Finally, after a poor summer showing, some good bands will appear in Cleveland in the coming months. I'd like to try and make it to two or three of these concerts by the end of the year. Drop me a line and let me know if you want to come with me!
Jay-Z
Thursday, Oct. 2
Wolstein Center
Umphrey's McGee
Thursday, Oct. 8
House of Blues Cleveland
B.B. King
Friday, Oct. 9
House of Blues Cleveland
Moe.
Sunday, Oct. 11
House of Blues Cleveland
An Evening With The Mars Volta
Friday, Oct. 16
House of Blues Cleveland
St. Vincent plus Buried Wires
Tuesday, Oct. 20
Beachland Ballroom & Tavern
Drummer (members of The Black Keys, Houseguest, & Party of Helicopters)
Saturday, Oct. 24
Beachland Ballroom & Tavern
Leonard Cohen
Sunday, Oct. 25
Allen Theatre
An Evening With Guster
Thursday, Nov. 5
House of Blues Cleveland
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Tuesday, Nov. 10
Quicken Loans Arena
Brett Dennen w/ Grace Potter & The Nocturnals MUST
Wednesday, Nov. 25
House of Blues Cleveland
Matisyahu
Wednesday, Dec. 2
House of Blues Cleveland
9.24.2009
9.23.2009
some days i love my job
It's not uncommon for a trade journalist who has worked in the newspaper industry (most of them have) to miss the daily grind, chasing breaking news and the pressure of a looming deadline. It's what keeps good journalists thriving. Sometimes trade journalism simply just doesn't offer the same excitement, camaraderie and reward.
Today was one of those days where--at the end of the day--I'm able to stop, take a deep breath, and remember why I signed up for this gig. It was a pretty important day for the hotel team at Questex: we launched a daily e-newsletter with a circulation of more than 50,000 readers that will feature exclusive hotel news and insight. The newsletter launch--a culmination of months of hard work from a dedicated team of editors, designers and web gurus--will help feature our stories and drive traffic to our recently redesigned website.
As luck would have it, on the day the hotel team has been so anxiously awaiting, one of the oldest, biggest and most recognizable hotel brands (Hilton) up and announced they were changing their name, introducing a new logo and replacing one of the most controversial hotel designers in the industry. All by 9 a.m.
It threw a wrench into our game plan. With most of our staff attending The Lodging Conference, one of the biggest hotel industry conference of the year, it was up to the remaining few to chase down the story, score a last-minute interview with Hilton's global CEO Chris Nassetta, design a graphic to lead our website and newsletter, write the story, build the newsletter and push it out to the public. All while we wrote, edited and designed the cover of the next issue of Hotel & Motel Management magazine, due to the printer Friday. Just like old times!
Here's a sneak peek at how things turned out:
The first day of The Daily--our newsletter that will feature exclusive news and opinions from Hotel &
Motel Management staff as well as headlines from around the industry--was jam packed with news. Hilton's refresh, a somewhat controversial story on rate discounting, a terror threat issued to hotels, a death and arrest in an iconic NYC hotel and a blog from The Lodging Conference round out Day 1. Some of the fonts and links will undoubtedly be tweaked moving forward, but all in all it came together pretty well. If you're interested in hotel news and want to sign up for The Daily, click here.
Hilton's name change--from Hilton Hotels and Resorts to Hilton Worldwide--as well as their new
logo, leads the day's headlines on our newly redesigned website. I learned of the news around 9 a.m. and was chatting with Hilton's CEO by 10:15. Pretty interesting story, including an update on the lawsuit Starwood filed against Hilton over their alleged theft of trade secrets. Check out the design of the new site here and let me know in the comments section what you think.
Tomorrow will undoubtedly be back to writing photo captions, trimming stories to fit on pages and discussing minibar options. But The Daily will keep us on our toes and, at least for today, remind me that journalism isn't dead, just evolving.
Today was one of those days where--at the end of the day--I'm able to stop, take a deep breath, and remember why I signed up for this gig. It was a pretty important day for the hotel team at Questex: we launched a daily e-newsletter with a circulation of more than 50,000 readers that will feature exclusive hotel news and insight. The newsletter launch--a culmination of months of hard work from a dedicated team of editors, designers and web gurus--will help feature our stories and drive traffic to our recently redesigned website.
As luck would have it, on the day the hotel team has been so anxiously awaiting, one of the oldest, biggest and most recognizable hotel brands (Hilton) up and announced they were changing their name, introducing a new logo and replacing one of the most controversial hotel designers in the industry. All by 9 a.m.
It threw a wrench into our game plan. With most of our staff attending The Lodging Conference, one of the biggest hotel industry conference of the year, it was up to the remaining few to chase down the story, score a last-minute interview with Hilton's global CEO Chris Nassetta, design a graphic to lead our website and newsletter, write the story, build the newsletter and push it out to the public. All while we wrote, edited and designed the cover of the next issue of Hotel & Motel Management magazine, due to the printer Friday. Just like old times!
Here's a sneak peek at how things turned out:
The first day of The Daily--our newsletter that will feature exclusive news and opinions from Hotel &
Motel Management staff as well as headlines from around the industry--was jam packed with news. Hilton's refresh, a somewhat controversial story on rate discounting, a terror threat issued to hotels, a death and arrest in an iconic NYC hotel and a blog from The Lodging Conference round out Day 1. Some of the fonts and links will undoubtedly be tweaked moving forward, but all in all it came together pretty well. If you're interested in hotel news and want to sign up for The Daily, click here.Hilton's name change--from Hilton Hotels and Resorts to Hilton Worldwide--as well as their new
logo, leads the day's headlines on our newly redesigned website. I learned of the news around 9 a.m. and was chatting with Hilton's CEO by 10:15. Pretty interesting story, including an update on the lawsuit Starwood filed against Hilton over their alleged theft of trade secrets. Check out the design of the new site here and let me know in the comments section what you think.Tomorrow will undoubtedly be back to writing photo captions, trimming stories to fit on pages and discussing minibar options. But The Daily will keep us on our toes and, at least for today, remind me that journalism isn't dead, just evolving.
9.13.2009
SWW: Steelers, Browns, Ohio State, Kent, Spartans
Here's your quick Sports Weekend Wrap:
Shockingly, everything in the NFL looks exactly the same as last year. Steelers' defense is THAT GOOD; good enough to keep them in games so they can pull it out in the fourth quarter, even with no running game. Willie Parker still can't break a tackle. Browns showed a little promise in the first half, only to resort to the penalty-ridden, swiss-cheese defense that landed them at 4-12 last year. Peterson living up to the hype, just tossing tacklers out of his way ...
Ohio State dominated the entire game against Southern Cal ... until they decided to just quit playing on USC's final drive. Even when the Trojans scored with 1:10 left, I thought the Buckeyes had plenty of time to move the ball 40 yards and boot a field goal to send it to overtime. Then Terrelle Pryor shit himself. This guy ain't all he's cracked up to be. Also, everyone thought it was crazy when Dino was calling for Jimmy T's head last year, now everyone's jumping on board. I love the guy, but when's the last time you saw Florida score less than 20 points?
Kent State is a football-breeding powerhouse. My good buddy and fellow Golden Flash alumn Edgar made a good point: there are three former Golden Flashes in the NFL that are currently the best at their position (Antonio Gates, Josh Cribbs and James Harrison). Pretty ironic for a football program that hasn't had a winning season since 2001.
And finally, thanks to Wheatley's Spartan Helmets for ruining an otherwise decent weekend at the sportsbook. You come in -15 to the Chippewas and lose?
Shockingly, everything in the NFL looks exactly the same as last year. Steelers' defense is THAT GOOD; good enough to keep them in games so they can pull it out in the fourth quarter, even with no running game. Willie Parker still can't break a tackle. Browns showed a little promise in the first half, only to resort to the penalty-ridden, swiss-cheese defense that landed them at 4-12 last year. Peterson living up to the hype, just tossing tacklers out of his way ...
Ohio State dominated the entire game against Southern Cal ... until they decided to just quit playing on USC's final drive. Even when the Trojans scored with 1:10 left, I thought the Buckeyes had plenty of time to move the ball 40 yards and boot a field goal to send it to overtime. Then Terrelle Pryor shit himself. This guy ain't all he's cracked up to be. Also, everyone thought it was crazy when Dino was calling for Jimmy T's head last year, now everyone's jumping on board. I love the guy, but when's the last time you saw Florida score less than 20 points?
Kent State is a football-breeding powerhouse. My good buddy and fellow Golden Flash alumn Edgar made a good point: there are three former Golden Flashes in the NFL that are currently the best at their position (Antonio Gates, Josh Cribbs and James Harrison). Pretty ironic for a football program that hasn't had a winning season since 2001.
And finally, thanks to Wheatley's Spartan Helmets for ruining an otherwise decent weekend at the sportsbook. You come in -15 to the Chippewas and lose?
9.08.2009
grilling and entertaining in the summer
We had a pretty successful Labor Day get-together yesterday and came away with a few awesome summer recipes and entertainment ideas. Before the sun goes away for at least six months, try these out:
My summer food: St. Louis-style pork ribs on the grill
A good price on a rack of spare pork ribs from the grocery store is $1.99/lb., or about $9 a rack.
To trim the ribs St. Louis-style, flip them over and remove the skirt meat from the backside. Then trim as much fat as you can from the ribs. Finally, most importantly and most tricky, you must remove the membrane to allow the marinade to best soak into the meat. Start peeling the membrane from the square end of the ribs with a dull spoon, then use a paper towel to grip and rip. Here's a video showing how it should be done.
Marinade the ribs overnight with the following recipe:
2 cans Pabst Blue Ribbon
1 chopped onion
5 cloves garlic
1 TBSP seasoning salt
salt/pepper to taste
Slow cook the ribs in the marinade, covered with foil, for 3 hours at 225 degrees in the oven.
Place ribs on low-medium heat on the grill, add plenty of barbecue sauce. Cook for 12 minutes on each side.
My summer drink: Porch crawler
Tastes like refreshing lemonade, sneaks up on you and kicks your ass.
10 cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon
1/2 bottle of vodka
1/2 bottle of rum
1 can of frozen lemonade concentrate
lemon slices
My summer music: The Greatest Most Influential Music of All Time
See earlier blog post here.
My summer lawn game: Beersbee
I've long been a fan of horseshoes, bocce, cornhole, baggo, croquet, lawn darts and pretty much any other outside summer game that is highly competitive yet requires little to no athletic ability. If it's a game that the more you drink, the better you get, I'm in (and I'm probably pretty good).
I recently learned Beersbee and it ranks up there with the best lawn games ever.
To play, hammer two 4-foot PVC pipes into the ground about 40 feet apart and place a beer can on top of each. O
ne team of two players stands behind one pole and the other team of two players behind the other. The teams take turns throwing two frisbees at the other team's poles/beer. One teammate throws his frisbee, and once it passes the pole, the other teammate is free to throw. The receiving team must catch the frisbees, but not until they pass the pole.
If you hit the beer, it's 3 points. If you hit the pole and the beer falls, it's one point. If a frisbee is catchable but the receiving team fails to catch it, it's a point.
If the frisbee hits the pole, the beer falls, but the receiving team catches the beer, no points.
If the frisbee hits the beer and it explodes, game over--tossing team wins.
Play to 21, win by two.
My summer food: St. Louis-style pork ribs on the grill
A good price on a rack of spare pork ribs from the grocery store is $1.99/lb., or about $9 a rack.
To trim the ribs St. Louis-style, flip them over and remove the skirt meat from the backside. Then trim as much fat as you can from the ribs. Finally, most importantly and most tricky, you must remove the membrane to allow the marinade to best soak into the meat. Start peeling the membrane from the square end of the ribs with a dull spoon, then use a paper towel to grip and rip. Here's a video showing how it should be done.
Marinade the ribs overnight with the following recipe:
2 cans Pabst Blue Ribbon
1 chopped onion
5 cloves garlic
1 TBSP seasoning salt
salt/pepper to taste
Slow cook the ribs in the marinade, covered with foil, for 3 hours at 225 degrees in the oven.
Place ribs on low-medium heat on the grill, add plenty of barbecue sauce. Cook for 12 minutes on each side.
My summer drink: Porch crawler
Tastes like refreshing lemonade, sneaks up on you and kicks your ass.
10 cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon
1/2 bottle of vodka
1/2 bottle of rum
1 can of frozen lemonade concentrate
lemon slices
My summer music: The Greatest Most Influential Music of All Time
See earlier blog post here.
My summer lawn game: Beersbee
I've long been a fan of horseshoes, bocce, cornhole, baggo, croquet, lawn darts and pretty much any other outside summer game that is highly competitive yet requires little to no athletic ability. If it's a game that the more you drink, the better you get, I'm in (and I'm probably pretty good).
I recently learned Beersbee and it ranks up there with the best lawn games ever.
To play, hammer two 4-foot PVC pipes into the ground about 40 feet apart and place a beer can on top of each. O
ne team of two players stands behind one pole and the other team of two players behind the other. The teams take turns throwing two frisbees at the other team's poles/beer. One teammate throws his frisbee, and once it passes the pole, the other teammate is free to throw. The receiving team must catch the frisbees, but not until they pass the pole.If you hit the beer, it's 3 points. If you hit the pole and the beer falls, it's one point. If a frisbee is catchable but the receiving team fails to catch it, it's a point.
If the frisbee hits the pole, the beer falls, but the receiving team catches the beer, no points.
If the frisbee hits the beer and it explodes, game over--tossing team wins.
Play to 21, win by two.
9.05.2009
Browns making moves?
Don't ask me why I felt compelled to write a blog post about the Browns, but check this scenario.
The Browns might be considering cutting Jamal Lewis, who average 2.6 yards per carry in the preseason, during which he turned 30 years old (read: washed up). Read it here
The Browns shockingly played neither Brady Quinn nor Derek Anderson in their final preseason game on Thursday, possibly meaning they are saving one from injury so they could make a trade. Read it here
The New England Patriots just released Andrew Walter, their third-string QB, after releasing their fourth string QB last week. Now they only have Tom Brady and undrafted rookie QB Brian Hoyer going into Week 1. Read it here
The Patriots have 5 solid running backs: Fred Taylor, Sammy Morris, Kevin Faulk, Laurence Maloney and BenJaurvis Green-Ellis. They'll undoubtedly have to release one of them, unless ...
Browns cut Lewis, trade DA to Patriots for any one portion of their five-headed monster.
Any would be an upgrade from a washed-up Jamal Lewis, and Cleveland backup Richard Bartel proved Thursday he can play backup to Brady Quinn alongside Brett Ratliff.
New England benefits by getting a solid backup QB and only lose an RB they were considering cutting anyway.
Make sense? You heard it here first.
The Browns might be considering cutting Jamal Lewis, who average 2.6 yards per carry in the preseason, during which he turned 30 years old (read: washed up). Read it here
The Browns shockingly played neither Brady Quinn nor Derek Anderson in their final preseason game on Thursday, possibly meaning they are saving one from injury so they could make a trade. Read it here
The New England Patriots just released Andrew Walter, their third-string QB, after releasing their fourth string QB last week. Now they only have Tom Brady and undrafted rookie QB Brian Hoyer going into Week 1. Read it here
The Patriots have 5 solid running backs: Fred Taylor, Sammy Morris, Kevin Faulk, Laurence Maloney and BenJaurvis Green-Ellis. They'll undoubtedly have to release one of them, unless ...
Browns cut Lewis, trade DA to Patriots for any one portion of their five-headed monster.
Any would be an upgrade from a washed-up Jamal Lewis, and Cleveland backup Richard Bartel proved Thursday he can play backup to Brady Quinn alongside Brett Ratliff.
New England benefits by getting a solid backup QB and only lose an RB they were considering cutting anyway.
Make sense? You heard it here first.
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