C-Town

Hi All! I've been in Cleveland for two weeks now. Things are going well. We've had a couple of rain days since we've been here (today included). We're hoping to be done by August 17 with Cleveland, but it's all depending on the rain right now. I've seen a lot of music since I've been here, starting with Xavier Rudd at the House of Blues - he is just amazing! I also went to the Tri-C jazz fest to hear some Medeski, Scofield, Martin, and Wood. The Jazz fest was located on what's called The Mall downtown. It's right by Lakeside Ave. in between Ontario and East 6th. It was a great location for a concert and I really hope the city decides to play more music there. Last weekend I went to Matisyahu and 311 at Tower City Amphitheater (I will not call it Time Warner) and it was great. I've really wanted to see Matisyahu for a while, so I'm glad I was able to. Then, Emily and I went to Blonde Redhead at the House of Blues - they're a band she likes, but were also really good. We also went to see Hurricane on the Bayou at the Omnimax Theater at the Science Center and the Rockefeller Gardens in University Circle. Omnimax movies make you feel like you're actually in the movie and the footage was just amazing, so it was a good time. I didn't even know the Rockefeller Gardens existed - it's a small outdoor garden and indoor garden, but it's free and it was kept up really well. Other than that, I've just been hanging out with the fine folk up here in Cleveland. It's really nice to know people in the city we're working in. It's also really strange to see Cleveland how I'm currently seeing it. My outlook of the city were always definitely swayed living out in B-town. There's so much of this city that I have never seen and is quite sad. Almost the entire East Side of Cleveland is boarded up. You can see there things used to flourish, but everything moved out to the suburbs since the 1960's and 1970's. On the positive side of things, there is construction EVERYWHERE, so it looks like a lot of efforts are being put forth to turn this city back around. Pictures to come soon - everyone have a good week!