Jim Clevo was everywhere in the Cleveland local music scene. After the news of his passing early yesterday evening due to heart failure, he'd had a bad ticker for a few years, the number of musicians who paid tribute to him on Facebook was astonishing. There's been a call for all musicians to post a photo of Clevo on their website in honor.
Jim Clevo Presentations was a bit like CD Baby in the pre-internet age. Jim Clevo set up a network of low cost vendors to create a kind of CD creation house. Cleveland bands who were not used to navigating their way through the business side of things would come to Clevo in order to make their album a reality. Here's a story from 2002, Music man.
Clevo also produced compilations of local Cleveland artists in order to help promote these bands both here and nationally. The Killer Blow, released in 1989 featured acts such as Home & Garden, Hot Tin Roof, Terrible Parade, Oroboros and others. A year later he put out Clearing The Air, another comp CD, with music by Hostile Omish, The Beatnik Termites, Jehova Waitresses and many others on this two disc set.
Clevo also wrote a book to help musicians, Networking in the Music Industry, back in 1993. Anything he could do to shine more light on a local musician was his goal.
You can read more about Clevo in Deanna Adams comprehensive book, Rock 'n' Roll And The Cleveland Connection. Here's an excerpt.
I came to know Clevo, a West Park native, a bit better in recent years through friends and family who grew up with him. Clevo had a strong opinion on many things and agendas to champion those beliefs. Carrying on his local music legacy is a way for me to pay tribute to an important figure in Cleveland music.
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