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Pop Culture Chronicles

You don’t spell success with dollar signs.

What does success mean to you? Look, I don’t try to write about sports. There are plenty of people who know a lot more about sports than me. At least they think they do and I don’t feel like arguing about it.

I want the home teams to win, and after that I watch the World Series or Super Bowl and chant “Wait ’til next year” like a mantra. Have to say I was really proud of the Indians this season. When I was growing up we used to say, “Go Tribe — and take the Cavs with you!”

The Browns were always hot, but at one point the Indians were selling players to make payroll. You went to an Indians game to see some of the greats playing on the other team.

For the past few years you saw the excitement and civic pride grow with each Tribe and Cavs season. Now, about the Browns. Close your eyes, sit in a lotus position and repeat after me: “Wait ’til next year. Wait ’til next year.”

Here’s what I’m getting at. We all have our own concept of success, but that should include celebrating every victory no matter how small it seems. Did you win the office pool? Maybe you got a prime parking space. How about if someone really liked a gift you got them? What if you were just proven right about something?

Another thing: You might be retired, your kids might be grown up, and you sit around in sweatpants all day. The only time you put on regular clothes is to go to funerals for people who exercised.

Now is the time to try something new, maybe something you always wanted to do. I used to work with Ben Holbert over at Channels 19 and 43.

Our pop culture columnist Mike O talks tattoos, pumpkins and the latest issue of Boomer.

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Pop Culture Chronicles

Bat Out of Hell

The Cleveland Connection

By Mike Olszewski

Boomers are big on anniversaries, and I’ll get to “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in a bit, but let’s look at another landmark album that turns 40 in October.

Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out of Hell” sold 43 million copies on Cleveland International Records, the brainchild of the late, great Steve Popovich.

Popovich worked at Columbia/Epic and eventually started Cleveland International. I say this with the greatest respect, but sometimes he looked like he slept in his clothes.

Then you went into his office and there are the photos with Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, and on and on. Popovich told Columbia Records to sign Michael Jackson as a solo artist, and there was a photo with him, too.

He insisted that my wife, Janice, and I come out to see this 9-year-old kid singer he was promoting; it was Hunter Hayes. This guy had a Midas touch and was generous to a fault.

Something’s Fishy

There was an ethnic bar on the west side that was famous for its fish fries. A bunch of us, eight or nine radio and record people, were knocking back beers and eating like kings when the door opens and it’s Steve. He came in for take-out, and while he was waiting he sat with us.

When his dinner came he looked at me and said, “Michael, ask me how’s business.”

All right, I’ll bite. “How’s business Steve?”

“Don’t ask.”

He picked up the whole table’s tab and wrote “business conference” on the receipt — the most expensive fish fry he ever bought.

He knew rock ’n’ roll, but he loved polkas. Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople (“Cleveland Rocks”) was on his label and was sitting in his office one day.

Here’s the first installment from our pop culture expert Mike Olszewski.

BOOM!

Pop Culture Chronicles

Mike Olszewski

What Happened to Summer Jobs?

Years ago when spring rolled around, you started thinking about landing a summer job.

Those also were the days before we paid for TV, radio, tap water in plastic bottles and when I didn’t have to take out a loan to see a first run movie. I joked once that someone is going to figure out a way to pay for air, and then I pulled into a gas station, where you’re paying to fill your tires.

Scarce Work

To be fair, a lot of jobs for young folks no longer exist. Look at theaters. You had a movie house that hired ushers, and the kids’ matinee on Saturdays was a nightmare. Then automation moved in and projectionists were eliminated. We have 10 screens in one location, and the person selling tickets runs to the candy counter to hawk overpriced candy and popcorn out of big clear garbage bags with some kind of oil instead of butter. Don’t think for a minute that most people don’t hit a discount store first for snacks to sneak in. My wife and I went to a movie a while back, and a guy was eating a sub sandwich as long as his arm.

Before gas stations became supermarkets and beer gardens, you could find work pumping gas, cleaning windshields, and checking water and oil. Pay at the pump meant you handed the cash through the window and maybe tip the attendant. Now I do all the work, and I feel like I should tip myself.

Newspapers and Fast Food

If you were ambitious you might get a paper route. The Plain Dealer, Cleveland Press, Akron Beacon Journal and all newspapers had carriers who would put your paper inside your door so it didn’t get wet.

My wife and co-author, Janice, and I are always chasing down our pop culture history; we usually don’t have to look very far. A few weeks back we headed to the state capital for a visit to the Ohio History Connection. We’ve seen a lot of famous firsts in Northeast Ohio that are documented at the center.

WE’RE NO. 1

Some of those firsts are cultural (the first rock and roll concert — the Moondog Ball — in 1952), traditional (the first U.S.Christmas tree on Public Square), convenience (home mail delivery), medical (the first blood transfusion) and technical (the first use of a gas mask).

Some are annoying, like the world’s first automatic traffic signal at University Circle. And some were the result of necessity; Cleveland’s Crane Candy Company needed a product that wouldn’t melt in the summer heat and came up with Life Savers.

Now, here’s the comparison between Cleveland and Columbus. When you go to a supermarket down south you see a lot of stuff on the shelves we don’t have here because Columbus is considered one of the nation’s best test markets. Even so, Cleveland has bragging rights for introducing some-
thing that is often maligned but has been used by just about everyone.

I tip my hat to one of my public speaking students, Haley Held, for bringing this to my attention. In 1964, Cleveland was the test city for Pop-Tarts.

That’s right. Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts were introduced in Cleveland before anywhere else. The Huffington Post reports the original name for the product was the Fruit Scone, but Andy Warhol was making “pop art” an everyday word. Add a “T” and Pop-Tarts were born. As soon as they hit the shelves, people went batty for the new toaster pastry, and within two weeks the company ran out of product.