Tweet

Email

Print
Share

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Scene & Heard

Cleveland Organizers are Highlighting Important Issues with Christmas Carol Parodies

Posted By Sam Allard on Wed, Dec 18, 2019 at 9:59 AM

CAROLING PARTAYYYYYYYYY

A yuletide trend is sweeping the city. Cleveland organizers and their allied lyricists are parodying popular holiday carols to promote an array of causes. Early this week, the fruits of their creative labors were on festive display.

Monday, protesters at the justice center performed such hits as "Bail Reform is Coming to Town" in a flash mob-style demonstration to highlight the ongoing inhumanity at the county jail and the systemic prejudice of the criminal justice system. WCPN captured the carolers in action.

A flashmob of protesters sang remixed Christmas carols in the Justice Center lobby Monday afternoon to draw attention to conditions at the Cuyahoga County Jail. Security escorted them out of the building, where the carolers finished their setlist. MORE: https://t.co/zH43I5sDIg pic.twitter.com/bqvwlM5Kec
— 90.3 WCPN ideastream (@WCPN) December 17, 2019

Tuesday morning, Chris Stocking with Clevelanders for Public Transit performed a full (three-verse) rendition of "Frequent Bus!" (a "Jingle Bells" parody) during the public comment portion of an RTA committee hearing. The song encouraged the board to adopt and implement a network redesign, with more frequent service on popular routes, as presented by transit consultant Jarrett Walker.

The bus was slow and late, Stocking crooned in verse two.
Misfortune seemed its lot.
We got to Public Square
And then we missed our next bus.

CPT member Chris does a unique rendition of Jingle Bells.

Frequent bus, frequent bus
Frequent bus all day
Redesign grows ridership,
RTA cannot delay! pic.twitter.com/XQusFyOwM2
— Clevelanders for Public Transit (@CLEforTransit) December 17, 2019

Later Tuesday, hopping on the trend, local urban infrastructure Twitter celeb Bollards of CTown commented on the #LazyDoofuses debacle of Public Square with a low-hanging riff on "Walking in a Winter Wonderland."

🎶 parking in
a winter wonderland 🎶 pic.twitter.com/lNecXFZIF6
— 🎄North (Coast) Poles🎄 (@BollardsofCTown) December 17, 2019

Sign up for Scene's weekly newsletters to get the latest on Cleveland news, things to do and places to eat delivered right to your inbox.

Tags: Christmas Carols, coalition to stop the inhumanity at the county jail, clevelanders for public transit, bollards of Ctown, Frequent Bus, Image

We welcome readers to submit letters regarding articles and content in Cleveland Scene. Letters should be a minimum of 150 words, refer to content that has appeared on Cleveland Scene, and must include the writer's full name, address, and phone number for verification purposes. No attachments will be considered. Writers of letters selected for publication will be notified via email. Letters may be edited and shortened for space.

Email us at news@clevescene.com.

Cleveland Scene works for you, and your support is essential.

Our small but mighty local team works tirelessly to bring you high-quality, uncensored news and cultural coverage of Cleveland and beyond.

Unlike many newspapers, ours is free – and we'd like to keep it that way, because we believe, now more than ever, everyone deserves access to accurate, independent coverage of their community.

Whether it's a one-time acknowledgement of this article or an ongoing pledge, your support helps keep Cleveland's true free press free.