Awesome Cleveland: The Cleveland Sign Painter Guy

Hand Painted Sign, Cleveland Heights 

Hand painted sign, Cleveland Heights 

Hand painted sign, Cleveland Heights 

In a high tech world the human hand is obsolete right? Not in Cleveland where one man has fought a battle with technology and won! There are literally thousands of his signs throughout Cleveland and its eastern suburbs. I took these shots myself.

Cleveland SGS interviews this smart and hard working man and gets advice every business person should hear.

Pop City Posts on Lack of Flights, Cleveland & Columbus Hope For European Service, Why Can't the Greater Region Support A Major International Airport?

Another year and the same old story as individual airports around the greater region bemoan the inability to attract better national and international air service. More plans for tax subsidies to bribe carriers into providing service.

From Pop City

Want to turn Pittsburgh into a power player? Make flying to and from easier

"In 2013, Pittsburgh International had air service to just 36 destinations; many were connecting airports where passengers get on another plane to get where they really want to go. And that’s what drives Spitz Cohan crazy. She said her guests might not have the best experience when visiting Pittsburgh if they’ve missed a connection or suffer jet lag from trips prolonged by layovers."

New service is planned to Toronto but there is a decent chance it may not last.

An official for the Allegheny Conference, Ken Zapinsky answers with a sad, bunch of excuses and rationalizations.

“If there was a direct correlation between level of air service and economic success, Newark would be doing a heck of a lot better,” 

Newark International Airport is right across the Hudson from NYC, which doing pretty well.

An official from Vist Pittsburgh says"

“We compete with Louisville, Cleveland, Columbus, all of which are two stops away,” Davis said. “Of similar cities, only Charlotte and Baltimore have better air service than Pittsburgh.”

Isn't that the problem? We are competing with other similar sized regional metros instead of combining to compete against coastal mega-metros. 

Zapinsky at least admits the negative impact the lack of better service likely has.

"At issue is the potential for things to happen, according to Zapinski. Maybe a local company decides against expansion because it’s too difficult to get to the West Coast. Maybe a German company looking to grow never considers Pittsburgh because there are no direct flights. “What you can’t measure is how much better Pittsburgh would be if we had more air service,” Zapinksi said. “The real impact is in the lost opportunity for a Pittsburgh company that could have had a client fly nonstop from San Francisco or Los Angeles and cut a big deal that leads to revenue of $5 million.”

Pittsburgh isn't alone. One can find countless stories about the same need in Cleveland, Akron, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Louisville.

From Cleveland.Com

Cleveland to Europe: Airport director says push is on for transatlantic flight

The hope is they can land a non-stop to London.
But it's too early to rush out and apply for a passport.
Any effort to land international service will likely take at least two years – perhaps longer – from now until takeoff.

And many important questions remain unanswered:

* What airline and what European destination?

* Will the community pony up the cash necessary to convince an airline to take a risk on Cleveland?

Others see beefing up domestic flights as a higher priority:

 Joe Roman, president of the group, (Greater Cleveland Partnership) said members are telling him their No. 1 travel-related priority remains restoring domestic service eliminated by the closure of United Airlines' Cleveland hub last year.

Cleveland Hopkins Airport director, Ricky Smith says:

Smith said he is convinced Cleveland can support a nonstop flight to Europe, despite Continental's assertion that the routes weren't profitable in 2008 and 2009.

"There was a perception that the local market couldn't support those routes," said Smith. 

"That simply wasn't true."

The flights were unsuccessful, in part, Smith believes, because the schedules were inconvenient for some business travelers and the planes were smaller and less comfortable than larger jets flying out of bigger cities.

Meaning that the current Cleveland airport market can't fill larger, more comfortable planes and frequent flights.

Of course if you bribe airlines with cash or a guarantee, you can get service

"Communities the size of Cleveland aren't getting international service without that kind of financial assistance in place," said Smith. 

It's too early to say what those economic packages might include, said Smith. "The offers would differ based upon the destination, frequency of service and even the type of aircraft," he said. Ideally, they would include a mix of private and public money. 

Thomas, with the Greater Cleveland Partnership, said he didn't know whether the business community would be willing to subsidize a flight. "We haven't asked," he said."

Same issues in Columbus.

Nonstop Port Columbus flight to London? It may happen

"Whitaker believes Columbus has a chance because “We are the fastest-growing city in the Midwest," and the support of Columbus 2020 and the business community it represents adds “a lot of value to our presentation.” 

Other cities in the mix are Indianapolis, Nashville, St. Louis and Cleveland, Whitaker said, adding, “I’d be surprised if they selected more than one.”

Indianapolis? Seriously, an airport located around Dayton would serve the total Indianapolis, Columbus, Cincinnati urban triangle.

My comments on Pop City:

"Sad and ironic that Cleveland and Columbus have the same issue. 

Poor air service, reflects the insular mentality of regional cities, each trying to have their own "international airport".Logically Cleveland and Pittsburgh should share a major airport located around Youngstown. Likewise, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis would be better served by a major airport around Dayton." 

My following comment looking at some of the numbers.

 "A search shows that all the regional cities have marginal international and national service and almost all are subsidizing what they have. Detroit, is the only significant "Rust Belt" airport outside of Chicago. How is a huge, densely populated area not able to support more service? 

The Cleveland/Akron/Pittsburgh metros have a combined 5,863,000 residents. Adding the Youngstown/Warren/Boardman/Sharon CSA brings one close to 6.8 million people. Add Erie and it goes up again. Even if I added wrong, the numbers should be more than adequate to support much better air service.  

Columbus, Dayton and Indy's greater metros combined create an even stronger case for sharing a major airport."

 Smaller local airports can pick up some the shorter distance flights but in the long run most transit between cities under 500 miles would be best served by a strong rail system.

I may be back with follow up posts on the hope that someone is listening.

Four day trip to Cleveland, several posts on the way

Crammed a lot of stuff into our trip, including a day at The Cleveland Museum, my first visit to Lakeview Cemetery, The Wade Memorial Chapel, Transformer Station and The Larchmere Porchfest. On the way I discovered a modernist architectural gem, some great food and other surprises.

Stay tuned for a few posts.

10/1/14- 10/7/14 Weekly Arts and Urbanism Roundup

Pittsburgh

Dreaming up a new Smithfield Street (Next Pittsburgh)

Why Latin music and the Latin community is finally growing in Pittsburgh (Next Pittsburgh)

Latham Street Commons- Idea to turn underused Friendship garages into an urban food market (Next Pittsburgh)

Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum included in list of top 5 great sports museums (Travel Pulse)

Architectural historian and author giving three free talks on Pittsburgh Architecture (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Pittsburgh artists represent at Atlanta's A3C hip-hop festival (Digging Pitt)

A local spoken-word artist does his full length solo show (Pittsburgh City Paper)

Cleveland 

New principles for parking could be applied in University Circle (Green City, Blue Lake)

Insolvent East Cleveland owes over $600,000 to an insolvent traffic camera company (Cleveland Scene)

In the cracks between: A faith based start-up in Cleveland (Belt Magazine)

Boxing gyms offer a rich- if incomplete refuge- from inner city struggles (Freshwater Cleveland)

Snapology Cleveland aims to build STEM skills through play based learning (Freshwater Cleveland)

Cleveland Beer Week adds day to festivities  (Cleveland.com)

Kent, Ohio

Ground broken on Kent State University Center for Architecture and Urban Design

Cincinnati 

Relive last weekends Midpoint Music Festival through these 28 photos (Urban Cincy)

Fifth annual Asian Food Festival returns to Washington Park this Sunday (Urban Cincy)

Pennsylvania

Restoration of Villanova University's Triumph of David painting reveals many changes. (Villanova.edu) 

Corbett's DEP chief resigns amid "porngate" allegations (PA Independent)

West Virginia and Appalachia

This music has no borders: Scots-Irish music in Appalachia (WBUR Radio)

Keeping it local: Festival recognizes West Virginia filmmaking talent (The Parthenon)

WV pumpkin festival kicks off in Milton

Other Urbanism and Architecture news:

Incredible maps show how working class neighborhoods are disappearing from American cities (Houston Chronicle)

New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel sells for a staggering $1,95 Billion (CNBC)

Why can't Austin attract international tech students?  (CityLab)

Honolulu plans fully automated rail transit (Cityscope)

"Skateboard urbanism" could change park planning (Next City)

London turning some classic "phone boxes" (booths) into mobile device charging stations (Art Daily)

The NFL's other scandal: Rampant Crony Capitalism (Contra Corner)

Inside big real estate's play for San Francisco's hipster geeks (Next City)

The high cost of radium contamination in cities (Next City)

Louisville's "Broken Sidewalk" urbanism blog returns (WFPL News)

What motivates mode choices for urban residents (Human Transit)

Joel Kotkin fears conservatives against suburban sprawl (The American Conservative)

Peak Sprawl? The fringes of the New York region are shrinking (Streetsblog)

The incredible modern architecture of Havana 

Has floating architecture's moment finally arrived?  (Next City)

Historic preservation, bad for neighborhood diversity (Market Urbanism)

Other Arts Related News:

Tax court ruling seen as victory for artists (New York Times)

David Hockney: Why art has become "less" (BBC News)

NYC photo exhibition vandalized, curator attacked (Hyperallergic)

Has Gaudi's Sagrada Familia grown out of touch? (Hyperallergic)

Artist's diaries since 1865 (Hyperallergic)

Campaign in Britain saves Wedgewood pottery collection (Artdaily)

Smartphone photography evolves (Boston Globe)

Top DJ's out-earn some Hollywood stars (MyFoxNY)

The colorful world of Hong Kong's protest art (Washington Post)

Dallas Museum of Art and University of Texas at Dallas partner to form new art history institute (ArtDaily)

Cleveland's Weapons Of Mass Creation Festival Starts Today

Don't have time for a long post, but here is a video giving some idea what WMC fest is about.

I love the free form, almost chaotic nature of the festival. Basically, if you consider yourself creative or interested in creativity in any way, come on down.

This policy maximizes the opportunities to cross pollinate ideas.
The model is basically South by Southwest- or what that festival once was.


I invited someone on the scene to post a report.

Steeltown Anthem's Mundania Horvath co-hosts panel @ Cleveland's Weapons of Mass Creation Design Festival

A huge problem with Pittsburgh and many other art & music scenes, is the lack of opportunities to interact with emerging artists from outside the region.

For the last few years, Cleveland has hosted a low key design festival called Weapons of Mass Creation that mixes creatives from across the country with talks, workshops and exhibitions. The event which started at a local bar (Happy Dog) has grown, to include artists, designers, web creatives, musicians and almost anybody involved in the arts.

WMC fest also includes a pretty huge helping of live music acts by emerging artists.

A few examples of the diverse breadth.

Speakers

Martine Syms (Los Angeles)

"Lessons of the Tradition" is close read of a Most Days, a Mundane Afrofuturist sound work." 

Veronica Corzo-Duchardt (Chicago)

Cuban-American Designer/ artist behind Chicago based design studio, Winterbureau 

Raymond Bobgan (Cleveland) 

Executive Artistic Director, Cleveland Public Theater

Melody Kramer 

Digital Strategist- NPR, in Washington DC. Former associate producer of "Fresh Air"

Rusty Cook (Chicago)

Chicago, based designer & illustrator 

Donald Wooten (Pikesville, Maryland) 

Screenprinter, designer for Stolen Outfitters brand

Luis Cabrera (Cleveland)

Multi-Media designer for Forest City Communications Group

Kumar Arora (Cleveland) 

Serial entrepreneuar, angel investor 

Keenan Cummings  (NYC) 

Product Designer, Founder- Wander (acquired by Yahoo)

Designers

Two Arms Inc. (Brooklyn)

Husband & Wife design team specializing in custom illustration & typography 

Little Friends of Printmaking

Acclaimed designers & printers of screenprint posters and other stuff.

Anthony Simpson

Founder & Creative Director of Random Objects- Screenprint design

Oliver Barrett

Artist/ Designer

Landland (Minneapolis) 

Small  graphic design & illustration studio- screenprint workshop

The Bubble Process (Cleveland & Brooklyn, NY)

Two person, design & illustration firm  

Valerie Jar (Salt Lake City)

Freelance designer & illustrator 

April Bleakney (Cleveland)  

Screen printer, founder Ape Made, printed art & apparel company.

Scott Williams (Chicago)

Designer, musician 

Ariel Cotton (Brooklyn)

Artist, inventor, interaction designer 

Bands


Mr. Gnome (Cleveland) 

Hawkeye (Cleveland)

Black Puddle Noise (Lakewood, Ohio)

Briar Rabbit   

Urbindex 

Ashley Brooke Toussant 

Additional events include a comedy showcase,  a live black marker drawing faceoff ; breakdance battle & an exhibition of 300 hand printed posters.

A lot of the tickets are gone but I would love for someone to post a report from this event.

Weapons of Mass Creation Festival
August 15-17
Cleveland Public Theater 

See complete schedule 

Zoetic Walls Project Invites Global Street Artists To Cleveland

Just came across this urban mural project on walls all over the Waterloo Arts district in East Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood. Hopefully, I can there to see them sometime.

From the ArtsCollinwood website.

"The finest street artists from around the world are bringing the walls of the Waterloo District to life.

Zoetic Walls Cleveland is the first organized street art project to hit the walls of Cleveland. This public art mural project, co-curated by Waterloo Arts (Cleveland) and Pawn Works (Chicago), embraces the street art movement, which has been minimally represented in Cleveland.  This art form is sweeping like wild fire across other parts of the world and transforming cities into outdoor museums. Nick Marzullo and Seth Mooney (Pawn Works), both Cleveland natives, took notice of our emerging neighborhood and approached us to do a street art project, we welcomed them home and got to work. This wall project includes up to six murals and is a testament to the vibrant art scene of the Waterloo Arts and Entertainment District neighborhood that will be an ongoing display for many to enjoy. Imagine the walls, the alleyways, and all the nooks and crannies of the district as a canvas for the finest street artists around the world to create on. Giving artists the freedom to create work without the constraints of design committees, result in dynamic, inspired paintings that beautify the neighborhood and engage the community in thought and discussion."

The project seems to have been put together by two ex Clevelander's,  Nick Marzullo and Seth Mooney, who run a Chicago gallery called Pawn Works.

"Often, we fly in highly regarded artists from the international street-art scene to paint on Chicago’s buildings. We consider ourselves independent curators of public art in the true sense of the word."

Check out the Zoetic Walls Facebook page.

A post about GAIA's Cleveland Mural on BSA

The project got some grant sponsorship, but I can't help noticing the relative lack of local coverage from power players like The Cleveland Plain Dealer or even Freshwater Cleveland. My guess is that "street art" is still something the establishment doesn't like. 

Larchmere PorchFest in Cleveland this Saturday Transforms Porches into Stages

The best events in Cleveland share the same kind of unpretentious neighborhood feel of many of Pittsburgh's best.

Larchmont is a neighborhood in Cleveland, close to Shaker Heights and University Circle. For five years they have invited people to turn their porches and front yards into into low key music venues. Walk around, breath the summer air and move from concert to concert. Even if all the bands suck, chances are this is gonna be fun. Did I mention that many of Cleveland's awesome food trucks will be out there too?

More Info on Larchmere

Event website: Larchmere PorchFest, with schedule, map and all other details

I Was Supposed to be in Cleveland by Now

Mike DeCapite reading at The Literary Cafe, Cleveland, March 2012

I was supposed to be in Cleveland last night, reading at another writer's book release party at a certain bar. The storm threats impelled me to cancel my bus ticket at the last minute; although I want to believe that Cleveland is an easy jaunt down the road, that can be less true during the winter months. (The train would have been safer, but I would have had to board at midnight and arrive at 3:00am.)

The occasion: Mike DeCapite's prose chapbook, Radiant Fog, has just debuted, and Jim Mason was reading with him as well. Mike was born and raised in Cleveland, the son of another Cleveland novelist, Ray DeCapite. Since his 20s, Mike has lived in San Francisco, London, and now (for many years) New York. He's a wonderful writer of place, of getting to and from places, and especially of moments in time and place. His recent piece over at Rust Belt Chic, "December," describes a moment in a cold Cleveland evening and reads like a gem of a prose poem. His novel Through the Windshield has been called a “Whitmanesque hymn to Cleveland” (Jocko Weyland, Rain Taxi). I loved his last chapbook, Creamsicle Blue, which traveled from New York to Cleveland to San Francisco and always back to New York. By his own admission, his writing often tells stories but he doesn't write stories per se. As a reader, I love watching him achieve a very delicate balance of description and revelation: as if his art is that of finding the right ratio of interior to exterior. What does a hidden road along the Cuyahoga River have to do with a particular feeling from 1982? Everything. The writer can taste the feeling in his mouth in the same way he can taste the cold air of that particular night, and the reader can taste it, too. Mike DeCapite has the touch for locating himself as a narrator.

Last night's reading was held at The Literary Café. I had the privilege of reading there with Mike in March of this year: The small bar they call "The Lit" has been serving beer and shots on Literary Road in Tremont since late 1991, and Mike DeCapite has been reading there something like once or twice a year for two decades. The bar itself (which hosts monthly readings and weekly life drawing sessions) is lined in a warm pine wood paneling and exposed brick, with touches of brightness everywhere—Christmas lights, framed drawings, a glowing face in the window, a fake fireplace burning away. The warmth of the customers, who seem to have known each other forever, is also palpable. 

Greetings from The Lit

As a reading audience, the scene at The Lit reminded me most of The New Yinzer Presents readings held at ModernFormations Art Gallery in Pittsburgh, or the Last Sunday, Last Rites reading series at the Baltimore Hostel. In each case, the audience knows each other well, and the coziness starts there. (People congregate in the center of the room and laugh and embrace, whereas at some New York readings, people arrive in ones and twos and hug the walls. Looking out from the stage, the room appears empty.) Beer flows at each of these reading series, but it doesn't interrupt the audience being highly attentive once the reading begins. At The Lit, I was especially impressed; the bar laughed heartily at many of my most subtle almost-jokes, at life's little ironies embedded in not-funny prose. They really got everything I was doing as a writer. In the end, I realized that I owed at least some thanks for that to Mike DeCapite. The degree to which our literary sensibilities overlapped was the degree to which his audience could easily pick up on my innuendos: These people were his readers—many had been reading and listening to him read for at least 20 years. This left me to ponder on the process and patience of building a long-term audience (in a city where you don't live anymore, no less!).

Graffiti on Cleveland Museum of Art's renovations

Cleveland: An old friend was going to meet me there from Ann Arbor. With the pending blizzard, we would have stayed in a hotel room, and in fact he got a last-minute great deal on the Renaissance Cleveland, right there in Public Square. I've only been to Cleveland a few times, but from Public Square I would have known where to eat breakfast (around the corner, inside the landmark Terminal Tower), how to get the city bus to the reading or to the Cleveland Museum of Art (the bus is $2.25, the museum is free), and which direction the Megabus stop was (in fact it's steps from the hotel). Did you know that Cleveland's city bus system runs 24 hours? Or that they have a bus line that's as close to being a light rail as you can get? It's similar to Pittsburgh's Busway, but where Pittsburgh's system avoids the traffic lights but is off the beaten path, Cleveland's Healthline (subsidized by the Cleveland Clinic) has a dedicated lane right down Euclid Avenue, the main thoroughfare between downtown and Case Western and the art museum. Enclosed bus stops have machines for bus tickets, which aren't collected by drivers but bought on an honor system; all doors open at every stop, which speeds service to an impressive efficiency. This all feels a bit like Rust Belt Luxury to me.

Pittsburgh isn't in the "snow belt" of lake effect snowfall, but it feels like a Great Lakes city here this weekend. The wind is blowing fierce and cold from the west, much colder than we've felt in a long time, and last night I went to bed with a hat on. But today I'm feeling, if not warm, then strong enough to handle the cold. I want to say it has something to do with being bundled up in the clothes I'd packed for a potential blizzard weekend in Cleveland and Ann Arbor. See you next time.

New Regional Art Site, Art Hopper seeks writers

This comment was left on my post about Art Hopper by one of the site founders.

Thank your for highlighting the new site. Arthopper launched on January 1, 2012. The similarity to Glasstire is not an accident. I went to graduate school in San Antonio, love Glasstire, and wanted to recreate the experience here.

Any any all suggestions, comments and criticisms are welcome and encouraged. We want the site to work for all and to be a real community asset.

Buffalo is on the list of cities to add but we cannot do it all at once. If you know writers who are interested in submitting content please have them contact me. We are a volunteer effort now but will me moving toward a paid "society of correspondents."

Rick, I enjoy your work in Pittsburgh and hope we are able to collaborate.

John, we would welcome opinion pieces from you as well as important arts issues pieces.

Jimmy Kuehnle
Founder
Arthopper.org

Contact here if interested.

FYI, folks in and around Buffalo, that includes you!

Cool Cleveland Seeking Northeast Ohio Musicians For Videos

No, this is not exactly gonna be a high paying gig, but they do mention a small stipend and "big exposure". You know how this works, if your music stikes the right cord, you could be a viral star.

Wanted: Northeast Ohio Area Musicians

Cool Cleveland is putting together short videos on each of the cool neighborhoods in the region, from C-Town to Y-town, from the Football Hall of Fame to the Rock Hall, from Oberlin College to Lake Erie Wine Country, from Highland Square to the Erie Islands.

If you’re a musician or a band from Northeast Ohio and would like to have your music featured in one of our cool videos, we’re looking for you to help make these mini-movies relevant, energetic and enjoyable. All styles will be considered, especially uptempo. We’re not sure there’s a “Cleveland sound,” but we’re looking for it.

More details here.

Rust Wire Looks At A Public Art Project Helping Heal After Tragedy In Cleveland

Cleveland seems to have a good number of neighborhoods, attracting creative interventions by artists.

From Rust Wire.



The post gives about a pretty good idea of the project for those who can't personally experience it.

Summer Solstice Celebration brings Cleveland Museum of Art to life

Summertime in Cleveland is like Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration.

Once we Midwesterners have dug out from snow, ice and wind, we embrace summer with verve. The Summer Solstice Celebration at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) embodies the passion for warm months, celebrating the summer solstice, otherwise known as the first day of summer, while beautifully intertwining the fine art and culture of Cleveland.

Photo courtesy of phansticphotos

The Summer Solstice Party at the Cleveland Museum of Art is one of the largest parties held at a fine art museum in the Midwest. Well-soled heels kick-off celebration of the longest day of the year in late June (easy to remember for next year! Mark your calendar now, trust me.) Thousands of guests from across the world descend upon the CMA to kick off the summer season with a night-long affair of art, live music, food and cocktails.

Party guests toast a welcome to summer as the clock ticks to midnight. Merrymaking continues well into the witching hours. The event quite literally takes over the entire Cleveland Museum of Art including galleries, the front lawn and everywhere in between. On June 26 this year, I attended my first Cleveland Museum of Art Summer Solstice Celebration. It surpassed my expectations, set high by the passionate stories spun by friends. Allow me to paint a portrait of the evening by first saying this is NOT your typical museum fundraising experience. It's exponentially more fun.

What To Expect at Summer Solstice Celebration at Cleveland Museum of Art?

Summer Solstice Celebration Gate Times (or as I call it, Levels of Fun)

GATE TIME #1: Eventide 6pm to 2am
General admission = $175
CMA members = $125
Includes Mediterranean style hors d'oeuvers and open bar.
Audience: Refined, distinguished. Guests feel that they're truly part of a benefit for the Cleveland Museum.

GATE TIME #2: Twilight 7:30 to 2am
General admission = $60 per person
CMA members = $40
Includes Latin American style hors d'oeuvers and cash bar.
Audience: Younger guests mingle with earlier crowd.

GATE TIME #3 Solstice, 10pm to 2am
Advance = $15 per person
Limited availability $20 tickets at the door (Never seen any available at the door. It sells out every year.)

Includes snacks and cash bar.
Audience: Look - it starts at 10pm. You can do the math.


Piazza Party and World-Class Live Music

Photo courtesy of CMA website.

Some would consider the outdoor "lawn party" and concert stage hosting world-class musicians as the epicenter of Summer Solstice Celebration. Select galleries within the museum are open - more on that shortly - but the "celebration" is arguably outside. A full-scale stage, complete with intricate concert style lighting and a top-notch sound-system, is constructed at the ceremonial entrance of the Museum.

Courtesy of CMA website.

There are marble stairs and veranda, providing a perch perfect for people watching. The enormous patio accommodates the crowd that gathers in front of the pop-up stage. The space is transformed into a pop-up concert venue and the musicians that perform embrace the nature of experience.

The best performance was Mucca Puzza. An attempt to summarize their music (if the photos don't quite paint the picture)....Consider Mucca Puzza a very cool, hipster circus marching band.

A full line-up of the world-class musicians is profiled over at my friend’s blog, Cleveland’s A Plum.

Being the Cleveland Museum of Art, no detail is missed in creating an optical playground for guests.

Performers took to lighted and raised platforms throughout the audience.

Cleveland Museum of Art Gallery Tours
If you know me, you know I love to travel. I’m ashamed to say I’ve not yet gotten my passport. The Museum gives anyone the chance to travel the world through art. Cross the globe through the museum’s new galleries of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Byzantine, medieval and African art.

The CMA is known as having one of the best collections in the entire world. A multi-million dollar transformation of the Museum over course of several years, while some may have been seen as a challenge, haven proven results as simply breath taking.

Wall Street Journal expounds upon the multi-phase project with more eloquence (plus fabulous photos.) Summer Solstice Celebration gives you the chance see the CMA makeover of the West Wing in mouth-gaping awe.he entire renovation is slated to be complete in 18 months and it will become a beacon of architectural showmanship when the unveiling is complete.

Have you booked your calendar for June 2012 for Cleveland Museum of Art's Summer Solstice Celebration?

No, that's not me. That's the Mucca Pazza cheerleader.

Consider this my cheering you to join the Summer Solstice Celebration in 2012. I'll be there.