🎤 Dave Smith Is in Town—And He’s Got Opinions

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Good morning, Cleveland! This is The 216 Scoop.

Why did the Guardians, a controversial comic, and a jazz band walk into a historic Cleveland building?

Because they heard Ghost was playing a fringe festival while eating tropical empanadas and debating the trade deadline.

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The Guardians find themselves at a critical juncture. A dismal June – marked by a 9-15 record and one of the worst offensive months in franchise history – dropped the team out of the AL Wild Card spot.

Now, the good news.

The team won six out of seven games heading into the All-Star break. Starting pitching, once a weakness, has stabilized. And they have MLB’s easiest schedule down the stretch. Manager Stephen Vogt noted, “This is a really talented team. I believe in each and every one of these guys, and I know we’re going to break out of it.”

The July 31 trade deadline looms… Will they buy, sell or hold?

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Faith in government, political parties and the corporate media keep tanking. It’s a boon for Dave Smith – whose acerbic wit and political takedowns have made him America’s most controversial comic.

On Thursday, Smith hits Cleveland to open a four-show run at Hilarities’ 4^th Street Theater in Pickwick and Frolic. For tickets, go here.

He’s a biting, influential podcaster, as a regular guest on The Joe Rogan Experience and Timcast, and with his own show, Part of the Problem. He’s also an iconoclast.

Most comedians are viscerally anti-Trump. Smith supported him in 2024 for his promise to end ‘forever wars.’ He turned on Trump, calling for his impeachment after the U.S. bombed Iran. Smith’s attacks have continued – over Israel and Jeffrey Epstein.

Before all that, Smith was a stand-up comedian getting his start in NYC in the early 2000s. His routine rolls out dry wit with cultural angst and a those-were-the-days spiel that bites like a post-modern Archie Bunker.

“Nothing is what it’s supposed to be anymore, including me,” he jokes, in his 2023 TV special 30 Minutes with Dave Smith. Yup.

It’s one of Cleveland’s most beautiful and battered buildings, one tells the story of the city’s rise to greatness and illustrates its fall from glory.

Now the Rockefeller Building waits for a verdict that will determine its future. The historic 17-floor landmark on the corner of West Sixth Street and Superior Avenue is for sale.

There is no price tag – though it is likely to fetch a steep discount after plans to renovate it were abandoned last year because it was deemed too dilapidated to be repaired. See the listing here.

Built between 1903 and 1905 by iconic American tycoon John D. Rockefeller, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Despite its storied past, the Rockefeller has experienced a sad demise:

But optimism persists: Cleveland leads the nation in office-to-residential conversions, and Rockefeller’s prime location and eligibility for historic tax credits make it a redevelopment candidate. Will it get a new life?

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Founded in 2019, BorderLight was inspired by eclectic, European fringe fests that mix theatre, street performance, comedy, magic, puppet shows, guerilla-style performance art more. The fest returns today through Saturday, with 40+ productions from around the globe, across 16 spaces in the Playhouse Square neighborhood. There’s even a “Junior Fringe” fest this year. Info.

You may not know his name, but you know Louis Prima. The King of Swing’s classics have been featured in everything from Gap ads to “Elf” and influenced everyone from Elvis to David Lee Roth. On Thursday, the Italian American Museum of Cleveland is putting him back in the spotlight with their new exhibit, “Louis Prima: A Life in Rhythm and Music.” Opening night includes a Prima bash and a post-party at Angelo’s Nida Italia, featuring trumpeter Dominick Farinacci. Info.

Sweden’s Ghost has chartered an unlikely rise to the top of the concert chain by mixing sugary-pop choruses with devilish metal and doom-gloom-and-goth props and get-ups. Since releasing its debut album in 2010, it has gone from the underground fringes to playing arenas. At 8 p.m. Thursday, it brings Skeletor tour to Rocket Area. Info.

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The Cuban coffee is stellar. So are the pancakes, Tropichop stew, empanadas.

Sabor Miami is about more than food, however. It evokes other places and memories, from Miami to Central America. It’s personal, says Mariela Paz, who opened the Old Brooklyn café-gallery in 2015.

“I lived in Miami before I moved here,” says Paz. “I really missed the food, coffee and vibe there – so I opened a place that would remind me of it

Paz, a native of Honduras, is also an artist – and her gorgeous sun-drenched pastel paintings of birds, women and Latin America are as lively as her personality.

“A lot of artists come her for painting nights,” she says. “They come art and food, but it’s also about the vibes.”

Paz misses Miami but has found her place: “It gave me a chance to explore art, do something unique and bring a bit of Miami to Cleveland — I’m glad I moved here.”

The Union Trust Company opened the bank in its new building in1924 at 925 Euclid Avenue with a series of gala events, including a ‘children’s party’ that attracted 50,000 people.

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88 🌡️ 76 | ⛅ then ⚡ | 40% | 💨 SW 10 mph

86 🌡️ 70 | ⛅ then 🌧️ | 50% | 💨 WSW 9 mph

78 🌡️ 71 | 🌧️ AM then 🌤️ | 60% | 💨 NW 8 mph

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Home vs. Athletics, 7:10pm Friday

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