Friends of Charlie Mosbrook (seems nearly everyone in Cleveland) have been concerned for his sudden health issues this year, and gladdened to see him back up, around, and performing stronger than ever. Featured above is a video from Charlie's website - inspiring, as is all his work - and he has many events upcoming - two in Lakewood may interested realNEO readers (we have lots of traffic in Lakewood)...

Music video by The Clash performing Rock The Casbah.
(C) 1982 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT (UK) Limited

One report I read today estimates that an Exxon Valdez worth of oil may be spilling into the Gulf of Mexico every two days, 50 miles off the shores of Louisiana, in what is in my mind the worst environmental catastrophe (besides war) in human history - and that may continue for months (no end in sight, at all). All happening 2 miles under some of the most treacherous seas in the world - I've known deep rig divers to confirm that - and they don't even know what caused this blowout. Bottom line, a huge area of the Gulf of Mexico and its shorelines are now probably dead for our lifetimes and generations to come, if not forever. Where the oil will invade beyond is to be determined by Mother Nature, in response. Man shook the Etch-a-sketch of the environment for eternity in an area spanning many states and international boundaries... ending the global sustainability movement forever.

It's 1969 all over again... America's rivers are burning... time for the punks to take charge!

I was driving through one of my favorite neighborhoods in the world yesterday and noticed a rare and important thing has taken bloom there - in University Circle - this Spring - Phase II of the Cleveland Museum of Art expansion is already visible and suddenly the seemingly-boxy, incomplete Rafael Viñoly transition has taken new bloom - and a roof.

Just some I-beams so far... ?!?! Not at all.

I was watching the Pere Ubu "We Have The Technology" video over and over today and I was thinking why doesn't everyone in NEO appreciate David Thomas like they appreciate LeBron James. Not in tennis shoe sponsorships, but with pride and celebration. Do area residents realize the king of ubu projex is from Cleveland and still makes this his home court? Very few places in the world may make such an important claim to modern cultural significance, and David Thomas is in his prime.

I've been asked what our traffic looks like over time, so I pulled a few quick charts of the number of visitors to realneo since we started using Google Analytics, and what they have visited, to measure performance of this site - and we've grown by pretty much all counts I've considered important by 30-100% since then - in some cases by 1,000s% - in less than a year-and-a-half.

When I last saw Rocket From The Tombs, for the sound check and performance, the band introduced a great new work just released as a vinyl 45 and for download from Hearpen Records - "Romeo & Juliet".  The new single from Rocket From The Tombs was recorded at Suma, in Painesville, Ohio, in January 2009.

Looking forward to the latest work of David Thomas and Ubu Projex - new releases from Rocket From The Tombs - look back 20+ years... then 30+ years... and see real NEOans have always had the technology, and why it is like a cup, at its best...

This event is the premier event of the Department of Arts Education of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. This is our 11th year of producing this fun packed month of events. Please come out to some of our events and learn what we know – the kids of CMSD actually do some great and wonderful things.

Come join the rest of our hillbilly community at the Curbside Coffeehouse on 99th & Lorain for some Live Bluegrass music on Tuesday nights from about 6:30-9pm.

Parade at Tower City Center
Thursday, April 15
5:00 p.m.
Shaw High School Marching Band

Location

Music at Main: Jazz with George Foley

Cleveland Public Library Main Library – Fine Arts

Location

In celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month 2010, the Fine Arts Department is pleased to present pianist and singer George Foley on April 17th, 2010 at 2pm in the 3rd floor lobby of the Main Library building (325 Superior Ave., Cleveland, Ohio, 44114). Mr. Foley will perform jazz standards from the 1920s through the 1950s. This program is free and open to all ages. For more information call 216-623-2848. Please join us for this informal, intimate and entertaining concert.

Pianist George Foley's virtuosity, warmth and humor have endeared him to audiences for over thirty years. His wide-ranging repertoire includes jazz, rags and other gems from the ragtime era, standards from the teens, 20's and 30's, swing tunes, blues, short 20th century classical pieces and occasional forays into modern jazz and movie themes. Aficionados often comment on the power and dexterity of his "killer" left hand.

George also sings in a style reminiscent of Fats Waller, Jack Teagarden and Mildred Bailey.

George is in great demand as a soloist, with his own band and as a featured member of other bands. He appears regularly as a soloist at Nighttown, as pianist with the Mercuries and with the Night Owls, and in a duet setting with bassist Gene Epstein.  

George's ability to swing and improvise contribute to the intensity and drive of his performances.

Location

Psychic Hearts is a solo album by Sonic Youth member Thurston Moore. The album was released in 1995 through Geffen Records.

Would any Realneo members like to participate in a seed and plant swap? I would be happy to host. Please post your thoughts on possible dates and times. We could also include garden tools and other gardeing related items if people are interested.

Growing up on punk, in the 1970s and 1980s, I like a direct, open, honest approach to decry injustice... and the Clash offer some of the best expressions of that ever. Enjoy.

 This sculpture, LIGHT YEAR, 1979 painted aluminum, 80" x 156" x 19," was acquired Fall 2009 and installed near Kelvin Smith Library on the Campus of Case Western Reserve University. It is best viewed on foot, but you can catch a glimpse of it from East Boulevard over the entrance to the parking garage by Severance Hall. Ronald Bladen (Canadian born American 1918-1988) was long considered one of the most important Minimalist artists but his oeuvre has since been reassessed. In this site LIGHT YEAR seems to be about more than form. See for youself.

Over the past three months, since I posted "2010 REAL COOP Annual Report and REALNEO Five-Year Report, at 10,000 Nodes", realNEO has continued to show 30%+ annual growth, having the second highest "Monthly Unique Visitors" of the realNEO ICE 25 Regional Social Media Benchmarking Sample, as of 02/10.  Cleveland Scene has higher traffic than realNEO, most months, and has demonstrated the fastest growth of any site in the region for this sample period.

My greatest cultural pleasure living in Cleveland has always been seeing the Cleveland Orchestra perform at Severance Hall - I grew-up experiencing the perfection of the George Szell era, and Franz Welser-Möst's current direction is my favorite since. So any time Evelyn is fortunate to be given tickets by her boss (thanks Professor), we are there.

It is stunning to me to realize I have sitting on my desk next to me right now the ICEarth Bigbang One - one of the world's fastest personal supercomputers - developed and assembled with true genius right here in Northeast Ohio, by a homegrown team including some of the world's best open source programmers - and, tomorrow we are launching an even faster laptop supercomputer - it appears the fastest laptop ever in the world - running all open source software and a special distro of Linux - ICEarth Linux - designed to transform information management for all citizens of the world...

...and to grow ICEarth as an enterprise, now, I may need to relocate all this from Northeast Ohio, because of our leaders' lack of understanding of and appreciation for our real NEO innovations and our contributions to the new economy.

Why I hate Facebook, #149 - this venn diagram is so true!

Don't expect to find humane virtual community in the warehouses of multi-billion-dollar American media corporations - that ain't how personal liberty works or ever has

Here is the best portrayal of the real world of Facebook to me...

Tremont Renaissance Years Flashback #1 

Tremont Church Bell Project - centered in Lincoln Park with dozens of artists and ten churches participating in a composition for Church Bells.

In June will be the 20th anniversary of the Tremont Church Bell Project 1990.

Created by Dennis Maxfield and Amy Sparks and presented in conjunction with the annual

Sonic Disturbance International New Music and Sound Festival in 1990.

Also Featured was Benoit Maubrey of Die Audio Gruppe of Germany...more...

Pablo Picasso

Still Life with Death's Head,

Paris, autumn 1907
Oil on canvas
115 x 88 cm
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

One scholar has suggested that this painting was inspired by the death of Alfred Jarry on November 1, 1907.Alfred Jarry was the author of the play Ubu Roi (1896) considered an important work of literature as the forerunner of Surrealist writing.