At the Meet the Bloggers benefit last week, at Tower Press, I hoped I would see NEO's top filmmaker Bobert Banks, who has his studio in the Tower Press. Robert showed up, as is his style. Not only did I learn it was his 40th birthday (happy b-day... shush) but that he was having a filmfest birthday party today, 09/10/06... not to be missed, to celebrate a great man and artist's b-day and enjoy some retro film of Robert's choice. As Robert was born in 1966, and Star Trek was apparently invented then, the evening started out with some crazy Star Trek film that I suppose was the pilot of the series, and was totally freaky... rampant green dancing aliens, booze and sex.

I don't think folks in NEO appreciate the greatness of art residing in the Tower Press, but I've been to many arts events there and they are always the most diverse in the region... for that, I'd rather attend an arts and culture activity there than anywhere else in town... just for the diversity of people who will be there. This is the core of the core of Cleveland creativity, thanks to hard-core NEO developer David Perkowski. I say this in eternal disgust over the dismissal of hard-core arts developers like Perkowski by the "NEO establishment" that has no clue.

But enough about that... tonight was especially special... a night for celebration. The people who know NEO got together to celebrate a great artist of NEO, who is one of our rock-stars who will break loose. What I wonder is, will Robert find the support he needs to succeed in NEO, or will he leave. Even though Community Partnership for Arts and Culture is in his very building, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer is across the street, Robert is a hidden asset, which makes me gag at the establishment every time they talk of raising money for the arts... the arts are important... $ billions a year in benefits from art. They don't have a clue. Well, Robert is organizing a feature film now, and his support will either come from Cleveland or somewhere else in the world, and either some smart establishment folks in town will have the privilege of saying they helped make this happen, or will be ashamed to not have a clue. I will help make it happen, and I hope you do too, as Robert is one of NEO's next steps to greatness, whether in NEO or not.