True Art Heist , North Collinwood revisited

Walking by the True Art Gallery in Cleveland's north Collinwood neighborhood this past Saturday evening , I was touched by the tiny child's bicycle locked onto an equally miniature tree in front of the now closed gallery space. The bike's bright purple color with the orange plastic chain that holding it in place served testimony to so much of what is wrong with the sad priorities that occur in the contemporary urban scheme of events today. The Cuyahoga County government sponsored and passed legislation under the aegis of " Arts and cultural initiative". What does it take for some of these funds to find there way to the street level , and help a marginal neighborhood like North Collinwood , retain the sweat equity that Ms. Deveney of True Art Gallery , has placed into the space with help of her partner in the past two years? As stated in the first post here discussing True Art gallery , had suffered an earlier break in in September 2007 . And that not being bad enough , to have to suffer the indignity of a second break in , this one at the hands of a Collinwood neighbor , who was apprehended in a police sting while selling the stolen paintings a few blocks from True Art Galleries boarded up storefront. Insult added to injury. And yes , not all of the paintings that were heisted from the gallery have been recovered as of yet.Those stolen painting that sold were at deep discounted street prices of a fraction of the arts sticker prices , it is not very likely that this stolen art will find it's way back to the members who exhibited at True Art , and became victims along with Ms. Deveney and her partner . Ms. Deveney in her true blue large hearted fashion is working on a benefit for the artists whose paintings were stolen and not recovered. The real victims here are the North Collinwood community which looses one of the start up business's that made an aesthetic difference to those who visited the area. Across East 156Th Street from True Art is the other new start up business Cafe Marika , another sweat equity project attempting to get a leg up in a marginal neighborhood, that has suffered more than it's share of street crime and bad luck recently . Cafe Marika has the old world charm of a cafe in Budapest or Prague , and the pastries , foodstuffs and strong coffee or drink to go along with it. It is the potential success of these start ups that will determine the future of the Waterloo business district and North Collinwood. Down the block from cafe Marika, and True Art exists the Waterloo areas anchor business , The world renowned Beachland Ballroom , ready to celebrate it's eighth year in another six weeks. A record store , Music Saves , and hipster retail shop Shoperooni are the other neighborhood attractions to date. I just can't get the picture out of my mind of the boarded up windows at True Art gallery , and the tiny child's bicycle tied up in front of the empty True Art storefront. Most of us remember our initial " art " attempts from our childhoods , and having had fun from our creative efforts , either set down the paints and brushes , or ran with them for the remainder of our days. In a small city like Cleveland , Ohio today , it appears that many young adults consider themselves " fine artists" , and let you know about their artworks in a variety of mannerisms that need no further explanation. Just have a walk or drive about the Tremont or Little Italy neighborhoods , and get a taste of this " art " flavor. North Collinwood , and Waterloo Road was looking for this sort of flavor with regards to True Art gallery. Shame that they did not have a better chance at success. Though I would imagine that if local Collinwood children were given the opportunity to just be kids working at their " art " projects after school , that a now empty storefront such as True Art would have great value as a community asset in serving as deterrent to the crime oriented streets that surround it. All those millions of dollars collected by Cuyahoga County for it's " Arts and Cultural initiative", do not appear to have found there way to the street level were they may do some real good in struggling communities such as North Collinwood , and it's culture of poverty and crime that victimize our children. Write to your County Commissioners and ask them how we can send our neighborhoods and children an arts lifeline? Book Selling Time! It is not nice to mix politics with anything as far as I am concerned , and when politics and art mix it is never very pleasant. We offer today a copy of Ralph Shikes , THE INDIGNANT EYE , The artist as social critic from the fifteenth century to Picasso. I only wish that more scrutiny was placed upon the dispersal of tax generated funds that's aim are to support an " arts and cultural initiative". Many artists goals throughout history have been aimed at skewering politicians at the end of their ink pens , and for damn good reasons. Art and politics do mix , and it is the artist who justly lampoons or kicks the politicos into the muck they crawl about in that get my vote any day of the week. Thomas Nast comes to mind as the nineteenth century American artist whose work best represents this form of satire that portrays the politicians in their most authentic form. Who is your favorite? Send along yours and we will print them here at a later date.

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True Art Heist, Have a heart!

" We wuz robbed" , goes the fan's old saw concerning an umpire's errant call in baseball. So wuz the True Art Gallery on East 156th Street near the intersection of Waterloo Road in the North Collinwood neighborhood of Cleveland , Ohio. Robbed of what you might ask ? Sure enough , the computer , and telephones , and the galleries stereo system . Though wait a cotton pickin' minute. The thieves also disassembled an entire art show that was hanging on TrueArt's gallery walls.The paintings , their price tags and printed descriptions. All gone. If I did not know one of the galleries owner's Joanie Deveney well I would expect an inside job or some form of absurd dada art prank. As difficult as book's have become to sell in this modern world , the original works of art , such as the one's stolen from TrueArt make selling books seem a walk in the park in comparison to selling a new artists works. Ms. Deveney has a great heart and spirit , is a fine Mother , and creative artist in her own respect , which makes this all the more of a dilemma for her, having no insurance to cover this theft..... Our Cuyahoga County Government has made it their business to establish via an earlier sin , [ cigarette ] tax to provide funds for a County wide arts and cultural initiative. It appears that most of the initial taxes collected from this arts oriented sin tax have been forked over to " major arts organizations with multi - million dollar budgets" , who would have imagined that combining politics and the arts would have gilded the already fat lilies of those that have in the arts ? Be this as it may , it would sure be a pleasure to see some of this " arts and cultural initiative money" , come to the aid of TrueArt , or any other nascent art gallery , community arts center , or any street level art or cultural organization willing to stick their necks out for the good of a community and it's citizens. I suppose that while we are at it the near west side book store Six Steps Down , just six storefronts north of the West Side Market could qualify for some of these " arts funds". Six Steps Down is a non profit , and it's principal worker Michael O' Brien , has served twin occupations as social worker for west 25Th streets needier cases as well as it's only retail book store. Ms. Deveney and her partner James Tomko of True Art Gallery are tacitly a for profit enterprise , though the North Collinwood neighborhood they exist within has more than it's share of crime and negative street activity on a regular basis than it's councilman Michael Polensek would have you believe. In an article by da p.d.'s Karen Sandstrom from Septemeber 29 , 2007 entitled " Can Waterloo Road be Cleveland's next Tremont?" , Polensek is quoted referring to the perceived nature of crime in the Waterloo neighborhood , " The neighborhood is one of Cleveland's safest , but it's still an urban neighborhood." Polensek made that bold statement when True Art Gallery had been broken into the first time in mid - September 2007 , a few days prior to Ms. Sandstrom's article. Barely four months have passed and another break in occurs at the same said gallery , this time with more dire consequences than the first heist which resulted in the theft of power tools. Councilman Polensek might brag on North Collinwood being one of Cleveland's safest neighborhoods , though in the context of Cleveland being one of the top ten least safe major cities in America on a perennial basis , he ain't saying that much! As for the thief or thieves that stole the artworks. Good luck in fencing these works of art! You thieves would have been better off stealing bags of frozen catfish or authentic logs of processed cheese from the local big box store instead. At least you could have been eatin' for your cheatin'.... Time has arrived for us small fry citizens who do care about the efforts of the true human spirits that make it their business to open and operate art galleries such as True Art , or book stores such as The Book Store on West Twenty Fifth Street to speak out to the political types who hold the purse strings for public funds ostensibly used to fund the " arts". Write a letter to your County Commissioners with your suggestions. I make my suggestion that True Art Gallery and The Bookstore on West 25Th Street be assigned some of these arts funds on a basis to allow them to continue to operate as storefronts in a city whose storefronts are as often as not empty and lacking any activity.Cultural assets they are. Assign some of these " arts funds " , as well to the children of Cleveland , Ohio and it's suburbs as an after school diversion program featuring arts activities as an alternative to drugs, crime, and the streets that currently encourage those activities. Perhaps a benefit of sorts to help out the True Art gallery cause would be in keeping with this enlightened " arts" spirit. We will be happy to donate books for a benefit if it comes to pass. In the meantime give with your heart to the owner's of True Art . Ms. Deveney surely would not ask , so I will on her behalf. Perhaps the other art galleries doing business in Cleveland currently would help one of their own by organizing donations for a benefit auction to help the plight of True Art and their plight. Most artists that enter into the gallery business lead with their hearts not their business acumen. Time has come for the Cleveland arts community to aid one of their own who is hurting and in need. Book Selling Time! A large volume we offer today by Huntington Cairns , entitled THE LIMITS OF ART. one thousand four hundred seventy three pages of prose and poetry , compiled by Cairns for the acclaimed Bollingen series of books published by Princeton University Press. Setting all that aside , this thick tome covers the gamut of verse from classical to modern times , and would serve as great companion if stranded on a desert island , or stuck in the likes of a fallen city such as Cleveland , Ohio today.

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Odds set here for Wolstein , Stark , and Medical Mart

Gold and oil prices are up. Our United States economy is down. Seems that you need a scorecard locally to see who is currently winning the land grab wars in downtown Cleveland. More about this sport later. First up..... Let the New Year begin now that Ohio State University has lost yet another National Collegiate Football Championship .Who really cares about the nfl games that will follow? Nothing super about the super bowl , save the super amount of money that will be wagered on the remaining nfl scheduled playoffs and the gaudy super bowl. For this fan football is over until autumn 2008 . Thanks be for that. The Ohio State University versus Louisiana State University game last evening spoke miles for itself concerning who has the better collegiate football team.LSU hands down. The real test of a modern great State is in the number of major elected public officials currently incarcerated for crimes committed while holding public office.Let us examine how Louisiana and Ohio fare in this department. Just as in the Collegiate championship football game victors , the State of Louisiana wins hands down over Ohio in the number of elected officials serving time for committing crimes while holding public office , or their implicit involvement in fraud , bribery , and other politically related crimes. A short list of Louisiana politicians serving time currently , or facing time includes former Louisiana Governor Edward Edwards and his son Stephen Edwards , Orleans Parish School Board President Ellenese Brooks - Simms , former Louisiana Congressman Bill Jefferson , New Orleans City Council member at large Oliver Thomas , Judge Allan Greene , former Louisiana State Senate President Michael O' Keefe , and for good measure a sinner of the old fleshy school variety former Senator David Vitter. Whew! The list just goes on. No room here to document all the swampy political criminals that disgrace the great State of Louisiana. Huey Long would be proud of 'em , one and all! As in collegiate football , Louisiana has Ohio beat in the corrupt politician category hands down! Best Ohio can muster is the pitiful three stooges currently serving time for their white collar crimes : former congress Representatives James Traficant and Bob Ney , and the convicted " coingate " felon and former White house insider Tom Noe.How about them former politicos ?, Louisiana , and Ohio both appear to have terminal flaws in the respective Capital cities of Columbus , Ohio and Baton Rouge , Louisiana. Plenty of soap and water needed to clean up these disgraceful politicians! Game over... Let the local game of handicapping the players who use downtown Cleveland as a real estate scrum begin! For the year 2008 we will make book on which perspective real estate / development projects will actually get of the ground. Using race track logic , the long shot of the proposed projects is developer Stark's Warehouse District dream of one of his suburban " Legacy Village " , type developments , you know the faux little town square types complete with high end retail , big box stores , and a few residences proposed by Stark to fill the damnable empty parking lot space which now comprises fifty percent of the physical space that is referred to as the Warehouse district. I give Stark credit for attempting to fill in the long standing joke that the parking lot district that is also known as Cleveland's " Warehouse District" , is today via buying out the parking operators interests and filling it in with dense Urban development as a progressive City like Cleveland could have in it's design. Good luck however, money will be tight due to ongoing Federal credit problems , complicated by the Nationwide housing slump , and foreclosure mess. Corporate America is pretty strung out on borrowing large amounts of money to fund itself , and will be forced to tighten it's collective belt due to the likely event of a recession this year. Banks will be dreaming of dollars and shitting out nickels this year. Odds at Stark getting off to a 2008 start 85 to 1...... Developer Wolstein and his grand plans for the east side of the downtown Cleveland banks of the Cuyahoga River area known as the " Flats " , fares better to break ground in 2008 , though you can smell the taint of his slapping up an office building in true Cleveland " put the horse before the cart" fashion and poaching existing office leases from other downtown buildings prior to constructing any of the residential , or retail that Wolstein promised for the Flats site. Odds for the office building 10 to 1 , all other aspects of this Flats plan even coming close to getting started in 2008 , 70 to 1..... Now the big enchilada of developments , the more complicated Medical Merchandise Mart / Convention Center project currently having the public side funds collected via a sales tax increase that was generated in late 2007 by vote of the Cuyahoga County Commissioners. This project is racking up millions already via the tax levy , and stands the best chance of breaking ground due to the fact , if for no other reason , that money has been gathered and that usually translates to as much as spending it on your land baron friends , not putting funds aside for some sensible infrastructure improvements that would serve all of Cuyahoga County , not just the vested land grab players in this development ; Cleveland Clinic , University Hospital , the Corporate mess of hotels that is downtown Cleveland today , and most important the local land baron of choice ; Jacobs Group or Forest City that is recipient of the Medical Merchandise Mart / Convention Center location. Odds for this deal breaking ground in 2008 , 25 to 1. None of these projects really have the interests of the citizens of Cleveland or Cuyahoga County in mind via their designs. Unless of course you measure progress in the new service class jobs that these projects may attract when and if completed. Hard to believe , but we have yet to hit bottom in terms of population loss , tax revenues lost , and the ability to attract jobs to this region that are not the mop, bucket, and broom variety. If perchance all three of these projects fail so be it.Perhaps then more attention could be paid to real time problems that face our citizens daily , City services , Schools , and increased Safety forces among the many and diverse Urban problems that complicate life in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County..... Book Selling Time! So Ohio State football flames out in the Superbowl again. No problem! Coach Tressel seems to be a great fellow , and he is pretty secure in his job as long as he continues to manage to extract victories against " that team from up north". Read and listen to some of the best momenst in Ohio State Football history via your purchase of Eric Kaelin's BUCKEYE GLORY DAYS , THE MOST MEMORABLE GAMES OF OHIO STATE FOOTBALL. Last evening's Ohio State defeat for the National Championship is not included in this volume , though it will be considered highly memorable to the Tigers of Louisiana State University and their loyal fans. Louisiana politicians not currently under indictment for white collar crimes included. Best wishes to Kim and John , my family and friends.

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Driving 45rpm in a 78rpm zone

Another strange day on the coastal boondocks hard upon the south shore of Lake Erie.

An old graduate of Cleveland's bad boy high school, Thomas Edison, Lester Russaw now aged seventy-four, who says he performed as a young man with a musical group known as The Coronets, who in 1953 recorded a rhythm and blues song NADINE, the writing credit assigned to a later payola scandalized Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed, and released by Chess records of Chicago, Illinois, reaching number three on the national Rhythm and Blues Billboard charts.

You can bet that the Chess brothers Leonard and Phil made a lot of money on this record and that Russow and his band mates did not.

Alan Freed made a lot of money as well. Larry Russow was not as fortunate and was pulled over by Wickliffe, Ohio police for driving 50 mph in the fast lane of Interstate 90, just a shuffling away in his silver 2007 Chrysler Sebring, after committing the crime of robbing a near bye bank of $9,203 dollars.

Russaw receives $360.00 in Social security a month and was behind in his bills.

Afro- American men and women musicians in 1950's America were the true pioneers of the nascent original rock and roll music which was often purchased cheap by record industry heavies, and I mean heavies in the b- movie sense , and then repackaged and sold cross over to Caucasian audiences.

Really folks, Elvis Presley would not have enjoyed musical success without the influences of the Afro - American musicians Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, and Willie Mae “Big Mamma" Thornton.

Arthur Crudup became so fed up with not receiving his musical royalties that he ceased recording it, turning instead to bootlegging whiskey, and working as a laborer instead of suffering the emasculation and misery of being robbed by the criminal music industry.

The remnants of this same music industry today are dying a slow fiscal death and I do not feel even an iota of sympathy for this bunch of corporate pirates that walked all over and then penalized men like Arthur Crudup and many other vulnerable artists of all colors and stripes of their purse by patently refusing to pay royalties on their recorded or penned music.

Lester Russaw had no right to rob a bank, brandishing a firearm while committing a robbery is truly a crime and he should be punished accordingly. Though the white collar gangsters that ran the music business in 1950's America were criminals also, and hired plenty of gun packing, knee breaking “muscle”, when they felt it necessary to enforce any business pursuits or royalty claims that went contrary to their selfish monetary policies. It appears that the wake that is left in the water by such fraudulent and nasty business is still being felt today some fifty plus years later.

Examine the HBO series THE SOPRANOES and the character" Hesh”, for a cleaned up read on this moral dilemma.

Fountain pen?

Pistola?

Sometimes it is pretty difficult to tell one robber from the other robber, though Lester Russaw should have known better than to be caught driving 45rpm in a 78rpm zone.

Book selling Time!

Not quite a bestseller but perhaps the very book that Lester Russaw should have consulted before leaving home the other day, Gunnar Karlsson's scarce 1987 publication, A PHENOMENOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL METHOD: THEORETICAL FOUNDATION AND EMPIRICAL APPLICATION IN THE FIELD OF DECISION MAKING AND CHOICE.

In keeping with the rather odd account of Mister Russaw's less than fortunate choice we offer the following new title for your reading pleasure.

I am not positive that anyone could find pleasure in reading this title, though if you can or know someone who has have please send have them a review or synopsis to this site ,d I will provide a free book of my choice postpaid.

By the way… “could somebody tell me what diddy wah diddy means?"

For my Father who actually taught at Thomas Edison High School in pre World War Two Cleveland, Ohio and who had the wisdom to refer to Thomas Edison High School as a “bad boys school," and scare the bejabbers out of me as a youth.

Thanks to John and Kim, Goodnight and hats off to Hank Thompson, and Willie “Willie Tee" Turbinton, both superb musical talents who recently have passed away.

They will be missed!

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