Just two events to spotlight this week, both on Saturday,

6:00 pm – Renovare Music. Dialogue: Music in the Garden. Lalia Curtis, violin, and Clara Prinston, viola. An evening of duo music that ranges from Mozart to Martinu to Mark O’Connor, as well as a bit of singing. Centering Space, 14812 Lake Road, Lakewood. Free.

7:00 pm – The Cleveland Orchestra. Tabita Berglund, conductor, and Simone Lamsma, violin. Sibelius’ Finlandia & Violin Concerto and Prokofiev’s Suite No. 2 from Romeo and Juliet. Blossom Music Center, 1145 W. Steels Corners Road, Cuyahoga Falls. Tickets available online.

For Details of these and other classical music events, please visit the ClevelandClassical.com concert listings.

Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

The post The Cleveland Orchestra Does Romeo and Juliet Saturday at Blossom appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

Haitians living in Springfield, Ohio are being required to wear ankle monitors and turn their passports over to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

Haitians in Springfield are getting letters telling them to report to the ICE office in either Blue Ash (near Cincinnati) or Westerville (near Columbus). 

“When they do, their passports are collected,” said Carl Ruby, pastor of Springfield’s Central Christian Church. 

“They’re fitted with ankle (monitors); I call them ankle shackles.” 

This is happening after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that President Donald Trump can end temporary protected status for the 330,000 Haitians who’ve fled the violence in their home country.

TPS officially ended for Haitians on July 27 and a court lifted an injunction last week.

About 15,000 Haitians live in Springfield, with a mixture of temporary protected status, citizenship, and other legal status.

Even though about 30,000 Haitians with temporary status live in central Ohio, only Haitians in Springfield are being asked to wear the ankle monitors as of now, Ruby said.

“What you’re seeing in Ohio is a Springfield focused effort,” he said.

He has gone down to ICE’s Blue Ash office with some Haitians to receive their ankle monitors, which can track where people are at any given moment and have about a 75 mile radius, Ruby said.

“The ICE officers indicated, ‘If you keep coming back every time we call you, that may help your immigration case,’ which I don’t believe,” he said. 

“I think it’s a means to round up people quickly, and that when they’re ready, they have the logistics in place to deport them. I think that’s what’s going to happen.” 

The Haitians are then told to report back to the ICE office when they are summoned, which is expected to be every three to four weeks, Ruby said. 

“It’s inciting a lot of fear,” Ruby said. “I think (ICE’s) real goal is for them to self-deport. … I think it boils down to they want to have complete control over them, so (ICE) can easily deport them as soon as they’re ready.”

Ruby is unaware of any Haitians from Springfield who have self-deported back to Haiti. 

The U.S. Department of State currently has a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for Haiti“due to the risk of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest, and limited health care,” according to the state department. A top security official and chief of staff to the nation’s defense minister was kidnapped in June. 

“It just makes me sick thinking of the sexual violence that is the norm in Haiti,” Ruby said. “There there are kids who sat next to our kids in Springfield City Schools who are going to be raped if they’re sent back, and that’s just the truth.”

More than 1,000 children born in Springfield with American citizenship have Haitian parents. Springfield City Schools declined to comment for the story.

ICE detained 35 people — including four Haitians — in central Ohio between Aug. 5 through Aug. 10, said Maqueli Eldredge, a paralegal at Legal Immigration Services in Dublin. Ruby said he has not noticed an increased ICE presence in Springfield. 

“They say they would come for the Haitians on this special task force, but they take any collateral damage people,” Eldredge said in a text message. 

The ICE office in Westerville was full of Haitians coming out with ankle monitors when Eldredge was there last week.

Many of their Brazilian clients in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia were asked to start wearing ankle monitors in July 2025. She said they have a 16-year-old client wearing an ankle monitor in Pittsburgh. 

“It is very embarrassing to wear them,” Eldredge said in a text message. “(The) devices cause lesions, rashes and blisters, bleeding on their ankles.” 

She said it can be hard for their clients to sleep with the ankle monitors. 

“It beeps in the middle of the night and (it’s) hard to get comfortable,” Eldredge said in a text message.

The ankle monitors will start beeping if the battery is not functioning well, Eldredge said. 

“They break all the time and batteries malfunction and get very hot, some caught on fire when charging,” she said in a text message. 

Some people are afraid of going back to the ICE office, so Eldredge knows folks who have cut off the ankle monitors and leave the state or self-deport. 

“(Officials) follow up where they leave that monitor and sometimes just take some collaterals,” she said. 

Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.

The post Haitians in Springfield Are Required to Report to Ohio’s ICE Offices and Wear Ankle Monitors appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

Formed on Long Island in 1979, Stray Cats were a bit of an enigma: Punk-era kids emulating mid-’50s Rockabilly, the music made famous by Eddie Cochran, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.  When disco was in full swing and stadium rock was the thing, the trio of Brian Setzer on lead guitar and vocals, “Slim Jim” Phantom on the skins, and Lee Rocker rocking a standup bass, were throwing back to a much different time in our modern history.

The band really broke open after a move to England, where the Punk scene was more accepting of such a unique Rockabilly/Punk hybrid. Repackaging themselves and finding a record label, the Cats came back to the U.S. in the early ’80s with hits such as “Rock This Town,” and “(She’s) Sexy and 17.” 

After a few successful albums and heavy rotation on MTV for several years, Setzer grew bored and disbanded the outfit.  Over the years the trio has gotten together again to record some new music, re-release the old hits, and tour on occasion.  Setzer has said that he regretted breaking up the band at the height of their fame, even though they all went on to successful side projects since the band’s dissolution.

Wednesday night saw the Stray Cats’ return to Northeast Ohio from a show that was rescheduled from last year due to a debilitating illness from which Setzer had been suffering.

Whatever neurological issues that sidelined the lead guitarist last year must be cured, as he and his bandmates were in fine form for the Northfield Park Racino show. Attendees were dressed in their finest Teddy Boy duds, anticipating the first time that the full band has played Northeast Ohio.  In the trio’s heyday they played Blossom once; the Cleveland area wasn’t a stop they made on any tour of theirs, despite the 216’s popularity during the 170s and ’80s.

What’s not to like about a Stray Cats concert?  Their music is non-political, and any sexual innuendo is squarely set in the innocence of the McCarthy-era lyrics. Each tune is a toe-tapper of the sing-along variety, awash in a gentle sea of nostalgia.  Which here is double: a late-1970s-era trio harking back to the early days of Rock-n-Roll.

The only drawback, sadly, was the length of the show: it barely rang in at ninety minutes and, whether that’s due to the shorter nature of older rock tunes, the crowd was clearly clamoring for more.  

The band offered a twenty-two song set, giving the audience everything they could ask for, including an early-set “Runaway Boys,” a mid-set “Stray Cat Strut,” and of course, “Rock This Town” towards the end of the night.  Noticeably absent, and for cause, was one of their biggest hits, “(She’s) Sexy and 17,” which doesn’t play too well in a post-Epstein world.

They closed the night out with a mashup of Rockabilly classics “Jailhouse Rock” and “Hound Dog,” and then wrapped it up with “Built For Speed,” which as Setzer and company are approaching their late 60s, is an apt metaphor for this still-going-hard group of musicians.

The post Concert Photos: Stray Cats in Fine Form at Northfield Park Racino appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

In the wake of the Downtown Heinen’s closure, many have wondered whether the city of Cleveland could have done more to prevent it from shuttering.

Ward 5 Councilman Richard Starr thinks the answer is yes.

On Thursday, roughly two weeks after Heinen’s fled his ward, Starr announced plans to introduce legislation that would have the city create a $10 to $15 million fund to help keep existing grocery stores open and offer incentives to help entice operators to open in areas that have struggled to attract options.

To put it simply: grocery stores are public goods, Starr believes, not just isolated private businesses.

“Everyone deserves to have good quality foods and also have different ways to be able to address their needs,” he told Scene in a phone call on Thursday.

“If we continue to sit aside, and not do anything, then we’re going to continue to get the short end of the stick,” he said. “And things are going to continue to get worse for our people rather than better.”

Cleveland has thrown money or tax cuts at big retail before, but not in the form Starr in proposing. Midtown’s Fairfax Market, which opened in 2024, received public assistance. And the East Side Market was leased for a $1 per year to its operator, Northeast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services, before operational issues drove Cleveland to cut ties with NEON.

But as far as what keeps stores open and affordable is a matter of debate these days, as city halls throughout the U.S. tinker with formats and initiatives to address food deserts and affordability. Baltimore, Detroit, Atlanta and New York City have all rolled out funding pools to either grant grocers loans or help build stores in high-demand areas. Atlanta’s $8.1 million fund helped raise its own downtown grocer, the Azalea Fresh Market, which a recent news report said had “exceeded expectations.”

It’s possible a similar fund in Cleveland could do the same.

Starr hasn’t narrowed down where exactly that $15 million or so might come from, save for a “combination of different funding sources,” he said. Or how grocers would repay grants or incentives if they did decide to close. Both are likely to be points of contention amongst councilmembers.

This is “not to guarantee the profitability of any private grocery operator or permanently subsidize an unsustainable business model,” the draft legislation reads. But to “create conditions under which responsible grocery operators have a reasonable opportunity to succeed.”

To borrow the baseball truism: If we make it easy, they’ll come and build it.

“We’re not waiting on somebody else to actually decide if they want to come into our neighborhood,” Starr said. “We’re deciding for ourselves that we’re going to make sure grocery stores are there.”

Lucas Reeve, a senior advisor to Mayor Bibb, has assigned a small task force to figure out, with the help of consultants Streetsense, what sort of grocery store might work downtown. Results from a study will be shared in late October. A public feedback session is scheduled for August 18 at Cleveland Public Library’s downtown branch.

Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

The post Councilman Starr Proposes City Grocery Fund to Attract and Back Stores appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

The crew at Never Say Dive (4497 Broadview Rd.) in Old Brooklyn is always looking for ways to spice things up on Monday nights to give diners a special reason to visit. Previous dinner series have been devoted to vegan food and ramen. Since June, resident prep cook Thu Tran has been hosting Cold Noodle Night.

“It seemed like something fun to try,” she explains.

On Monday nights, Tran offers a special menu starring three cold vermicelli noodle bowls, three banh mi sandwiches, and few appetizers. She describes the food as “Cleveland Vietnamese,” adding that she’s far from a traditionalist when it comes to recipes. Her banh mi sandwiches, for example, arrive on airy hoagie rolls from Michael’s Bakery across the street.

Tran’s take on the Vietnamese fish cake is made with fresh fish from Kate’s at the West Side Market and then smashed on the griddle the way you’d make a smash burger. They are available as the main protein in one of the banh mis and one of the noodle bowls. Other noodle bowls star grilled chicken marinated in a ginger-lemongrass sauce and a vegetarian crispy spring roll filled with tofu, mushroom and carrot. The other two sandwiches are filled with chicken and pate or tofu along with slaw, cucumbers and mayo.

Starters include shrimp chips, sesame chips, vegetable spring rolls and fish sauce-glazed chicken wings.

The recurring element – and really, the raison d’être for Cold Noodle Night – are the fresh herbs found across the board.

“The herbs all come from my backyard,” says Tran. “My dad is a big gardener and he grows all of these herbs. This pop-up has been a nice way to utilize all of that.”

The herbs, adds Tran, are picked fresh the day of service. But the herbs – or lack of them – will also signal the end of the road for Cold Noodle Night.

“The gravy train is coming to an end,” she warns. “If we had to buy all of these herbs it would probably $200 per week.”

Tran says that the noodle nights will continue for the next three Monday nights. After that, who knows.

“We might do pho night in the winter,” says Tran.

Subscribe to CLE Bites, Doug Trattner’s weekly food newsletter.

Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

The post Cold Noodle Monday Night Runs Through August at Never Say Dive appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

Two years after Ohio recreational marijuana sales began, Ohio’s adult-use marijuana continues to be significantly more expensive than Michigan, according to pricing data. Meanwhile, Ohio Republican lawmakers have outlawed buying from other states.

The cheapest ounce of marijuana in Ohio is $112 while the cheapest ounce in Michigan is $6.99, according to the WeedBuddy Cannabis Price Index. 

In Arizona, it’s $49.99, and in Colorado, it’s $16.73.

The median cost of an ounce shows far closer prices though Ohio still sits as most expensive among the four states at $147.35, compared to $99 in Michigan, $120 in Arizona, and $110 in Colorado.

Ohio’s median price for an eighth of cannabis flower is $35, compared to Michigan’s $20 for the same amount as of July 31, the index shows.

“Price is going to be one of the most important aspects in terms of determining where they purchase cannabis,” said Morgan Fox, political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. 

“People were already used to driving to Michigan to purchase cannabis, so as long as there’s still a massive price differential, they’re probably going to continue doing so at least for the foreseeable future.” 

Marijuana is illegal for recreational use in West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. 

Ohio recreational sales started in August 2024, about nine months after Ohioans voted to legalize recreational marijuana.

A new law passed by Republican state lawmakers took effect earlier this year that made a wide variety of changes to the voter-passed law.

Ohio Senate Bill 56 criminalized bringing legal marijuana from another state back to Ohio. 

“If you’re caught with cannabis that cannot be verified purchased in Ohio or verified grown in Ohio, then it’s the same penalties as it was under prohibition of pre-legalization,” Fox said. 

However, he was doubtful Ohio customers knew about the changes to Ohio’s law. 

“If people had gotten used to doing that when cannabis was not legal in Ohio, they’re probably going to continue to do so,” Fox said. 

The law also bans possessing marijuana in anything outside of its original packaging and requires drivers to store marijuana in the trunk of their car while driving. 

Furthermore, the law reduced THC levels in adult-use marijuana extracted from a maximum of 90% down to a maximum of 70%, capped THC levels in adult-use flower to 35%, and banned smoking in most public places. 

Ohio’s total recreational marijuana sales were $1.67 billion as of July 11, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Cannabis Control. 

The median price of a standard eighth of cannabis flower was $36.40 in Columbus, $32 in Cincinnati, and $30.80 in Cleveland at the end of July, according to the price index. 

Compared to cities in Michigan, the median price of the same amount of cannabis flower, according to the price index., cost $25 in Lansing, $20 in Detroit, and $20 in Monroe, Michigan which is about 12 miles from downtown Toledo.

There have been 32.5 million units of manufactured products that have been sold and 267,590 pounds of plant material, according to the division. 

There are 223 dual-use marijuana dispensaries in Ohio as of Thursday, meaning they can sell medical and non-medical marijuana, according to the division. 

More than 160 Ohio municipalities or townships that have moratoriums in place banning the sale of adult-use cannabis as of June 3, according to Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law.

Michigan voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2018 and sales started in December 2019. 

“Michigan’s market is much more well established, and we’ve seen in most cannabis markets that prices tend to go down over time,” Fox said. 

Michigan has more than 800 active retail licenses as of June 2026, and Michigan marijuana stores reported about $3.17 billion in revenue in 2025, according to the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency. 

“Michigan also has a much bigger market in terms of the numbers of dispensaries and the number of licensed businesses than Ohio does, largely because Ohio artificially capped that, so that means that since there’s more competition between those businesses, they have to keep their prices a little bit lower to be competitive,” Fox said. 

Michigan is the second-largest adult-use marijuana market in the nation, behind California. 

Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.

The post Ohio’s Recreational Marijuana Prices Are Higher Than What Michigan Customers Pay appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

Ethan Khorana has encountered a lot of questions in his six years of community organizing. Why potholes go so long unfixed. Why overfilled dumpsters go so long without cleanup. Or public park grills go filthy. Many times, the answers aren’t all that complicated. Many times, you can just do things.

Khorana, a 20-year-old college student from Shaker Heights, encountered another one this summer when he was schooled in the realm of unpaid medical bills. With the right planning, he found, millions of dollars of his neighbors’ medical debt could be relieved for the price of a used sedan. All by making a few calls.

So, Khorana did just that. In partnership with Undue Medical Debt, a nonprofit based in New York City, he raised a little over $10,000 from a short list of donors and, starting Thursday, helped buy up and cancel out $1.3 million in medical debt for 1,148 Cuyahoga County residents.

It took Khorana two months of work. Half of his summer break as a sophomore public policy major at Duke University.

“What surprised me most was the fact that I had to be the person doing it,” Khorana told Scene, sitting at a table in Shaker’s Van Aken District. “You know, $10,000 for most government budgets is like a rounding error, to some extent.”

“But that’s fundamentally changing people’s lives and the way they’re able to move forward from a bill,” he said.

About 10 percent of Cuyahoga County’s 1.2 million residents had some sort of medical debt in 2022, a dashboard published by the Urban Institute showed, with a median amount of $440. But that’s just debt run by collections agencies, not on one’s credit card or managed by the hospital or clinic.

Hospital systems often sell debt in bulk, typically at a discount, on secondary markets. Companies like Undue, the liaison for Khorana’s campaign in Shaker, buy these debt packages with tremendous purchasing power. On average, every $1 raised equals $100 in medical debt cancelled, Undue said.

Which means Khorana scored a bit of a deal.

“This shows what’s possible when a community decides to come together and do something,” Marisa Clemente, Undue’s vice president of philanthropy, wrote Scene in an email. “We’re honored to have been part of it.”

Last spring, Cleveland City Council allocated $2 million of American Rescue Plan Act dollars to help erase $165 million of combined medical debt for 161,000 Clevelanders. Ward 4 Councilman Kris Harsh spearheaded the campaign after he, like Khorana, discovered erasing medical bills with Undue as buyer was easier done than thought.

But Khorana is no salaried politician. And his main project, a Better Future for Cuyahoga, is no council body.

That’s sort of Khorana’s point. After attending his first rally, a Black Lives Matter protest at 14, he aligned himself with a bevy of traditionally leftist issues—getting Shaker Heights police paired up with mental health co-responders (for which Khorana helped raised $20,000), or pushing Shaker Heights Mayor David Weiss to cancel the city’s controversial contract with Flock Safety. He helped Mayor Bibb transition to office in 2023.

If Khorana has a modus operandi, it is to show how everyday neighbors can latch onto good public policy without trudging through the long, laborious process of bureaucracy. 

“We all want potholes filled, want to be able to get to work, to put food on the table for one’s family,” Khorana said. 

“And I think that’s what I’ve been trying to preach as I went around the county,” he said, “is that we really all rise and fall together.”

After Khorana finishes his degree at Duke, he said he plans to return to Cleveland in 2028 to hit the ground running with his data-driven policy ideas.

And maybe cancel other types of debt. Credit card? Student loans? Mortgages?

“I’d love to,” Khorana said, laughing. “It’s actually a good idea. Maybe I’ll look into it.”

Subscribe to Cleveland Scene newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

The post He Helped Erase $1.2 Million in Medical Debt for Cuyahoga County Residents. It Took Him Just Two Months appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

Ohio’s two candidates for governor have conflicting ideas of what they would like to see happen to future data centers, which have become a political lightning rod in this year’s November election. 

Ohio’s next governor will appoint the five members of the Public Utilities Commission, which sets utility rates and set the parameters for data centers opening in cities across the state. 

Ohio Democratic candidate for governor Dr. Amy Acton announced on July 27 she supports a conditional moratorium on data centers “if requirements on costs, union labor, transparency, environmental standards, community benefit agreements, and development are not met,” she said in a statement.

Innovation Ohio, a progressive policy advocacy organization, said Acton has a strong data center proposal. 

“Requiring data centers to really pay their own money in terms of electricity, electricity in terms of really protecting the environment, protecting water, making sure workers are getting a fair shake out of these fields, that to us is really leveling the playing field and ensuring that going forward,” said Innovation Ohio President Michael McGovern. 

Ohio Republican candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy announced his three-fold data center plan on Aug. 6.

“If a data center is built in your community, then (1) you will no longer have to pay for your home’s electricity, (2) you will pay lower property taxes, and (3) the data center will be required to abide by all air and water quality standards without exception, and we will take the necessary steps to protect Ohio’s fertile farmland,” he said in a post on X.

“If any one of these three conditions is not met, the data center won’t be built. Period,” Ramaswamy said in his statement.

McGovern called Ramaswamy’s idea for data centers to pay for citizen’s electric bills “utter nonsense.”

“We see Vivek Ramaswamy’s plan that’s just like absolute nonsense in coming up with these wild ideas that don’t make any sense and aren’t based in any actual policy research, and instead are sort of just these silly promises,” McGovern said.

Ramaswamy’s plan does not specify how many miles away from a data center someone must be living to get their electricity for free. 

“There’s no detail, there’s no substance,” McGovern said. 

Ramaswamy said last year it’s a “good thing” AI data centers moving to Ohio. 

“I want the sectors of the future to come here, but that will make a level of demand on our electric grid of a kind that we have not seen in the history of our state … right at a time when we’ve also cut off and reduced the supply of base load power generation, shutting down coal plants that, on my watch, would have remained open,” Ramaswamy said in a video posted to X in March 2025. 

Ramaswamy has a financial stake in data centers by having financial positions in the chips that power AI to the companies that run the data centers, according to a report released earlier this year from Innovation Ohio. 

“He has rolled out a plan that is unserious and does not really tackle this vital issue for Ohioans, and he is personally getting richer off of data centers,” McGovern said. 

“He’s making money here, and all of a sudden that’s a political problem, so he’s walking that back.”

Ohio has more than 200 data centers, the sixth-highest state in the country, according to Pew Research Center. Most of the data centers are in central Ohio. Cincinnati has 26 and Cleveland has 22, according to the Data Center Map. 

Ohioans are seeing increased electric bills. The average Ohio residential utility bills are projected to be about $800 for the summer — a 17% increase compared to last summer, according to a report by Third Way. 

Lawmakers at the Ohio Statehouse have yet to pass any data center legislation. 

Conserve Ohio, the grassroots organization behind a proposed constitutional amendment to ban new data centers, is collecting signatures to make the 2027 ballot.

Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.

The post Candidates Highlight Data Center Plans. Next Ohio Governor Will Select Regulators appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

Touring in support of her latest LP Creature of Habit, Courtney Barnett tour through 90 minues at the Agora with Zoh Amba opening. Here’s all the action we caught.

The post Concert Photos: Courtney Barnett Rocks the Agora appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

Never mind the musicianship. The Sex Pistols inspired numerous up-and-coming musicians who had yet to develop their musical chops, making them think that they too could become superstars if they only got onto stage and expressed themselves. That theory pans out when it comes to Joy Division. Famously, Peter Hook, Ian Curtis and Bernard Sumner — the core of what would become the post-punk band Joy Division — saw the Pistols play in Manchester, England in 1976 and decided to form a band with drummer Stephen Morris in the wake of that experience.

Joy Division would release two seminal studio albums before Curtis committed suicide just as the band was to embark on its first-ever U.S. tour. Hook, Morris and Sumner soldiered on as New Order and had great success throughout the ’80s and ’90s. That band has since splintered. Sumner retains the name New Order, but Hook continues to play Joy Division and New Order tunes with his band the Light. Earlier this year, the Rock Hall announced that both Joy Division and New Order will finally be inducted in November as part of the Class of 2026. The two groups have been eligible for induction for several years now.

In advance of that induction, Hook and the Light will hit the road for a U.S. tour that finds them playing the 2001 New Order album Get Ready in its entirety. Hook first revisited the Joy Division album Unknown Pleasures back in May 2010 for a commemorative charity concert and has followed it each year by performing subsequent albums from Joy Division and New Order.

Hook says he’s happy the wait to be inducted is finally over.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t care [about getting inducted]. There’s not much we can do about it apart from promote it when you do get nominated,” he says via Zoom from his home in Alderley Edge, just outside of Manchester, England. Hook and the Light perform at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 23, at the Agora. He also gives a talk at 2 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24, at the Rock Hall. “We were up three times. The first time, me and the other [members of New Order] promoted it. The second time, I promoted it, and they promoted it a little. The third time, they didn’t promote it at all. The fans did it anyway. There you go. It’s quite interesting. They thought we deserved it.”

Since Hook and his former bandmates have had a falling out, it is unclear who will attend the upcoming induction ceremony and who might perform.

“The whole thing of that is completely up in the air,” says Hook. “Obviously, I would prefer to take the Light with me and do what we do. At the moment, I have nothing to report. If I do go, I might be looking like [Silence of the Lambs’ villain] Hannibal Lecter with the straightjacket and the mouthpiece. They’ll be wheeling me out like that, so I can keep control.”

The Joy Division story is a remarkable one. Shortly after forming, the group released its full-length debut, 1979’s Unknown Pleasures, for the newly formed Factory Records. Curtis’s bellowing vocals and Hook’s thick bass riffs distinguished the group from other bands at the time. Hook says only Curtis knew the group was onto something special.

“The only person that felt that and expressed that [the music was groundbreaking] was Ian Curtis,” he says. “If we ever got down because we didn’t get gigs or were having trouble getting signed, he would always say, ‘Don’t worry. One day, we will be known all around the world.’ That was his speech to keep us going. He really was a fantastic cheerleader. Sadly, you couldn’t do [cheerleading] for him. He hid his disability so well that the only time you would spot it is when we had a [epileptic] fit. When he came around, he was back to being Ian. He would tell you he was fine. We were 22. We didn’t know our ass from our elbow. I’ve lost a few friends to suicide. Luckily for me, so far, it’s been something I can’t comprehend. You hope some people have found some peace and maybe can rest. It’s the only thing you can hope for.”

Hook says that revisiting Get Ready has been instructive. Looking back, he recalls that he and now-estranged guitarist Bernard Sumner were in a good place as they developed the “rockier” side of New Order’s sound.

“It was the comeback album when Barney [Sumner] and I rediscovered our friendship,” says Hook. “He had done Electronic. I had done Revenge and Monaco. It was his idea. He approached us. He felt like we had unfinished business. It was like going back to an old girlfriend. We did it, and it enabled us to play together on Get Ready like when we formed the band. For six months, it was just me and him. It was a special time. It was a moment for us to actually discover what we loved about each other’s playing. I loved the way he played guitar, and he loved the way I loved bass. On [New Order albums] Republic and Technique, we were fighting all the time. This was really refreshing and nice. Barney was full of hope for the future. I had not seen that in a long time. During the sessions, he kept saying, ‘This shit is great. I can’t wait to play it live.’”

The group invited Smashing Pumpkins singer-guitarist Billy Corgan to play on the album, and he had added rock appeal to the tunes as well.

“When we finished, and it came time to do that tour, [Sumner] didn’t want to play,” says Hook. “It’s like being mugged in an alley. I thought it would go back to what it was before, and lo and behold, it was back to how it was before. The next album, [2005’s] Waiting for the Sirens’ Call was a trial, and [2013’s] Lost Sirens was a waste of time. We just couldn’t stand each other.”

Conversely, Hook says playing with the Light has been great. He says he’s now worked longer with the Light guitarist David Potts than he did with Sumner.

“They show amazing respect for the music,” he says of his backing musicians. “They really do. They each have their own lives outside of it. It is a vehicle for me to play Joy Division and New Order songs and give the New Order and Joy Division fans what they want, and it is an absolute pleasure compared to the pain and the awful feelings I used to have when I toured with New Order. They’ve made it out like it was me. They act like, ‘We’re happy as New Order now that he’s gone.’ I know how Caesar felt, let’s put it that way. It is a breath of fresh air. I was very disheartened when [Sumner] took the trademark and then could masquerade as New Order.”

And now that Sumner is the only original member of New Order leading the group, Hook says the band doesn’t accurately represent the group’s innovation synth-rock sound.

“The fans have stuck with them, and they should thank their lucky stars for that,” he says. “But it’s going to come around and bite you in the ass when your fans vote you into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and you can’t even go. You can’t even have the grace to go and be inducted.”

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

The post Joy Division/New Order’s Peter Hook Credits Loyal Fans for Rock Hall Induction appeared first on Cleveland Scene.