My thanks to Emerson, Lake & Palmer for a convenient headline. Spring is in the air, music everywhere and Janice Olszewski has a new book about Northeast Ohio’s historic performance venues.
Oh, who am I kidding? Jan is my co-author for our latest book, “Smoky, Sweaty, Rowdy, and Loud: Tales of Cleveland’s Legendary Rock & Roll Landmarks.”
We do not cover all the venues in this first volume. There are too many to include and way too many stories. The research was great fun but the only real problem was picking out the best stories from each venue.
One of the most surprising aspects was how well the artists who played here remembered even the smallest details. Even though he debuted at Cleveland Music Hall in 1972 and played two sold-out dates at Public Hall just a few weeks later, David Bowie loved the Agoras. He played keyboards behind Iggy Pop at the location near Cleveland State and later with his band Tin Machine when Hank LoConti moved operations to East 50th and Euclid.
You can write volumes about the Agora and the people who played there. Bruce Springsteen’s 1978 show was the most heavily bootlegged concert ever, Free made its U.S. debut on that stage, Prince’s bodyguard roughed up a TV cameraman, U2 and The Police made a huge impact and Buddy Maver showed Elvis Costello’s manager why you NEVER insult The Plain Dealer’s rock critic Jane Scott. Let’s just say it never happened again.
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Derek Hess booked Green Day at The Euclid Tavern after the band was starting to get really huge, and flat-out refused another act for “hygiene” issues. That huge cloud of powder that Trent Reznor threw out at Nine Inch Nail’s Empire Concert Club show wasn’t talcum, and Jimi Hendrix played a little-attended third show when he appeared here in March 1968.
I had the chance to speak with Queen’s Brian May when he stopped by WMMS and he remembers every gig. I recalled seeing him in 1976. He said, “Oh yeah. That was Valentine’s Day.”
Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page mentioned that Joe Walsh gave him the guitar he used for the solo on “Stairway to Heaven,” and at Zeppelin’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Page mentioned one of Cleveland’s most notorious locations for rockers, Swingos Celebrity Inn. Everybody stayed there. The Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley would book an entire floor for a month and satellite out to nearby cities, then return to Cleveland.
Let’s not forget about La Cave, the tiny University Circle club that Lou Reed said was one of the few places outside of New York City that “got” The Velvet Underground. Cleveland made its mark on popular music and continues to make it every day.
Boomer Trivia: This folk singer from Bedford met his partner at the Blind Owl
Tavern in Kent and had a #1 Billboard hit with a song about something now legally available in Ohio with a prescription. Tom Shipley and his partner Mike Brewer did “One Toke Over the Line,” which was even covered by Lawrence Welk. Tom’s dad, Woodrow Shipley, was principal at Bedford High School.
For next time: The Cleveland Press had an animal mascot for its kids’ pages. Name the mascot.
