What's On My Mind, Monday Edition

Hard times - When you are a Clevelander, you are used to this. There was never a boom. The economy has been busting several times over as long as I can remember. The city defaulted when I was a kid. The Flats were revitalized and abandoned and revitalized at least four times. Unemployment is way into the double digits.

But this story just makes me sad: Cleveland State says its 17-story building, Rhodes Tower (named for former Governor Jim Rhodes, whose mark was made authorizing the National Guard to shoot those kids in 1970, so yeah, sad from the start), is going to close up shop.

That tower is the iconic symbol of Cleveland State, a large, mainly commuter school in the middle of a downtown that, see above, has seen better days.

University officials are in a quandary, but their list of woes could be a metaphor for the city itself. The tower, built in 1970s, has design flaws that make it impossible to tear down (it sits atop a library) and impossible to maintain ($37 million to renovate - but also major asbestos abatement that would cost $900,000 per FLOOR).

And you wonder why college tuition is going up.

Can't they turn it into a casino, even with the asbestos?

Read the rest of the story here.

I want to go to there - Over the weekend I discovered an Internet show called "Live From Daryl's House." It is my new obsession. Here is the basic premise: Famous musicians come on over to Daryl Hall's (yes, of Hall and Oates fame, but stick with me here) to jam with Hall in the acoustic studio of his 200-year-old farmhouse, and also to talk and watch food being prepared and eat.

It is totally brilliant. It is like a combo of "Wayne's World," "The Barefoot Contessa," and "MTV's Unplugged."

Here's the deal. Hall and Oates were the first albums I bought and the first group I loved. Then they got really popular (think "Maneater," et al), and I moved on to the Beatles and the Grateful Dead and The Who. Before they were pop radio manstays of the mid-80s, though, their music was great in a 1970s singer-songwriter way. All these years later and "Kiss on My List" not withstanding, Hall clearly has the respect of his peers and a new generation of musicians.

On the Internet show, an eclectic group of musicians stop by to strip it down and sing the old stuff. Here's Todd Rundgren, drinking a martini on the lawn. Hi, Robby Kreiger and Ray Manzarak from the Doors. Welcome, Toots and the Maytals. Guster, hello, let's make meatballs and sing "Rich Girl." A must-see is Matt Nathanson, a current fave of mine, singing his song "All We Are," as well as The Band's "The Weight," and "One on One" in front of the fireplace.

If anyone from LFDH is reading, please book the following: Keith Richards to work in the garden and sing "Sara Smile;" Bob Weir, Jackson Browne, Cobie Calliat, and Adele. That is all.

He's been doing these shows monthly since 2007, and all of them are on line. Check it out. Here's a sample:

WTF? Finally, it is Dec. 5. Christmas is three weeks away. I went to Target at 12:30 on a Monday to buy garbage bags and couldn't get near the place. Why? I don't celebrate Christmas, so someone educate me as to why it involves 20-hours a day of shopping for three weeks. Thanks.