For those of you who don’t know, Seven Hills is next to Parma, and is quite small. It doesn’t even have it’s own post office – it shares one with Independence. I grew up sort of resenting the whole place because it’s lack of anything awesome. However in my later years I can appreciate some of the nicer things.

One place that needs mentioning is Corleone’s Restaurant. It’s just north of Broadview and Snow, in the shopping plaza that has a Pat Catan’s (which used to be a Giant Eagle, where I had my first job). My family and I have been going to this place for years and I have to say it has one of the best dishes I’ve ever had, the Gnocchi Capone.

Gnocchi is my favorite pasta, but if done wrong it’s awful. I had some store bought stuff once that almost turned me off of it for life. But at Corleone’s, they nail it. It’s in a spicy marinara cream sauce, with onions and bacon. It comes with mushrooms but I don’t eat those generally so I ask for no shrooms. I had it for dinner on Tuesday, and lunch on Wednesday. It’s just amazing, every time.

I would highly recommend checking them out. It’s worth the trip to Parma.

Oh yeah, there is also music! I tried to record a bunch of bands, but I just can’t get good sound with my mic. I think it’s more of a dialogue mic than a concert mic. One of the very few good performances I did get was this song by Bridge and Tunnel.

Enjoy.

Berea Fest – Bridge and Tunnel from MyFriendCleveland on Vimeo.

However, three funny things:

1) Great Lakes’s “tribute” beer “Quitness” sold out in 3 hours. It was expected to last for about 4 days.

2) At least Z knows how to leave gracefully.

3) Now THIS is where amazing happens:

I’ll be honest though, on this one, I’m seeing both sides of the coin.

A) We of course expect some loyalty, and it once again shows that these guys are now doing anything just so their name gets attached to a championship trophy.

But…

B) After the way Cleveland benched Z when we brought in Shaq, I imagine he felt that his loyalty was not being rewarded for most of last season. However, who wanted to bring in Shaq? Ferry/Gilbert or LeBron? This seems to point towards Ferry/Gilbert, because if LeBron was pushing for Shaq, you think Z would be pissed at him.

The Heat are going to be ridiculous. I dream of this plan of theirs somehow backfiring, but all rational thought points to the fact that they are going to be unstoppable. But that only makes them more hate-worthy. There is a reason people enjoy underdog movies. Did the Hawks win in Mighty Ducks? Do the Dragons win in Teen Wolf? Do the Toros win in Bring It On? Did Cobra Kai beat Miyagi Dojo? NO! No one likes the favorite. Have you ever seen a movie where the 1st place team in the league just cruises to victory? Probably not, because that movie would suck. 1980 Team USA Hockey were heroes because the whole world told them they couldn’t win.

Oh big deal, you all accepted smaller contracts so you could put together a dream team; I’m sure that really cut into your multi-million dollar lifestyles. Watching Heat games is going to be like watching the Yankees take on my little cousin’s T-Ball team. Or Yokozuna in a sumo match against the wife from Little People, Big World. Congrats on your amazing accomplishment.

Speaking of accomplishments, good job LeBron, in solidifying yourself as “not quite as good as Jordan.” You may get a championship or five but you had a chance to become the greatest ever. Now you’ll just go down in history as Wade’s sidekick. Sure Jordan had Pippen but Jordan didn’t go running to get Pippen’s help. You high-tailed out of Cleveland as soon as you could because you couldn’t lead a team yourself. News flash: Wade already has a title, and he didn’t need your help. But you obviously need his. Jordan averaged over 30 points a game in his career. You’re not there yet and you claim to have done “all the work” on the Cavs. Now that you don’t need to do all the work, your points per game are somehow going to go up? I’m confused with the logic there.

I’m super excited to see Thousandaires, Bridge and Tunnel, Slingshot Dakota, Good Luck, Super Bobby, Spraynard, New Creases, State Lottery, and many, many more. I’ll have my camera with me for most of the weekend, and I’ll try to record from the back of the room so I get some decent sound. Look for videos to be posted up here next week.

And if all day fests aren’t really your thing, or you aren’t able to gone one of the days, or both days, or just want to pack some more music into this weekend, I would suggest going to The Happy Dog on Sunday night. You’ll get to see The State Lottery and locals The Fucking Cops.

Thank you.

Thank you for helping me remember something I pushed out of my mind years ago. See, I was never a sports fan growing up. I didn’t get it. I never felt the personal connection to the team. But 7 years ago I foolishly forgot all that and got behind this local kid from Akron who, by luck of the draw, ended up on his hometown basketball team. This kid was going to win Cleveland a championship because he cared about us as much as we cared about him. He knew what a championship would mean to Northeast Ohio. But on Thursday, he reminded me why I didn’t watch sports for 21 years of my life: these superstar millionaires are self-serving, egomaniacal pricks.

Lebron wants to win championships for one person: himself. He doesn’t care if his jersey says Miami or Cleveland on the front, as long as it says James on the back. Hell it could read “BP” or “Applebees” on the front. These millionaires ARE NOT PLAYING FOR US! They do not have any sort of city pride. They do not care about us. That actually makes it sad to be a sports fan. Not sad like, “woe is me, we never win” but sad like “pathetic.” Why do we care about this guy? We pour all this love out to him. We act like he’s one of us, like he cares about us. We get excited when he wins, sad when he loses, concerned when he’s hurt. But we’re duped. We’re basically cheering him on while he is on a personal quest to feed his own ego, but we trick ourselves into thinking we’re somehow involved too. He does not want to win Cleveland, or Miami, a championship. He wants to win Lebron James a championship.

Lebron, when if you win a championship, are you going to hoist that trophy in the air, and say, “This is for you, Miami!”? Because that’s a lie. You didn’t go to Miami to win them anything. You went for yourself. “This is for you, Lebron.”

Which brings me to the people of Miami. I understand your joy. We felt the same thing in Cleveland 7 years ago. But if last week has taught you anything, let it be this: be nervous. No amount of support and love you give this man will keep him there. He moved to Miami because it was easy. It was the easy way for him to win a championship. And he’s already proven, if things get a little too difficult, he will jump ship and run to wherever it will be easier. Wade and Bosh have provided him the most direct route to his narcissistic goal, but if a more direct route ever presents itself, that’s where he’ll be.

There’s no glory in that. Taking the easy way is not what legends do. Frankly it’s not impressive at all. I could run point on the Heat this season and they’d still have a solid chance of winning the championship. Does that make me the greatest point guard of all time? Is there any glory in that, for me? No. Piggy backing and taking the easy way out are boring.

I think any sports fan should be disheartened by Lebron’s move. It just proves that these superstars only care about winning for themselves, and have no loyalty to their hometowns, or to places that have treated them like Kings. When someone wears a jersey that says “Cleveland Cavaliers,” I want them to be wearing it because they care about Cleveland winning a championship.

I think that’s what made Dan Gilbert’s letter so powerful. When your hero abandons you, and basically says, “It’s all about me, screw you Cleveland,” it’s good to see that SOMEONE involved in this grand entertainment business that we invest so much in still cares about us. The guy who owns the team, at least he realizes that the name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back.

That’s how it should be.

The first is, you could come see my rec league soccer team play at Brookside park at 7.

Not your thing (I don’t blame you)? Option two is going to see often-on-hiatus-but-doing-a-last-minute-show BEARS at the Grog Shop. Show is listed as starting at 9pm. Go tell their bassist that you like his other band too. $5 if you pay early, $7 if you pay at the door.

Either way it was a pretty decent show. The Ground is Lava opened up the show. I actually thought they were pretty decent. Their lead singer had a really catchy voice that I think could really develop into something distinct and awesome. There were a variety of jokes that made me uncomfortable. This was actually a theme of the whole night, but I guess when you get as old as I am and hang out with people who are possibly 10 years younger than you, things can start to be a little weird. I don’t want to sound like an old snob but your late 20s are just completely different than your late teens. As I’m sure your late 30s are different from your late 20s. Whatever.

Big Soda played second. Never heard this band, but again, pleasantly surprised. Just a straight up punk band. Drummer ruled. Guitar player was tall. Bassist looked so much like my friend Ian that I almost asked him if it was him. I don’t think it was. I’m not sure if they have any internet presence but I’d recommend checking out their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/bigsodaband.

Max Stern played some songs next. Just him and his guitar. I’ll be honest I spent the first half of the set upstairs drinking Genny Cream Ale, but I liked what I heard. I eventually ventured downstairs just in time for a Billy Bragg cover. Good stuff all around. I have trouble watching solo performances, because I always think about how it would sound with a full band. I think this would sound good for sure. I’m just a jerk about that.

Sun God finished up the night. They were awesome. That’s all all their is to say about that. I used to never go to their shows for some reason. Now every time I see them I am blown away. Easily becoming one of my favorite bands. And half of them are my roommates! What a convenient pairing.