When Debra First learned that the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland was planning to shutter many churches, she knew she had to get involved.

A professional photographer who lives in Cleveland Heights, First set out to preserve the lifetime memories which, for so many Greater Clevelanders, were tied up with their parish church.

She wanted, however, to do more than simply record the scenes on film. She knew that there were also moving stories to be told. Most of the churches that were to be closed had their roots in ethnic communities, and these churches not only served a spiritual mission, they were of incalculable importance in helping immigrants adjust to their new home. 

The Cleveland Chamber Music Society, in its 61st season, welcomes return visits by three popular string quartets - the Takacs (Oct. 12 at Fairmount Temple in Beachwood), the Jerusalem (Nov. 2 at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights) and the Cuarteto Casals (Feb. 22 at Fairmount Temple). A fourth string quartet, the Jupiter, appears for the society in conjunction with the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Chamber Music Festival on Dec. 6 and 7.

If you loved the English-garden opulence in the stage setting for Humble Boy, prepare yourself for something completely different in The Walworth Farce. The play, written by Enda Walsh and directed by Marc Moritz, opens on Sept. 20—the start of Dobama Theatre’s 2010-2011 season.

Picture a three-room "council flat" in London, a low-rent, rundown "piece of crap," as describes, Ron Newell. He uses strong language, but as set designer for both plays, he may be entitled. The play is about Dinny and his two sons, living in London, but missing their Irish homeland. Described as hilarious, terrifying and ferociously entertaining, the play comes with rapid-fire costume changes and mistaken identities.

Attractive backyard garden or shabby apartment, Ron Newell’s approach to set design follows the same process. First comes a session with the play’s director to develop ideas. Then, a script reading leads to floor plans and rough sketches. Again, a meeting with the director to review sight lines for Dobama’s thrust stage, and to accommodate player movement, entrances and exits. 

Poem for September 2010

Solitaire or Patience, as it used to be called, is more than a card game.

         -- Meredith Holmes

In 1910, some of the grandest homes in all of Cleveland lined Overlook Road. Several others ran down Carlton Road, extending almost to the tip of the precipice overlooking University Circle.

In 2010, only a few of those architectural masterpieces remain.

What happened to all those magnificent homes and why did they disappear? Find out at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 16, as author, lecturer and history professor emeritus, Marian J. Morton, discusses the life and eventual death of Cleveland Heights' own “Millionaire’s Row.”

• University Heights Summer Concert Series


• Music & Movies Under the Stars


• Discover Cedar Fairmount Summer Festival & Arts and Crafts Show


• Party in the P.E.A.C.E. Park and Tribute to Harvey Pekar


• Cedar Lee Rock the Block


• Potluck, free concert and "Goodbye" to Denison Pool


• "Insisting on Life" by Nasser Abufarha, PhD, founder of Palestine Fair Trade and Canaan Fair Trade


• 33rd Heights Heritage Home & Garden Tour


• FutureHeights Online Auction

Interested in going green? If so, the historic Alcazar offers some interesting events with you in mind on Sunday, Aug. 8, during the Discover Cedar Fairmount Summer Festival.

Enjoy free family fun on Sunday, Aug. 8 from noon to 4 p.m. during Discover Cedar Fairmount Festival at the intersection of Cedar Road and Fairmount Boulevard in Cleveland Heights.

The Cleveland Buddhist Temple held its annual Obon Festival on July 24. In addition to Obon dancing, this year’s festival again presented the Mame Daiko, a regional Taiko drumming youth group. 

Craig Horton, senior leader of the Zen Shin Sangha mediation sessions, said he was pleased with this year’s attendance at the Obon Festival. Organizing the front garden with numerous traditional Japanese lanterns, the grill and food sales, the Japanese Obon dancing and the Taiko drumming was a major undertaking for the small congregation. “People come from all over to lend a hand to make this festival a success,” said Horton.

The Cleveland Animal Protective League will be the beneficiary of the registration fee for a dog walk at the 9th Annual Discover Cedar Fairmount Festival & Arts and Craft Show on Sunday, Aug. 8 at 2 p.m.

The fee is $5.00 per dog. The walk will be one mile, starting on the sidewalk at the corner of Cedar Road and Bellfield Drive. Registration starts at 1 p.m. at the tent located at nearby Chase Bank, 12388 Cedar Road. Each dog will receive a free gift.

The festival includes other activities from noon to 4 p.m. Adults and children will enjoy free Euclid Beach Rocket Car rides, a bounce house, Muscial Mark Show, musicians, a green garden lecture, meet the authors, arts and crafts, clowns, face painting, hair coloring, tattooing, food, merchants’ specials, and much more.

SPLAT! was heard all around the Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Park on July 15 around 10:30 p.m. for the fourth annual pie fight. Steve Presser, owner of Big Fun, started the fight in 1982 in his backyard with his close friends. Gradually it evolved into a larger event at the P.E.A.C.E. Park. More than 200 people attended last year. 

Lake View Cemetery will host a walking tour of notable Cleveland Heights residents whose final neighborhood is within the cemetery's walls. On Sunday, July 25, from 2 to 4 p.m., Deanna Bremer Fisher, executive director of FutureHeights and coauthor of Euclid Golf Neighborhood, will lead a tour that includes the graves of famous Heights residents, such as Mayor Frank Cain, Dr. George Crile, John L. Severance and Eliot Ness.

Clevelanders have learned not to expect much from economic recovery plans, professional sports teams, and road repair projects, but, as the poet reminds us, there are some things we can rely on.

                                                Meredith Holmes

 This summer the Coventry Village Special Improvement District is offering free family movies and music at Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Park on Thursday nights. 

Neighbors, merchants and professionals turned out for a June 23 patio party celebrating the installation of 15 new street signs in the Cedar Fairmount business district. The Mad Greek and the Cedar Fairmount Special Improvement District hosted the reception to thank all who had contributed to making the signs a reality.

Fifteen signs along Cedar Road, from Norfolk Road to Euclid Heights Boulevard, have replaced the generic green ones. The signs, designed by artist Raymond Bugelski, feature the historic Heights Center Building and the individual street names. Peggy Spaeth, executive director of Heights Arts, oversaw the project.

 

Northeast Ohioans will get another chance to see "Out of Place: A Portrait of Surfing in Cleveland, Ohio," a film about people who surf in Lake Erie. The film played to three sold-out screenings at the Cleveland International Film Festival in March. "Out of Place" provides rare insight into the lives of some of these surfers, including Cleveland Heights’s own Rich Stack.

“He basically steals the show,” says codirector Darrin McDonald. “You just love characters like Rich, who are so dedicated to the lake.”

 

Between the celebrations, graduations, and milestones, life is made of smaller, private moments, no less important, and often more poignant.

                  Meredith Holmes

Heights doctors have found that the graceful movement of the Viennese waltz, the sophistication of the foxtrot, the romance of the tango, and the smooth flight of the quick-step ballroom dance are not only fun but may provide health benefits to the body and mind. While researchers at such institutions as the Mayo Clinic and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have reported on the health benefits of dance, Heights doctors know from personal experience that dance is a good way to condition the body, increase stamina and flexibility, improve balance, aid memory, and relieve stress while having fun.

Hop in the Ford Tsuris (Yiddish for “trouble”) for a clutch-popping trip through the states of klezmer, Yiddish swing, Tin Pan Alley and spoken word in the production "Driving Mr. Klezmer."

Bert Stratton, leader of the Yiddishe Cup klezmer band, performs comedic prose sketches and plays clarinet, accompanied by "chauffeur" Alan Douglass on vocals and fuel-injected, mood-enhancing piano. This show has no brakes. It is a nudnik/beatnik comedy/music duo.

 

Euclid Beach Park may be closed, but the spirit of the park will come alive on July 4 at RTA’s Settler’s Landing Station on the Waterfront Line.

Last summer I read Follow the Music, the autobiography of Jac Holzman, the visionary founder and longtime president of Elektra Records. Elektra became the premier label of the original singer-songwriter movement in the 1960s. Reading the book, I realized that 2010 is the 60th anniversary of the label’s founding.

Because my group, Long Road, has performed in Cain Park’s Alma Theater for the past few years, and always with a themed concert, I decided that Elektra would make a great theme for a 2010 concert. Long Road’s show, on Tuesday, July 27, is titled “The Power and the Glory: A Tribute to Elektra Records in the ‘60s.” Tickets are $20 in advance, $23 the day of the show, and are available through Cain Park: 216-371-3000 or www.cainpark.com.

 

The Coventry Village summer series kicks off with the Coventry Street Arts Fair on Thursday, June 17 and continues throughout the summer with the free Music & Movies Under the Stars series on Thursdays.

A full slate of free summer activities begins June 17 with the 7th annual Coventry Street Arts Fair (on Coventry between Euclid Heights Boulevard and Mayfield Road). Recognizing that Coventry is a multi-cultural neighborhood with an artistic flair, the Coventry Village Special Improvement District sponsors the fair to showcase local artistic talent, encourage the support of local businesses, and invite people of all ages to appreciate performances, music, hands-on activities and affordable art and jewelry.

Cleveland Heights is home to an extraordinarily high number of critically acclaimed, award-winning, published writers. But only one resident—Regina Brett—just had a book on The New York Times Best Seller List for three weeks. Brett will be at Nighttown on Monday, June 14 to talk and sign her new book, God Never Blinks: 50 Life Lessons for Life’s Little Detours. 

The event begins at 7p.m. and is sponsored by Nighttown and Appletree Books, with the support of Eric Kennedy and the law firm of Weisman, Kennedy & Berris.

The Cleveland FoodBank will receive a portion of proceeds. Tickets are $30 per person and include a copy of Brett’s book. 

Anyone who is familiar with the work of Cleveland Heights resident Jeannette Sorrell knows that her brain fairly sizzles with creative energy. The brain wave responsible for the creation of the period-instrument ensemble Apollo’s Fire in 1992 continues to pulse with high theatrical energy as the group expands into more venues throughout Northeast Ohio, the country and the world.

Apollo’s Fire makes its Cain Park debut on June 25, and the effervescent Sorrell seems as excited about that debut as she is about her group’s European debut in the fall. For Cain Park, she has reworked last summer’s hit, "Come to the River," which played to standing ovations in 10 sold-out concerts. “We are thrilled to be making our debut at Cain Park,” she says. “It will be such a joy to connect with our neighborhood community in this way—with music that is full of human stories and emotions.” 

The boys on Grandview Avenue

called him Mr. Grandview and

sought advice about things like

joining the Civil Air Patrol or avoiding

jail.

On Thursday, June 17, from 6-9 p.m., thousands of people will come to celebrate on Coventry and you'll be a part of it. Last year more than 12,000 people visited the fair in just one evening to enjoy music, food, shopping and socializing. If you are an artist, local shop or nonprofit organization, you can secure a 10x10 space for only $35 (or $15 for nonprofit organizations that are not selling anything). The Coventry Street Arts Fair is a great place to sell your work, promote your activities and reach a great diversity of people from around the corner and across town.

Be sure to sign up soon. For more information and an application, e-mail Steve at bigfunstoys@yahoo.com. 

HCC presents "Live Life In Full Color…Especially Green" on Sunday, May 30, 1-4 p.m. at the Lee Road Library, 2345 Lee road, in Cleveland Heights.

Join the fun-filled community celebration that highlights the value and richness of different cultures, cuisines and forms of entertainment from across the globe. It’s Heights Community Congress's 10th international festival.

SketchCrawl is a worldwide event that originated in San Francisco when Enrico Casarosa was inspired by the idea of a pub crawl bachelor party and embarked on a day of “recording nonstop everything I could around me with my pencil and watercolors. A drawn journal filled with details ranging from the all the coffee I drank to the different buses I took -- a drawing marathon. … Giving yourself this kind of mandate for a full day changes the way you look around you. It makes you stop and see things just a tad longer, just a bit deeper … .“

Broken vows, failed hopes, quantum mechanics and the joys of beekeeping are brilliantly interwoven in "Humble Boy," a smart and touching comedy by playwright Charlotte Jones, and the final play of Dobama Theatre’s 50th Season.

"Humble Boy," with its allusions to "Hamlet," is the tale of Felix Humble, a timid and bumbling research fellow in theoretical astrophysics at Cambridge, who returns to the family home in the English countryside after the sudden death of his father, James, whose passions were gardening and beekeeping. He soon makes the dreadful discovery that Flora, his vain and domineering mother, has hastily removed all traces of his father’s existence from the home, including his beloved bees, and is about to marry a man as unlike his father as possible. Adding to his woes is Rosie, his ex-girlfriend, whom he left without so much as a goodbye.

The vote to extend Gail Bellamy’s term as Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate for a second year was unanimous. Every member of Heights Writes, the Heights Arts committee that appoints the Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate, wanted Bellamy to occupy the post for another year. Since 2005, the committee has selected a Poet Laureate in April, National Poetry Month. The Poet Laureate is charged with writing 12 new poems and bringing poetry into the public life of the city.

Christopher Whitney's life on stage began at age 10 with the Heights Youth Theatre. Now he's a member of an acclaimed dance company.

In 2008, the Cleveland Heights native won a job with wildly popular Pilobolus Dance Theater. Next month Whitney will perform for friends and his mother, Kitty McWilliams, when he takes the stage at the Palace Theatre in Playhouse Square at 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 8, in a production copresented by DANCECleveland and Cuyahoga Community College.

When Plain Dealer columnist Regina Brett turned 50, she wrote a column on the 50 lessons life taught her. The column went viral and was posted on bulletin boards and refrigerators, tucked in wallets and given out at a car dealership. My sister, a schoolteacher in Connecticut, found it in her inbox and incorporated the life lessons into her lesson plan. A cancer care agency gives one out with every wig. Brett's book God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours was written by popular demand. In it, Brett has taken her 50 life lessons and expanded them into deeply personal essays.

As the finale to this season, CityMusic Cleveland presents a series of five evening concerts around the city beginning on April 14.  

Heartstrings

The Hungarian-born Gregory Vajda, currently assistant conductor of the Oregon Symphony, will make his Cleveland debut with a program that includes Beethoven's "Symphony No. 8, Eroica," Mozart's "Flute Concerto No. 1," with Heidi Ruby Kushious as soloist, and Sibelius's "Rakastava, Op.14." The program, called Heartstrings, consists of works by composers who stirred hearts with their music.

These three poems, all by John Burroughs arise from the poet’s careful attention to meaning, the world, and to consciousness itself. They invite the reader to observe and meditate, as well.

Do Dew


Half awake thoughts

Are often the clearest


Unclouded by day dreams

Day schemes

Day screams

Still cool

Gently coated with dew

Soon to be evaporated into Do.

Severance Hall rang with standing ovations as Jeannette Sorrell, founder and music director of Apollo’s Fire, and pianist Sergei Babayan played to a packed hall on Saturday, March 13. The Mozart celebration concert featured a wide range of his music: the overture and ballet music from Idomeneo, complete with baroque dancers in period dress; the "Piano Concerto No. 24," performed by Babayan; and the "Symphony No. 35." The concert was also performed in Akron on March 12 and Oberlin on March 14.

Apollo’s Fire, founded in 1992, is dedicated to the performance of 17th and 18th century music, often on period instruments.

St. Petersburg, 1860: A group of five composers, including Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, and Mussorgsky, forms to hear, discuss and support one another’s music.

Paris, 1920: A group of six composers often frequent the same concert halls, salons, and bars.

Cleveland Heights, 2010: The Cleveland Composers Guild prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary at a benefit concert called Baguettes & Bagatelles: 50 Firsts in 50 Seconds. Many Guild composers have written 50-second celebratory pieces in honor of the anniversary. 

Tinamou is a Cleveland Heights band consisting of four friends: Morgan Mecaskey (guitar, keys, vocals); Cameron Schenk (violin); Nina DeRubertis (vocals) and Anthony Foti (drums, percusssion).

Tinamou is also a South American bird that can run, but not fly. According to folklore, says Mecaskey, the tinamou is so loyal that if its mate dies, it will die, too. Tinamou formed in 2002 with just Schenk and Mecaskey, who were friends since childhood. As time went on, the band opened up to include new members, Nina DeRubertis and Anthony Foti.

A friend once told me the quality of life is measured by how far you live from the Cedar Lee Theatre. Even if you accept this premise, it is only true about 50 1/2 weeks a year. For the last 10 days, the movie epicenter was at the Cleveland Film Festival, which again this year, increased attendance to 71,554. At the closing ceremony, I realized that I would not see some of my film festival buddies for another year. While many eyes looked red, I am not sure whether it was due to lack of sleep or sadness that another year had come to an end.

For the 5th year in a row, the Cleveland Film Society (CFS) was at the Cedar Lee Theatre for festivities and a movie in the exact location that the Cleveland International Film Festival solidified its roots. CFS Executive Director Marcie Goodman was on hand to explain that this evening is for all those individuals who fondly remember the first 14 years it was held in the City of Cleveland Heights until it outgrew its home.

Moving was necessary because the festival will approach 75,000 attendees, a 10 percent increase over last year. This is in stark contrast to nearly all other film festivals that have seen a drop in funding and attendance. Goodman noted ironically that an initial study showed that Cleveland could not support a film festival.

Think of Cleveland's great assets and what comes to mind: the orchestra, the Clinic, the art museum, LeBron and even Polka gets full kudos. But there is one event that is garnering regional if not national attention: our annual Cleveland International Film Festival in Tower City. This year, the festival expands to seven simultaneous screens, each with a treasure you may never see again. So why do 70,000 fans choose to sit in a dark theater while the sun glows warmly (this year) or in other years, snow has piled up so high that the Rapid can't get through? It's the experience, of course.

The 34th Cleveland International Film Festival (March 18–28 at Tower City Cinemas in Tower City Center) has grown to nearly 67,000 admissions. The festival features more than 300 films from more than 80 countries that are showcased during this annual spring film festival.

For the fifth year in a row, the CIFF will present a special evening at its original home to honor the memory of one of its founders-Rick Whitbeck. The event is a special screening of "Hipsters" on Wednesday, March 24, at the Cedar Lee Theatre in Cleveland Heights.

University Heights celebrated Black History Month in council chambers on Feb. 16 with a musical presentation by the Wiley Middle School Challenge Choir, and an address by Rev. Marvin A. McMickle, pastor of Antioch Baptist Church. Before making its trek to perform at the Capitol this spring, the choir performed for Mayor Susan Infeld, members of the University Heights city council and residents. 

More than 30 voices sang "Lift Every Voice and Sing" followed by "Total Praise" a composition by African-American composer Richard Smallwood.

This May, the choir will spend four days in the nation’s capital on a music competition tour. Last year, the choir competed in the Midwestern region and was awarded 1st and 2nd place in the categories of gospel and show choir respectively. The choir also secured a 1st place soloist ranking.

Beethoven called Luigi Cherubini "the greatest living composer" and claimed that if he himself should write a requiem, his only model would be Cherubini's"Requiem in C minor." The piece was performed at Beethoven's memorial service.

The Western Reserve Chorale will present the Cherubini's work as part of its second concert of the 2009-10 season, on March 21, at 7:00 p.m., at Grace Lutheran Church, 13001 Cedar Road. 

Ever wanted to dance in a ballroom with a live band? Perhaps you didn’t try because you didn’t know how. Well, Sunday, March 21, is your chance to take a quick lesson, then dance to the music of the 17-piece Prime Time Big Band in the ballroom of The Alcazar.

You’ll also get a chance to take a tour of The Alcazar, a Cleveland Heights landmark at 2450 Derbyshire, built in 1923 in the Spanish-Moorish style. Its Grand Ballroom will be the site of dance instruction from 1-1:45 p.m., followed by dancing to the Prime Time Big Band from 2-4:30 p.m. and refreshments including appetizers, desserts, non-alcoholic punch, coffee and tea.

“Take Nine” brings their special blend of poetry and performance to The Alcazar in Cleveland Heights on Monday, March 1, at 7 p.m., as part of the First Mondays reading series.

The March 1 program features Gail Bellamy, Kathleen Cerveny, Katie Daley, Meredith Holmes, Bonnie Jacobson, Darlene Montonaro, and Cindy Washabaugh. 

Last winter, Jeannette Sorrell, founder and director of Apollo’s Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, conducted an all-Mozart concert at the Cleveland Institute of Music. The soloist that evening with the student orchestra was acclaimed pianist and faculty member Sergei Babayan. When Apollo’s Fire decided to return to Severance Hall for its upcoming concert titled “A Mozart Celebration” on March 13, Sorrell knew she wanted Babayan as the piano soloist.

On Tuesday, Feb. 16,  Whole Foods Market is donating 5 percent of the day’s net sales to Heights Arts, and customers can help simply by showing up to shop. 

This 5% Day will launch Fencepiration, a Heights Arts temporary public art project in partnership with Whole Foods, The Coral Company, and The City of South Euclid.  Artists Carol Hummel and Debbie Apple Presser will involve community members in transforming a utilitarian construction fence on Cedar Road into a visually interesting, inspiring, and attractive streetscape element during the multi-year construction process.  Fencepiration will use recycled materials and recycle them upon completion.  A prototype will be on view on 5% Day.

Ensemble Secundum Silentium, composed of alumni and students at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Case Western Reserve University, made its debut last February. The group, which is “dedicated to programming music that is both rarely performed and embraces devotional qualities,” celebrates its first anniversary with what it calls a “musical journey through eclectic compositions.”

"Generation gap!" The term became popular as recently as the 1960s. It describes the cultural differences between insufferably dull, judgmental parents and their hip, enlightened and often eye-rolling offspring. Yet generational schisms have always existed within families and are fascinating things to watch - from the outside, at least.

Incidentally, “HIP” is also an acronym for “historically informed performance,” and describes part of the mission of Apollo’s Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, which further pledges “to engage widespread audiences in its joyous pursuit of artistic excellence.”

When you watch the movie “Those Lips, Those Eyes” starring Frank Langella and Tom Hulce, you’ll notice a strong resemblance to Cain Park. That is because this coming-of-age story, about a young man who works behind the scenes at a summer theater in the 1950s, was actually filmed at Cain Park in 1979.

The movie doesn’t look exactly like Cain Park does today though, because it was filmed before the amphitheater’s major renovation. The film provides not only a look at life in the 1950s in the Heights and the rest of the country, it's also a real historical documentation of the original Cain Park. Back then, Cain Park's amphitheater did not have a roof, and the show was usually over if it started raining hard. Also, the theater had stone and concrete boxes and wooden benches, rather than the seats it has today. 

It takes courage to put your high-mileage life up on the lift and give it a good, hard look.

         -- Meredith Holmes

The Grog Shop, on Coventry Road, is hosting an all-Heights concert, featuring the local talent of oldboy, Twelve 21, Max Stern and Nicky English (of Posh Army). The event begins at 8 p.m. on Jan. 14. Tickets are $10.

The concert is the first event sponsored by FutureNow, the new junior board of FutureHeights. All ticket proceeds, as well the proceeds from a 50/50 raffle, benefit FutureHeights, which publishes the Heights Observer and runs the Best of the Heights recognition program, among others.

FutureNow's goal is to engage the next generation of Heights friends and supporters, by creating and planning events, and by maintaining a social networking presence. FutureNow is always looking for new energy and talent. If interested in joining the committee, contact Mike Kinsella at kinsella1@sbcglobal.net.

Mike Kinsella is the chair of FutureNow, the junior board of FutureHeights.

 

La Cave used to be Cleveland's premier folk music venue.  That was from 1962 to 1969, when it hosted regional and national artists every week.  Most of the top names in folk music--and many rock groups, in its last few years--performed at La Cave, which was then located in the University Circle area.

This holiday season, take off on a high-flying adventure as the Beck Center for the Arts presents Peter Pan, a musical based on the classic play by J.M. Barrie, on the Mackey Main Stage, Dec. 4, 2009, through Jan. 3, 2010.

Show times are 7:30 p.m. Fridays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays (no matinee performance on December 5), and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. There is a special 7:30 p.m. performance on two Sundays: Dec. 27 and Jan. 3. There will be no performances on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

The sounds of chorus and brass will fill the sanctuaries of Grace Lutheran Church in Cleveland Heights on Friday, Dec. 11, at 7:30 p.m., and Saint Joan of Arc Church in Chagrin Falls on Sunday, Dec. 13, at 4:00 p.m., when the Western Reserve Chorale and the Chagrin Valley Choral Union join forces.  They'll present music from the 1500s to the present day, featuring the Cleveland Brass Quintet as guest artists.

"Gutenberg! The Musical!" A musical about Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press? Or is it about the actor Steve Gutenberg? While the play does use as its inspiration the life and times of Johann Gutenberg, it does so in a most entertaining way.

Ten years ago several organizations in the Coventry neighborhood worked to bring a gateway sculpture to the P.E.A.C.E. Park. Coventry P.E.A.C.E., a grassroots group based at the elementary school, had recently built an imaginative playground at the site, and a piece of art seemed a fitting capstone to the project in this creative community.

The group that came together to select the art included the now-defunct Coventry Neighbors led by Jeffrey Dross, Coventry PTA, Friends of the Library, the city and school district, and the Coventry Special Improvement District. 

December is one of those months that is eagerly anticipated the entire year through. The joy of the holidays, the decorations, the twinkling lights, the foods, the aromas, the shopping, the traffic, the rushing around, the chaos . . . oh, wait, what happened to the joy?

Need to take a rest from the preparations? How about a moment to sit and relax? Here's an event to fit the bill.

A modern-day take on an 18th-century poem.  Christopher Smart (1722-1771) was an English poet, whose poems of intense religious feeling are admired by many contemporary poets. His “My Cat Jeoffrey,” a free-verse meditation on his cat’s connection to God, is part of a long work, Jubilate Agno(Rejoice in the Lamb).

            --- Meredith Holmes

I Will Consider All Of My Daughters’ Shoes

Heights Arts will present To the Extreme, and Back, a house concert to benefit the organization on Nov. 22.

A Cleveland Orchestra String Quartet, Miho Hashizume, Isabel Trautwein, Sonya Braaten and Tanya Ell, will perform the music of Hungarian master Gyorgi Ligeti, who wrote his first string quartet, Metamophoses Nocturnes, in 1953. This extremely demanding piece explores the limits of the players and combines Hungarian and Gypsy rhythms with the sounds of night to create a work that is irresistibly exciting. Yu Jin will join in to round off the evening with the masterful Quintet in A major by Felix Mendelssohn.

The concert takes place at the downtown penthouse of Rick Maron and Judy Eigenfeld, at 4 p.m. on Nov. 22. Tickets are $40 per person/$35 for members of Heights Arts.

The concert will be followed by a dessert reception. Call 216-371-3457 or e-mail register@heightsarts.org for more information.