It’s vegetarian chili, and honestly, sodium be damned, it’s really good.

My habits however are and were bad enough.  Cigarettes and overall gluttony, sloth and the alcohol.  I was a drinker.  Yep, I sure was.  I drank to the point of an IV of activated charcoal in the ER in my heyday on at least one occasion.  There were days of bedspins, vomiting and being behind the wheel of a car when I had no business walking let alone driving.  While these instances were few and far between I fully admit my “off” switch didn’t work when it came to alcohol.  Just as my “off” switch doesn’t work when it comes to healthy eating, and when it comes to exercise my “on” switch is completely broken.  So, how exactly do you reprogram that mental wiring exactly?  For me and the drinking, even though I still am in “AA denial” that I ever had a problem, was a simple weening process.  I’m 40 for crying out loud, people in 20 years are allowed to go on a few benders.  Not everyone needs AA, and I am one of those folks who don’t believe in it.  I am not going to put it down because I know it helps tons of people daily.  However I learned to control my “off” switch years ago when it came to booze.

The first step in the AA program is pretty much, in my so ever humbled nonprofessional opinion, is the only step you need in any recovery problem.  In its basic form it says admit you have a problem.  Not that yeah maybe I have a problem, but full on say this relationship I have with this thing is not healthy.  The next steps pretty much deal with God, and are a crutch to continue on with the program.  I am here to tell you God and your higher power don’t control your evil urges; you do.  I think the fear of the wrath of God and higher power is an antiquated concept.  It goes back to the evil God that would send you to the pits of hell for ____________ fill in the blank for your favorite vice.  To me this concept of God isn’t the God I have a relationship with.  God doesn’t have a list of Thou Shalt Not’s, God has pretty much one rule and that is best paraphrased from famed football coach Lou Holtz.  ”Do right.  Do your best.  Treat others the way you want to be treated.”  So with that quote comes the golden rule.  Am I at my best, and am I doing the right thing when my mind is clouded in a booze induced haze?  That honestly is all it took for me to turn off my “off” switch.

My crutch for years was that drinking to excess was the norm because of the company I kept.  If they were drinking to excess so was I.  I fell to that silent peer pressure.  None of my friends were forcing me to drink, but I chose to drink along with them.  Now I simply choose not to while keeping the same friends because that is the decision I chose to make.  I didn’t have to boot out all my friends and find a coffee shop to hang out with others that go to 12 step meetings.  In general, with few exceptions, those people creep me out.  Plus, since I have found the “off” switch without the 12 steps I can also choose to have a beer at the game or do a shot to celebrate whatever.  I am not going to go crazy and down a bottle of whiskey or a case of beer like may of the AA folk would like you to think happens.

My “off” switch came by saying the feeling of euphoria of drinking vs the feeling of worthless sloth the next day was not worth the trade off.  As a leader, in my work life, I see the effects of the brown bottle flu and call offs after the big game or a night on the town.  I was there too far too many times feeling like garbage either working through it in misery or just calling off to sleep it off.  I was there, absolutely, but I was able to quit when I made the decision that it just isn’t worth it.

I think the advent of the designer beers and microbrews we have been going through over the last few years have made it acceptable more than ever to drink.  The higher alcohol content of the beers, the flavors, and the status of drinking a high end whatever makes it easier to have a problem while calling yourself a beer aficionado.  Make no mistake about it though, if you drink to excess you might just have a problem.  If it’s you’re thing though go for it.  I am not here to preach to not drink alcohol.  I am here to say you can quit without 12 steps.  Granted 12 step folks are going to say I am in denial of my problem or the steps are the only way.  I say keep on stepping to those who need that support, but the reason many people fail in an AA program is that it is an antiquated program, and it focuses on God over personal responsibility.  You need to control your own life.  And here’s the gasoline on the fire that I realized.  Alcoholism and addiction are not a disease but a lack of will power and accountability.  So I quit, and if I ever want bedspins and the complete loss of equilibrium I always have my vertigo to fall back on.  Live with vertigo for just one day and I can confidently say you’ll probably never drink again when you realize the similarities.

If you are reading this as a subscriber to my blog you might notice something.  This post has nothing to do with Cleveland!  Oh my God!  I have a lot to say.  I don’t want to start another blog to write general rants.  Why should I?  This blog is about me and always has been about me.  I’m the lead in this thing and the scenery and backdrop have always been the supporting role.  I seriously struggled with starting a new blog to do the whole ranting or because I wanted to take this in a new direction.  Yep, I’ll still do the Cleveland thing here and there, but I can’t limit myself for your personal gratification.  You can just weed out the stuff you don’t care about.

The bands were awesome starting off with Heelsplitter, flowing into Cleveland rockabilly juggernaut Scoliosis Jones and ending with Akron’s own Misery Jackals.  These are three bands that headline shows of their own on the same bill.  The styles are somewhat intermingled ranging from the alternative bluegrass sounds of Heelsplitter and Misery Jackals to the high octane psychobilly rock of Scoliosis Jones.  It was a great lineup and about 3 hours of nonstop entertainment including Ben Shuber dressed as a chicken playing accordion.  All three bands are worth checking out on their own, but to have all three together was just a thing of beauty.  I haven’t seen any of the bands in months ad all put on a great show and reminded me of why I love the Cleveland independent music scene so much.  It’s that variety of sound and the true love they have up on that stage.  They might have played for free but none of them skimped on entertainment value.

The Happy Dog unveiled their new project a few days earlier than expected because of the large crowd.  The super secret downstairs project aptly called “The Underdog”.  The Underdog is in the basement of the bar and is a completely stocked bar with ample seating, large screen projection TV that were showing cartoons on, a flat screen behind the bar, a shuffleboard game, 3 pinball machines and a table top super retro game with all the 80′s classic video games.  The projection TV is going to eventually show the entertainment upstairs beamed down to the Underdog via a camera.  They will serve the normal hot dog menu in the Underdog, and on Thursdays at 10pm they will serve 24 burgers.  Not 24 different burgers, but 24 gourmet burgers.  Once the 24 are gone that’s it.  First come, first serve.  If you are number 25 I would guess you need to get there earlier next time because once they are gone they are gone.  Another great concept from local Chef Eric Williams and the Seans; Watterson & Kilbane.  The Underdog is awesome.  It’s the ultimate asexual man cave to get away from the crowd or even have a private function.

Towards the end of the interview he asks his “shock jock” question to end the interview about Maynard’s mom.  You know, the interview was going too well and was far too intelligent for his 14 year old dick and fart joke audience and Rover had to try to look like a bad ass or whatever asking a personal question the guy would never have answered.  It was blown off of course, and Maynard mentioned something about having a table set up to raise awareness and take donations for Brother Ed of Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival.  To which Rover replies, “Who the hell is Brother Ed?”, and acted like Maynard was crazy.  It honestly went on for a minute or so and was pretty fucking embarrassing on the part of Rover that here is this National recording artist that knows more about the plight of a local endeared musician.  It seriously pissed off Maynard and the interview ended.

My issue with the whole thing is pretty simple.  Rover’s Morning Glory is a faceless, soulless radio show that knows absolutely nothing about the city that they, and he broadcasts from.  With Shane, it is all about promoting himself.  The show is designed to be able to to be in syndication.  Fine, awesome except for the fact he failed in syndication already.  So the topics at hand are only national, and avoid anything that would even suggest that the show is broadcast out of Cleveland.  Well, until he wants to sell his calendars or when RoverFest rolls into town then he can mention his home city.  I won’t even go into his cast because they are just all have the talent of the worst B-list Soap Opera actors you can imagine.

Cleveland deserves promoters of the city.  It deserves people who actually love the city and support it.  When was the last time you saw Shane or his crew anywhere in the city when they weren’t getting paid to do it or had a contractual obligation for a sponsor?  I can tell you how many times I have seen him since 2003.  That’s easy, zero.  Rover does not support the city that he broadcasts out of.  You will never see him at a local show he isn’t promoting for cash.  Rover hates Cleveland, stop listening to this guy.

I love our city and the bars and taverns that welcome live music.  I think there are some incredible bands out there making amazing music.  From an outsider looking in I got a good perspective of a real small scope of the ins and outs of the scene.  While I find there to be a vast variety of entertainment out there there is a lack of a certain something.  In the advent of this technological age with iPods and MP3′s and giant musical festivals variety has become the norm.  No one listens to full records or cds anymore and they turn the world on shuffle.  Back with cds you could hit the shuffle button to change the order of 12 tracks of music on that 1 cd.  Now you hit shuffle on 160 gigs of music on your iPod and you are your own DJ for weeks on end in theory.

I remember my first music festival.  It was the summer of 1991 at Blossom.  I had pit tickets.  I went with my high school sweetheart Karoline Zitnik.  My friend Rich Patrick was playing in this industrial band called Nine Inch Nails that blew up that year with their anthem Head Like a Hole.  I went to see them, and of course Jane’s Addiction and to a lesser extent Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Butthole Surfers and Rollins Band.  To an even lesser extent I saw Body Count, Fishbone, and Living Color.  The thing is I got to see 8 really great bands play together, and it was amazing.  I probably never would have went to see Living Color or Body Count on their own, but this packaged deal made that possible.  So I grew up in this age where variety was just taking off.

While there is variety in Cleveland the one thing that is missing is solidarity.  I think all the bands are behind this tax bullshit 100% don’t get me wrong, but at the same time the cliques are borderline ridiculous.  It’s weird honestly because the cliques lead the venues into following that same mentality.  God bless the venues out there that support local independent musician.  However how about having some variety?  Why does it always have to be fit in this pretty rock and roll package?  This band sounds like this other band so it makes sense to book them together.  To me that’s just plain lazy and fucking boring.  If we all wanted to listen to shit that sounds the same there wouldn’t be music festivals or a shuffle button for that matter.  Now granted the bands tend to stick together but isn’t it time to say fuck it already?  I want to see a brass band open for a bluegrass band with a punk band headlining.  Seriously Revolutionary Brass Band, Heelsplitter, Struttin’ Cocks triple bill?  Now that right there is variety.

Why can’t anyone make that happen though?  That’s the problem.  It’s because no one is willing to take the risk and everyone is content where they are.  It’s because booking is dictated by the bands to more or less not promote diversity in the music community.  The Lottery League, now that is a great idea, but it’s pretty much a one off.  The lack of diversity however is evident in any given club for any given show.  Wouldn’t it make more sense to broaden your fan base by introducing your music to people who would not normally hear it?  So the tax is a big issue but the thing that makes the Cleveland music scene miss big marks is the fact no one is willing to take risks to step it up.  Everyone is content in their genres hanging with like genres and that right there is the big gap that needs to be filled in order to make the city a viable music landmark where bands get signed and noticed.  Just an outsider looking in, take it for what it’s worth, but it’s time hit shuffle guys.  The venue tax is a great thing to bring the community together but after that blows over it’s still going to be more of the same.

We decided to hit up West Park Station for a bite just because I heard good things about the menu.  What’s not to like about 3 pages of food?  One page is Irish, another standard American bar fare and the last strictly Italian.  Sounds odd?  Well yeah, but when you think of the bar itself it is heavy on Irish flair because of the support they give to the local Police and Irish community.  Bar owner Jason Salupo is a die hard Italian though.  I personally knew him and his family in another lifetime, and trust me when I say Mama Salupo knew her way around a kitchen.  So while the cuisine might seem strange it just seems to work out fine in this setting.

The bar is huge.  It is not overly busy with the usual flair you find at theme bars.  The woodwork and craftsmanship is accentuated through the entire bar from the bar itself to the high backed booths.  The woodwork gives it a nice small pub feel for how big the place actually is.  They have a large stage in the front for local entertainment and a smaller raised area in the back that could be a second stage.  They have two, count them, two patios.  One in the front and a much larger area in the back with a full bar.  They have tons of TV’s to catch the game and some video games.  When we went it was relatively quiet with a couple big tables and a few folks seated at the bar.  We decided to sit at the bar, watch a little TV and eat some food.  Our server was very attentive, as was the entire staff who were always on the go.  The only problem was, obviously, what were we going to eat?

The original plan was going to be hit something from each menu, but neither of us were in the Italian mood.  We however “winged”  it and tried the garlic Parmesan wings.  That counts as Italian right?  Even if it doesn’t I can tell you they were damn good and loaded with flavor.  We decided on getting a couple sandwiches for our meal.  I went with the Irish inspired Crabby Irishman.  It features their homemade crab cakes with lettuce, tomato and Dijon bistro sauce served on a toasted Asiago buttered torpedo roll.  It did not disappoint at all and was loaded with amazing flavors.  Normally a crab cake sandwich turns into a mushy mess after a couple bites but this remained consistently crisp throughout.  Jeanette had Mom’s homemade meatloaf sandwich.  You can get it hot or cold, she went hot.  It is served on thick sourdough bread, with melted cheddar cheese.  The menu says topped with onion straws and and beer ketchup sauce however it was served with onion rings as opposed to straws and there was no ketchup.  So, not sure what happened there but it was still really good as we split the sandwiches.  Both sandwiches came with a generous portion of the most amazing fries.  These were big, thick hand cut fries that were cooked to perfection.  So, if you get a sandwich make sure to upgrade to the fries they were that good.

By day West Park Station is quiet and subdued.  By night it turns into an incredible scene filled to the hilt with a hodgepodge of folks; old, young, blue collar to business professionals.  They have a decent selection of beers on tap heavy on imports and very well stocked bar.  They are a true pillar of the community hosting many charity events and always have something going on with bands, DJ’s, and contests.  West Park Station is a great place to meet up with friends to watch the game or score a decent meal.  You can tell everyone that works there from the owners to the staff take pride in what a great bar it is.  At night is when it really comes alive though.  Parking is at a premium during peek hours but with a little patience you’ll be fine.

Now the dilemma.  The whole where part.  These things are all over the place.  Everyone has “the best”.  After talking to some locals the decision was paired down to Lafayette or American.  These two Coney joints are seriously located right next to each other right downtown in Detroit.  Lafayette is a bit more of a dive and a little smaller and American is much larger and seemed a bit cleaner.  So that was a complete no brainer.  When in doubt go to the dumpy looking one as a rule of thumb.  If you need to modernize then you are focusing on eye traffic to make up for your shortcomings.  If your place looks like a lunch counter circa 1972 you are the automatic winner, and that was the case with Lafayette’s.  I was told by the usher at the Fox Theater people get in fights over this topic all the time.  He also pretty must assured me they are exactly the same and just pick one, and that we did.

When we walked in we grabbed a couple seats at the counter.  The menu choices?  I didn’t even look at one.  Thanks to the usher I knew what a local would order, 2 Coneys and chili cheese fries heavy.  It was seriously heaven on a bun.  We eat all kinds of food from 5-star to complete dive but there was just something so perfect and American about this simple dish that was mouth watering awesome.  Skyline chili?  Blow me.  I have never had chili this good ever.  It was perfectly seasoned, thick and hearty.  It was the perfect condiment to go with those all beef wieners and the crispy fries.  A hot dog is just a hot dog now if it isn’t Detroit Coney style.  As far as the great Coney battle goes take it with a grain of salt.   Two Coney Island restaurants opened in 1917, including American Coney Island in downtown Detroit, established by Greek immigrant Gust Keros in 1917. Keros and his brother got into an argument quite soon after and split their restaurant into two parts–the present day Lafayette and American Coney Islands, which are next door to each other. Both restaurants are still owned by the descendents of the two Keros brothers.  Chances are the split doubled the business back then and they just went with the feud to sell more dogs.  Hey, if you need the myth then that’s cool too, but my guess is they truly might just be the same exact hot dog.

Berlin?  Well come on, Terri Nunn is hot, unreal balls out hot.  I never thought I was a huge fan until that Bands Reunited show, and it turns out I was a closeted fan after hearing all the songs again.  So Berlin was just an added bonus to the line up.  I need to call it Berlin*, to add the disclaimer this is just Terri Nunn playing as Berlin with a backing band.  Yes, a very good backing band featuring former Goo Goo Doll touring member Dave Schulz on keys.  Terri Nunn has got to be in her 50′s but she is still has got it.  And by “it” I mean, whoaaa is she hot.  Her voice is still completely there and she was more than able to hold the notes and captivate the audience.  It didn’t hurt she spent two full songs in the crowd singing directly to fans.  It didn’t hurt that she was gyrating and grinding her band mates like it was 1985 either.  I hate to take away from the true brilliance of her performance to teenage lust but she just has that presence.  Berlin* and Nunn went through all the hits and had the crowd on their feet through most of the 40 minute set.  Oh course “Take My Breath Away” was the standout, but the other hits resonated just as much with the crowd.  Some of the revamped numbers got a bit too changed for my liking but whatever.  I just think if it ain’t broke why fix it?  There is no need to make a great song a mediocre song by adding boom boom boom techno bass lines.  As a matter of fact the bass and keys overpowered the vocals at times.  Outside of that it was a great set.

After a short intermission it was time for INXS to take the stage.  INXS was one of those bands that changed my life.  If you ever heard of the book Talking to Girls about Duran Duran, you can change the Duran Duran for me to INXS.  Well, and you can subtract out all the homoerotic stuff in that book too.  I digress, yet again, but it is just a terrible book minus a couple chapters.  INXS was the band from my youth.  I remember them in the early days of MTV and one of the first cassettes I ever bought was Shabooh Shoobah, and forget about Listen Like Thieves, I wore that thing out I played it so much in the Summer of 1985.  I also manged to see them live 7 times during that time.  They loved playing Cleveland, and they toured their asses off for the majority of the late 80′s and early 90′s.  The death of Michael Hutchence, for me, was a huge tragedy.  I was completely devastated along with so may others that his music and the music of INXS touched.  I still cringe today at the sick jokes about his death to the point of a clenched fist.

So the theater goes black, a giant screen in the back lights up in red spelling INXS as the original members (minus Garry Gary Beers) took the stage hammering through the new percussion track Drum Opera from Original Sin which rips directly into Suicide Blonde as JD Fortune joins them on stage to a round of applause.  Fortune, while a great singer, was not the show.  The show and stage belong to the original band members.  Don’t get me wrong, Fortune is an awesome singer but the real show was the original members of INXS.  He works well with the band but rather than the front man, singer stealing the show it was more like a 60/40 split in favor of the band.  That was the first time I think I ever paid more attention to the band over the singer.  The band then went through hit after hit including Devil Inside, The Stairs, Listen Like Thieves, Kiss the Dirt, Bitter Tears, and Mystify.  Then it got somber.

Fortune left the stage leaving only the original band members and they went through the new version of Don’t Change, which quite honestly brought people to tears.  It was that Wish You Were Here moment, an in memorandum for Michael Hutchence.  Holy crap was it good too.  For a couple minutes I had flashbacks of every single girl I every danced with, kissed, or made a mix tape for where INXS was my backdrop.  I had a serious moment.  I looked at the tears in the eyes of my wife and sweet Jesus I practically lost it at a rock show.  It was that incredible.  You had these 4 guys who have made this amazing music for the better part of 30 years pouring their hearts out on stage in a tribute to their lost friend, brother and band mate.  It was somber, stripped, real and absolutely beautiful.  However I was snapped back into reality with the new mix of the song New Sensation which I absolutely hated sorry to say, featuring one of the back up singers that did zero justice to the original sorry to say.  Fortune rejoined the band on stage to finish up act I of the show with Beautiful Girl.

After a short break featuring a completely techno “remastered” Mediate, which was nothing short of ear rape that played through the sound system minus the band (as in it was just a recording), the band came back to plow through Need You Tonight, Not Enough Time, Disappear, Taste It, Original Sin, What You Need and ending the set with Never Tear Us Apart.  They came back for a short encore of New Sensation (the regular version), By My Side and closed with Don’t Change.  The show was heavy on hits, had the crowd on their feet nonstop and had everyone feeling something.  The band was animated and truly enjoying the experience of being able to play these songs live for old and new fans.  You could tell by the way they were interacting with the crowd, especially Pengilly and seemed to all have buried whatever hatchet there might have been with Fortune.  There were a couple instances where you did, maybe, see the leash on Fortune tighten up here and there, but probably went unnoticed to most.  All in all it was great to get to see INXS play live again.  It might not be Hutchence up there on stage but he was there somewhere at least in spirit.  For me it was all about the band that night and they put on one hell of a show.

Besides the obvious greatness of homemade ice cream in general, Mitchell’s is also totally fabulous because of their committment to the local community.  Not only do they support multiple local groups, some of their ice creams  are noted to use ingredients from local farms. 

Due to the sheer magnificence of flavor in Mitchell’s scoops, we both chose to get cones this Sunday, rather than a fancy sundae.  We each got two scoops in a waffle cone, two different flavors each.  My cone contained mint chocolate chunk — and by chunk I mean huges clumps of dark chocolate — and a scoop of Belgian Dark Chocolate (which was from their “special” menu and not always available.)  Clearly I am a chocolate lover.  These two together were to die for. 

Jason’s cone contained two scoops of “special” flavors.  His first was Strawberry Cheescake, which literally had chunks of cheesecake in it.  The other flavor was Maple Walnut (I am not certain of the title, but I think that’s the gist of it.)  Jason loves Maple and he did not let me taste this portion of his cone, so I can only assume it was so good he wouldn’t share

It should also be noted that this Mitchell’s location has ample seating both inside and outside and is very kid friendly.  As a big kid myself, I am always fascinated by the train that runs along the ceiling carrying “ice cream.”  I also noticed a plastic kids table with paper and crayons, although all the kids we saw on Sunday were fully occupied by their ice cream treats! 

When Jason finshed his cone (and I was still savoring my own), I sent him up to the fridge and asked if he could pick out a couple flavors to bring home.  I just couldn’t go an entire week without ice  cream!  When we left we had four pints in hand and a small stack of complimentary sugar cones.  Although we have yet to try these flavors, I have no doubt in my mind that they will be wonderful.