The Week ahead, 8/2-8/8

Confession alert: This Cleveland summer is starting to wear me out! There has been so much great stuff, I think I'm seriously starting to get awesomeness-fatigue. I really haven't had this much fun and been this content ever before. Ever.

It makes me glad I have this blog, so come the cold depression of January, along with plotting my planned winter monthly tropical escapes to New Orleans, Austin, and Haiti I can read about how great things were when it finally got warm this time and how great things will be again come May (or June) 2010.

For now, we still have a good three months (maybe five, depending on how the end of 2009 winds up) before Seasonal Affective Disorder sets in, so keep living it up. This coming week makes that pretty easy to do. And after this week, if somehow you are the guy or gal sitting around complaining about how there isn't anything to do and you just need to move to (insert currently hyped city here), you just need to go to therapy.

Sunday, August 2 - Tonight is a live performance by the Chicago indie rock/jazz combo I've been loving for a little while now, The Horse's Ha. They'll be performing tracks from their recently released Of the Cathmawr Yards (review here) at the Beachland Tavern (doors at 8, openers start doing their thing at 8:30). Check out the Q&A I did with James Elkington from the band here. His closing anecdote about a green hat fits perfectly with the intro to this post.



Monday, August 3 - Buck Night for the Lake County Captains! $1 off adult ticket prices, 50-cent hot dogs (i.e., they cost half-a-buck, not that they will feature the image of a certain NYC rapper), and $1 popcorn, peanuts, chips, onion rings, mini corn dogs, soda, and beer! And, of course, you'll get to cheer on the Captains against the evil Kannapolis Intimidators.



Tuesday, August 4 - Call in sick and head on down to Berea for the Browns Training Camp. Actually, for you nervous nellie's too timid to call off, you can still hit the evening practice session from 5:45 to 7:45 PM (though the morning session should be less crowded, from 8:45 to 10:45 AM).



Wednesday, August 5 - Big live music decision for you tonight. On one hand, you have the penultimate show in the Rock Hall's free summer series, this one featuring Brooklyn's Chairlift and local rockers JJ Magazine. On the other, you have The Low Anthem at the Grog Shop. The former option is free, but the latter option has one of the best albums of 2009 under its belt (see review here). Then again, John G did a stellar poster for the Chairlift show (see below). But I really love the songs "Ticket Taker" and "(Don't Tremble)" on Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. Hmm. Well, either way, you can't lose. Just have fun.



Thursday, August 6 - I'll be catching a businessman's special at Progressive Field, but most of you have those pesky little job things that'll get in the way of that (and those of you that don't have the even peskier need to seek said jobs out - my thoughts and hopes are with you on that front, by the way). What almost everyone will be able to do, however, is catch the Welsh indie act Los Campesinos! show at the Grog Shop. The descriptive blurb on the Grog's site namechecks Art Brut and Architecture in Helsinki in the first sentence alone, so you know you are in for something good.



Friday, August 7 - So many good options tonight, I've decided to abandon prose and go for the bullet point format:

- "Oh, that is sooo last year" exhibit opens at William Rupnik Gallery (see images below, which will be included in the exhibition)
- Alley Cat Friday at Music Saves featuring a listening party for the forthcoming Afternoon Naps album. BYOB!
- Silversun Pickups at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium
- Wrath Arcane sample sale at Room Service (for all you folks that are both "buy local" and "high end fashion" stalwarts)
- GI Joe opens on the big screen! (That one comes straight out of childhood for me.)
- Tulpan screens at the CIA Cinematheque
- Hausu screens at the Cleveland Museum of Art



Saturday, August 8 - Oh, fuck it - I'm in a hurry, I'm hungry and brunch at the Beachland is calling my name, and the Friday bullet point thing seems to work just fine, so let's go with it again to close things out:

- Pink Eye Magazine release party at Now That's Class
- Unsparing Sea and Joshua Jesty at the Winchester
- Arty Party (more info here!)
- Surveillance at the CIA Cinematheque
- 2nd Annual Metromix Summer Games at Mulberry's.



Other stuff to keep your eye on the following week:

- 8/9 - Cedar-Fairmount Fest
- 8/11 - Trouble Books @ Beachland
- 8/12 - Art on Tap event at the CMA
- 8/13 - FREE Lawton Brothers show at Blue Arrow Records
- 8/14 - Opening at Asterisk Gallery
- 8/14 - CIA Cinematheque interesting double feature (Jerichow and Tony Manero)
- 8/15 - Great Lakes Brewery's Burning River Fest
- 8/15 - Mutt Hutt fundraiser at the Happy Dog
- 8/15 - The Lost Boys at Cedar-Lee Theater
- 8/16 - GLBC Rescue Rave at Gateway Animal Clinic
- 8/16 - The Beach Boys at Cain Park
- 8/16 - Closing of the current Warhol exhibit at the CIA