligation to realized my aesthetic interests were bound up in represent a variety of voices. Poetry is for everyone; the same sorts of resonances that emerge from it’s something to be shared.” the term: drawing the eye of a reader or viewer, or bull; dazzling the audience through visual image, // Noor Hindi just really loves poetry. spectacle or performance; considering what’s ‘true’ about a ‘true image’ (vera, ‘true’ and eikon, ‘image,’ so veronica literally means true image),” Moore says.

Although the administration never formally closed the press, the ultimately brief layoff of Freels and Slatter could have lead to the eventual death of the UA Press. Above: Jennifer Moore, author of UA Press's most recent poetry collection "The Veronica “What they clearly did not understand is that Maneuver." (pictured to the right) the press would not continue without these two employees. You could never lay off these two public support for the arts can wield real power,” “Too often, collections of poems apologize for people and keep the press running,” transitional says Jennifer Moore, author of UA Press’s most their own assertions and emotions, and ‘Further director and Associate Professor Dr. Jon Miller says. recent poetry collection “The Veronica Maneuver.” Problems with Pleasure’ is the antidote to that problem,” Biddinger says. “From the first line of Without Freels and Slatter, the press would have On September 25, the UA Press announced author this book I was completely captivated by the power lacked a design coordinator, as well as a print Sandra Simonds’ poetry manuscript, “Further of the speaker’s voice. I also value the fact that it’s manufacturing and digital production coordinator, Problems with Pleasure” had won the Akron Poetry an important contribution to feminist discourse.” which are both critical jobs. Miller was one of the Prize, which includes $1,500 and the publication of many individuals who stood up for the press in the poet’s manuscript. This news came a few weeks To prevent competing against Simonds’ most the summer when Scarborough was making after the temporary layoffs of the UA Press staff recent publication, “Steal it Back,” which has been budget cuts. members Amy Freels and Carol Slatter. available since Dec. 1 from Saturnalia Books, the publication of “Further Problems with Pleasure” “I emphasized its alignment with academic “(Winning is) great because I get to take all my has been delayed until early 2017. programs, its potential and its use for the If you’d like to friends out for dinner and drinks,” says Simonds. students,” Miller says. “If you’re going to talk “I think that this collection is an attempt to about experiential learning, internships and career- 2015 Akron Poetry Prize judge Carmen Giménez understand what pleasure is and the limits of focused, sort of applied [learning], you would want Celebrate Poetry Smith chose the manuscript from a list of 18 pleasure, or the body, as a site of liberation, of to keep it. It’s one thing to teach people to do finalists. The finalists were picked by Akron Series in freedom, especially for women who are punished writing, and then it’s another thing to teach people with the UA Press, Poetry editor and UA professor Dr. Mary Biddinger. for both experiencing pleasure and seeking it out in how to actually get their writing published.” please visit [Ed. note: In the interests of full disclosure, Dr. a ‘masculine’ way,’” Simonds says uakron.edu/uapress Biddinger is Noor Hindi’s poetry instructor at the Since then, UA President Scott Scarborough has and purchase a collection for University of Akron but that played zero part in the Coinciding with the announcement of the 2015 pledged to keep the press running, as well as you or a friend. editorial decision to run this profile of the work Akron Poetry Prize, Moore’s “The Veronica maintain its full membership in the Association of being done by UA Press. - Chris H.] Maneuver” is available for purchase through the American University Presses.

12 | THE Devil Strip / DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM arts

Where the Rubber City meets the road An Akron adventure to Bowling Green for Mid-American Review’s 15th Annual Winter Wheat Festival

written and photographed by M. Sophie Hamad

I am a socially awkward person. The great thing Friday morning, we had a tasty brunch at Naslada, reading. It was exhilarating and fun, about being at a writers’ conference is that I a Mediterranean bistro on Main Street in Bowling but I’m glad Noor got it on video, so I am not alone in social awkwardness, but rather Green. The Turkish coffee with Turkish delight was can know what to do differently next I am surrounded by it. It’s nice to feel a part of good enough that I enjoyed it black. I’ve since time: drink first, less shaking, more something—even if that something is awkward. dropped sugar from my coffee routine. laughter.

The Winter Wheat Festival at Bowling Green State We then proceeded to get half-lost for the rest of Saturday was the main event. Most University, hosted by the university’s international our trip. We turned around more times than I can people travelling from Akron only literary journal the Mid-American Review (MAR), count. I repeatedly lost and found my hat. attended Friday’s open mic and has been bringing writers together—awkward or Saturday’s BGSU festivities. The not—for 15 years. Every November, writers flock Friday’s round table discussion was informative book fair was epic—or at least to BGSU to connect with other literary enthusiasts but kind of boring. The editors of MAR answered it was epic for me and Noor. for a weekend. Writers attend up to six of the 48 questions about how they do what they do and I’m sure the book fair at the craft workshops (eight options for each of the what they are looking for in regards to submissions AWP Conference is a million Tarfia Faizullah reading at BGSU. six sessions), in addition to four scheduled book and contributors. MAR had a check-in table set times more wallet-breaking, but this was a good Photo courtesy of readings and signings, and a book fair on Saturday. up with dozens of books for sale. Tweetstalk introduction for us. I filled a free tote bag, courtesy M. Sophie Hamad/The Devil Strip This year also offered two open mic readings McWheatley (the new MAR mascot, introduced of Lit Youngstown, with 25 books. I could have at downtown Bowling Green pubs, as well as a this year) was present to greet guests (quietly—he picked 50, but my bank account yelled at me for round-table discussion with the editors of MAR to is a plush animal, after all). considering it. After the workshops, I got to fangirl hard. Tarfia kick off the Friday afternoon workshops. Faizullah, author of “Seam,” a moving collection There were two conference sessions on Friday. There were four workshop sessions on Saturday. of documentary poetics about Bangladeshi women I went with fellow Akronite and Devil Strip Noor and I chose one about writing memoir Noor and I enjoyed writing exquisite corpse who were raped by Pakistani soldiers during the associate arts editor Noor Hindi. This was our first through meditation, which ended up being my surrealist poetry and performing a Dada poetry 1971 Liberation War, read some poems and signed writers’ conference. She drove her badass sports second favorite workshop, and one about Nonce piece with the rest of the attendees at the “Text/ books. We were wearing the exact same cardigan. car, but didn’t push the “sport” button on the poetry, which was kind of weird and not as exciting Sound/Text/Music” workshop. Noor got a lot out of I pointed that out to her after gushing about how turnpike. Thank you, Noor. We got into Bowling as I’d hoped. that workshop—it was her favorite. much I love her work, how much she has inspired Green late in the evening, had a quick dinner and me and how I wrote an essay on one of her poems missed the first two readings because we were just After dinner, Michael Czyzniejewski The most inspirational workshop for me, though, for American Women Poets class last year. I don’t too tired. read from his book of short stories, was taught by Jennifer Moore, whose book “The even think that she was weirded out by any of it, “I Will Love You for the Rest of Veronica Maneuver” was just published by UA which made me love her even more. My Life: Breakup Stories.” It was Press for the Akron Poetry Series. (see Noor’s hilarious. His story about ding- write-up on page 13). Her workshop was called We then attempted to attend Friday night’s after dongs made me cry-laugh. “Recycling Language: Techniques for Creating party and poetry reading at Two Foxes Gastropub. Innovative Poems from Existing Texts,” and she We stayed for the food but left at the beginning of We ended the night at Grumpy taught us how to make poems using erasure and open mic because the feedback noise coming from Dave’s Pub with the open Cento forms. I wrote a fun poem using erasure, the portable amp was awful. We were exhausted mic hosted by Akron’s own but most importantly I walked away with a head and missing Akron anyway. “Rubbertop Review” in full of ideas for future poems. Erasure might be my collaboration with “Slippery new best poetry friend for a while. (Pictured above: I’ll definitely return to Bowling Green, but probably Elm.” I did my first open mic M. Sophie Hamad’s erasure poem created in not until next year’s Winter Wheat. Jennifer Moore’s workshop. Photo courtesy of M. Winter Wheat Book Fair. Photo courtesy of Sophie Hamad/The Devil Strip) // M. Sophie Hamad writes poetry and is grateful to be M. Sophie Hamad/The Devil Strip doing so in Akron, versus Bowling Green. NEO, represent!

AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 13 arts THE ARTS RULE AT MILLER SOUTH How this unique curriculum, diverse student body and focus on student interests make Miller South one-of-a-kind

by Mary Menzemer

The Miller South School for the Visual and visual arts, piano, drama, voice and music programs interested in the arts, there isn’t a better place to incorporate all of their interest areas. I had them Performing Arts is a unique community where continue to thrive, creating a bridge for students to be,” Conner says. create logos once, and I have the eighth graders the school colors are black and hot pink. Few, if get involved in the Akron arts community. choreograph their own dance for their any, people are afraid to be themselves. In school At the open house, the students gave periodic final project.” assistant Sharon Conner’s words, “We expect Principal Dawn Wilson explained how performances to show prospective kids students to be singing in the elevators and dancing the school partners with Weathervane and their parents just what they can do. What does a typical day at Miller South look like? in the hallways.” Playhouse and the Akron Symphony I witnessed a jazz band performance The morning begins with a daily congregation, to have students perform opening during which the teacher played the and a few times per week there is a student Conner gave me a tour during the school’s open acts. Their artwork hangs in the saxophone along with the students. performance. This could be anything from a house on Nov. 5. Upon walking in the door to the mayor’s office as well as at Akron I also witnessed a performance student reciting a poem or something larger, such school, I was immediately greeted by a girl wearing as a mini steel drum concert. a huge smile and a black choker necklace who handed me a welcome packet and was nothing The students have one class per day in their interest short of ecstatic at pointing me in the direction of area, or the major art concentration they choose the main office. Her voice was clear and confident, when auditioning for admittance to the school. This which impressed me. Children’s Hospital. They compete in scholastic given by the show choir who wore glittery outfits. will last for 40 minutes, and they will take the class arts competitions at the state level, participate in The boys and girls sang a rendition of “Ain’t No all year. The rest of the day is spent in academic Miller South was founded in 1993 as an arts the Honor’s Band and win Thespian Awards for Mountain High Enough” and danced. classrooms, but this does not mean that their arts magnet school. When the school’s funding was in Firestone Theatre. exposure goes away. All the teachers incorporate danger because its allotted amount of time was As I wandered through the school, Conner the arts in some way. They are also required to ending, the community rallied to continue support “Our partnerships help create and synthesize introduced me to the teachers who make it take 12 weeks of a second interest area in their for the education Miller South offers. In turn, the information,” Wilson says. “If [a student] is possible for the school to function in accordance second year. Over the five years the students are at with its high standards. Many of the teachers were the school, they are exposed to all interest areas in alumni themselves or even have children who are order to cultivate a better understanding of all enrolled in the school. art forms.

Technical drama teacher Robert Keith is a recent Sharon says, “There are little discipline problems college graduate who attended the school in 2004. here because the students want to be here. Our He matriculated in New York City where he was attendance rate is at 97 percent.” involved with the Wall Street Theatre. He’s excited about what he and the other teachers are able to After graduating Miller South, the majority do at Miller South. of students attend Firestone High School’s International Baccalaureate program. The school Arctic “We are experiencing an entirely new generation holds an annual fair for eighth graders so they can Adventure of art students and I wanted to be an integral part see for themselves what options they have and $ Unlimited of that change and help the students feel the same make informed decisions. All-Day Pass Ice Skating Rink 10 spirit I felt here,” he says. Ohio’s Largest Seasonal Enjoy unlimited skating, putt-putt, entrance to Miller South breaks many conventions of standard Ice Rink! Skate rental $3. Children’s Museum and one sled ticket. Wristband Physical education teacher Mark Pantea has taught public schools, helping students develop to their Polar Putt-Putt 9-Hole indoor course $3. good for entire day. at the school for 17 years and has a daughter in artistic and academic potential. It’s no wonder so Watch for special events with The First Tee of Akron. sixth grade at Miller South. He brings a vivacious many past students come back to be part of the Reindeer Run 150 ft. All-season slide designed for 14 and under. sense of humor to his classes and goes above school’s future. $3 for 30 min. Sleds provided. and beyond to ensure his students are enjoying themselves while being active and creative. // Mary Menzemer loves so much when sriracha covers her New This Season! pizza that she gets on stage and sings about it. Zippy’s Little Roo Rink Presented by The University of Akron, “I try and play music that the students enjoy Ohio’s Polytechnic University. Polymer skating surface designed for when they’re running at the beginning of class,” children 14 and under learning to skate. Must use skates provided. $3 Pantea said. “I also design projects where they can Explore The Akron Children's Museum Pop-Up Site! Presented by PNC Bank. For details go to AkronKids.org

Vintage O’Neil’s Window Displays • Magical Train Santa’s Workshop • Crafty Mart Presents Cottage Mart • Breakfast with Santa Akron2Akron Holiday Walk • Jingle Bell Bash • Thirsty Dog Days • First Night Akron

Lock 3 also offers: • BIRTHDAY PARTY Packages • Private Rentals • Group Sales • Fundraising Check out our website for updated events and information or call us at 330-375-2877.

14 | THE Devil Strip / DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM arts

Talking horses, enormous dolls, friendly giants and that special red-eyed 20-foot snowman

‘The Story of Archie the Snowman’ explores Akron’s borderline creepy holiday attractions

by Noor Hindi • Photo courtesy of Joanna Wilson and storyofarchie.com

Whether we’re gazing at a 20-foot talking Through interviews and public records, Wilson snowman or having a conversation with a giant crafts a holiday story that is unique to Akron. Many Christmas tree, the holidays in Akron will never of the people interviewed and included in the Check out stop being weird. But we’re not complaining. book were individuals who dedicated hundreds of hours to building and renovating Archie. Such a www.storyofarchie.com Actually, thankfully Akron Empire co-founder person was Raul Umana, who insisted on changing for event information and and occasional TDS contributor Joanna Wilson Archie’s eyes to blue to make him less frightening, to purchase the book. has documented all of our borderline creepy but Chapel Hill mall owner Richard Buchholzer decorations in her book “The Story of Archie wasn’t convinced. the Snowman & Akron’s History of Christmas Attractions.” In the book, Umana comically states, “It’s not my fault. I wanted blue eyes! I swear to god, I wanted Not only does Wilson cover the birth of Archie, blue eyes! I even went to the point of taking a but we also learn about other strange, life-size chance on losing my job over it.” attractions that amazed and terrified children for Music Festival years. For example, there was Tom the Talking Conversations such as these, as well as funny Horse, a nine-foot Raggedy Ann Doll and Ray, the stories about the people who gave Archie his voice Friendly Rolling Acres Giant. will make you nostalgic as it recount Akron’s rich Checklist holiday history. Wilson writes, “Archie the Snowman may have frightened his share of Akron’s youngsters, but Archie will be camped out at Chapel Hill Mall to üBring Guitar O’Neil’s Raggedy Ann traumatized quite a entertain shoppers this holiday season. Wilson üPack Camper Van few herself.” will also be showcasing her book throughout the season at many locations. üBring AAA Card What follows is a photo of the nine foot Raggedy Ann, which is sure to make you laugh. Throughout // Noor was once terrified of Archie as a child. But since his the book, Wilson talks extensively about the return to Chapel Hill Mall, she and Archie have resolved competition between O’Neil’s and Polsky’s, as their differences. well as Rolling Acres Mall, Chapel Hill Mall, and Summit Mall, which inspired these outlandish Christmas decorations and window displays for years.

Wilson’s sharp and oftentimes humorous Hit the Road account of Archie in the beginning of the book is sure to get you into the holiday spirit. It would also make a great gift & Rock on for anyone who adored the character growing up, as well as anyone who was (understandably) terrified of him. Wilson herself admits to being hesitant of Archie as a child.

“The mysterious voice from nowhere and the flashing red eyes scared me. I never did step up to the platform to speak with Archie, but I never forgot him either,” Wilson writes.

AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 15 AKRON ART MUSEUM • THROUGH APRIL 24, 2016 GALLERY TOUR: KRISTINA PAABUS Thursday, January 28 • 6:30 pm • FREE Join NEO Geo artist Kristina Paabus as she leads a tour of the museum’s collection, highlighting works that speak to her own artistic sensibility.

Clockwise from top left: Gianna Commito, Court (detail), 2014; Erik Neff, Shoreline (detail), 2015; Natalie Lanese, Camofleur (detail), 2014; Paul O’Keeffe, a distant silence IV (detail), 2013; Amy Sinbondit, Section Break (detail), 2011; Kristina Paabus, 3h (detail), 2012; Janice Lessman-Moss, #446 (detail), 2015; Michelle Marie Murphy, Eyeshadow: Going Out ‘n Back Again (detail), 2012.

NEO Geo is organized by the Akron Art Museum and generously supported by Myrna Berzon, Dianne and Herbert Newman, the Kenneth L. Calhoun Charitable Trust and Harris Stanton Gallery. Media sponsorship is provided by WKSU 89.7 and Western Reserve PBS.

One South High | Akron, OH 44308 | 330.376.9185 | www.AkronArtMuseum.org cover story >>

DIVE BAR FAMILY CHRISTMAS When being home for the holidays means working the bar The Ballad of Ray & Mario

by Chris Horne

t’s Christmas. You’re still a kid. This is supposed to school fight where the principal is there to break be your day. Maybe you got some new clothes, it up. My dad was trying to kick somebody out for Isome new toys. You want to play. Enjoy yourself. breaking something. Guy wouldn't leave. Typical Hang out with some friends, snack on candy canes story. Guy wouldn't leave, comes back, brings his or grab seconds from the family dinner. But if you friends. You've got this brawl. I got hired the next were born into the bar business like these cousins, day and I was expected to be there every weekend Ray Nemer and Mario Nemr, then Christmas is night for the rest of my high school life.” pretty much like every other day. You work. That was an extension of the kind of childhood he “When I was 14, that was my first night at the and Ray had shadowing their fathers and mothers, bar—Christmas night. It was the first time I went who ran bars in Akron, Barberton and Ellet back actually at night,” Mario says. “I was there for an when the rubber factories were still humming hour and within that hour, I got into the biggest along well enough to keep dives open in the fight I've ever been in in my life. It wasn't like a morning and stocked with drinkers coming in off

AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 17 cover story the third shift. They’d ride around running errands “We'd go to these dingy-ass places and I’d be like, with their dads, making deals and dealing with ‘What the hell are we doing here?’ and (find out) customers. we're going there just to buy straws or napkins or something. You'd ask and they'd say, ‘It's ten bucks “We didn't get to go anywhere,” Mario says. “If cheaper.’ You learn the hustle from the time you're we went to an Indians game, a painter drove us. a kid.” The janitor took us. Wasn't like we were part of some summer camp, Boy Scouts and shit like that.” He may have been 14—only or already, depending on your perspective—when he started working Ray adds, “Our summer vacations were going to nights at Thursday’s, but Mario and Ray both the bar.” were in the hard-knock school of the hustle earlier than that. No teacher, no books. Just figure it the Both sets of their parents—for Ray, Manny and fuck out. Collette, and for Mario, Fred and Barb—came to Akron from Lebanon, which is bordered by Israel “Everything you did, you just learned on the and Syria. So the work ethic they picked up was fly. You know, they'd throw you in the fire and in reality a survival tactic for their first-generation boom, go to work,” Ray says. “As a kid, without immigrant families. even knowing you learned it, you learned it. As a 10-year-old, you’re watching people make drinks, Ray says, “It was about not letting someone else but all of a sudden when you got thrown into it, get one up on you. You've got to outwork the you're like, ‘Oh, I've seen this before.’” person next to you. That's how we were brought up. That's how our parents did it. They out-hustled And they taught each other. Mario had watched Mario and out-worked the next bar owner, or the owner his sister DJ for Thursday’s several times, picking up of whatever business, because that's how they what he needed to do, which eventually came in were going to make it.” He points behind the bar handy after their regular Saturday guy quit on learned in the hustle school and what you learned and says, “To this day, if I'm back there, or my a whim. in corporate America.” He and Tiffany have two young kids, and so there’s dad's back there, you're trying to out-hustle the another generation coming up in what has become 22-year-old kid. My dad is 65 years old. My mom— “I had a Chuck Taylor box of some CDs and some Fred got sick in 2000 and needed Barb to take care the family business. They follow their folks around, she's outworking a kid half her age. That's just records, and that was it—you're hired.” of him, so Mario picked up every shift he could running errands and working with customers. their mentality.” until his dad passed away in 2004. That’s a tough way to grow up, and their parents “My son knows how to run the register,” Tiffany That hustle meant being willing to do what others were tough bosses to boot. So of course, they’d Mario’s wife, Tiffany, who is sort of the “mini-HR/ says. She adds that they spend a lot of time with wouldn’t, to go where they wouldn’t. If that means split that scene as soon as the opportunity arose, fill-in-for-the-kitchen/make deliveries” for the Ray a couple doors up the block, too. going to the “dingiest places” in Northeast Ohio right? In their own ways, each tried. Mario went business, says, “These guys would work at the for a deal, that’s what you do. If it means telling into sales. Ray worked in a bank. They both spent bar—both of them—and we'd pass each other “They want to play the bowling game,” he laughs. the Hell’s Angels to kick rocks, you do it. Just to their days in an office. It wasn’t because they driving home and then they'd both wake up at 7 get by. needed the money either. o' clock in the morning and go to work until 5 pm Then the other day, Ray witnessed a familiar sight. at their office jobs. Sometimes during lunch breaks The kids were helping Mario and Tiffany set up for “They're survivors of a different time and place “Even when we had jobs, whatever time you're he'd go set-up for bands and then go back to work a band coming in later that night. and generation. Ray and I were raised as if we not at your job or at school, you're expected to be and then come back at 6 pm to run the band.” were surviving something even though we were at the business, helping—and you're never doing “It was the cutest thing you'd ever see.” just regular kids. We didn't have to go that route, anything right. It's not like our parents trusted us. So did Mario’s parents and Ray’s parents want them but I don't think our parents knew any other way We just got yelled at the whole time,” Mario says. go into the bar business? to make sure we didn't turn out the wrong way.” Mario says, “What's probably not normal for most Ray says, “I worked for a Fortune 500 company, in “No, they didn't want us to do this,” Mario says. people is like perfectly normal in our family.” a bank, and it's the same for Mario—you worked in “I think Manny still thinks Ray is going to be an office—one thing that made us what we are too a lawyer.” Why did the He remembers going with his dad and Manny is we had like three different schools of thought. to the kinds of places few Akronites even You had what you learned in college, what you Laughing, Ray admits, “He still wants me to go to Nemr/Nemer knew existed. law school.” cross the road?

Eventually, they both gave in to what seems to be in their blood. Mario bought Matinee in 2006 and Ray bought the former Bucket Shop in 2007, Ray and Mario are on schedule to move their turning it into Ray’s Pub. Even considering how Highland Square businesses into new digs much they knew about the business, the significant next Spring, relocating Capri, Matinee, leg up they had going in, it was tough work. Not Mr. Zub’s and Ray’s Place to the complex just because of the regular demands you might they’ve been building for the last couple of ray expect but also because… well, they had to hide years. They have some big plans for each, their successes. but we’ll save that update for an issue when we get closer to the move. For now, they say “Basically had to give up the other life at the bank they’re excited about the upgrade and think and concentrate on this. But you're still doing a their customers will be too. juggling act because you're between here and your parents' place so you're trying to appease both crowds.”

Huh?

Mario says, “You don't want to tell your parents that you were busy the night before because they'll think we're actually competing with them. It's like in 'Goodfellas' when Ray Liotta is selling crack on the side and not cutting in the mob.”

18 | THE Devil Strip / DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM food WEST POINT MARKET aparnie’s public house

Elegantly Casual Dining featuring Photos courtesy of West Point Market Modern Twists on “...it doesn’t just involve us, it involves employees, customers and vendors, especially for Your Favorite a company that’s been in business 80 years. We realized we needed to change and it Comfort Foods and was a good time to segue into a new West Point, for us to look at it differently. Instead Classic Cocktails of just one location, build another location in Akron and outside of the city. This gives a great opportunity to do that. And we were also worried about the employees and their 1682 W. Market St needs. We’ve cooperated with Mustard Seed Market and Acme for career paths in those two stores into making proposals with our employees. Goodwill Industries has helped with résumé at Westgate Plaza building. We also gave our employees incentives to stay until December. We can’t do it without in Akron them, meaning 'you helped to make us, so please stay with us.' So I believe they’re comfortable with that now and the customers are too.” — Rick Vernon, CEO of West Point Market 330-867-0154 Open 7 days a week With the Fairlawn flagship location set to close, making way for a Whole Foods, CEO Rick 11:00am-2:30am Vernon reflected on West Point's 80-year history in an extensive interview with writer Christopher Morrison, which you can find online at thedevilstrip.com with several photos from the store's storied evolution. TRY ONE OF OUR WESTGATE PLAZA SWEET MARY, RESTAURANTS! THAT’S GOOD! An Akron eatery nine years in the making opens downtown

by Andrew Leask

When Mary Hospodarsky graduated from high That year, Hospodarsky left town to attend college. school in 2001, she, like many of her classmates, But when she returned to Akron two years later, wanted nothing more than to get out of Akron. she came to a realization. “It dawned on me Akron’s Home that the reason there’s nothing down here is that of the All Day “There wasn’t much going on downtown,” she people like me won’t take the initiative to bring recalls. “And everyone said, ‘We need to get out of something down here.” Breakfast here. There’s nothing to do.’” featuring a On December 1, Hospodarsky’s company, Sweet Bloody Mary Mary’s Bakery, opened its first retail location at 76 Menu, Mimosas East Mill Street in Greystone Hall across from the John S. Knight Center. and much more...

Her business, like her food, was made from 1688 W. Market St scratch. Though she has always loved to cook, at Westgate Plaza Hospodarsky has no formal training as a baker. in Akron “Google and YouTube were my culinary school,” she says. “And my mom.” 330-867-1114 Indeed, she traces her passion for baking to her Open 7 days a week childhood. “We didn’t have a lot of money 6:30am-3:00pm (continued on page 22) Sundays Photos courtesy of Svetla Morrison 8:00am-3:00pm AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE Food

The Lady with theCupcakes and the Mixer that Changed her Life

by Shelby Heitzenrater

After baking thousands of cupcakes Lori Campbell knows a thing or two about making the perfect batch, including what not to do.

“Don’t ever put candy corn on buttercream,” she jokes. Why? Overnight they will melt, and by morning your well-crafted frosting will be a glop of festive mess.

If you frequent Angel Falls in Highland Square, you know Lori’s delicious cupcakes. She’s been baking them for the small-town coffee shop for the past seven years. are a contemplation of ideas. Sometimes she It all started when she made batches of 300 for just experiments; other times she uses her huge charity bake sales at the nearby Walgreen’s. Lori collection of cookbooks, tweaking recipes to her had received a new mixer and was eager to break liking, trying to make cupcakes out of desserts that it in. have never seen the cupcake form.

“I realized I can make anything I want. It’s cool Her most popular cupcakes are chocolate when you have a nice mixer. It changed my life.” cheesecake and the different variations of coffee cake. Her personal favorite? Key lime pie-flavored The word of Lori’s delicious creations quickly made cupcake, with a twist. The traditional summer treat its way down the street to owner of Angel Falls. fares better in cooler temperatures, so she made it NUEVO MODERN MEXICAN During one of her daily stops for coffee, Lori was a winter staple — but with a summer theme. asked, “Do you make cupcakes? Do you want to & TEQUILA BAR make them for me?” She said yes, and the rest is “I use cream cheese frosting and a graham cracker RESERVATIONS RECOMMENDED FOR SEATING BUT sweet, sweet history. crust, and I put a little umbrella on it and — it ADVENTURESOME TASTE BUDS REQUIRED FOR DINING looks like the beach.” Lori finds baking to be relaxing and likes that she can use it as a creative outlet. Her recipes She’s not usually into the flair — but, as most Glad I finally made it! Ohioans know, a reminder of summer in the (October 12, 2015 - OpenTable) cold winter months is more than welcome. Lori isn’t surprised that desserts are a staple in "I had been hearing great things about Nuevo around town...... The expansive menus offered the relaxing, sought-out vibe of a coffee shop. something for everyone and what we received did not disappoint! We tried a 'middle-of- They remind people of home and childhood. the-road' tequila flight which was a great way to try several new flavors and then we each settled in to a drink that was more familiar but not what exists everywhere else. I would say “People think, ‘My grandma made that.’ that the food options were named traditionally, but allowed us to sample flavors not only When I make those pumpkin ones people from Mexico, but Spain, Central American, and South American countries as well. This place say, ‘It’s like thanksgiving!’” definitely added a flare to the typical 'Mexican' experience, and I will be sure to return!" “Hmmm,” she ponders, “I might make those tonight.” 54 East Mill St. Akron 44308 (330) 762-8000 nuevomodmex.com Hours: M-Th 11-10, F 11-11, Sat 3-11 WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM food

The Wanderer Nepali Kitchen

words and pictures by Holly Brown

Every so often I get an exclusive tip-off, a secret each and every Nepalese song bounced with whispered hint from some blessed soul, from happiness, or perhaps it was the anticipation, but I someone who knows not only of my love of fine was giddy the minute I sat down at Nepali Kitchen. foods, but also (perhaps more so) that I am, in fact, the Wanderer of this very column. These tidbits But I could not, for the life of me, decide on point me in new, uncertain directions, giving me an anything. I clung to one remembered bit of advice exclusive look at the deliciously rich underbelly that to fish me from that ocean of uncertainty: get the is the Akron culinary culture. mixed platter appetizer. We also ordered three lassis (two mango-, one strawberry-flavored drinks), Nepali Kitchen was something I heard about in which arrived in bright yellow-orange and pink, passing conversation for months. Every couple of tasting like a yogurt-y smoothie—not too thick, not weeks or so, someone would ask me about Nepali too rich and the perfect palate cleanser for what Kitchen. Soon enough, I was lusting after this we were about to launch into. restaurant and the soon-to-be-had meal there. I named dropped the place in everyday conversation As if by magic, a basket of flaky, fried goodness if only to feel closer to actually having gone. At appeared—and then disappeared almost as fast. the beginning of a particularly gloomy week in We split everything three ways, not quite certain November at the onset of daylight savings time, I what anything was and not wanting anyone to put my foot down. Nepali Kitchen had to happen miss out on something spectacular. There were four and it had to happen now. kinds of pakora, which are like fritters of various sizes: vegetable, onion, chicken and paneer, which I rallied my faithful troop—Ryan, my boyfriend/ is a kind of homemade cheese. The sampler also roommate/fellow food adventurer and Maya, my came with one vegetable samosa, a pastry stuffed friend/work-wife/guide to all things Akron—who with peas and potatoes. were often in my company when asked about said restaurant. This dining experience felt like Though fried, each is light and crispy, instead of a mission, a call-to-arms, or forks as it were. leaving you with that lead-in-the-stomach feeling I was fidgety on the drive over and couldn’t common to other fried foods I love. Each filling had stop bouncing in my seat. The excitement was such a distinctly different texture and assortment mounting. of spices working within it that each fritter tasted immensely different from the ones before. There We were immediately greeted by the smell of was no sogging-of-grease or masking-with-batter rich spices. On a flatscreen at the back of the taste. Rather, the fried crust seemed to heighten restaurant, a series of Nepalese music videos what was contained within. While dividing samples played. Perhaps it was the spices, or the fact that (continued on page 22)

AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE food

(continued from page 19)

growing up. So for Christmas, a lot of extended family—aunts and uncles—they would get Christmas cookies.”

Hospodarsky estimates that she, together with her THE OFFICE mother and two sisters, would bake more than a bCITY TAVERN thousand frosted sugar cookies every Christmas. Hospodarsky developed a keen business sense at a young age. By the time she was 10, she was selling baked goods. homemade cookies from a stand in front of her house. “I figured out around that age, too, that if I Most importantly, Hospodarsky is devoted to used coupons, I could buy popsicles and ice cream ensuring the quality of the food she makes. “I NEW LOOK. NEW MENU. sandwiches at Marc’s, and then I could sell them want there to be that hands-on experience,” she for twice what I paid for them and they would still says, “because that’s where I feel the quality comes SAME CITY. be less than what the popsicle man was selling from: the attention to detail and the personal them for,” she says. care.”

That enterprising spirit, combined with her talent in She, along with a small staff that includes her the kitchen, has served Hospodarsky well. In 2006, mother, works in the bakery every day. “When she started Sweet Mary’s Bakery, Ltd. For the past people get things here, they’ll know that we’ve nine years, she has diligently built her business, made it. We started with flour and sugar and selling freshly made baked goods to appreciative butter, and we made it into that. Fresh. ...My Akronites. This year, Sweet Mary’s Bakery was religion is baking from scratch, and there’s a purity voted into the top five on the Akron-Canton Hotlist to it that’s really refreshing and satisfying.” for best wedding cakes. // Andrew Leask, a recent newcomer to Akron, grew This month, after a couple false starts, Sweet up in tropical Bayamón, Puerto Rico. He awaits his first Mary’s finally has a retail storefront. Open from Northeast Ohio winter with growing unease. AkronCityTavern.com 778 North Main Street 7 am to 2 pm on most days, the bakery serves 330.376.9550 Akron, Ohio 44310 cookies, cakes, pies and other baked goods, Also visit us at The Office Bistro & Bar - 1846 Front St. Cuyahoga Falls, OH including “sammiches,” portable meals made by baking sandwich fillings inside Sweet Mary’s dinner roll dough.

As a native Akron business owner, Hospodarsky is committed to supporting other local businesses. Sweet Mary’s Bakery sells Akron Honey, coffee from 76 E. Mill Street, Akron Bent Tree Coffee Roasters, drinks from NORKA and sweetmarysbakery.com focuses on using locally-sourced ingredients in its Open: M-F 7 am to 2 pm; SAT 10 am to 3 pm

(continued from page 21) My curry arrived alongside mutton chow mien (noodles, veggies, spices, and savory sauce) and and passing them across plates, we lost track of chicken matar (curry with peas). My nose tingled which pastry was filled with what. I was unable when I inhaled. I could feel the layering of spices, to predict what was to come and had to rely on the spiciness of the food. When I took that first my senses of taste and smell to teach me what lay bite, I was flooded with such earthy flavor. The inside, which was a great experience. curry was spicy but grounded, the temperature served to make the flavor more intense rather than The time had finally come for a decision. Though I mask it. It tasted real, like it was carefully crafted am always allowed and encouraged to share food with consideration on every ingredient. The rice with my cohorts, I place a lot of pressure on my was thinner, more al-dente than the sticky rices of own meal choice, and this was perhaps the most my past, and balanced the thick sauce and the rich pressure I had felt in a while to choose carefully. I lamb perfectly. finally settled on lamb curry while also getting an order of Bhatura (crispy layered fried bread) for the When my fullness forced me to bring home table. Spoiler alert: I could have eaten that whole leftovers, they were so good I ate them cold, right basket by myself. out of the styrofoam carton, because I literally couldn’t wait to head them up. I think it’s safe to say Misson: Nepali Kitchen was a rousing success.

Nepali Kitchen 399 Cuyahoga Falls Ave Akron, Ohio Monday - Closed Sun/Tues-Thurs: 11am-9pm Fri-Sat: 11am-9:30pm

Previous page: mixed platter flanked by lassis; pictured left curry two ways and chow mien

// Holly Brown loves writing, mostly poems and about food. Maybe she should write more poems about food.

WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM community and culture

FILM AND FEAST A Holiday Heist of Feast and Film Kevin Spacey and Denis Leary in an unusual Christmas movie

by Chris Kessinger, The Film Freak (TheFilmFreak.com)

THE FILM: Alone" grew up to be a home invasion/kidnapping THE FEAST: Shogun is open for lunch or dinner, but the hours “The Ref” (1994) story, but still held on to it's childish tone.) Shogun Japanese Steakhouse are different for each day. Be sure to plan ahead. Everyone has their own choices that they watch Need a cure from the harsh and unforgiving every holiday season. For me, the one that always It might be tough for many people to classify winter weather of Akron? (Albeit less harsh and puts me in a joyous mood is the one that exploits this as a Christmas film, but the homages to the unforgiving than most winters thus far.) Warm up the real negatives of Christmas, "The Ref." holiday film pantheon is certainly there, most by the fire as you enjoy the Asian cuisine at Shogun Shogun Japanese Steakhouse notably as "It's A Wonderful Life" shows on the TV Steakhouse in the ever-developing area of South 2863 South Arlington Road Directed by Ted Demme (“That Thing You Do”), throughout the film, giving it a kind of soft-hearted Akron. This one-of-a-kind dining experience will Akron, Ohio, 44312 “The Ref” is a dark comedy starring Denis Leary domesticity underneath its superficially shallow tingle your taste buds with delight while offering 330-645-9000 as cat burglar Gus. On the heels of an already humor. a cooking presentation unmatched by most. The bad break-in on Christmas Eve, Gus finds himself restaurant offers everything from filet mignon You can find more of caught in the middle of bickering by married The stellar work of the ensemble cast of Hollywood steaks to chicken and shrimp combos to a wide The Film Freak's reviews at thefilmfreak.com couple Caroline and Lloyd (Judy Davis and Kevin veterans will leave you gut-busting with laughter variety of house sushis that will have you planning Spacey), who are on the brink of divorce. in your seat. A young Spacey commands attention future trips to taste the many fresh flavors. What follows is a cynical, yet viciously funny with his soft-to-loud anger growing louder and Shogun’s well-stocked bar houses some of anti-holiday film that will offer a reflection on louder with each scene. The chemistry between the best in domestic and imported tastes. tired traditional families. he and Davis makes the audience root for their reconciliation despite how tired we grow of their Film Freak recommends: There is so much to be commended about bickering. The awkward laughs get raised a notch I can safely say all of my readers must try Demme's portrait of an American family. Everything when 71-year-old Glynis Johns joins the fun as the Steak and Shrimp Combo. It's the feels authentically rich and original in tone for Spacey's rudely overbearing mother. There's a real perfect combination of surf and turf, the genre decades before films like these were rivalry between her and Davis, and it supplies a lot made even more irresistible by the hearty released annually. Despite a hardened criminal in of the honest tension of family gatherings with portions. I was also treated to a side Gus, Leary’s brilliant comedic timing and quick- one-up responses that will put your jaw on the helping of scallops, in which my butter witted dialogue makes him the unexpected main floor. drizzled down the sensuous texture of protagonist in this slapstick film. (Think if "Home some of the best shellfish I've ever tried.

‘ROOM’ IN THE RUBBER CITY Shot in Canada, critically acclaimed film subtly set in Akron

What makes this movie worth seeing isn’t the All that work and it might as well have been about for the first time. It makes for some of location. In fact, Akron has been unusually cast Acorn, Ohio, which isn’t a problem if you the very best moments of a two-hour thought- It’s a little weird ‘Room’ hasn’t played in Akron as the setting. It’s unusual because the book, like good films. The location is no more than provoker. ...One thing that greatly pleased me yet. After all, it was set here. whose author Emma Donoghue also penned a curiosity for those who recognize what it’s was how this film didn’t fall into the clutches of the screenplay, doesn’t name a location and the supposed to be. a made for Lifetime Television movie. Ma finds The movie, adapted from an acclaimed novel of way it plays out, there’s no real reason to name it out quickly that even though the two have left the same name, won the audience award at the Akron in the film either. And yet, the filmmakers Here’s what our resident movie critic, Chris the room physically, they may never leave the Toronto Film Festival, not far from where it was seemingly went out of their way to do so, even if Kessinger, wrote about “Room,” which he gave room psychologically.” shot, and is already playing in Cleveland but won’t only subtly. There’s no explanation for why Akron, a 10 (out of a possible 10). His full review can be screen in Akron until it opens December 11 at inside or outside of the movie. read at thefilmfreak.com: The Nightlight. Though the police cars don’t resemble our own, “Larson gives the performance of her young Like the novel, the movie tells the story through each has “Akron Metro Police” on the sides. career, and this movie showed a side dramatically the perspective of Jack (Jacob Tremblay), who is Other cars carry Ohio tags, and it’s gray enough to of her that I’ve never seen before. The relationship just turning five, having never left the inside of feel like NEO, even without identifiable markers. between Larson and Tremblay feels natural in a small shed where his mother, Ma (Brie Larson), But then there are the beams coming through the its simplicity, but made complex in in the many has been held captive for seven years. He doesn’t skylight in the titular room. Set designers told the layers of a story peeled back slowly one layer at realize he’s been held captive, nor that there’s New York Times they used computer modeling to a time. ...While this isn’t Tremblay’s first feature a world outside those walls. Still, he becomes get the right direction of the light for a north- film, this is quite the coming out party for the responsible for securing their freedom in a facing building in Akron at certain points in boy wonder... It’s quite spellbinding to see [Jack] harrowing escape sequence. the day. discover things that he hasn’t even dreamed

AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 23 Music and entertainment >>

Photos courtesy of Paul Hoffman

WHISKEY • GIN • LIMONCELLO • GRAPPA

915 Home Ave., Akron • 330-633-7223 Open: Monday- Friday 10 am - 7 pm; Saturday 10 am - 5 pm Singing for WWW.RENARTISAN.COM the cruelest teacher How a brutal, traumatic stretch in his life 97 CA led Michael Black to the stage OLD FE by Brittany Nader

Two days after Christmas in 2013, Michael Black Black says. “I knew I had the vocal talent, but I was in tears on a hospital bed at Akron General, was still learning.” where he also worked. His head had been cut open to surgically remove a tumor the size of a ping By some twist of fate, Black ran into a producer pong ball from his right temporal lobe. during his shift at Akron General when the beat- maker heard him belting out tunes throughout Things in his life actually got worse after that. the hospital. The two got in touch and soon were building a catalog of songs inspired equally by One month after Black successfully underwent Black’s heartache and his fortitude. surgery, his best friend died from a heroin overdose. Around that time, after being together Thinking about overarching concepts that had for eight years, he and his daughter’s mother defined a significant part of his life – pain, agony, Voted #1 Best Irish Pub parted ways. trust, desire, fantasy, fighting, connection – he put pen to paper, crafting a five-song EP titled “The Black still bears the scars of his experiences – one Succession.” It takes the listener on a journey running vividly alongside his head as a result of through a connection between two individuals, his brain surgery – but he’s inspired by them, not echoing the stages of Black’s former relationship. Thursday, Dec. 31 • Celtic New Years Eve defeated. A spirited and intuitive individual, he There are songs about lust and seduction, followed with Akron Ceili Band (9 pm) used this dark chapter in his life as inspiration by more serious tunes that embody the feelings Scottish Airing at midnight, Pork & Sauerkraut Dinner at midnight for creating something new. After moving out of of settling down and planning a future. Then, the home he and his partner shared, he began heartbreaking tracks that capture the moments Visit old97cafe.com for more December events channeling these moments in his life – when it all falls apart. his hurt, his strength and resilience – into music. Live music. Great martinis. Private parties. “’Shame On You’ is about coming back from the “I never learned to play instruments or really dead, still being hurt by it, still having that 1503 Kenmore Blvd., Akron, Ohio • 330-745-5493 read music, but I sang in chamber choirs,” (continued on page 27)

24 | THE Devil Strip / DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM community and culture Heavy Instruments and Rare Grooves The hidden history of Akron’s Soul Toronadoes

by DJ El-Prezidente, as told to Roger Riddle

If you do a Google search for “Hammond B-3 the band's name with no compensation to funk,” nestled among the names of the great him or his fellow band members. When I jazz artists and groups known for playing finally got Heller on the phone, the story of the heavy instruments — in both weight and these unsung Akron musical heroes began to sound — you will find mentions of Akron's unfold. Then one day I found myself sitting Soul Toronadoes. The band released a string with three of the members of the band and of 7-inch singles during the ‘70s that went listening to their story first hand. overlooked at the time by record buyers but have since captured the attention of today's During the ‘70s, the band was comprised of rare groove collectors. Bobby Heller on organ, his brother Charles Heller on drums, Bruce Martin on bass and I am one of those collectors. Always on the James “Boots” Smith on guitar. However, hunt for something out of the ordinary to their introduction to the music business play when I DJ, I happened upon one of came during the early ‘60s when the Heller those singles. Scanning the label, I noticed brothers took the stage at Akron's night clubs the address listed for the record company was as a dance duo while still in their pre-teens. nearby in Ohio. Then I began searching for a Booked as the “Twisting Twins” — even contact to see if there were any other records though the brothers were not actually twins Photo courtesy of Paul Hoffman they may have had. That search led me right — Charles Heller became known for a dance back to Akron. Wine Bar - in homage to this little known was called the Mighty Soul Toronadoes style that rivaled the moves of his idol James funk outfit. Then one day, I caught up with Night, Heller thought I was in a band that Brown. In 1962, the brothers got a chance to When I realized the band I had run across the band thanks to YouTube. was illegally using their name and playing see Brown live. was based out of Akron, I originally named their music. When I explained that I was just my funk and soul DJ night, “the Mighty Soul The band’s leader, Bobby Heller, was posting DJing and playing their records, Heller noted “And that changed me forever because his Toronadoes Night” - now called the Mighty videos and commenting on posts that that recently people had begun to sample band was off the hook,” Bobby says. Soul Night, a monthly event held at Uncorked featured the band’s songs. Because my night their work, cover their songs and even use (continued on page 28)

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AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 25 music and entertainment

HIGHLAND SQUARE Live Music Schedule Otherworldly Blazing trails with John Dante and The Inferno Friday, 12/4 • 9 – Midnight Friday, 12/18 • 9pm – Midnight Local Music – TBA! DJ Naeno – Electronic Dance Party! by Brittany Nader Saturday, 12/5 • 9pm – Midnight AKJ Jazz Trio – Jazz Saturday, 12/19 • 9pm – Midnight Stepping into one of John they’ve reached the The Frankie Starr Band – Blues Dante’s rock shows is like top. The listener feels as Sunday, 12/6 • 12-4pm walking into a psychedelic though they have been DJ Ben Fulkman – Sunday, 12/20 • 12 – 4pm inferno where the band’s shot into outer space Funky, Soulful Beats DJ Ben Fulkman – frontman could shape before descending back Funky, Soulful Beats shift at any moment. into an uncertain safety. Friday, 12/11 • 9pm – Midnight One may expect to see a The Night Travelers – Saturday, 12/26 • 8:30 – 11:30pm Virtuoso Banjo & Stand up Bass Jazz Shepherds – cosmonaut descending “Then it drops you Christmas Jazz Music from a faraway galaxy, back off where you Saturday, 12/12 • 9pm – Midnight and instead be greeted started, and you are Sausalito – Sunday, 12/27 • 1 – 4pm with a Funky Frankenstein left back on earth, Jazz/ R&B Band with Vocals Boy=Girl – Americana character, or a kinky like, wondering how ape, or perhaps Beat you got there,” Dante Sunday, 12/13 • 12 – 3pm Farm Bob, the operator says. “The live show Wood Choppers Ball musicians – of a deep space farm, is very intense, and at World-Class Guitar! mining “backing music any moment it can get for the boring and really heavy or really oppressive Electronic funky.” Photo courtesy of Shane Wynn *All concerts Music Federation.” As a ARE FREE! self-proclaimed inter-dimensional traveler, many Multiple lineups have made up the force that is personalities live in Dante’s head, liberating human John Dante and The Inferno, and the front man consciousness with otherworldly grooves. says he’s always searching for likeminded musicians who share the same goals and can push the project HIGHLAND SQUARE LOCATION: Dante has taken his bandmates on adventures into new directions. He hopes to expand the sci- 867 West Market Street Akron, Ohio 44303 • 330-434-7333 spanning through time and space, his companions fi-meets-horror concept and craft additional tunes www.MustardSeedMarket.com evolving over the years since the musical group’s that incorporate these genres, as well as introduce inception around the year 2008. What began as a film to the project that will help The Inferno tell the blues-based jam band has grown into a multi- story visually as well. Dante and his companions headed beast, something indefinable but always recorded a self-titled album this year and are in the of the utmost intrigue. Dante’s musical upbringing stages of finalizing several big shows in the Akron could be considered fairly normal, the lifelong area. The year 2016 will bring new adventures in guitarist picking up saxophone and piano early our own backyard and through many metaphorical on, while engaging in extracurricular activities, galaxies and alternate planes depending on where like choir, in middle school. Deciding guitar was the music takes us. Dante stresses that, while a “cooler” hobby to get into by his late teens, conceptual in some ways, he and his band dedicate he plucked around on the axe with his father, their energy to delivering an honest, original and following along to his melodies and leads. raw performance every night they hit the stage.

Years passed and brought the sonic traveler “I think rock ‘n’ roll should be a little dangerous around Akron where he could showcase his skills and make your palms sweat and your hair stand and formal training on stages like the infamous on end,” he says. “We are really injecting some of Vortex. It was here that Dante waxes poetic about that fun, exciting energy back into the scene, and drunken nights spent amidst the outdated décor people really dig it. of the venue, tucked in between porno shops and strip clubs where a myriad of characters was sure John Dante and The Inferno “keeps the mothership to stumble through and, perhaps, inspire some of active” at InfernoRocks.com and Facebook.com/ the inventive and eccentric personalities he adopts JohnDanteAndTheInferno. The group’s spooky, on stage. spacey tunes can also be heard at Soundcloud. com/John-Dante. Musically, Dante’s sound is influenced by the heavy, progressive sounds he’s loved for years, with sprinklings of horror and The seasons they are a'changin' sci-fi movies, deep fantasy worlds, and even love, woven in. Anything that so come to the pub to is engrossing and beautiful, he says, watch the Cavs and can have a hand in the type of art he creates. Pushing the limits of the viewer enjoy one of our ice cold beers. and listener has always intrigued him, encouraging him to think beyond the boundaries of what is possible. His music, he says, is like a rollercoaster, the excitement building with each 816 W. MARKET STREET | AKRON slow uphill click, then taking the audience completely of the rails once

Photo courtesy of Brittany Nader

WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM music and entertainment

(continued from page 24) coffee, looking to make the kind of music that can make me cry.” self-destructive behavior,” Black says. “But you’re moving on and you’re out doing things. You’re not Being in the studio and putting these words and In the Crowd sobbing on the ground. You’re moving on.” melodies to a beat was a very different experience from singing songs at work Getting to know Scottish singer-songwriter It’s been two years since or late nights at home. Natalie Clark, who recently performed Black’s brain surgery, the Progressing from a live loss of his relationship and “Experience is the performer into a studio at Akron Civic Theatre the passing of his friend. setting was frustrating, He says those experiences he says, but an incredible by MacKenzie Mehrl were a huge turning point, cruelest teacher. learning experience. He and his new collection of used Soundcloud to record songs will show his growth and track his growth as not only as an artist, but as It gives the test, a studio singer, evolving a human being. On Dec. to make his voice and 27, the anniversary of his words more about feeling surgery, Black will release and then it gives than forcing a barrage of “The Succession” for free. notes into the listener’s The recording, he says, ear. The EP will feature shows how his songwriting the lesson.” a more diverse range of has changed over the instrumentation, and each last year or so, as he has - Unknown song evokes a different become more attuned to tone or idea than the listening to the melodic intricacies of artists like The others. Yet, they are connected by the connective Weeknd, Miguel and doo-wop greats. themes that defined those intense four months of Natalie Clark, a Scottish singer-songwriter full of confidence, which helped her make the leap and Black’s life and where he is today. laughter and light, recently moved to the U.S. move to Los Angeles. Since then, she has toured “I’m exploring new ways to use the lyrics I’ve to pursue her new career as an artist. During the U.S. for the past year and released an EP, written,” he says. “I’ll change words that don’t “Dec. 27 is like my birthday,” Black says. “Life is the first few months of following her dream in “Eagles,” available now to the public. Currently, stab you hard enough in the heart. I’d catch myself like... my life before and after the surgery. That London, she was running low on money and she’s opening for Indigo Girls on their current writing from 9 pm to 6 am with a cup of was a huge turning point. What I’m worse, on determination. That’s when she found tour. When the band played at the Akron Civic experiencing now is a whirlwind, a new herself back in Glasgow at an industry session Theatre, Clark even came out and joined Indigo way of life, writing and being a father.” with Virgin Records founder Richard Branson Girls during their performance that evening and and BBC/Radio 1 show host Nick Grimshaw sang her song “Weakness.” After the release of “The Succession,” where she had an encounter that would change Black says he plans to drop a mixtape her career. During the Q&A, Clark was chosen to The ambiance of the room was warm and and full-length album next year ask Branson a question. comforting, like sitting around a campfire at featuring collaborations with several a lodge party with your closest friends. With local rappers. Until then, the EP is like She wanted to know if he ever felt fear when a soulful voice and strong vibrato, Clark’s an aural diary drawing listeners into the beginning a new project. If a man like Branson unique sound makes you stop in your tracks. darkest, most intimate and infinitely felt fear, she reasoned, Clark could feel more Her self-written songs are full of uplifting and triumphant moments in this musician’s at ease about her own worries. He turned the positive themes, which instantly connect with life. A sneak peek of Black’s new question around on her and invited her up on the listener. Accordingly, he crowd’s reaction to music can be heard on his Instagram stage, which led to an impromptu performance Clark was incredible to witness. page, @mblack330, and both of her song “Weakness.” physical and digital copies of the EP Natalie Clark’s music is available on iTunes or will be available to listeners on that That experience gave Clark a sense of newfound through her website natalieclarkmusic.com. pivotal day, Dec. 27.

AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 27 music & entertainment

(continued from page 25) singer in the audience could sit in for a song. bands and re-releasing them with great After agreeing, they were joined on stage by treatment and respect for the artists. That The brothers became serious about playing Cuba Gooding, Sr. of The Main Ingredient. box set, “Soul Toronados (sic) – the Complete music as opposed to just dancing to it. They Recordings,” was released in 2005. The set wanted to form a band, and they wanted to During a show in Chattanooga, Tenn., bass gained little to no press even though it sold own everything they saw on stage. Charles player Bruce Martin fell ill and had to return out and is now as collectible as the original had his eye on the Ludwig drum set played to Akron. That night, Lucky Scott — who singles. by Brown's drummer. Bobby wanted the B-3 played bass with Curtis Mayfield — sat in Hammond organ. for the evening. When the band played one The lack of attention over the box set seemed of Mayfield's songs, Scott tried to persuade to be right in line with all that the band had “I already had an organ, a Thomas organ,” Boots to join Mayfield on tour. Boots decided experienced in their career. However, when I Bobby remembers. “When I went down he couldn't leave the band and pointed to showed Heller a video of people dancing to there and saw James Brown, he had a B3 their contract with Burt Records. the Soul Toronadoes music at the Mighty Soul Hammond. I went home talking about that. 'I Night—and with word that they have a cult On the want me a B3!'” While the members of some of the best soul following in the UK—a new excitement has and funk bands in the nation loved the sound begun to bubble. The hunt for the Hammond organ led them of the Soul Toronadoes, their singles never Record to Reynolds’ Music Shop in Akron. Bobby's caught on. Part of this was most likely due Akron could be the first to see these unsung mom, Lulune Heller, who played an intricate to the rights being sold to different small local music heroes return to the spotlight. Johnny and The Apple part in the development of the band by labels that didn't have enough recognition The city is experiencing a bit of a renaissance Stompers Debut New EP, taking on the role of manager, spoke with in the industry to get them the attention in music with clubs like Blu Jazz and Pub owner Frankie Reynolds about acquiring a B3 they deserved. Another factor was that the Bricco showing there is a market here for ‘Far From The Tree’ for her son. When he remarked that he had times were changing, and it was hard for an these types of sounds. Also, as new bands just the organ for them, Lulune flatly stated instrumental band to make its mark when blaze new trails, Akron continues to have a By Brittany Nader that she didn't want a new organ. She was most of the up-and-coming bands now strong sense and respect for their artists of Over the past five years, Johnny and the Apple in the market for a used one. Reynolds led featured a lead vocalist. the past. Stompers have established themselves as local them to a back room and showed them an favorites, marrying honkytonk, country and organ previously owned by jazz great Jimmy When their four-year contract was up with Maybe it is time to add the Soul Toronadoes bluegrass with old-time blues and jazz, the McGriff. Burt Records, Burt exercised an overlooked to that list of celebrated artists. result of which sends listeners back in time clause to pick up an additional four-year while reflecting enduring themes of heartache, McGriff dropped off his organ for an option with the band. This was essentially // El-Prezidente is the host 88.7 WJCU’s “Soul Elixer” loneliness, drunkenness and rambling through overhaul and decided to buy a new model the undoing of the band. They went their radio show. Roger Riddle is a record collector, DJ, and the countryside. while it was being serviced. Reynolds tuned separate ways shortly thereafter. the Chief Curator for Unbox Akron. up his old organ, and now it was for sale. Back with their first recording since 2013’s Bobby now had the instrument that would Boots went on to work in the rubber industry “Prison Bound,” local musicians present their help shape the sound of the band, and it was for 11 years. Martin is now playing bass in unique style of hillbilly music from the heartland blessed by one of the founders of the style. a gospel band. Charles Heller now resides To experience El-Prez in his element, to the Northeast Ohio community. The band in California and is involved in the Christian check out will debut its latest EP, “Far From The Tree,” From the mid to late ‘60s, Bobby recruited ministry. Bobby Heller is still here in Akron, Nov. 27 at a special event taking place at Stone Bruce Martin on bass and Boots Smith on and he's anxious to play again. Tavern in Kent. The free Black Friday celebration guitar. Heller credits Martin's creativity on will include live performances from Shady Daze bass as being the foundation of their style. Over the time that has passed, the members and Ohio Joe and the Continental Drifters, in And with the addition of Boots Smith, who have never seen any royalties from their addition to a screening of the film “Happy Hour was steeped in the blues and played guitar records. The Burt Records catalog is now Holocaust.” Copies of the EP will be available and harmonica, the group was solidified. owned by Ernest Burt's son, however there for purchase at the event, beginning at 9 p.m. is very little information on where the While playing a show in Detroit in the early younger Burt is operating the business. He is at Formed in 2010 as a skiffle band playing on ‘70s, they met Ernest Burt who owned a still active, as some of the songs have been the streets in Akron, Kent and Cuyahoga Falls, small independent record label, Magic City/ licensed from the Magic City catalog. One in the Apple Stompers have evolved their sound Burt Records. With Heller's mother in the particular affected the Soul Toronadoes. though years of playing at bars, weddings, role of the band's manager, they signed festivals, retirement homes and flea markets. a recording contract with Burt and began When Jazzman Gerald of Jazzman Records Uncorked This past year, the musicians have shared the recording. They recorded a total of six tracks came to town in the early 2000s to get on stage at Akron hotspots like Annabell’s and that were released on three singles. Of the the band's story for a box set his label Musica with celebrated acts like Wayne “The three singles, one was released on Magic was releasing, Bobby thought maybe Soul December 19 Train” Hancock, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn City, another was released on the subsidiary Toronadoes’ chance at a revival was near. beginning at 8 pm with Band and The Legendary Shack Shakers. label, Burt Records, but unbeknownst to The Jazzman record label out of the United Forrest Getem Gump and Ben Crazy too. them, Burt sold the rights to the third single Kingdom is known among record collectors Led by Northeast Ohio locals Johnny Miller and to a different record label, Westwood. as one of the best at finding extremely rare Cory Grinder, the band is a tribute to classic This was the first sign of trouble between country influences like Hank Williams, Roger them and their record label. This rocky Miller and Willie Nelson. Miller’s inspired and relationship would cast a shadow over original songwriting, bright acoustic picking their entire career. and lonesome voice are paired with Grinder’s high harmonies and skilled fiddle playing. With While their songs were being sold the addition of members from brother bands to other labels for release, the band Rodney and the Regulars (Rodney Dewalt, began touring the south, winning the Stephen Karney and Richard DeWalt) and Fast admiration of many of the other artists Molasses (Jason Willis, Shawn Wee and Steve they were playing alongside. They Gill), pedal steel, upright bass, banjos and more were joined on stage by soul legend flesh out the sound, resulting in a versatile, Wilson Pickett's horn section when the multifaceted live experience. band broke into a cover of Pickett's “Funky Broadway.” One night they were approached by an employee at a club they were playing and asked if a

28 | THE Devil Strip / DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM culture club >> new / native From down in the Valley to the University of Akron

collected by Elizabeth Tyran

students graduate and settle into their jobs here it’s to Chicago for a couple years and moved back What local holiday event(s) do you look going to grow things. I think Akron will continue when I was twenty-one and that’s when I realized forward to attending? NEW growing both in the number of students and the that ya, Akron is a good place to live. We like “The Nutcracker” at The Akron Civic and number of people who work here. we like Tuba Christmas at E.J. Thomas. I don’t Where in Akron do you like to escape? know if they’re doing it this year because of the What do you think would be great about Sand Run Park changes at the university but that was always raising kids in Akron? something we liked to do. Diversity is a beautiful thing and growing up in Why should everyone try your favorite local Akron would help teach them that I think. The local restaurant? How do you plan to play in the snow this parks would allow them to appreciate both nature Because the owners are really Greek and it’s really winter and where? and the architecture set within nature here. authentic Greek food. It’s Vasili’s down in the valley. We will be sled riding at Cascade. We will be sled riding at Kendall Hills. We will be sled riding Name: Josh Gardy, 22 What local holiday event(s) do you look How do you think Akron will be different in anywhere there’s a hill (laughing). And we’ll do ski Hometown: Phoenix, Ariz. forward to attending? five years? club at Boston Mills and probably some ice skating Neighborhood: UA Campus Resident I really enjoy the ice skating at Lock 3. Christmas I hope there will be more downtown living, more at the Gorge Metropark. Occupation: Student, studying engineering is my favorite time of year and it’s great to get out small businesses and more restaurants with healthy & part-time valet and see all the decorations around downtown. options. That’s really what I want to see. Favorite local place or event for holiday shopping? I’d have to say NOTO. It’s a women’s Who do you wish was on more Akronites’ Does your job allow you to feel connected to What would you change about raising clothing boutique with all kinds of cute stuff. radar? Why? Akron in any special way? kids in Akron? I wish there were more networks Dr. Bob in the sense that through AA he has Absolutely. I valet for Crave and 3 Point as well as for parents with small children and common Where would you take family or friends from brought many people out of the dark. He was a Dante Boccuzzi’s. It allows me to see the Artwalk, interests. I wish there were more groups like that. out of town to dinner? big name a while ago I think but it seems he only it’s helped me get acquainted with some of the We have a community through our school, Spring Our go-to is the Saffron Patch. I like to go and take comes up now around Founders Day and I think small businesses and get to know the different Garden, but it’s private and I pay for it and not people for some good Indian food in the valley. with the impact he’s had on people’s lives he should business owners and employees really well, it’s everybody has that opportunity. be talked about and credited more often here in expanded my view on the people of Akron and Akron. His program helped both of my parents shown me what’s out there. achieve sobriety. Their disease impacted their lives so negatively so I’m grateful that thanks to that How do you plan to play in the snow this program I did have two sober parents growing up. winter and where? I’m a big fan of snow when I don’t have to drive in it. The great thing about What is your favorite local cultural asset? snow is you can pretty much dive in and have fun I think I would say E.J. Thomas. As a UA wherever you see it. But I always look forward to student I’ve seen it bring a lot of happiness and snowboarding at Brandywine. entertainment to Akron and it’s also brought people in from out of town. It’s a place to meet up with people for cool shows & great acts. It’s had an impact on me in that sense. native When did you fall for Akron? Since I came here a couple years ago I’ve seen that grit that everybody has here and you know, you work for everything here in Akron and I think that’s a beautiful thing. A lot of people lose sight of that through entitlement. And really in the last year I’ve seen some of the ins and outs of small businesses and really gotten to know people who live here and they have shown me that grit and hard work that Name: Carrie Burchett, 34 has brought the city back to what it is. Hometown: Akron Neighborhood: Merriman Valley Where in Akron do you like to escape? Occupation: Teacher at Spring Garden I like to go to the national parks and the gorge. Waldorf School

Why should everyone try your favorite local Who do you wish was on more Akronites’ restaurant? radar? Why? I think Crave is awesome because you come in and Rudolph Steiner, the impulse behind the Waldorf you’re like what the heck, the menu is just a bunch Schools and other things like biodynamic farming of jumbled words when you first look at it, but they and gardening. take your regular type of food or regular dishes and they throw their own “spice” into it. What is your favorite local cultural asset? It’s a tie between the library and the Countryside How do you think Akron will be different in Conservancy Farmers Market. five years? I think with the improvements already made to When did you fall for Akron? the University of Akron campus it’s going to bring Well, I was born and raised here—obviously more students in which will bring more traffic. As because I’m your “native” (laughing)—but I moved

AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 29 culture club

How Bazaar, How Bazaar The debut of the Akron Bazaar Night Market

by Allie Angelo

Everyone was bundled in their warmest fall clothes, fruits and vegetables as well as some homemade M volunteers huddled under a tent, handing market back in the spring and turn it into a popular and some of the market-goers sipped small cups goods, such as laundry and hand soap from the out pamphlets and spreading information about recurring event where local vendors can continue of hot chocolate purchased from one of the Intergalactic Soap Co. and sweet hot chocolate their amazing organization. Open M is a church- to share their goods with the residents of North vendors, who lined the sides of the lot where the from Rosey’s Refreshments. Of course, Stray run charity organization dedicated to helping Hill, bringing back a stronger sense of community market was held. A stage was set up for karaoke, Dog Café was also there serving their signature residents of the Akron area who are in need. Their and vitality to the Temple Square district. a harmonica player and a variety of popular music hot dogs, burgers, barbeque and a variety of services range from hot meals and Christmas gifts played by a DJ. sandwiches. The owners of Stray Dog Café are for low-income families to health care and job //BIO: Allie is a North Hill resident who loves residents of the area and part of the North Hill placement programs. As Christmas approaches, sunshine, coffee, books, and vegan pizza. She has That was the scene this October when a new open- Community Leaders. Their cart can be seen at many the organization is getting ready for their annual been writing since before she was old enough to air night market debuted in North Hill’s historic of North Hill’s events, including Akron Better Block. Christmas for the Love of Children program, which drive and is currently employed as a copywriter. Temple Square between the People’s Bank and provides food and gifts to over 800 children in the another building on the corner of Cuyahoga Falls A few artists were selling original pieces, including Akron area each year. Avenue and North Main Street. The idea for Akron Abstract.Nat, who sold prints, handmade bags, Bazaar was developed fairly late in the year by and scarves. While I probably own too many bags Though the weather was North Hill Community Leaders and some of and scarves, I decided you can never have too harsh and many vendors the individuals behind this past May’s Better much art, especially local art, and ended up leaving packed up earlier than Block event. with one of her abstract prints. Another local planned, North Hill’s first artisan was selling handmade holiday décor in the Akron Bazaar Night Market Even though the turnout was small, there was a form of jars and bottles decorated with colored was a success. Local vendors unique mix of local vendors. Some were selling glitter, fake snow, and plastic candles. A few even were able to showcase their homemade goods and food while others sold art, featured a winter scene, complete with a chopped- unique goods and products decorations, customizable jewelry, and even cute down Christmas tree tied to a car and a doe for Akron residents, giving toys and blankets. Not Yo’ Daddy’s, an Akron hot peeking through the trees. Two jewelry vendors, us a taste of the great local sauce company, was offering samples on tortilla Keep Collections and Origami Owl, were offering food, products, art, and chips. I bought two bottles of original, which customizable jewelry, watches, and charms while handcrafted items that you have since ended up on eggs, sandwiches, stir Premium designs had a variety of classic jewelry. can find in North Akron. fry and pasta. In the midst of the awesome art, homemade Akron Bazaar organizers A few young locals were selling homegrown goods, and unique local food, a group of Open hope to bring the night

30 | THE Devil Strip / DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM culture club

READY TO ROCK THE ROCK MILL BRINGS CLIMBING FACILITY TO AKRON THIS JANUARY

by Katie Wheeler

Think of all of the places that come to mind when Akron was home and would continue to house the you read the words “rock climbing” and I bet creative process behind Rock Candy Holds. Nathan Akron doesn’t rank. In fact, I’d be willing to bet and Liz began to explore places where they could that no place in Ohio is on your radar, but that reignite the climbing community in Akron, and won’t remain true for long. added fellow climber Mike Ochwat to their team.

Some years ago, Liz and Nathan Yokum were Together with their partners, the Yokums have college kids who decided to build a rock climbing made another dream a reality, and they will open wall in their garage. Climbers can tell you that the Rock Mill Climbing this January. The 12,000 square wall isn’t usually the expensive part of that project. foot facility will have a state-of-the-art climbing The expense comes in when you have to buy all of area, a yoga studio with multiple classes daily and the hand and footholds that allow you to actually a general fitness room with weights and treadmills. climb on that wall. The Yokums quickly realized Rock Candy Holds will also be headquartered there this and Nathan, an art education major at the and Nathan and Liz will continue to work towards University of Akron, decided to try to make their creating a climbing community in Akron through own holds instead of buying them. Though they events and workshops that will be hosted at Rock didn’t end up saving much money, the creativity of Mill. the process had them hooked and their company, Rock Candy Holds, was born. But why Akron? Both Nathan and Liz say they wouldn’t think of taking Rock Mill anywhere else. Rock Candy eventually expanded from its humble They want to contribute to the recent resurgence beginnings in the garage to a manufacturing space of their city and hope to help stop the “brain in Akron. Not all of the space was being used, so drain” of students leaving by helping give the Nathan and Liz built another climbing wall. Nathan college demographic a community to which they carved the designs for Rock Candy Holds, and then can belong. was able to experiment with the shape and form by letting climbers use them. What the Yokums built As Nathan points out, “We live, work, and play in as their test space quickly turned into a local co-op Akron—and we think Akron needs more PLAY.” for climbers. The co-op allowed them to develop their product, but also developed a community of If you agree, going by is a great way to show it. Akronites who shared their love of climbing.

In 2010, Rock Candy had grown enough that the co-op had to be closed to use the space for the business. This was an especially tough choice for the Yokums, as they had come to love the community that had grown there.

Thinking back on it Liz says, “We always knew we For more information: would bring back the space for climbers. We just didn’t know where or when.” rockmillclimbing.com www.facebook.com/rockmillclimbing After stabilizing the growth of the company, while also growing their family, it became clear that

AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 31 culture club

Stocking the Holiday Toy Room How Summit Co. Children Services helps abused, neglected children during the holidays

by Katie Jackson

Each December, as thousands of children in Summit The Holiday Toy Room is a place for foster parents SCCS also seeks donors to participate in the Adopt- Please contact Sandy DeLuca at sdeluca@ County write out their wish lists to send to the and kinship caregivers to “shop” for children in A-Family program for the holiday season. Each summitkids.org or 330-379-1994 for more North Pole, there are hundreds of children in our their care, free of charge. Donated toys and gifts year approximately 580 children are “adopted” information. communities whose wish lists include something are given a point value and sorted into age group by community groups, businesses and individuals, more than toys: safety, stability, family, a home. by infant, school-age and teen. In addition to who are given a wish list of items that have been These are the children and families served by items that are “shopped” for, every child is given requested by a specific child in the program. Summit County Children Services (SCCS). “zero point” items such as books, puzzles, school Donors purchase and wrap the gifts, which are Donation needs: supplies and stocking stuffers. delivered personally to the children’s home by SCCS is an agency that provides services for abused agency social workers. Infants & Toddlers and neglected children in our communities. In any Over her 26 years at SCCS, community relations Baby dolls (all ethnicities) given month over 585 children meet the criteria manager Sandy DeLuca has created a mission for Because the holiday programs are completely Baby blocks for agency intervention. Case workers partner with the Holiday Toy Room program. donation-based and the need is ever growing, Large size cars and trucks families to provide the best outcome for a child to SCCS never knows ahead of time whether the New stuffed animals be reunited with their immediate family or placed “I want to ensure that every child has gifts under demand for the season will be met. Educational toys in kinship care with extended family members. their tree on Christmas morning,” says DeLuca. Infant care items When there are no relative placement options “No child should ever wake up without anything “For the past three years we have been very Cloth or board books for a child, alternative housing in foster care or underneath their tree.” blessed with generous donors in our community,” permanent custody through adoption is the next says DeLuca. best substitute. DeLuca’s mission is making a difference. Last year over 1,300 children were recipients of gifts from Donations can be dropped off seven days a week School-Age Children While there are many ways SCCS works to create a the Holiday Toy Room, an increase of 23 percent between 9 am - 8 pm through December 18 at the sense of normalcy for children under its care, one from 2013. Items that are in the greatest need front desk of Summit County Children Services, Dolls (all ethnicities) way the community at-large can help them create are toys for infants (birth to 18 months old) and located at 264 S. Arlington Street in Akron. Doll accessories positive memories is by donating to the Holiday Toy teenage boys. Toys and games for popular movies Volunteers are also needed to sort donations Action figures Room and Adopt-A-Family programs. such as “Star Wars,” “Minions,” “Frozen,” “Inside and staff the Toy Room, which is open between Activity books Out” and “Avengers” are also in high demand. December 2 - December 23. Board games LEGOS sets Transformers Hand-held games Puzzles Craft kits Action figures Tweens &Teens

Brightly colored slippers Ear buds and flashdrives Headphones Speakers (to connect to phones) Electronics of any kind, under $25 (portable CD, DVD and MP3 players) Infinity scarves Sports jerseys (L & XL) Gift Cards (teen-favored stores, fast food restaurants)

32 | THE Devil Strip / DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM culture club

ONLY IN AKRON

The Most Akron Kids I Know a poem by Elizabeth Tyran

When Charlotte was still very small As years went by they moved around Which is to say not very tall The coolest spots all over town We’d take her to the nearest park First downtown, then Northside Which had no trees adorned in bark The Square and the Valley Just grass extending soft & green But their first home still overlooks To the best local mural til then I’d seen Musica’s alley She’d waddle the yard and to the wall Where colorful characters large and small For every birthday they still love to go Looked at her and she at them To the Spaghetti Warehouse, Til a dandelion beckoned wouldn’t you know She pick its stem It’s a tradition for them and their A New Kind of Pop-Up family you see Still a babe and starting to talk With spaghetti & meatballs and instead of TV Akron Children’s Museum brings We took her for another walk... They have things on the walls, things up above Around the zoo, not far from here Things all around as though placed there interactive learning to Lock 3 (to live downtown means things are near) with love She walked across the bridge of rope Quirky antiques with nods to this town, a train by Daniel Whitaker She pet the goats and washed with soap car, a ski lift that never comes down... She seemed to like the llamas best You get the idea, it’s full of cool stuff While some waited in lines on Black Friday, the in Akron tradition at the DerbyTown exhibit. Every And put her talking to the test when she But onward, cause sometimes enough organizers of the Akron Children’s Museum exhibit in the museum has an educational focus, called them... “mamas” is enough opened their doors to the public for the very first but the lessons will be taught through play. time. Collaborating with the city of Akron and When little Leo came along A couple years back we took Char to Lock 3 the Summit County Historical Society, ACM has “It’s the brain’s favorite way to learn,” said Charlotte looked at him all wrong To ice skate with ice skates so small, so petite transformed the former American Toy Marble Hartschuh. Who is this and why’s he here She stayed up quite well with us holding Museum space at Lock 3 into an interactive family- My parents seem to love him dear her hand minded, learning experience. This temporary “pop- The pop-up museum will be open to the public Wherever they went Leo’d go Making sure if she slipped we would up” site offers educational activities to children of Wednesday through Sunday, from November 27 Charlotte got used to a baby bro pre-vent a land all ages designed to teach life skills, science, music, until February 15. Hours of operation are 11am - Then we ate lunch at Bricco art and more, all in a playful environment. 7pm Wednesday – Saturday and 11am – 5pm on She’d hang with us, we’d bake, we’d play Where they have kids grilled cheese Sunday. Admission is $3 and free for infants 12 Color, watch movies, the day to day And some chopped fruit, a pickle, and The seed for the museum was planted in 2011 months and younger. We lived next door so it worked well milk if you please when Betsy and Ryan Hartschuh and their two Friends and neighbors, all was swell children drove through North Carolina on their “Hands on Holidays: Expedition Frosty” is a A few years ago, we sled Hawkins Hill way home from a summer vacation when they fundraising event the group is hosting to benefit We lived in an historic spot We had cocoa up top visited the Greensboro Children’s Museum. They the pop-up and the future permanent museum. Right next door to their mom’s shop To counter the chill had a blast. Families that purchase tickets will make crafts and And every year she’d host a show Next to the big fire barrel they light explore activities similar to those found at the Of fashion which each year would grow Which glows and invites in the “The place was bustling with young families,” pop-up museum. Tickets may be purchased And each year Charlotte can be found dark winter night Ryan Hartschuh says. through the Akron Children’s Museum website at Onstage, backstage, and all around Then to Luigi’s for WHITE pizza they said akronkids.org/events. When I’d thought of Luigi’s I’d always The couple saw a lot of similarities between thought red! Greensboro and Akron. They believed a children’s Now when we go to the zoo museum would be great for Akron. So they got There are two to work, laying the building blocks for a future Two kids on the carousal Last year I took Charlotte to the Civ-ic site in Akron. Three years later, they have the Woo 1 & Woo 2 To see the Nutcracker pop-up site, a pilot run for what they hope to Two kids plus their cousins & sit with Saint Nick be a permanent installment in the future. For hikes at Sand Run We sat in the front Two kids to blast with a giant squirt gun And as Charlotte stared Meanwhile, kids and families can still Two kids to go the museum and play It was so cute to see just how much she cared experience the marble exhibits from the Inside and outside on a warm summer day And wanted a nutcracker of her very own American Toy Marble Museum and also get So of course she got one from me to the chance to take part in activities that They’ve even appeared in the museum’s ads take home explore gravity, flight, art, building and other Little Akronite cuties areas of learning. Their mom’s and their dad’s Charlotte and Leo, great kids all-around Products of Akron, a well-rounded town The pop-up site features activities such as a They play hide & seek in Musica So just like these kids, enjoy all you see life size Lite-Brite, jumbo building blocks, a When they visit us at work For each year in Akron is THE place to be. toddler section, a wind tube and a quake Or carve pumpkins in the cafe table where kids can construct model And get ice cream as a perk Happy holidays, everyone! buildings and test how their designs hold up against environmental forces. Kids can experiment with the physics and participate

AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 33 culture club

Lockview on Civic Theater on Summit Artspace on South Main Street South Main Street East Market Street by Marissa Marangoni by Emily Dressler by Marissa Marangoni

2 ¾ out of 5 toilets 4.5 out of 5 toilets. 1.5 out of 5 toilets. 5 out of 5 art toilets. (but 5/5 in the grilled cheese department) Style over substance wins us over. Ahhh, art. Tis the season to view it and buy it. The women’s bathroom, in the back near the patio Wow. There are like 85 stalls in this restroom. Once you’ve perused the newest installments and

Yellow Snow and Snow Yellow Christmas Farter steps, is to be expected. It was so dark in there Approximate count shows ~25, but this place those Christmas cookies are getting a little too that I looked around for a light switch, then gave lends itself to hyperbole. THIS is where you should heavy, you may find yourself wondering where this up and said bloody mary three times. NOTHING celebrate the New Year. quaint space hides their restrooms. HAPPENED. Maybe they could add a grilled cheese scented candle to make up for the dim lighting. Or The nice folks at the Civic let us in even though We visited the first floor facilities, and those are maybe they could just install a bulb in the one light the theatre wasn't open to the public. We didn’t located--well, just ask the desk attendant to direct Holiday Edition that is not lit. Christmas gift ideas! even have to tell them about our super-important you to them. This women’s bathroom is like getting status as Devil Strip Bathroom Reviewers. They coal in your stocking: At least it’s a gift, but you The bathroom is small: just two stalls and two were rehearsing a show, and the energy that comes know it could be better. The Summit Artspace sinks. But minimalism is making a comeback, so with an imminent performance infiltrated the entire building is the old Akron Main Library, and we this is okay. The vampire hipsters approve. place. should thank our lucky stars for the primetime bathrooms in the current downtown library. This bathroom has improved since its Lime Spider Two stalls were out of order, but there are days, but not drastically. There is no changing chandeliers, so shut up. The glitz and glamour Everything in this space is green, and it reminds

but it can also lead to nature calling when the closest relief zone option is a snow drift. calling when the closest relief but it can also lead to nature table, but you’re probably not supposed to bring a of the theater certainly were considered when us of an elementary school bathroom. Nostalgia baby into a bar. However, babies in a grilled cheese designing this relief site. Maybe that’s just a part is always nice, but it’s not everything. We aren’t restaurant do seem like a perfect fit, so whatever. of show biz. As wonderful as this bathroom is, it sure how well the toilets actually function because This is a pretty perfect lunch spot for a downtown might be starting to show its age. The stalls and the overwhelming sewer stench pervading the shopping crowd, so maybe a changing table is sinks are somewhat dated. restroom chased us out before we got too far into something Lockview should consider. our usual toilet explorations. Look at the forecast before you decide to parade downtown in a skimpy Santa outfit. Not only is this bad for your health, before Look at the forecast There are two bottles of soap for eight sinks, which This seems like a place that would have surprisingly could be an issue on performance nights. However, Summit Art Space is a great place and supports fancy olive oil soap or something nourishing for the facility is well-maintained and functional, and local artists, which, being writers, we are all for,

HO, ho, ho! Pee, poo, poo! Before you resort to the famous “pee-in-Santa’s-lap” maneuver, check out one of these downtown bathrooms first. check out one of these downtown bathrooms maneuver, to the famous “pee-in-Santa’s-lap” you resort HO, ho, ho! Pee, poo, poo! Before your skin. No such luck, it is just that boring pink there is even an interesting painting and a tasteful but you might want to check your drawers prior to UrineLuck: stuff. However, the brown water stain above stall chifferobe. If we knew what a chifferobe was. It’s visiting. number 1 adds a little old-timey, rust belt charm more of a mini-chifferobe, anyway. that makes Akron, Akron.

34 | THE Devil Strip / DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM culture club

Hey baby, I hear the bronze a-callin Wishing Harvey Firestone a Happy 147th Birthday

by Sarah M. Koester

ehind the Bridgestone Firestone Headquarters dedicated to Firestone. The memorial was to be wasn’t exactly bronze. When Fraser couldn’t was the wiser. It is rumored that John Moore kept on South Main sits the Harvey S. Firestone unveiled during Firestone’s 50th anniversary by his produce the bronze statue in time, he and John the head of the plaster replica, and unfortunately BMemorial. Harvey S. Firestone, born on five sons. Moore, the engineer that hired him, played destroyed it years later. December 20, 1868, was the founder of Firestone a creative trick on all of the spectators at the Tire and Rubber Company and member of the As the deadline for the unveiling was closing unveiling that day. Above: Last December on Harvey’s birthday, the exclusive Millionaire’s Club (alongside Henry Ford in on Fraser, it was clear that the bronze statue Akron2Akron group took a chilly but awesome and Thomas Edison). Firestone’s death in of Firestone would not be completed in time. Fraser created a plaster replica of Harvey Firestone, walking tour of Firestone Park that was organized 1938 inspired the project that would forever With hundreds of people expected to attend painted it bronze and successfully passed it off as by Rick Stockburger and ended at an excellent dive immortalize him. the unveiling—including national media like Life the original. It remained a closely-kept secret until bar. (Photo courtesy of Dina Younis/DinasDays.com) Magazine—Fraser, running out of time, improvised. former Akron Beacon Journal columnist David Created by artist James Earle Fraser, Firestone’s Giffels cracked it wide open in 2000. likeness was constructed out of pure bronze and Firestone’s 50th anniversary celebration went off is seated looking dapper as ever, looking over without a hitch. On August 3, 1950 the bronze Eventually Fraser did complete the intended statue. the checkered grass-and-concrete landscaping. statue of Harvey Firestone was presented and When it was finished, he covered it with a tent Behind the sculpture is an allegorical bas-relief, also dedicated as planned. Except for that the statue and swapped out the two Firestones, and no one

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Pictured left: This is not just a cool way of thinking, but it’s also a dope unisex shirt produced by Neighbors Apparel, based in North Hill and available online at neighborsapparel.com, along with a lot of cool clutches, pocket squares, totes, bracelets, scarves, bow ties and more, which were handmade by refugee women living in Akron. (photo credit: Studio KMR Photography)

Hazel Tree Interiors 143 W Market St., Akron, OH Land of Plenty hazeltreeinteriors.com 339 W Market St., Akron, OH Hours: Tues-Fri 11am-5:30pm, Sat 11am-3:00pm landofplentyakron.com Karen and Jon’s three-story studio features artwork, Hours: Thurs-Sat 12pm-7pm, Sun 12pm-4pm home decor and furnishings from local artists, If you’re in the know, you know where to go. home design services and custom framing. Land of Plenty is a rising star for vintage & Wish List Item: Firestone Tire mold mirror, $400 antique furniture and decor, houseplants, jewelry, contemporary art and gemstones. Wish List Item: Air plant terrariums, $18, and gemstone necklace, $15

How to get your Akron on AND knock your holiday Gypsy Grace & The Vintage Goat 451 W Market St., Akron, OH shopping Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 10am-4pm Stop in to Akron’s newest boutique of curated list out handmade, ‘vintique’, and retro housewares, The Market Path

THE LOCAL’S GUIDE TO GUIDE TO THE LOCAL’S furniture and oddities. Joe and Angel’s eclectic shop 833 W Market St., Akron, OH SUPERIOR GIFT GIVING by Katie Jackson hosted a tarot card reader at their grand opening, themarketpathakron.com and they plan to present monthly art, poetry and Hours: Mon-Sat 11am-7pm, Sun 12pm-5pm very year, you run into a couple folks on your list for whom you want to get something truly music events, including an alley caravan jam this An inviting, cheery shopping experience in different, but it’s tough. They have everything they need and every time you start to get summer. Wish List Item: Vintage thermometer, $90 Highland Square, The Market Path offers something from one of the big box stores, you realize it’s mass-produced junk sold in hundreds international, fair-trade goods including scarves, Eof places. Nothing unique or thoughtful about it. If you’re really trying to get a someone special journals, jewelry, chocolate, coffee and art. something special, let us help. You may have missed Crafty Mart and Small Business Saturday, but that’s Wish List Item: Bolivian wool scarf, hat and gloves, okay because we know some folks who’d be glad to help you brighten someone’s holiday. $24-$28 each

Venia Antiques and Design Allie M. Akron Art Museum Store 347 W Market St., Akron, OH Pilgrim Square 1 S. High St., Akron, OH Bomb Shelter Hours: Wed-Thurs 1pm-4pm, Fri-Sat 1pm-6pm, (2299 W. Market St., Akron, OH) akronartmuseum.org 923 Bank St., Akron, OH Sun 1pm-4pm alliem.com Hours: Wed-Sun 11am-5pm, Thurs 11am-9pm thebombshelterstore.com Tucked in the 300 block of West Market, Venia Hours: Mon-Sat 10am-6pm After spending an afternoon exploring the galleries, Hours: Mon-Sat 11am-5pm; Sun noon-4pm features affordable vintage and antique collectibles, Beloved local jewelry designer, Allie M brings stop in the Museum Store to browse a range of You never know what they’ll have, but if you’ve furniture, art, custom merchandise and much more inspirational and symbolic jewelry and accessories contemporary, international and handmade artful been to the Bomb Shelter, you know there’ll be with new inventory arriving weekly. to her new expanded storefront featuring charm objects for your home. something cool that wants to go home with you. Wish List Item: Mid-century armchair, $40 bracelets and necklaces. Wish List Item: Devo Duck, $9.95 Wish List Item:1974 BMW R90 with a sidecar. Wish List Item: Bee Happy necklace, $48

36 | THE Devil Strip / DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM culture club

Chic ladies: this is where it’s at. Urban Lace is Exquisite Corpse Boutique the newest women’s boutique carrying one of a exquisitecorpseboutique.com kind jewelry, clothing and accessories featuring Out of a passion for gothic subculture, Alexander local artisans. Wish List Item: Bird print skirt, $36 Draven has harnessed his talent to create truly unique handcrafted timepieces and jewelry with Steampunk flair. Wish List Item: Engraved Brass Bar timepiece, $257.50

Urban Buzz urbnbuzz.com Beautiful and functional, Urban Buzz creates sweet- smelling handcrafted beeswax candles using the purest beeswax from a local apiaries. Wish List Item: Beeswax pillar candle, $18 Don Drumm Studios & Gallery 437 Crouse St., Akron, OH dondrummstudios.om BAM! Barberton Art Market Hours: Mon-Wed 10am-6pm, Thurs 10am-8pm, Silver Eagle Antiques Nine Muses Gallery Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-5pm 2215 Front St., Cuyahoga Falls, OH (584 W Tuscarawas Ave., Barberton, OH) Akron’s iconic artisan headquarters, you can get Hours: Tues-Sat 12pm-5:30pm ninemusesart.com lost finding your way through the colorful rooms Wanna trip down memory lane to your grandma’s December 12-13 • 11am-4pm and buildings of beautiful jewelry, glass, sculpture, attic? Step foot in Silver Eagle Antiques. A unique BAM! is Barberton’s premier art and craft show, ceramics and metal craft design. Wish List Item: nostalgia shop containing antiques, vintage sports The Social Dept. featuring fine art, jewelry, crafts, and live music. Metal Christmas ornaments, $19 each memorabilia, specialty collections and a toaster thesocialdept.com Then walk the strip to check out what’s poppin’ at museum — what?! Sports? Check. Beer? Check. Humor? Check. Real Gone Daddy, StuffGenie, Alter’d Relics, NOTO Wish List Item: Vintage tricycle, $150 Design skill? Double check. The Social Department Snowball Books and other cool shops in their Akron Centre (76 S. Main St., Akron, OH) is THE place to find the most creative tees with surprisingly hip downtown retail district. notoboutique.com regional themes. For fans of sports, hometown A teeny hidden treasure in the heart of downtown pride, and graphic design. Wish List Item: Akron is a true fashion destination! NOTO is a must- Survival Kit and Ohio Native tee, $25 each stop for contemporary women’s clothing, local accessories and inspirational style ideas. Wish List Item: Plaid wool wrap, $28 We Get You ...

Sarah’s Vineyard 1204 W Steels Corners Rd., Cuyahoga Falls, OH Rubber City Clothing Company sarahsvineyardwinery.com 18 N High St., Akron, OH Hours: Wed 11am-10pm, Thurs 11am-9pm, Fri-Sat rubbercityclothing.com 11am-11pm, Sun 12pm-7pm Hours: Mon-Wed 11am-6pm, Combine date night and shopping while enjoying a Thurs-Sat 11am-7pm, Sun 12pm-5pm wood fired pizza and glass of vino in the comfort of Akron represent! RCCC has claim to all the best an art gallery barn featuring blown glass, jewelry, Akron gear. They feature custom screen printed photography and watercolors, in addition to eight Akron-centric clothing and accessories for all your locally sourced and produced wines. Rubber City needs. Wish List Item: Blimp belt Wish List Item: Cuyahoga Valley Reserve, $20 bottle buckle, $54.99

© Sigrid Olsson / Alamy

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AKRON MUSIC, ART & CULTURE DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 / THE Devil Strip | 37 culture club

The Next Small Thing TinyCircuits launches TinyArcade Kickstarter

They’re Akron’s little company than can, specializing in small, stackable arduinos that makers use to tackle fun projects. But now TinyCircuits is broadening its horizons and this latest Kickstarter project is part of that. The first two crowdfunded efforts helped get founder Ken Burns and company going, giving them a global customer base and the money to buy needed equipment. Even as much as the maker movement is growing, Ken realizes there’s a bigger audience they can tap into who currently don’t want to have to build the cool things they get. With TinyArcade, they can get their wee playable arcade game in a kit or already assembled. Heck, maybe it’ll even be the gateway drug that gets them into hard core maker-stuffs. Either way, it’s just part of a move to help the Canal Place-based operation grow. Another is a partnership with the EPA to develop technology that would help monitor waterways, which could mean Akron-made gadgets floating in every state all over the country. If that’s too heady or boring, you can still get in on the TinyArcade action by supporting their Kickstarter by December 17 at kck.st/1LQdJ0w. For more, visit tiny-circuits.com

38 | THE Devil Strip / DECEMBER 2015 • VOL 1 • ISSUE #16 WWW.THEDEVILSTRIP.COM TheBusiness of Health WKSU News will air a 7-part health series about healthcare as an economic driver, focusing on: • Competition created among Northeast Ohio health providers • Magnet for entrepreneurs and innovation • Responsiveness of health education to the marketplace • Finances of healthcare

Listen every Tuesday during Morning Edition, between 5am – 9am December 8th – January 19th Listen at 89.7 or wksu.org Summit County’S n ew e vent Site

WE SPECIALIZE IN EVERYTHING FROM OPEN MIC’S TO NATuRE HIkES

Live music, outdoor recreation, art shows, drama, sports, fairs and festivals, nightlife — no matter what your idea of fun is, Summit County is full of doors you can open and events you can enjoy. And now, with the launch of SummitLive365.com, there’s an easy, one-stop way to find something cool to do tonight, tomorrow, this weekend or next. Check it out today. Because there’s always something going on in Summit County, and you don’t want to miss it!

Check it and see where you want to be.

ArtS, CuLture, Fun, every DAy.