May 14, 20187 yr here's a nice read about some of lorain's music history -- ie., barry white got his start in lorain, b.b. king wrote a hit song about his lorain friend's wife, the jackson five used to hang out, ride bikes and go to cedar point, and more: http://www.morningjournal.com/article/MJ/20090923/NEWS/309239983 there is lots of other quirky minor music trivia stuff too not mentioned there, such as acts like jason molina and los nombres that are from lorain, and individuals like one of the bar-kays guys, one of the writers of play that funky music and also david naughton the 1979 makin it hit song and bad tv show guy all went to the old lhs, at least for a time. also, on a personal...note, late in their life the widower mother of one of the michael stanley band guys remarried my widower great uncle, and i dk why at their age, but they had a big wedding, so peak era msb played at the reception and that was pretty funny at the time.
May 14, 20187 yr ^^Everybody from Cincinnati since 98 Degrees has managed to avoid any association with their city of origin. Walk the Moon, The National, The Greenhornes, etc. The National just had a huge music festival. In Cincinnati. Called Homecoming. I don't think they were trying to avoid any association with Cincinnati.
May 14, 20187 yr ^ that’s so strange to cloud a musicians bio, but I get it. They can’t get away with that anymore. Actually something similar went on with Rascal Flatts. Their bio used to avoid any mention of Ohio whatsoever. Not country enough? Ha. i think dwight yoakum used to pull that too. not sure if he was born, but i always heard he was totally raised in columbus. he avoided that. country and hip hop acts really try play up their stereotypes. and here we have rock guys trying to get away with shaving years off. its all kind of humorous. Dwight is cousins with a good friend of mine(actually got to meet him when he played at the fair last summer). He is more of a "Bakersfield" style artist which gets sort of a bad wrap as is because it's California and not the south or Texas. Not sure if that had anything to do with him hiding his birthplace or not as this is the first I've heard of it.
May 14, 20187 yr ^^Everybody from Cincinnati since 98 Degrees has managed to avoid any association with their city of origin. Walk the Moon, The National, The Greenhornes, etc. What made people willing to "admit" they were from Seattle in the 90s? Was it because they wanted to be associated with the "birthplace" of a particular genere kind of like Detroit or Nashville? Does Cincinnati's relative lack of a nationally-recognized "sound" cause people to claim they're from somewhere cooler, or is it typical Midwest insecurity? Obviously there's a certain level of marketing attached to it. Walk the Moon sang the National Anthem at the All-Star Game in Cinci back in 2015 fwiw.
May 14, 20187 yr ^^Everybody from Cincinnati since 98 Degrees has managed to avoid any association with their city of origin. Walk the Moon, The National, The Greenhornes, etc. The National just had a huge music festival. In Cincinnati. Called Homecoming. I don't think they were trying to avoid any association with Cincinnati. ^ yeah they had been following it closely at brooklynvegan: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/the-national-debuted-a-new-song-played-boxer-at-homecoming-pics-videos-setlists/
May 14, 20187 yr What made people willing to "admit" they were from Seattle in the 90s? Was it because they wanted to be associated with the "birthplace" of a particular genere kind of like Detroit or Nashville? Does Cincinnati's relative lack of a nationally-recognized "sound" cause people to claim they're from somewhere cooler, or is it typical Midwest insecurity? Obviously there's a certain level of marketing attached to it. There was no Seattle "sound". Those bands that got famous at just about the same time really had nothing in common with one another. Nirvana wasn't even from Seattle, they were from Aberdeen, which is over 100 miles away. Most of their sound was taken from The Melvins, who were also from the Aberdeen area. So much of the quote-unquote "Seattle" sound came from 100 miles away.
May 14, 20187 yr This is my Cleveland playlist from iTunes with musicians from Northeast Ohio, songs about Northeast Ohio or both... Sincerely 3:12 The Moonglows 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Moonglows R&B/Soul 0 Backstabbers 3:07 The O'Jays Carlito's Way (Music from the Motion Picture) Soundtrack 0 2 All By Myself 4:33 Eric Carmen Eric Carmen: The Definitive Collection (Remastered) Pop 0 Funk #49 3:54 James Gang Funk #49 Rock 0 The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald 6:29 Gordon Lightfoot Summertime Dream Singer/Songwriter 0 1 Beautiful World 3:34 Devo Greatest Hits Alternative 0 My City Was Gone 5:25 Pretenders Learning to Crawl (Expanded & Remastered) Rock 0 Let It Whip 4:47 Dazz Band 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Dazz Band R&B/Soul 0 Drive 3:58 The Cars Complete Greatest Hits Rock 0 1 Down In It 3:46 Nine Inch Nails Pretty Hate Machine Alternative 0 1 Darkness Darkness 3:34 Michael Stanley The Ghost Poets Rock 0 Angel Eyes 2:32 Jim Brickman Jim Brickman: Greatest Hits New Age 0 Cleveland Rocks 2:33 The Presidents of the United States of America Pure Frosting Pop 0 1 Cleveland 4:10 Jewel This Way Pop 0 1 C-Town 5:05 Bone Thugs-N-Harmony featuring Twista Strength & Loyalty (Bonus Track Version) Hip-Hop/Rap 0 Official 3:56 Raz B Official R&B/Soul 0 Day 'n' Nite 3:41 Kid Cudi Man On the Moon: The End of Day Hip-Hop/Rap 0 Cleveland (feat. Dubo) 4:05 Machine Gun Kelly Cleveland (feat. Dubo) Hip-Hop/Rap 0 Sun Doesn't Rise 3:14 Mushroomhead XIII Alternative 0 2 Power Trip 2:48 Chimaira The Impossibility of Reason Rock 0 Cleveland 4:07 The Bone Chimes In the Muck Alternative 0 Shine 8:04 Cleveland Atlas House 0 1 Cleveland 3:46 Algiers The Underside of Power Alternative 0 1 you forgot the one and only Deezy216 from Painesville. Who?? While most of this was shot in Cleveland, there are brief snippets of P'ville [/member] :20 and 2:50 (that is, if you can tolerate this all the way through). :'( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmDBSjER3rM http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
May 15, 20187 yr I remember Yokam being on Letterman and saying he grew up off of Morse Road. Letterdude spent a lot of time in Columbus due to being (still is?) a part owner of the Rahal team -- hence the grilling. Local lore states he played at the now-burned-down Stagecoach on 23 in South Bloomfield a lot in the '70s. There's a Family Dollar there now. that was later. rahal didn't partner with letterman until 1996. prior to that yoakum used to distance himself from columbus and he had an exaggerated drawl, etc. i remember this because of cols people talking about it, it bugged them, and i am sure i read something in the local media about it. i found a mention about all that a recent bio of yoakum as well: https://books.google.com/books?id=FX8MgXMwyW8C&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=DWIGHT+YOAKAM+DOWNPLAYS+COLUMBUS&source=bl&ots=vVDIR73rEL&sig=ITSI4HonAYMlui78eypa-ugRiWU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjd9PTznIXbAhWlxFkKHSvJBqEQ6AEIVDAF#v=onepage&q=DWIGHT%20YOAKAM%20DOWNPLAYS%20COLUMBUS&f=false no doubt he eventually loosened up about his life because who cares and as others have said you cant hide it so easily anymore. its just another interesting case of somebody who was media savvy for the time, made himself into what he wanted to be and gave the fans what they wanted to hear. he's like the rick ross of columbus. If I'm remembering right, the Letterman episode was from the late '90s.
May 15, 20187 yr What made people willing to "admit" they were from Seattle in the 90s? Was it because they wanted to be associated with the "birthplace" of a particular genere kind of like Detroit or Nashville? Does Cincinnati's relative lack of a nationally-recognized "sound" cause people to claim they're from somewhere cooler, or is it typical Midwest insecurity? Obviously there's a certain level of marketing attached to it. There was no Seattle "sound". Those bands that got famous at just about the same time really had nothing in common with one another. Nirvana wasn't even from Seattle, they were from Aberdeen, which is over 100 miles away. Most of their sound was taken from The Melvins, who were also from the Aberdeen area. So much of the quote-unquote "Seattle" sound came from 100 miles away. Also Metal Church was from Aberdeen. Odd that such a small isolated town produced that many major-label acts. Metal Church was a good 5-10 years older than the other two and provided them a little inspiration that maybe you can make it despite being from Aberdeen. Guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof was the main man of Metal Church in the early days and if you look at the Bleach sleeve Kurt goes by Kurdt on that record.
May 15, 20187 yr ^Yeah I think the only time a "scene" can actually exist is in a small town, be it a college town or a random small town. That's where you have guys stealing bass players and drummers from other bands when they have to kick someone out. That's how you end up with guys that look like they don't belong in the band ending up in the band. When I lived in Athens, the singer in a punk band was also the bass player in a country band. Stuff like that doesn't happen in cities. From my perspective there has never been a cohesive and welcoming rock & roll "scene" in Cincinnati. Going back to the 90s, there were always rivalries and people getting pissed about other bands stealing their slots opening for whoever. Plus people stealing gear from other bands. When I lived in Athens, there weren't those petty battles because nobody had any actual aspirations. You guys wanna open for the White Stripes? Okay, let me see if I can get that night off of work. With musicians/bands, there is often an inverse relationship between their talent and their ambition. There were like 25 guys in Athens and 7-10 bands in Athens who could mow down the showboats in NYC, LA, Nashville, etc., but had absolutely no business sense and just plain didn't care about anyone ever hearing their music. I remember one band *repeatedly* playing El Paso on their tours because they really liked the guy who ran some place out there while completely avoiding Austin or the big cities. Like, these guys would literally put 2,000 miles on their van to play to 14 people in El Paso. They'd drive up to Milwaukee to play in a basement, but never play Chicago (either at ground level or below it). Also, the Athens guys NEVER played Cincinnati. Columbus, all of the time, and often in Cleveland. Sometimes Dayton. But it was like Cincinnati didn't exist. That one band probably played El Paso more than Cincinnati.
May 19, 20187 yr I remember jamming with a lot of different people in Portsmouth. I was new to playing since I didn't start until I was 21, but the established musicians around town still gave me a chance. Considering I almost never give anyone worse than me a chance I really appreciated it lol The local musicians would come over to watch other bands practice since there weren't any good jobs anyway. A lot of them were 10-15 years older than us. Of course there was weed being exchanged so that might have motivated it. They knew not to freak us out with the hard stuff since they could tell it was a no sell. Optimistic college students and all, us. There was this one guy, Pillhead Chris, who tried to keep my keyboard so that he could get some crazy MIDI multitracking going on but my comparatively sober Coors Light ass went over there and went all Stone Cold on him.
May 25, 20187 yr If you know Massillon, Ohio then you know about "Tiger Pride." Patrick Sweany came up with that song, and Patrick hails from Massillon (though nothing about his Ohio past is listed on Patrick's website anymore ???)
June 4, 20187 yr That stooge John Cranley stages Twitter photo op with Bootsy Collins and Jack White: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/local/downtown/2018/06/04/mayor-gives-jack-white-key-city-king-records-cincinnati-where-james-brown-sang/669468002/
July 18, 20186 yr twenty one pilots released two singles this week that are doing quite well. New album slated for October.
July 18, 20186 yr ^I saw some map of the popularity of that act and was surprised to see that they are indeed somewhat popular in Columbus (less popular here than I thought though, considering) but holy hell are they huge in Utah. Apparently Utah loves white rappers.
July 18, 20186 yr ^I saw some map of the popularity of that act and was surprised to see that they are indeed somewhat popular in Columbus (less popular here than I thought though, considering) but holy hell are they huge in Utah. Apparently Utah loves white rappers. They have a song about that! I'd call them alternative rather than rap though.
July 18, 20186 yr Yes, there's a little more Barenaked Ladies in their sound than there is straight-up Dre.
August 21, 20186 yr TIL the classic Led Zeppelin signature guitar sound really started in Ohio. https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/forgotten-guitar-jimmy-page-offers-close-look-his-number-1-les-paul
October 30, 20186 yr Dave Davis, audio mastering engineer at QCA studios, was involved in a serious car crash the other day and is in a coma. If you've listened to records put out by Cincinnati bands, there's a good chance you've heard an album he has mastered. (Here's his partial discography.) A GoFundMe page has been set up to help him and his family.
October 31, 20186 yr i just heard christmas wrapping the other day out and i thought -- whoa too soon. rip clevelander patty donohue and trivia chris butler got shot at at kent state.
December 26, 20186 yr A documentary on The Union in Athens can now be watched on Vimeo. Whoever did this did a great job. I donated a bunch of photos to it. The non-band ones I took that will jump out are the ones of Jerry Springer and of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
January 9, 20196 yr Arguably the most successful Ohio band that's not really officially an Ohio band. The Music Box Hosts Release Party for Book on The Cars’ Ben Orr, a Cleveland Native Sat 1/12 @ 7PM Cleveland will claim anyone famous as its own, even if they left town at the age of 2. But it has a legitimate claim to the Cars, the ’80s new wave band out of Boston. Its two frontmen, guitarist/lead vocalist Ric Ocasek and lead vocalist/bassist Ben Orr, who wrote the group’s songs, met in the Cleveland area, where Orr was born and raised (in Lakewood and Parma) and Ocasek moved as a teenager (graduating from Maple Heights High School). By the mid ’70s, they had both moved to Boston and worked their way through a success of bands before forming the Cars in 1978, influenced by the rise of cool, synth-based, mechanical sounds acts such as Talking Heads and Devo, who combined a flat, emotionless delivery with catchy tunes. They became the most successful of all those bands, selling tens of millions of albums in their decade as a recording act. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year. While there have been multiple books about the band, Joe Milliken’s new book, Let’s Go! Benjamin Orr and the Cars, focuses on the Clevelander, born Benjamin Orzechowksi, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2000 at the age of 53. Known to readers of Jane Scott’s popular music news column in the Plain Dealer as “Benny 11-letters,” he was a local celebrity while still in his teens. Not that that was unusual at the time: The vibrant local music scene teemed with high school bands inspired by the Beatles. Orr performed with the Grasshoppers and appearing regularly on the Cleveland-based, nationally syndicated Upbeat Show. The New England-based Milliken interviewed more than 120 family, friends and associates from all phases of Orr’s life. Milliken will appear at the Music Box Supper Club for a release party for the book. He’ll give a 45-minute presentation, followed by a 90-minure performance by Ohio Cars tribute band Moving in Stereo. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. musicboxcle.com/lets-go-jan12/ https://coolcleveland.com/2019/01/music-box-hosts-release-party-books-cars-ben-orr-cleveland-native/
January 10, 20196 yr 16 hours ago, surfohio said: Arguably the most successful Ohio band that's not really officially an Ohio band. The Music Box Hosts Release Party for Book on The Cars’ Ben Orr, a Cleveland Native Sat 1/12 @ 7PM Cleveland will claim anyone famous as its own, even if they left town at the age of 2. But it has a legitimate claim to the Cars, the ’80s new wave band out of Boston. Its two frontmen, guitarist/lead vocalist Ric Ocasek and lead vocalist/bassist Ben Orr, who wrote the group’s songs, met in the Cleveland area, where Orr was born and raised (in Lakewood and Parma) and Ocasek moved as a teenager (graduating from Maple Heights High School). By the mid ’70s, they had both moved to Boston and worked their way through a success of bands before forming the Cars in 1978, influenced by the rise of cool, synth-based, mechanical sounds acts such as Talking Heads and Devo, who combined a flat, emotionless delivery with catchy tunes. They became the most successful of all those bands, selling tens of millions of albums in their decade as a recording act. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year. While there have been multiple books about the band, Joe Milliken’s new book, Let’s Go! Benjamin Orr and the Cars, focuses on the Clevelander, born Benjamin Orzechowksi, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2000 at the age of 53. Known to readers of Jane Scott’s popular music news column in the Plain Dealer as “Benny 11-letters,” he was a local celebrity while still in his teens. Not that that was unusual at the time: The vibrant local music scene teemed with high school bands inspired by the Beatles. Orr performed with the Grasshoppers and appearing regularly on the Cleveland-based, nationally syndicated Upbeat Show. The New England-based Milliken interviewed more than 120 family, friends and associates from all phases of Orr’s life. Milliken will appear at the Music Box Supper Club for a release party for the book. He’ll give a 45-minute presentation, followed by a 90-minure performance by Ohio Cars tribute band Moving in Stereo. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. musicboxcle.com/lets-go-jan12/ https://coolcleveland.com/2019/01/music-box-hosts-release-party-books-cars-ben-orr-cleveland-native/ I've been looking forward to this book for awhile. Joe is on my FB friends list via Gorman's page, we talked a little bit about Ric's background. As I mentioned upthread, his past bio was very vague until just before they got into the Hall. He was known to be hypersensitive about his age, though. The Cars is likely the Clevelandest band in the Hall.
January 30, 20196 yr Sad news today. https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2019/01/james-ingram-grammy-winning-singer-dies-of-cancer-at-age-66.html
January 31, 20196 yr BlueFlowerredThorns. Really weird, heavy stuff. Apparently these guys are from Lima, OH. I'm part of a record label in Northeast OH, and the person who runs it is trying to find more info on these guys. I figure this is somewhat relevant, at least enough so to drop it here. If y'all know anything about these guys, a reply would be nice.
April 2, 20196 yr is there an Ohio River in Australia? I don't know how I managed to overlook this gem? http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
April 20, 20196 yr On 4/2/2019 at 3:24 PM, eastvillagedon said: is there an Ohio River in Australia? I don't know how I managed to overlook this gem? She started out as a big time folkie. My mom had a couple of her early albums. That MC really wanted to be Dean Martin. Edited April 20, 20196 yr by E Rocc
April 20, 20196 yr "Q Money", the rapper whose video shoot at 185th and St. Clair got shot up not long ago, just got arrested in Atlanta for killing another Cleveland rapper. Here's the crazy part, according to the police reports he lives in Avon. So one has to wonder if his real name is Clarence and his parents have a really good marriage....
April 20, 20196 yr 5 hours ago, E Rocc said: She started out as a big time folkie. My mom had a couple of her early albums. That MC really wanted to be Dean Martin. I remember meeting someone from Australia in the early 80's and I made the mistake of mentioning Olivia Newton-John and Helen Reddy, who had become big stars in the past few years. He became enraged and couldn't believe they were so popular, claiming they were failures and complete mediocrities in Australia.? http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
April 20, 20196 yr 49 minutes ago, eastvillagedon said: I remember meeting someone from Australia in the early 80's and I made the mistake of mentioning Olivia Newton-John and Helen Reddy, who had become big stars in the past few years. He became enraged and couldn't believe they were so popular, claiming they were failures and complete mediocrities in Australia.? This isn't all that unusual. There was a funny story written up in one of the British music magazines about the Manic Street Preachers and the Cranberries being on the same plane flying from America to the UK. The guys in MCP being very arrogant and condescending, as they were much more popular on the Isles. But the limo pickup at the airport was for the Cranberries. Then there's "Tubthumping". If there had been a poll in the UK a year before it came out asking which "known" band was the least likely to have a hit single in the USA, close to everyone would have picked Chumbawumba.
April 20, 20196 yr 34 minutes ago, E Rocc said: This isn't all that unusual. There was a funny story written up in one of the British music magazines about the Manic Street Preachers and the Cranberries being on the same plane flying from America to the UK. The guys in MCP being very arrogant and condescending, as they were much more popular on the Isles. But the limo pickup at the airport was for the Cranberries. Then there's "Tubthumping". If there had been a poll in the UK a year before it came out asking which "known" band was the least likely to have a hit single in the USA, close to everyone would have picked Chumbawumba. I guess there are also stories about American singers and bands becoming popular overseas, especially in the UK, and many one-hit wonders making it big in another country not their own. This reminded me of a singer I heard when I first came to New York by the name of Helen Schneider almost 40 years ago (I know, nobody here has ever heard of her!). Anyway, she was an aspiring big-voiced rock/cabaret singer who had achieved some recognition early on, appearing on the Tonight Show and at the Bottom Line in NY (where I saw her), a top showcase for record companies at the time. But her career never really took off, and she somehow ended up in Germany, where she started singing Kurt Weill songs and ended up becoming a big musical theater star. She's in her late 60's now and as far as I know she's still there. Which all brings me to this video I came across recently in which she appears with German country music star, Gunter Gabriel (now him I never heard of, though now apparently deceased), channeling Johnny Cash and June Carter ? Edited April 20, 20196 yr by eastvillagedon http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
April 20, 20196 yr The Rolling Stone are still really the only foreign group that successfully wrote songs about American places and things on a large scale, and got away with it. New Orleans? Yep. The Kentucky Derby? Yep. At least 20 songs talk about stuff they had little first-hand knowledge of, and we ate it up. Then there's this particular favorite of mine in the second verse, around 1:40. Hotter than a corner in New York City...lookin' down a .44 in West Vir-ginny!
April 20, 20196 yr I just finished Keith Richards autobiography. Really good! Being earnest and devoted students of American music they were welcomed openly into the segregated black communities.
August 13, 20195 yr My aunt and uncle are next-door neighbors with John Legend's dad in Gahanna. He got them back stage at tonight's show at Nationwide Arena. That is my cousin in the middle.
September 19, 20195 yr I had absolutely no idea I'd be going down a Northeast Ohio 90's alt-rock rabbit hole today....but yeah.
October 15, 20195 yr Ernie Johnson from Detroit is actually from Cincinnati. I saw them last weekend and they were fantastic, much bigger and better than what is seen from this 2018 video:
October 18, 20195 yr After a 14 year hiatus, Oysterhead is back, and Trey Anastasio gave the first tease last night in Dayton:
October 23, 20195 yr This story just keeps getting better. https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2019/10/shiba-dogg-to-perform-at-jolly-scholar-with-bone-thugs-family-in-attendance.html
December 24, 20195 yr So, ODOT has decided to get into the "Ohio music" business. In that ODOT has created a playlist, of Ohio musicians, to serenade you at various rest stops across the state. ABC 6 in C-bus got the scoop:https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/ohio-department-of-transportation-rolls-out-ohio-playlist-at-interstate-rest-stops?fbclid=IwAR0lwI2NCieu7ihxIBBBrWGkMWspSFo9i2d0HFBEKu5xmFAa7uutvg5Ex9o
December 25, 20195 yr 8 hours ago, Magyar said: So, ODOT has decided to get into the "Ohio music" business. In that ODOT has created a playlist, of Ohio musicians, to serenade you at various rest stops across the state. ABC 6 in C-bus got the scoop:https://abc6onyourside.com/news/local/ohio-department-of-transportation-rolls-out-ohio-playlist-at-interstate-rest-stops?fbclid=IwAR0lwI2NCieu7ihxIBBBrWGkMWspSFo9i2d0HFBEKu5xmFAa7uutvg5Ex9o No Afghan Whigs?
December 28, 20195 yr is anyone here familiar with this group? I don't think the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce will be using them in a promotional video anytime soon? http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
December 28, 20195 yr On 12/24/2019 at 7:04 PM, Cleburger said: No Afghan Whigs? 40 songs isn't very many, so the people working at the rest areas are going to go bonkers after only a few days. They really should add more over time. Maybe some Tool (Ravenna) and Marilyn Manson (Canton)
December 31, 20195 yr 4 hours ago, Magyar said: Friend of mine, from Baton Rouge, got this gift for Christmas. I heard multiple features on this record on low-wattage WAIF but nowhere else. It's times like these when the disappearances of WNKU and WOXY have an impact.
February 29, 20205 yr My friend Robby is the drummer in this band - half of them are from Columbus. Today they're recording some new stuff at Abbey Road studios. I'd be happy for them if I weren't jealous.
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