Columnist visits Music Box Supper Club

If you love 1970s, 1980s and early-1990s music like I do, then I have the perfect place for you to go to sometime this summer or anytime for that matter. The place is called the Music Box Supper Club and it is located in the nicely renovated Flats area of downtown Cleveland on the west side of the Cuyahoga River right next to the Cleveland Aquarium. With outstanding views of the Cleveland skyline across the river, the Supper Club features outstanding tribute bands and musicians throughout the year that make you feel as if you are actually listening to the original band or performers themselves. One of the very cool things about this place is that you also have the option to order food before the show and beverages before and during the show if you are attending an evening performance. Occasionally, the Supper Club features performances at noon on Sundays that offer a very nice, but optional brunch, which I have now opted for on two occasions with both being super delicious and reasonably priced. At these brunches, they even offer a build your own Bloody Mary bar, at an additional cost of course and if you are so inclined. I was first introduced to the Music Box Supper Club by my very good friends Dennis and Lisa Boose of North Ridgeville, who had been attending performances there long before I ever heard of the place. Dennis, who passed away just last year, and Lisa, who were / are huge music lovers just like I am, first introduced me to the Supper Club back in 2018 when we saw a super fantastic Elton John impersonator and performer. After the Elton John performer belted out a goose bumping rendition of Benny and the Jets, I was hooked on this place and have been coming back fairly regularly ever since. The Music Box Supper Club is comprised of two very intimate and mid-sized rooms on two different floors with performances often taking place simultaneously, but you can not hear the other performance taking place in the other room thank heavens and the acoustics in both rooms are excellent. Plus, there's not a bad seat in either of these rooms, which makes for an enjoyable and intimate musical experience for audience members. My 2nd time at the Supper Club was in the summer of 2022, when I got to see the tribute band for one of my very favorite musician's and bands ever, that being the one and only Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The musician playing Tom Petty was spot on and I and audience members loved it when a Stevie Nicks impersonator joined in on an excellent rendition of Tom and Stevie's Stop Dragging My Heart Around. In the summer of 2023, I took my friend Ellen Carabin and her fiancé at the time Luke Mennen, now her husband, to see the Billy Joel tribute show, with this show featuring my very first brunch and taking place in the slightly larger room on the 2nd floor, Ellen, Luke and I all took full advantage of the lavish brunch, while Luke and I went for the additional Bloody Mary bar option, which went down well with our delicious food. The Billy Joel performer was outstanding, and my only disappointment was that he didn't play several of my very favorite Billy Joel songs. This year, I have already been to two shows, both in the month of May and both times with my good friend Lisa Boose. On Friday, May 17th, Lisa and I saw the tribute band for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band with a show they called Turn The Page, after one of Bob Seger's hit songs. The lead singer, the charismatic Sam Morrison, was spot on Bob Seger complete with Seger's gravelly voice. The highlight of this show, however, was the outstanding saxophone player, who melted into the audience and would play his very cool instrument only inches away from audience members. The show was simply amazing and was held, once again, in the much larger 2nd floor room. Then, on Sunday morning, May 26th, only nine days after I (we) had seen the Bob Seger tribute show, Lisa and I were at it again, but this time to see the Cars tribute show that the band called Moving In Stereo after one of the Cars' very early hits. This show featured the brunch option, once again, which we both opted for and was held in the larger 2nd floor room due to the need for extra dining space. The co-lead singer of the band, Danny, did a knockout job sounding like the late-Ric Ocasek and took me back to the summer of 1979 when I attended my first concert ever to see the Cars and Cheap Trick at Legend Valley near Newark, Ohio, with my lifelong friend Brad Mirtes, when the Cars were just beginning to become well known in the music world. After the show, I had the opportunity to talk with Danny and his wife and had my picture taken with him sporting his very cool red leather pants and matching slim red tie over his bright silver futuristic looking shirt, which his wife told he finds and buys on Amazon. In closing, I hope that I have now inspired some of you to visit the Music Box Supper Club in the future to see one of the fabulous tribute shows that are featured there for one of your very favorite bands or musical performers. Trust me folks, you get a lot of good music for your buck, it's easy to find, on-site parking is only $10, the food is delicious and the atmosphere intimate and cozy. Hope to see you there sometime in the future my friends. In the meantime, Rock On!