Cleveland
Puff Piece
On Day 7 I was pretty mean to poor Cleveland. Today I’ll be a little bit nicer.
Of course there are many terrific things about Cleveland.
Cleveland has one of the better local newspapers in the country, the Plain Dealer. The paper’s current headquarters is one of my favorite new-ish buildings in the country, at 1801 Superior Avenue East. [PHOTO] It has lots of other appealing architecture as well.
It also has a fantastic film festival, which was not only happening while I was in town, it happened five blocks from my hotel! It’s the 35th year of the festival, and they screened movies from all over the world. I was able to see four of them: Undertow, Insidious, Rubber, and Connected (hey, all one-word titles … it’s a theme!).
I’ll say this about the 35th Annual Cleveland International Film Festival: It was the best run such event I have ever attended. I’m used to film festivals being run by a bunch of arrogant know-nothing volunteers with screenings that are oversold and wildly off schedule. They run a very tight ship at the CIFF. I hope I get to attend it in the future.
Of course, Cleveland is heaven if you’re a sport fan. Like baseball? You can see the Indians at Progressive Field and cheer on the way cute porno-named Grady Sizemore. How about basketball? There’s the Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Football? The Browns at Browns stadium. Not to mention arena football heroes the Cleveland Gladiators, also at Quicken Loans. The busy QL Arena is also home to Cleveland’s hockey team, the Lake Erie Monsters. That’s not even mentioning the pile of local college teams.
Cleveland is, of course, also home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s situated in downtown right on Lake Erie.
If you’re more the artsy type (you know the type of person I mean), you won’t want to miss Playhouse Square, the largest performing arts center outside of New York. It has seven theaters and over 1000 events per year.
Of course Cleveland also has the majestic Lake Erie!
Not to mention it’s the home of my very favorite client.
Places That Are Less Appealing Than Cleveland
- Rockford, Illinois
- Waco, Texas
- Barstow, California
- Binghampton, New York
- Lake Charles, Louisiana
- The Entire State of Indiana
why is the Hall of Fame boring? (asks Waco native)
Because all of the things that make a museum work (organization, following rules, predictability, politeness) are anathema to Rock and Roll. The whole idea of a museum dedicated to rock and roll is a bad one.