Jane Scott Memorial at Rock Hall, August 28, 2011

Jane Scott, hard at work

I was among the many speakers at the Rock Hall on Sunday, August 28 to honor and pay tribute to Cleveland’s legendary rock writer Jane Scott…I got through my prepared remarks but skipped a few lines under the pressure…so posting here as they were originally written:

 The very first time I bumped into Jane Scott was at the Rolling Stone Teen Club in Brookpark for a Bob Seger and the Last Heard show. I was a teenager seeking out rock and roll. There might have been 20 other kids there. To us, she looked out of place. But what I learned was that Jane never was out of place. Like so many of you, over the years, I encountered that silly giggle of Jane’s in countless situations. When I worked for MCA Records, Jane would saunter in in her white gogo boots to listen to some advance release in Mr. Green‘s office. And all the girls in the order dept would whisper, Jane Scott’s here. At some point in our friendship, I got to be on her annual Christmas party invite list and join the inner sanctum, and it was a huge thrill going there the first time, seeing pictures of her with famous rockers scattered about her small apartment with her collection of scarves and cool hats. And like a polite hostess she always introduced you to everyone in the room.

To me that’s symbolic of what Jane did for an entire generation. Jane stood as the fearless observer, notebook in hand, really listening, and telling us all the behind the scenes stories of every performer’s life, which made us want more. And she also reached behind her, turning to ask the audience what they thought, wondering who these kids were showing up to listen to that crazy Persecution Smith song, validing our right to assemble at the alter of rock and roll.

Today, when I look back at Jane’s style, she was sort of the newspaper equivilant of Facebook wasn’t she? But she encouraged you to leave your house and find the front of the stage. The first t-shirt we made at the Beachland I had Derf create a cartoon scene of some rocker on our stage shouting out Hello Cleveland, like so many of them do, but I asked him to specifically put an image of Jane standing right in front of the action. The thing I hope we always remember, and that we find a way to pass on in this city, is her undying dedication to live music.  Just put a peanut butter sandwich in your purse or in your pants pocket…and go. –Cindy Barber

Roots Rock in the ‘Summertime’; real Mothers (of Invention) for ya

According to the ever-reliable Weather Underground site (home of some nifty, near-psychedelic graphics), it’s practically going to be summertime this weekend, people, with highs in the 30s. Get crazy! Doff that winter cap! Shuck those long johns! Hell, you might even turn off your infrared space heater and save some pennies in the process.

 

This Moment In Black History, Friday night. From Hillytown.com

This heat wave’s a timely one, too, as we have quite a bit you should come and enjoy. On our Facebook page, the Beachland and her friends have been chatting up this weekend’s  Walk All Over Waterloo: Valentine Day’s Edition. We weren’t quite keen on bringing up the “v-word”, but there it is, lonelyhearts, you can’t escape it, you might embrace it, and if not, there’s some cheap n’ easy fun to be had on our block.  This Friday night features The Davenport Ball (with CLE bands covering Black Sabbath, The Replacements, Wilco, and others) at the Beachland, The Waterloo Alley Cat Fundraiser, and a special apperance by This Moment In Black History at Arts Collinwood.  Think of it as a rugged counterpoint to Tremont’s ArtWalk, but with cheaper drinks, easier parking, and actual rock n’ roll.

 

Hoots and Hellmouth, this Saturday

If hoedowns and throwdowns are more your style – that is, if twang’s your thang – our entire Saturday’s filled with variations on roots rock. Our 7 pm Tavern show features Long Road, a bunch of serious local singers and strummers with their take on 60s-style folk. Long Road features cats like Ray DeForest, Kevin Richards, and David Budin, all of whom have played a role in Roots of American Music, a music and education non-profit.  At 10 pm, the Tavern gets grimier with honky-tonk, hillbilly, and hardrock compliments of The Not So Good Ol’  Boys with Detroiters Doop and the Inside Outlaws.   Meanwhile, Beachland favorites Cabinet rock the Ballroom with the energetic and magnetic Hoots and Hellmouth:

ZAPPATISTAS: Sunday night features the return of a certain Bunk Gardner to his native home of Cleveland, Ohio. He’s performing with his old Mothers of Invention bandmate Don Preston under the straight-ahead moniker of  “The Don And Bunk Show”.  If you know anything about Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, though, this music will be anything but straight-ahead:

And here they are, much grayer, but without a single musical misstep:

Curious? Read this AllAboutJazz.com article on these two ex-henchmen of the legendary Frank Zappa, and come by on Sunday night for The Don and Bunk Show, with opening act Cuda, Renko, and Cuda.

We hear it’s going to be warm on Sunday.
EAS

It’s A Vintage Weekend: Roy Loney (from the Flamin’ Groovies); The Hesitations

Hello, Cleveland and Parts Beyond!  It’s been a while since we’ve utilized our Beachland blog, as we’ve shifted the heavy online PR lifting to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.  We’re saving this blog space – and your precious time and attention – to shows we feel are truly special and worth more than a quick post or tweet.  This Friday and Saturday are filled to the brim with great musical acts – Roy Loney, from legendary 70s rockers The Flamin’ Groovies, and Cleveland soul group The Hesitations – that you couldn’t really see anywhere else.  So we’ve taken the time to get you hip to the sounds that are going down this weekend!

In many circles, Mr. Roy Loney needs no introduction. But to many others, he seems like a footnote in the annals of rock and roll.  Fortunately for Loney neophytes, we’ve got some Cleveland friends helping us tell the story of Loney and his band, The Flamin’ Groovies.  Former Mirrors drummer and CLE alum Michael J. Weldon shares his insights into Loney via the site for his shop, Psychotronic and Mia’s Bead Shop, which sells a wide variety of far-out rock and roll collectibles.  Please note that this is a thorough interview with Loney , so make sure to settle in a comfy chair!  http://www.psychotronic.com/psychotronic-interviews/roy-loney

For those of you readers pressed for time, here’s a quote from the Flamin’ Groovies’ bio, provided by the ever-essential Trouser Press, that sheds light on these San Francisco forerunners of punk, roots rock, and DIY record labels:

Starting out in San Francisco as early as 1965 (actually predating the Grateful Dead!), the Flamin Groovies were always out of step with the rock world. Ten years before bands routinely released their own independent records, the Groovies issued a 10-inch mini-album, Sneakers; in the ’70s, when that same do-it-yourself spirit was inspiring countless innovative bands to try and challenge the old boundaries, the Groovies retreated to make albums of beat group nostalgia, wearing period clothes and refusing to acknowledge that times had indeed changed.

Always more cult-popular and influential than commercially successful, the Groovies, led by irascible but talented guitarist/singer Cyril Jordan and (until 1971) singer/guitarist Roy A. Loney, always embodied the rebellious, youthful spirit that fueled punk, but held tenuously to their musical roots — ’50s American rock’n’roll and ’60s British pop. In effect, they provided inspiration for countless bands (how many covers of “Slow Death” can you name?) and are legendary for good reason.

So you’ve got your Groovies lesson, then. Let’s fast-forward to 1979, whereupon Mr. Loney solo career boasted a blasting sound akin to punk rock (warning: cute kid alert at the end):

Here’s a 2010 updating of a classic Loney tune, served up for the madwomen and madmen of Madrid, Spain:

Loney plays this Friday, January 21st, backed by former CLE surfoholics The Purple Knifs (Waitresses and Walkin’ Clampetts guys who’ll be playing a set of their own).  Also on the bill are Living Stereo, most recenly remembered for a powerhouse Halloween set covering the Sonics.

Saturday night, we’ll have a homecoming of sorts for Cleveland’s very own Hestiations.  This 60s soul group’s brief career got them not only airplay in the States, but in Europe and especially in Great Britain.  That nation’s Northern Soul fans gobbled up singles like “Soul Superman”, “The Impossible Dream”,  “Who Will Answer”, and “You Can’t Bypass Love”:

“….the Hesitations are ready to work again; reunited in 2006 for a show at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the four singers and five musicians discovered last March that they can indeed draw a crowd, headlining the Northern and Modern Soul Weekender in Prestatyn, North Wales and pulling 3,000 to 4,000.

The Hesitations will perform at the Beachland Ballroom on January 22, helping Beachland manager Mark Leddy celebrate his 51st birthday. A long-time fan of Northern Soul, Leddy says: ‘I generally use my birthday as an excuse to book some kind of show. Often, it’s a soul-oriented show, so it seemed like the thing to do.'” Carlo Wolff’s great, four-page article on The Hesitations on OhioAuthority.com

John Benson, writing for CoolCleveland.com, has also penned a profile of The Hesitations that’s brief and concise.  However, for the purposes of you, The Blog Reader, we’ll go back to YouTube vids that show the Hesitations in front of an enthusiastic UK crowd, having a good bit of cheeky fun with their hit, “Soul Superman”:

The Hesitations will perform on Saturday, January 22nd, with help from DJ Charles McGaw, and DJ Racecard, aka Lawrence Daniel Caswell, one of the voices on local NPR affiliate WCPN, bassist for the bands This Moment In Black History, Vernacular, and National Suicide Day, and all-around polymath.  It’s also the birthday party of Mark Leddy, one of the Beachland’s co-owners. Expect nothing but good tunes and good times.

Tickets are available at http://www.beachlandballroom.com.

EAS

Welcome to Beachland Ballroom and Tavern, 2011!

Welcome, True Believers!  We thought we’d kick off the year with a selection of compliments, from you, the people who really do make Cleveland the rock n’ roll mecca that it is.   These are actual testimonials from fans who’ve come from near and far to share in our musical plenitude.

If you’ve got something you’d like to share–a comment, a compliment, or a suggestion, find us at facebook.com/beachlandballroom, twitter.com/beachlandtavern, or beachlandtavern@gmail.com.

Thanks! We know we’ll see you in 2011…otherwise, you wouldn’t be reading this, would you?

From Keith Garner: We had a great time and really enjoyed a lot of great shows with you guys this year. Highlights were Mumford and Sons – Love to see them back, though they are now so huge that might be tough. Cory Chisel was great as was Deer Tick.

From Andy Osters: As for the year-end concert review, all I can say is that on July 20th I had 8 tickets, a limo and a cooler full of beer lined up for the Tom Petty show at Blossom only to hear that the show was canceled due to Mike Campbell’s illness. I was pretty disappointed as my favorite band, Drive By Truckers were set to open. With the beer on ice, I called a good friend of mine and asked if he was still planning on attending the Old 97s show at the Beachland that same night. He said he was and I told him I would order tickets. We then got word that someone at the Beachland offered DBT the opportunity to drive up for the 97s show. Not only did they attend, but they wanted to plug in and play the TAVERN after the Old 97s set!!!! They sold out the Ballroom back in April (another excellent show) and if this show was gonna happen, we were not missing it.

We called the Beachland before it was officially announced and the person on the other end said, “how did you hear about that? I’m gonna have to call you back”. She did just that a few minutes later. We got our $10 tickets and were treated to an amazing night of music by two of the best live bands around. Old 97s played for almost 2 hours and the Truckers did the same. One of the greatest evenings of music that I have ever been a part of.

I got a chance to see you that night at the back of the Ballroom and said a brief “thank you” while sporting my Hood / Cooley shirt. Please allow this to serve as a formal “Thank You again”.

As for helping out, perhaps I can send a few dollars your way to help pay for the ceiling tiles that Patterson Hood destroyed with the mic stand at the end of the DBT set. What a great night!!

From Mark Gregg: Favorite shows in 2010, in no particular order: Band of Heathens, Shelby Lynne and Findley Brown, Grant Lee Phillips, Eli Paperboy Reed, Roger Clyne,Betty Levette, Marc Broussard, Paul Thorn, Dave Alvin, The Watson Twins, Subdudes and Alejandro Escovedo. Thanks for all you do for Cleveland.

From Paul Sherlock: Appreciate the opportunity to give feedback. There have been so many shows that I loved seeing at the Beachland. It is by far my favorite venue to see shows, since you provide such a wide array of entertainers. Performers that I have seen in the last year at the Beachland that I would love to see come back (repeatedly): Eli Reed, Cowboy Mouth (will be ordering tickets today), Wussy, Old Boy, April Smith, Whiskey Daredevils, Prisoners, Company of Thieves, Mike Gordon, The Gories, The Alarm Clocks, Donna The Buffalo, Raquy and The Caveman, Hot Cha Cha, Mr. Gnome. And I know there are many others that I am not thinking of; I like to put out a weekly calendar of upcoming shows and was only able to reference a few of them. I have easily been to the Beachland over 50 times this year, probably closer to 75. So keep up the good work!

From Edwin Shank: 2010 marked my first show at the Beachland and glad to say I attended many this year. My favorite show was Steven Kellogg and the Sixers opening up for NeedToBreathe. They both were great acts and NTB just blew me away how good they are! We also saw Eliza Gylkison there and she was great–another favorite show. We saw Glass Harp and Phil Keagy and WOW, what can you say!!!

From Reed Porter: I live in the Akron-Cuyahoga Falls-Stow area and come to every show at the Ballroom that I can. I absolutely love the laid-back vibe of the venue and the fact that patrons are not treated as guilty loiterers needing to be patted down and shuffled around. We can even come and go as we please….imagine that!!!! Then, there’s the main stage, which is great acousically, too! This year’s memorable show to me was Stickmen – with the great Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto and Michael Bernier. What a great gig!! I was given the set list by the sound engineer as he could see how much I enjoyed the show and the sound was phenomenal! Another show that I couldn’t believe was even going to be in this area was VanDerGraff Generator! Good job of securing that gig….hats off to your director of shows! I offer my utmost gratitude to you and all the great staff at the Beachland Ballroom.

From Joe Cole: There is actually 2 shows that you guys put on that had a profound effect on me.The first one was Mr. Jimmie Vaughan !!! The best Fathers Day ever. Then talking to this living legend afterwards was the end to a perfect day ! The second show was Los Lobos !!! I know it wasn’t at the ballroom but I know you guys had a big hand in that show. I had one of the worst days of my life that day and wasn’t sure if I was going to make it. Lucky for me I did !!! What a kick ass show it was!!! It made me forget about my sorrow for a few precious hours! I can`t stand the big venue concerts anymore!!! The Beachland brings just as much talent to an intimate venue. You guys just rock !!! and I hope to see you in 2011 !!!

From Ed and Darlene Stube: Thanks for all your hard work. We drove up from Athens four times this past year to see shows at Beachland. Our favorite was The Subdudes. We’d really like to see them again. Again, thanks for bringing great live music to Cleveland.

From Elaine Seith: I’ve had the pleasure of attending concerts this year at the Beachland. Coco Montoya, Junior Brown, and Wanda Jackson to name a few – all were really good shows. Whitey Morgan a few weeks ago in the tavern was great!