Every Friday, Scene calendar editor Cris Glaser provides a random but reliable sampling of things to do this weekend. For more options, log onto entertainment.clevescene.com. And check back Monday for C-Notes' Picks of the Week.
Friday: Dress designers across Northeast Ohio have been looking ahead to the start of the eight-day Fashion Week Cleveland. It kicks off at 8 p.m. tonight with the admission-free Glam Party at La Dolce Vita (12112 Mayfield Road in Little Italy), where DJs GO and Impure spin dance tracks for revelers dressed in “fashion-forward” attire. The week wraps up on Saturday, May 10, with the ultra-chic Cleveland Fashion 2008 Gala at the Galleria at Erieview (1301 East 9th Street; $50), where guests in tuxes and gowns can check out designer Tad Boetcher’s new line, tad b., and listen to Miss America Kirsten Haglund sing Broadway hits. For a complete schedule of events, visit
www.fashionweekcleveland.com.
Saturday: And they’re off … to the bar! Race fans can sip mint juleps and watch widescreen TVs as a 20-horse field makes the Run for the Roses at the West Side Ecumenical Ministries’ eighth annual Kentucky Derby Party at the Great Lakes Brewing Company (
www.greatlakesbrewing.com). For a $60 ticket, the brewery will lay out a spread of entrées and apps, like beef tenderloin and bread pudding laced with a Jack Daniel butter sauce, before the 6:04 p.m. derby time. And if you’re the betting kind, Big Brown is the pre-race favorite at 3-to-1 odds. The party runs from 4 to 8 p.m., and the brewery is at 2516 Market Avenue. Call 216-651-2037 or visit
www.wsem.org for details.
Sunday: At Carl’s Badass Tea Party, debauchery trumps decorum for
Adams Street’s weekly dance party at the venerable Akron gay club. With bartender Carl in his trademark leather chaps, Long Island Ice Teas and Bloody Marys flow as electronica dance tracks blare from the DJ booth. If you’re lucky, owner Dan Brown may spring for a stripper or two to bump up the action between 5 and 8 p.m. The bar is at 77 North Adams Street in Akron. Call 330-434-9794 for the 411.
