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Preview
Happy Times at The Happy Dog continue on October 13 in Cleveland's Gordon Square

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by Mike Telin

The second edition of Orchestral Manoeuvres at the Dog will take place on Wednesday the 13th of October at the Happy Dog located in Gordon Square on Cleveland’s West Side.

The first edition, which tool place in June, was the result of an off-chance meeting between Cleveland Orchestra principal flutist Joshua Smith and Happy Dog co-owner Sean Watterson at a gathering that was held to raise awareness of the Gordon Square Arts District. “We were talking and he began to tell me about the Happy Dog. Eric Williams, who is involved with the menu at the Happy Dog, is also the chief at Momocho, which is a fantastic restaurant. Anyway, Sean was telling me about the performance space at the Happy Dog and that he likes to host local music as often as possible. I had been hearing a lot about Le Poisson Rouge in New York and I had been looking around for places in Cleveland to do something like that and I just happened to ask him if he had every tried classical music and he said, no. So I asked him if he would be interested and he said, sure. So we made it happen.”

We spoke to Joshua Smith by phone last week and asked him what were the most unexpected things that happened during the first edition of Orchestral Manoeuvres at the Dog?

Joshua Smith: what was really cool about that time is that was we were supposed to start around 8:00 and I think I got there around 7:30 and there was nowhere to park, and I thought, hmm, that’s interesting. I found a spot and went inside and the place was completely filled. By the time we started playing there was a line around the block to get in. I think they were just about as shocked as we were. I had no idea what to expect, it was just an experiment, and everyone had fun so they asked us to come back.

Mike Telin: Should one compare Le Poisson Rouge to the Happy Dog?

JS: No. I have the sense that when you go to Le Poisson Rouge, you go to hear the music, and the Happy Dog is not quite like that. There is a stage, and plenty of room for us to be there, but no one should go with the idea that they are going to sit quietly and listen to music. And that is fine with us. I think the idea that we are just there [playing] a different kind of music that just happens to be played at a bar, and people can just eat their hot dogs, drink their beer and hear Beethoven is kind of a good thing .

MT: The name, Orchestral Manoeuvres at the Dog, is that taken from the eighties band, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark?

JS: It is indeed. Actually we struggled with a lot of cute ideas but the name was suggested to us by the guys who run the Happy Dog.

MT: Have you chosen a program or are you going to make it up? With forethought of course!

JS: The nice thing about having a flute, oboe, violin, viola, cello and now piano, which we didn’t have last time, is that there are lots of mix and match possibilities. We are going in with about fifteen to twenty pieces, sometimes not complete pieces but movements from pieces. It is nice to be able to say, “Hey, I don’t really feel like playing that right now, or the crowd is noisy so this particular piece isn’t going to work at this point but we will play it in an hour when things have quieted down a little bit.”

MT: How have your programming ideas evolved after the first edition?

JS: I can tell you that last time we went in with Mozart flute and oboe quartets, and the Beethoven serenade for flute, violin and viola for example, and it was all OK. But we are not going to do any Mozart this time. We are finding ourselves going more in the direction of twentieth century. It is not like the Mozart wasn’t well received, but people seemed to be a lot more drawn into stuff that you might not expect that they would be. For example, a piece that was a big hit was Kodaly, the violin and cello duo. So this time we are going in with movements of Shostakovich, Copeland, Corigliano, Bartok. I think the earliest thing that is programmed is the last movement of the Brahms g minor piano quartet, because that’s fun with all of the Hungarian craziness.

MT: I was not certain that the Happy Dog had a piano.

JS: They don’t but they are renting one for us, which I think is really nice of them. And this is a very good example of evolution from last time, because I think we all realized that it would be very useful to have a piano there. It certainly gooses the acoustic possibilities. There is also so much more repertoire that we can do by having a piano. We are so happy to have Tina Dahl this time, she is fantastic.

MT: How many sets will you be doing?

JS: Three, and each will be just under an hour.

MT: Wow, that’s a big undertaking, even by jazz club standards.

JS: I know. When I look at the list of what we are prepared to play it’s like that’s so much stuff, but last time we actually didn’t play everything that we brought.

MT: I know this is a tiresome question, and I am getting tired of asking it, but since it is on the minds of so many, I will ask it anyway and I promise it won’t happen again. So, why is it important to take classical music to alternative venues such as bars?

JS: I think my best answer is that I want people to know that what I do is actually really fun to do. And I think that comes across in a situation like this. Maybe more so then it can when you are removed by the distance and darkness of sitting in a concert hall.

MT: Is there anything else you want to add, maybe something else that you remember from the first edition?

JS: The first coolest thing that happened last time was the line around the block, but the second coolest thing was when it was about 10:00 at night and the bar was still crowded. And we played some Beethoven, and there were all these twenty year olds, waiving their lighters and chanting BEETHOVEN!!! I love that. They were probably being totally ironic and amusing, but it was a great experience.

MT: So can we expect "Freebird"?

JS: For now, we are sticking to what we do well, and not try to be a fake something else. We did consider a few things, but we thought no, we’ll just sound stupid. BUT, as things evolve who knows?

Cleveland Orchestra friends Amy Lee, violin, Joanna Patterson, viola, Charles Bernard, cello, Joshua Smith, flute, and Frank Rosenwein, oboe, with guest pianist Tina Dahl play at The Happy Dog, 5810 Detroit Avenue in Gordon Square, Cleveland on Wednesday, October 13 from 8-11:30 pm. No admission charge.

 

Photo by Suzanne Cofer.

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