- [Announcer] Production of "Applause" on Ideastream Public Media is made possible by funding by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

(upbeat jazz music) - [Kabir] Coming up, known throughout Northeast Ohio as the low tech troubadour, Alex Bevan stops by the Idea Center Studios to reflect on a 50 year career.

Plus an artist in Columbus makes political statements with his work.

And a studio in Canton provides a safe place for self-expression.

I'm Ideastream Public Media's Kabir Bhatia, and we've got plenty of arts and culture around the corner on this episode of "Applause."

(Alex humming) (upbeat music) Alex Bevan has been delighting audiences throughout Northeast Ohio for decades, writing about his journey through life with song lyrics.

♪ Miles to go and roads to find ♪ - [Kabir] Bevin recently joined "Shuffle" podcast host, Amanda Rabinowitz for "Applause Performances", to share stories from the early days of his career in the 1970s and reflect on the song that made him a mainstay in Cleveland's folk scene.

♪ Through the rain ♪ - I know that currently you live in Lake County in North Madison, but you grew up in East Cleveland.

- I did.

- Went to Shaw High School and you got the folk bug early.

(Alex laughing) Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot.

Can you take us back to that time in your life when you really got passionate about music?

- When I was probably 15 years old, there was a coffee house within walking distance of our house in East Cleveland and it was called The Well.

And on Wednesday night they had hootenanny nights and people could go and sing two or three songs.

and there was a young woman with just long, long luxurious brown hair and I was going, "Wow, she's got a guitar."

And she sang a song written by a guy named Billy Edd Wheeler called "Coal Tattoo."

It starts out "traveling down this coal town road listening to my rubber tires whine."

And by the end of that I went, "I want a guitar, I gotta do it."

You know, but it was a real, you know, bang!

Kasu!

Oh my gosh, you're enlightened.

This is what you should do with your life.

- Wow.

- So I walked out of there and got a guitar within about three months for my 16th birthday.

The guitar and music has been very good to me.

People have embraced my music, and that's kind of the story, Amanda.

- I love that it was just this instant moment that you knew.

- There's no way to explain it other than it's what I knew I was going to do.

♪ Good morning, little ray of sunshine on my floor ♪ ♪ Good morning, little ray of sunshine on my floor ♪ ♪ Seemed to move so slowly ♪ ♪ What's that thing you are looking for ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Might be a place for you ♪ ♪ To rest on my back porch ♪ ♪ Now there's a little pool of water by the wall ♪ ♪ There's a little pool of water by the wall ♪ ♪ Just the saddest part of last night's rain ♪ ♪ Oh, she found that place to fall ♪ ♪ Tried to kiss the sky's reflection, that was all ♪ - Your 1976 song "Skinny."

- Yeah.

- Made it into rotation at Cleveland powerhouse WMMS.

- Mm-hm.

- Can you talk about what a big moment that was for you?

(Alex laughing) - Well, it definitely, it changed my life around here because it became a summer anthem.

Gigs got a little easier and it also opened up some of the doors to the agoras, you know, and playing either solo or with a trio.

It was easy to be the opening act for a rock band 'cause you didn't need a lot of stage space, you know?

So I was lucky enough to open up, you know, shows for the Beach Boys at Blossom, Seals & Crofts, the Doobie Brothers down at Miami of Ohio.

But, you know, over the years, the song has just gotten more endearing because it's kinda like the guy who shows up every night with a six pack of beer and chicken wings and says, "Okay, here we are.

What's for dinner?"

You know?

(both laughing) - That's fantastic.

Yeah, I mean, that's how you got the, you know, kind of known as the low tech troubadour, right?

- Yeah, yeah.

- With your guitar and taking up very little space.

- Well, look at us right now.

- Exactly.

- You know?

(Alex laughing) (upbeat music) ♪ Well, shazam, feeling grand ♪ ♪ Guess I'll mosey into town ♪ ♪ Raise hell all around, I'm gonna have a good time ♪ ♪ You bet I am, gonna boogie till I'm blind ♪ ♪ I got a quart a dollar wine, I wanna get myself primed ♪ ♪ Runnin' down the road and the back tires smokin' ♪ ♪ The highway's open, not a cop in sight ♪ ♪ No red light flashin' gonna hamper my action ♪ ♪ My path is clear and my timing's right ♪ ♪ I'm a skinny little boy from Cleveland, Ohio ♪ ♪ Come to chase your women and drink your beer now ♪ You can tell that was written in the 70s, right?

♪ Second gear down main street, roarin' into town ♪ ♪ Women grab your children, bolt the doors, shut her down ♪ ♪ Peekin' out from windows while the menfolk pray ♪ ♪ They speak in frightened whispers and the weak ones faint ♪ ♪ Is it a bird, is it a plane, a demon in the air ♪ - You're gonna play a new song for us.

You know, that one demonstrates your love for nature and how nature's just been amused for you.

You know, the Lake Erie Islands and the rivers in this region, you know, living in North Madison, along Lake Erie.

I mean, how has nature inspired your music?

- All the time.

All the time.

My mom used to take me and my three sisters and drive from East Cleveland to Greensburg, Indiana, and she would make us all sing in the car together.

And to this day, if you could put me and my sisters together, our vibratos would probably match.

But I would go from city boy to country boy then city boy and country boy over the years.

That gave me an appreciation for not only what nature is, but how things are grown, how food is produced, you know, just getting those atoms of knowledge that connect into molecules of knowledge until finally you have like small organisms of wisdom that say, "Gosh, we have to take care of this earth better."

So maybe that's part of my mission.

I don't know.

(soft music) ♪ One hand on the pommel, he's watching the herd ♪ ♪ Whistling a tune by the Mockingbird ♪ ♪ AND lifting his hat like he's saying Hello ♪ ♪ The old cowboy sings soft and low ♪ ♪ Swallowtail mornings, grapevine afternoons ♪ ♪ Loving deeds done in the dark of the moon ♪ ♪ The Big Dipper spins through the brighter of stars ♪ ♪ And fireflies dance outside the jar ♪ ♪ It is an oak tree, a red barn, a blacksmith inspired ♪ - [Amanda] I mean, you've done so much in your career.

- My career is, you know, a good metaphor, you know, because a lot of people, you know, they look for a career that, you know, is like an arrow shot and you have an arc and it comes down and you know, you hit the mark and all right, you know, and the crowd cheers.

And that's not me, that's not my career.

My career is more kind of like a paper airplane that, you know, you fold up and maybe you adjust a couple times and you throw it and it gets up and it catches there and it drifts and it drops and it, you know?

And it's more friendly and inclusive because truly I could not do this without the help of my partner, the help of my friends, and the help of everyone in Northern Ohio giving me the chance to follow this little craft and become a truly a troubadour.

♪ Waltz with the wind ♪ - [Kabir] Watch the entire session of "Applause Performances" featuring Alex Bevan anytime with the PBS app.

And catch Alex in May when he performs with the Akron Symphony on stage at EJ Thomas Hall.

♪ In a moment of truth ♪ - [Kabir] Let's head now into the studio of artist Adewale Adenle.

He grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, where he began his art career as a political cartoonist.

Though his work today is much different than those earlier drawings, he continues to use art as a conduit to meaningful conversation.

- Understanding bring about peace.

Peace brings about development because if I'm peaceful, I'm sitting down, I'm peaceful somewhere, I will contribute to that society.

I will put in all my best.

I will defend everything in that society.

But you don't do that without foster understanding that that guy exists.

Because he exists, he has to leave.

So we have to learn how to make everybody leave and not merely existing.

(upbeat music) My name is Adewale Adenle.

I was born in Lagos, Nigeria.

My father, my mother they didn't really want me to do art.

And I venture into what they wanted me to do briefly, to be a lawyer.

So I was in college studying law and all that.

So I was doing well and I decided this is just not for me.

I want to write, I want to paint, I want to draw.

I feel like I just wanted to have a voice.

You know, in Nigeria, you don't have the scholarship grants or all these things to go to school.

It's either somebody's paying for it or you are paying for it.

So I have to find a way, and that's how I became a political cartoonist.

I started fending for myself, selling cartoons for peanuts, just to buy paint, buy brushes and all that.

Then I had a little brush with the military regime in Nigeria when we were fighting for democracy with my political cartoons.

But I'm here, I survived.

(laughing) (upbeat music continues) It was a very difficult terrain to navigate.

You're trying to earn your salary.

You are working with a federal government newspaper owed by the military junta.

You also want to give your service to the people.

So that was tough.

What I do these days is more about the duality.

I call it duality of everything.

The multiple vision, the multiple location of different information in every object or in everything we do.

How do I now represent this duality in what I do?

How do I communicate with people and tell them that like, yes, we are so used to these norms, this way of doing things, but we should be able to see that there are other ways of doing this and it could be better.

So I came up with these three dimensional paintings and I create holes in it.

Somebody said, "Why do you have to put a hole?"

I said, "Yeah, it's just like you and I, we're having an argument or debate."

And I said, "You know what?

I can punch holes in your argument."

Whatever I feel should be addressed or should be discussed further, I punch holes in it to show my aversion.

I'm adverse to this.

So it's a way of saying that I'm punching holes in the argument, but I'm not just punching holes in the argument.

I'm also using those holes as a conduit to other realities that is being stopped by what we are used to.

So you have to, when you see the holes, when you see the figure in front, you are saying that, "Oh, I know that, that's a dollar bill."

You're familiar with it, but it draws your attention.

Through seeing those hole you are getting engaged in this discussion.

Then because you're engaged, you now find other realities.

You start asking questions about those because there's another painting at the back.

Some people will say, "I don't like politics, I don't like..." It's okay.

We don't have to like politics.

They remember that's what determines our living, because that politics inform policies and policies tells us how we take our children to school, what food, how much the cost of milk would be, you know, all these things are there.

So we don't have to join a political party or campaign form, but we need to really follow it to know how things are being determined.

Not only when we get to the ballot on the day of the election and then say, "Okay, shall I go for donkey or the elephant?"

(laughing) So you have to really, really follow.

You have to pay attention to those narratives for us to be informed of what needs to be done in doing that.

So that's the essence of my work now.

That's how, and I have to use those three dimensional process and materials and everything to disseminate those essential visual vocabularies.

If I'm gonna take something that I want you to take home is arouse your consciousness towards social, political narratives that affects your living.

That's, I mean, that's just a sentence, but it covers a lot of things.

We live in a political environment, we live in a social environment, so it's alive.

So that's what I want people to take away.

(upbeat music) - [Kabir] A new play opening at Karamu House explores life and love amid the Black liberation movement.

On the next "Applause", Cleveland Playwright Lisa Langford discusses what inspired her work "The Breakfast at the Bookstore."

Plus, meet the musicians of Russian duo preserving traditions of Russian folk music, and get jazzy with Nathan-Paul & The Admirables.

All that and more on the next round of "Applause."

(upbeat music) For the past seven years, Silo Arts Studio has provided education and inspiration for adults with disabilities to grow in their creative talents.

Both a studio space and gallery in downtown Canton, Silo partners with professional artists to offer learning opportunities, build friendships, and elevate art in the community.

Take a look.

(soft music) - My name's Todd Donnelley, and I'm the owner and facilitator of Silo.

We are an artist collective.

So I find the artists and I make sure that they have the materials that they need and the space that they need to express whatever they need to express.

During the day, we'll have anywhere from 14 to close to 20 artists in the studio working on their art.

Some of them just trying to progress in their skills, some of them working on shows that are coming up.

They all kind of have their lane, if you will.

And we do try to push people to explore a little bit outside of their lane, but they also have really interesting ways of expressing themselves.

And there's guys here who do horror masks and really high end looking horror masks.

- I do horror masks and horror themed items.

This is the first one I've ever done.

It's sentimental value.

And then there's ones you've seen out in the gallery, (soft music continues) - There's painters, there's colored pencils, there's people who construct out of cardboard.

Just all different ways of expressing themselves.

We just try to help them facilitate that and grow in that.

So this is Ron Babb.

Ron does a lot of Western scenes, very colorful western scenes.

He actually came to us just doing color pencil and then lately he's been getting into, he just makes these out of like cereal boxes.

So we bring in all our cereal boxes.

He makes the whole thing there.

- [Todd] Hi, I'm Kasey Wassam.

And I've been here at the Silo, it'll be three years.

I'm working on the country womens, with The Judds.

- [Todd] And then she's also making the famous country music venues.

Grand Ole Opry, and that's Dolly right there, front and center.

- Dolly Parton.

- Dolly Parton, the Dolly Parton.

(soft music) You know, historically, people with disabilities have been either overlooked or sometimes they make people uncomfortable and they're a little bit shunned, and I think that's definitely changing for the better.

One of our big things that we try to do is to introduce them to other artists.

You know, they have a real drive to be artists.

This is what they want to do, this is what they spend their time doing, is their expressions.

And so the idea is to help connect them to the larger art world.

And we've been really successful with that.

We have two teaching artists who come four days a week.

They're local professional artists and they also are very integrated into the art community.

- My name's Kat Francis.

So when I came here, I got really excited by working with each artist individually because they're all so unique.

So, you know, I've taught drawing classes, painting classes, and those are fun, and so it's just a really exciting, inspirational job to me on the art aspect, but then on, you know, just the human level, the artist here teach me a lot about being a better person, being a better friend, and I get just as much as they do out of this place.

Sometimes, like I go around and talk to each artist individually and kind of am guided by what I think maybe they need.

Like, you'll start to notice that there's like a interest in something specific with a few artists at the same time.

And then sometimes some of them who weren't interested in that topic suddenly will just start running with it.

And I just always am trying to teach something different, but it's kind of, the artist kind of guide me on what the next thing is to teach.

- This is my watercolor "Friendship Around the World."

So I water colored painted some girls and the Earth with a red heart shape on it.

So that everyone would see my beautiful art creation.

Here's a painting of me and Tana, BFFs forever.

I sketched myself and I sketched my BFF.

(upbeat music) - I do digital work.

I also color a pencil and marker.

This one is based off of my dad.

He was a retired truck driver, so I turned him into a superhero truck driver going through space.

Silo is a great place.

It's different.

I've been with many places somewhere like this and Silo is, I love it here.

You know, you could be yourself, you can do whatever you want.

(upbeat music continues) - It is about bridging that connection to where in the past maybe they didn't necessarily get included as often, and just subtly slowly showing that no, there's real talent here, there's real ideas here, there's real heart here.

And so if we can help them connect to other people who are trying to get in touch with their talent and their ideas and their art, ultimately the idea of disability doesn't matter and what they have to express is just as valid, oftentimes, maybe more valid than anything that I can produce.

And so it's worth looking at.

It's worth not looking past.

(upbeat music continues) Just, I really feel like I'm actually making a difference in people's lives.

Not I, we, are just really here for helping people to achieve their own goals and to be able to feel like full human beings.

- [Kabir] Well all good things must come to an end so it's time for me to bid you farewell, my friends.

I'm Ideastream Public Media's Kabir Bhatia, thinking about hot summer days as we send you off with another tune from Alex Bevan called "Barbeque."

(upbeat guitar music) - Here we are.

♪ I'm just a poor boy taking my time ♪ ♪ Just waiting on the barbecue ♪ ♪ My tummy is growling but I'm feeling fine ♪ ♪ I'm just waiting on the barbecue ♪ ♪ The rich folk standing at the end of the line ♪ ♪ Are all dressed up, looking fine ♪ ♪ Children are laughing, Mama's ready to go ♪ ♪ She's smoking hot ♪ ♪ Moving low and slow ♪ ♪ Everybody needs something they can do ♪ ♪ I'm just waiting on the barbecue ♪ ♪ Just like the gospel ♪ ♪ You know that it's true ♪ ♪ I'm just waiting on the barbecue ♪ ♪ Here at the shack, everybody is free ♪ ♪ To celebrate the bounty of democracy ♪ ♪ You wait your turn, you be polite ♪ ♪ Or you won't get no barbecue tonight ♪ ♪ Dang ♪ ♪ Any old time I'm feeling blue ♪ ♪ I gotta get me some barbecue ♪ ♪ I come running singing yaba daba do ♪ ♪ I gotta get me some on barbecue ♪ ♪ The pit boss is waving off sweat ♪ ♪ Wiping his tong, saying, "Get it, come get" ♪ ♪ I feel my mouth start to salivate ♪ ♪ So you lay down the money and you pick up a plate ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ Smoking up the ribs and the chickens for us ♪ ♪ A brisket made out of an old brontosaurus (chuckles) ♪ ♪ I'm just a standard carnivore so ya ♪ ♪ Lay down to her sauce ♪ ♪ Gimme more, more ♪ ♪ I gotta smack my lips ♪ ♪ Gimme the chew ♪ ♪ I gotta give me some barbecue ♪ ♪ It's plenty for me ♪ ♪ Plenty for you ♪ ♪ Gotta get me some barbecue ♪ ♪ Finger lick and fork stick and nothing could be greater ♪ ♪ Hot sauce made out of peppers and tomatoes ♪ ♪ Throw me a beer, I'll loan you a bone ♪ ♪ Be smacking down the protein till the cows come home ♪ ♪ I'm just a poor boy taking my time ♪ ♪ I gotta get me some barbecue ♪ ♪ My tummy is growling but I'm feeling fine ♪ ♪ I gotta get me some barbecue ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ (upbeat music continues) Ha!

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Production of "Applause" on Ideastream Public Media is made possible by funding by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.