Soul Legend Melvin Davis @ Mark Leddy’s Birthday Bash January 16th

Soul Man Melvin Davis @ Beachland January 16

Looking for some hot tunes on a crummily cold Cleveland day? LOOK NO FURTHER, we say.  Ditch the shovel and grab your headphones, True Believers. Dilligent Beachland archivists, fresh from their rejuvenating Christmas vacation, have brought you tunes perfect for an Epiphany: we present to you soul singer Mr. Melvin Davis.  Listen up!

The story of this lanky soul survivor is told by writer Michael Hurtt for MetroTimes.com, Detroit:

The song, pressed on the local Wheel City label, is one of the most obscure in the history of recorded Detroit soul music. Yet when the band breaks into its intro, the packed house of testifying dancers erupts, and when Melvin Davis sings that first line, they’re right there with him. They know every word. It’s uplifting. It’s soulful. It’s downright spiritual.

Thirty-seven years after its 500-copy run sank without a trace in 1965, 5,000 — yes, 5,000 — Melvin Davis fans are flipping Wales’ Prestatyn Soul Weekender on its collective ear. To this throng of music fanatics, DJs and record collectors, the song in question, “Find a Quiet Place (and be Lonely),” is an anthem, and its rarity has only amplified its legend. 

As Hurtt notes, Davis is regarded as a legend in the vaunted UK Northern Soul scene.  Periodically, the small but proud and lovely beach city of Cleethorpes hosts soul music festivals; festival-goers were treated to songs by none other than Mr. Davis himself:

Melvin Davis will perform on Saturday, January 16th, headlining an annual Beachland tradition: co-owner Mark Leddy’s Birthday Bash.  We’ll not only have Davis (backed by Detroit band The Party Stompers), but a rare set by groundbreaking soul-punk duo, The Bassholes.  Unlike rock duos that sport White and Black in their name, Don Howland (now residing in Asheville, NC) and Bim Thomas (from This Moment In Black History) offer face-slapping, cranky blues for binging:

Order your tickets now from the Beachland website, or call 216-383-1124.  Don’t forget to sign up for our mailing list, if you’ve been too frozen and snowblind to do so already.

EAS

A Word from Beachland Co-Owner, Cindy Barber

from Esquire Magazine's review - click to read

(reposted from the Beachland Mailing List. Sign up for it HERE and get weekly updates on our shows!)

“So it’s the end of ’09, the end of the first decade of the new century, and the Beachland is looking at its 10th anniversary in March. It’s hard to believe we’ve been doing this for an entire decade!

This year has been particularly tough. The Cleveland economy is not making it easy for independent stores, restaurants or venues like ours. Job cutbacks and forced furloughs make it harder for our longtime supporters to come out as often to see live music. But to all of you who have been so loyal, we thank you for every dollar you have spent at our establishment. There were a few times these past few months when we thought, “let’s just do our 10th anniversary shows and call it quits, this is too hard.” However, there seems to be a greater force at work, whispering in our ears that we will find a way. People have been coming out of the woodwork with both financial and emotional support (though we could always use more)! And we, like many of you, still believe in the healing and inspirational power of music.

Even though the music industry today is in deep trouble, there are so many redeeming points and we certainly had many this year. Highlights included Paul Thorn with his band transforming the tavern into a rapture, Brave Combo creating a frenzy of dancers and energy in the ballroom, St. Vincent pulling us all into her fascinating artsy musical world and the upbeat and generous Bootsy Collins sitting in with the Crop Bistro band when we hosted the Cleveland Food Rocks benefit in our parking lot this past summer.

We were proud to see acts we have watched from their musical infancy like Josh Ritter, Dr. Dog, Eli Paperboy Reed, and Trampled by Turtles, grow into major acts at the Beachland. We got to host old friends this year like Neko Case, the Bellrays, Jack Oblivian, Bonnie Prince Billy, Jon Spencer’s Heavy Trash (which was amazing by the way), both Black Keys’ side projects, Cadillac Sky (which now features Northeast Ohio’s talented David Mayfield) plus an almost instantly soldout Sufjan Stevens show (thanks Sufjan and Ali for that). We were able to present truly special concerts by elder statemen like Van der Graaf Generator, Os Mutantes, Hugh Cornwell, Magic Christian, Lonnie Brooks, Jimmy Webb, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jonathan Edwards, and old school Detroit performers like Scott Morgan, Death and Rodriguez (who IS a musical shaman).

We were inspired by newer acts like Dent May, Phosphorescent, and Shilpa Ray. And got to see alot of personal friends of the Beachland like Glenn Tilbrook and the Fluffers (who even wrote a song about the Beachland!), the Sadies and the Waco Brothers, Fred Eaglesmith, Roger Clyne, Asylum Street Spankers, Holly Golightly, Raul Malo, Katy Moffatt, Lucy Kaplansky, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Chuck Prophet, Reigning Sound, Bill Kirchen, Southern Culture on the Skids, The Hi Risers, Joe Buck, The Hold Steady, Dale Watson, and Los Straitjackets (who were one of the first bands to start telling other performers about the Beachland in 2000).

And then there is all the wonderful local bands we’ve gotten to watch and support like Mr. Gnome, The Numbers Band, The Schwartz Brothers, Unsparing Sea, Afternoon Naps, This Moment in Black History, Bill Fox, Lighthouse and the Whaler, HotChaCha, Mystery of Two, Whiskey Daredevils, Uncle Scratch, Chuck Mosley, Hot Rails, Beaten Awake, and on and on…All in all it was a great musical year.

Since we’re facing a decade, we’d like to hear from you about a favorite show you saw in the last 10 years or a band you discovered at the Beachland…. send your tale to cindy@beachlandballroom.com and we’ll start putting your testimonials up on our blog as we move toward March and the anniversary. As we enter 2010, remember Music Saves is more than the name of our favorite indie record store! For that reason we hope to keep the Beachland going for another decade.”

The Full-Court Holiday Press: Parties, Reunions, and Shindigs

 

Some of you sitting cozily in Blogsville might have experience the rush and the push of holiday hubbub: rehearsing for a Christmas pageant, gearing up for Hannukah hijinks, finding new footie pajamas for the Baby Jesus, and the like.  Cooking, shopping, cleaning, and making travel plans seem to be inextricably tied to the season of Peace on Earth and Goodwill To All. Yeah, peace and goodwill can wait–we’ve got work to do! 

Likewise, the Beachland is rolling and tumbling through the prep work needed to insure that this year’s seasonal shows work flawlessly, like a certain mythological character’s sled.  We do the work, so you don’t have to.  Just lively up yourself and we’ll nice up the dance,  as Bob Marley and reggae greats Mitchigan & Smiley both wisely said.  Just bring your ID, your admission fee, and your cheer; we’ll do the rest. 

---

Mr Gnome CD release show, Friday December 18 

Though they’re based in Cleveland, this duo’s been slowly but surely acquiring a national buzz with spookily heavy albums such as Deliver This Creature.  Mr. Gnome’s newest release is called Heave Your Skeleton, which you can read about at the Dallas Observer. 

Mr. Gnome, “Night of the Crickets”

---

Music Saves & Square Records 6th Annual Holiday Get Down, Saturday December 19 

When money is lacking, let love be your commerce, says indie record stores Music Saves and Square Records. Hailing respectively from Cleveland and Akron, these two establishments put together a bill of fine young bands from their towns.  Akron’s Walkies bring to mind a lot of the weird beardo folk that’s currently on the zeitgeist’s holiday shopping list; on the other hand, their spiky guitar and banjo duets sound pretty cool: 

The Walkies, “Going Down the Valley”

---

 Yulesville Pre-Holiday Bash w/ Bears, Unsparing Sea, and a shload more bands, Wednesday, December 23What doesn’t this bill have? From Bears’ candy-flavored, buzz-worthy indie pop and the reptilian metal drones of the mysterious Terminal Lovers, this should have it all.   Dig the Japanese monster riffery on the Lovers’ “Mr. Astronaut Glenn”, and put those toys on your wish-list! 

If anyone asks, this show is sponsored in part by Beachland bud Cleveland Bachelor.

---

 7th Annual Old Home Night featuring California Speedbag, Kidney Brothers, Home and Garden, and Nicholas Deveney

Memories of Cleveland punk and new wave, grimy but drunkenly hopeful in the 70s and 80s, will belly up at the bar during this 7th Annual Old Home Night. OHN was created by a group of veteran bohemians–among them, the writer Michael DeCapite–who wanted to throw a very special party for ex-pats and current residents of our fair town who hailed from a time when the underground was freshly dug.  Tonight we’ll have an apperance by cowpunk pioneers California Speedbag, avant-lords Home and Garden, the Kidney Brothers (from The Numbers Band), and if you’re not careful, you might see a Pere Ubu or Dead Boys member floating around. Good times, great memories, such as this of CLE punks Numbskull tearing Sabbath’s “Supernaut” to ribbons at the old Variety Theatre (still there on Lo-rain Road!): 

---

 Cowslingers Reunion Wednesday December 30 

If Old Home Night isn’t proof enough that “Cleveland punx not dead”, this two-night stand of total rock should convince doubters.  Rock N’ Roll’s a sure bet, solid as the Hope Memorial Bridge, unyielding as the Cuyahoga.   The Cowslingers were ambassadors for that aesthetic throughout Europe and the US, playing very fast and very loose with sounds pioneered by Link Wray, X, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, and other immortal troublemakers. Here’s the kind of trouble the Cowslingers caused, shot at the Beachland many years back (note the difference in decor): 

After their breakup, the ‘slingers formed different bands, such as the Whiskey Daredevils and Jack Fords.   Yet the demand for that special Cowslinger brand of fun never wavered; in fact, tickets are flying out the proverbial door for this near-New Year’s humdinger with Lords of the Highway. ACT NOW. 

EAS

Ghostface Killah brings you romance, DiNizio and Johnston hand you pop, Scott Morgan gives you rock n’ roll

Amy Casey provided by Zg Gallery, NYC, and the New York Times, from Neko Case's "Middle Cyclone"

Not unlike the democracy in which many of us participated this past Tuesday, today’s Beachland Blog entry is a jumbled hodgepodge.  As in many elections, we’ve got controversy, old favorites, new ideas, a few winners, and some losers; namely, YOU, if you don’t check out some of these events at the Beachland and in North Collinwood.

We don’t have many hip-hop shows at the Beachland, but what we lack in quantity is made up in quality by Thursday night’s apperance of the Wu-Tang’s Ghostface Killah.  Hopefully he’ll do more than appear–you’ll bounce to cuts off his new CD, Ghostdini, Wizard of Poetry In The Emerald City.  Onion offshoot the AV Club gives a wryly humorous but informative lesson in love, based on Ghostdini‘s worldly wisdom.  If you need more x-rated grime and less shine, listen to his entire album on IMEEM.

Saturday night boasts championship-caliber singer-songwriters Pat DiNizio (from the Smithereens) and Freedy Johnston.  This marquee matchup gets a big up from blogs Addicted To Vinyl, Cleveland Bachelor, from CoolCleveland.com and from the Scene. So it is with great pleasure that we urge you to follow those links and learn.  If you choose to attend this show, please know that a portion of the proceeds will go to the National Autism Association – Northeast ohio Chapter.

If you ever wake up in the morning thinking, “Gee, does anyone remember ROCK music?” after a perusal of the boob tube or generic radio, check out what alternatives Detroit rock veteran Scott Morgan (Rationals, Sonic’s Rendezvous, The Solution) offers you at the Beachland on Saturday night.  Now, if you’re wondering, “Who the hell is Scott Morgan?”, read this interview with this contemporary of the MC5 and hard-rock Swedes the Hellacopters.  The Stash Dauber does a fairly complete retrospective of Morgan’s history with his 60s soul band, The Rationals.  Ann Arbor-based writer Kevin Ransom also shares some insider info on Morgan and the Rationals, along with a killer audio clip.On Saturday night, Morgan and his Detroit all-star band (It’s all very hush-hush. You’ll just have to be here)–will perform as the Irrationals, taking on Rationals cuts, which means a whole lotta rock n’ soul a la another Michigan mate, Mitch Ryder.

If you just can’t get enough soul in your life, one of America’s great musical treasures, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, can recommend some second-line tuba-infused stomp.  Take a big gulp of their New Orleans funk on Thursday, November 12th–for your health, and to commemorate their 25th Anniversary Tour.  Here’s the band with “My Feet Can’t Fail Me Now” and the Meters’ badass classic, “Cissy Strut“.

While the DDBB play some low-down street music, you can find Low Life Gallery on our street, as they open their Realities Unseen show thi Friday, November 6th, at 6 pm. As Cleveland-based Pink Eye Magazine reminds us, this show features the works of Andrew R. Shondrick and Adam H. Hoskins.  Also opening at Arts Collinwood that very same night is a show by lauded Cleveland-gone-national artist Amy Casey, and Jen Omaitz.   Shoparooni’s Natural Resources show gets going that night as well.

This weekend, Cleveland, vote with your feet and with your dollar bils, ya’ll!

EAS