On Friday night, half of Cleveland gathered at Public Square in downtown, spilling over the sides in all directions, in order to see the world's best orchestra perform, The Cleveland Orchestra. It was really quite a moment and a great time to be downtown. And it got me thinking: Cleveland is messed up.
During my vacation, Hannah and I have tried to hit up some big-time Cleveland attractions that we've never been to before—the Art Museum, the Botanical Garden, the Cleveland Orchestra, Hot Sauce Williams, Melt, Playhouse Square, etc—and it's all been a thrilling cultural experience, filling me with more civic pride (and cheese) than I already had.
How is it possible for me to be filled with more civic pride? Well, this is where Cleveland is messed up. All of my civic pride, basically, comes from my allegiance to sports teams. You grow up; root for the Browns, Cavs and Indians; and then you defend every aspect of the city. But the thing of it is, those teams are rarely anything to be truly proud of. We never hold our heads high when discussing them, and if we do, it's out of defiance. However, in spite of it all, the misery factory of Cleveland sports gives us pride.
Messed. Up.
When you step back, it's absolutely asinine. We have a thriving, diverse and talented arts community. Like, it's .... good! The orchestra, the theater groups, the artists .... these talented people actually perform when it matters! Tons of them! National coverage of these groups is positive actually. There may be people that live in California or Texas or Florida, who only have an interest in the arts and actually ENVY Cleveland and wish they could live here or visit.
The thing is, I already kind of knew this. All of us do. When we are forced to defend our city after yet another sports debacle or harsh winter, we all fall back by saying these things from muscle memory.
It all struck me as so messed up during this Star Spangled Spectacular. The crowd was all anticipating the Cleveland Orchestra performance .... but BEFORE that happened, we had a glowing, pleading tribute to our hometown NBA free agent, LeBron James. We held signs, watched montages and cheered. PLEASE STAY LEBRON! WE LOVE YOU!!!! EVEN THOUGH YOU'VE NEVER WON A TITLE, AND ARE POSSIBLY LEAVING US IN A FEW DAYS AND WE'RE ABOUT TO ENJOY A CLEVELAND INSTITUTION THAT WOULD NEVER LEAVE US .... WE'RE STILL THINKING OF YOU THE MOST!!
And I loved it. I'd do it again right now. During the montage, I honestly almost cried, remembering all of the great times that LeBron has given me these last seven years and how I don't want those moments to end. Then the orchestra finally came on and we all had a blast. No tears. Just awe and memories and celebration.
In here, there is a debate about the unfairness of a LeBron v. a Ceveland Orchestra. LeBron might be a billionaire in a few years and none of us know the first violinist's name. I'm not as upset by that. All of these people are talented and all of these people have worked hard to hone their craft. The beef isn't with LeBron and sports, it's just with popular culture in general—which means you should be most mad at your neighbor and all of your friends and probably even yourself. I know I am. Popular stuff makes more money in sports, art, entertainment, porn, food, deodorant and anything else. I would think the first violinist would be more mad at Jay-Z than LeBron if she was upset about inequities.
My question is, why is the stuff that's not as good more popular here in Cleveland, especially when our city is constantly trying to battle negativity? We are so backward. Why would we identify with the part of our city that's such a failure when we could all hang our hat on something we do great? Why don't we push our arts scene more, let it grow even bigger and define ourselves by that and not Travis Hafner pop ups?
A big reason, obviously, is Cleveland is like any other place. Sports are popular and the arts are gay. But a big reason is our sports scene wasn't always this way. Many moons ago, while the city itself was thriving (pre-river catching fire), our sports teams thrived. The Browns were the best team in football for practically two decades and the Indians were in and out of title contention constantly. And as the popularity of sports grew nationally, our identity with our teams correlated.
The Cavs, however, were never good and never really apart of our identity. They were a sideshow. Until we drafted LeBron. Now the Cavs are deeply woven into our culture—almost too much, as we talk about the economic impact of LeBron leaving.
If downtown is really pining for a solution in the Defcon 5 scenario of LeBron leaving, my recommendation is to totally shift the focus to the arts. Make a big push for free downtown art events every week and have hordes of people show up. There were more people at the orchestra event than at the Indians game earlier in the day anyway. The Parade the Circle event a few weeks ago drew the equivalent of a Browns game. And at both of these events, people were pumped and happy to be Clevelanders the entire time. No depression, anger or misery. No fistfights. Just awe and enjoyment.
As a quick example, sitting near us at the orchestra event was this middle-aged, blue-collar, chain-smoking, plump black woman sitting in a lawn chair alongside her husband and another guy, maybe a brother, from what I gather. Stereotypically, it would seem this woman would care less about the arts and more about sports. And sure, she cheered loud for LeBron when the time came. But all throughout this event, even when sexually confused tweens were singing show tunes at 6:30, she was clapping along, nodding her head—cigarette in mouth—unapologetically enjoying a cultural event. The orchestra came on—exuding precision, refinement and class—and those three people were clapping along, cheering and staring at the giant screen in amazement. Just loving music and a perfect summer night. They are three people I'll never forget and three people Cleveland needs to embrace more openly.
Whatever. Bottom line: I want LeBron to stay, and I want everyone to start paying more attention to the arts. Let's try and make both of these happen ......... But especially the LeBron part. Let's face it, I like both, but I'm never going to care more about a painting than I do about a LeBron James assist. I'm messed up like that.
Go Teams.
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