RADIO HANNIBAL

A tough start to 2016 for music fans

2016 has started on a somber note for music fans.  In the past few weeks we've seen the passing of Lemmy, David Bowie, Stevie Wright (lead singer on The Easybeats' "Friday On My Mind"), Gary Loizzo (lead singer on The American Breed's "Bend Me, Shape Me"), Kevin Junior of The Chamber Strings, Mic Gillette, trumpeter for Tower Of Power, Dale "Buffin" Griffin, drummer of Mott The Hoople and Glenn Frey of The Eagles.  All of these musicians were under 70 years old which makes it all the more painful.  

Some people grouse at my insistent posting of musician obituaries on social media.  I'm certainly not part of some dead pool.  I only wish to have people remember what music they've left for us.  Songs that will live on in their absence.  I enjoyed the quote that was making the rounds last week, "the earth is 4.6 billion years old and I was lucky enough to exist when David Bowie was here".  

The sobering fact is that our musical icons are aging.  These milestone deaths will become more frequent.  Certainly this round of premature passings is an anomaly and a stunning one at that.  

I tend to pull out all of the albums I have by an artist when they pass and play them in honor.  It's cathartic.  I was just putting away my Bowie collection when I got word that, local artist, Kevin Junior died.  Out came The Chamber Strings albums which I bought at the turn of the century when the band caught a cult wave.  At that time I had no idea Junior was from Akron or that I'd end up meeting him and have good friends playing music with him.  

24 hours later and I get a text that says Glenn Frey has died.  A quick google search confirmed the breaking news and out came my Eagles collection.  Oh, and those that have come to find it hip to dis The Eagles are way off base.  Overplayed?  Perhaps, but so are The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.  

I hate to ponder who's next but I did hear rumor that Glenn Campbell has been moved to hospice.  Sigh. 

Who we lost in 2015

RIP...

Lemmy

 

Bonnie Lou

 

Stevie Wright

 

Scott Weiland

 

Allen Toussaint

 

Cory Wells

 

Phil Woods

 

Gary Richrath

 

Rico Rodriguez

 

Cilla Black

 

Chris Squire

 

Ornette Coleman

 

James Last

 

Ronnie Gilbert

 

BB King

 

Errol Brown

 

Ben E King

 

Percy Sledge

 

Ralph Sharon

 

Jack Ely

 

Lesley Gore

 

Little Jimmy Dickens

 

Billy Joe Royal

 

Lynn Anderson

 

 

 

 

In honor of Jim Clevo's memorial service today Cleveland Live Music posts lengthy Clevo production

This morning at 11am at St. Christopher's in Rocky River friends and members of the local Cleveland music scene will pay respects to the late Jim Clevo who passed away a couple of weeks ago. 

Ken Dixon, the man responsible for capturing many local bands live, just posted the first two parts of a Paul McCartney covers show that took place at Cleveland Public Theater on July 28, 1990.  The marathon 6 hour event was produced by Clevo. 

Jim worked with so many bands in the city and this lengthy document attests to his passion for music in general and the local scene in particular.  Rest in peace Jim. 

Jim Clevo and Trent Reznor

Memorial service for Jim Clevo scheduled for Friday April 10

A Memorial service has been scheduled for Jim Clevo (Chlebo) this Friday, April 10, at 11 am.  The Mass will take place at St. Christopher's in Rocky River where Jim's brother is pastor.  Friends will gather before Mass at 10am at St. Christopher's. 

There's two obituaries for Jim which makes sense since so many knew him by the name Clevo, a name he crafted in homage to the city he loved. 

Here's the Jim Clevo obituary written by his friends.  And here's the official Jim Chlebo obituary submitted by his brother which gives details of the service.  

Both Jim and his brother, Rev. John Chlebo were adopted and both parents are deceased.  He has no other relatives so it would be nice to see a good turn out of both his friends from West Park and those in the Cleveland rock and roll community.  Please pass along this information to those who might want to know. 

Jim Clevo, a tireless champion of Cleveland local music, passes

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. 

5 scenes from Mike Nichols films

The New York Times obituary, Mike Nichols, Urbane Director Loved by Crowds and Critics, Dies at 83

Casey Kasem galvanized my love of music and radio

It was sad to hear the news that Casey Kasem had died, though we knew he was suffering from Parkinson's and was at the center of an inheritance battle unbeknownst to him.  But there was joy for me as SiriusXM's 70s On 7 ran American Top 40s all day long.  It was my perfect Father's Day soundtrack.

Kasem's weekly countdown of the biggest songs in the nation was required listening for me every week no matter where I was, be it home or away at school.  By 1973 I'd moved on from top 40 but I still wanted to know what was charting.  I still do, though these days I don't have to listen to Ryan Seacrest.  I can find the curated Billboard Top 100 on a Spotify playlist. 

As I listened to a show from 1971 yesterday I was amazed to hear so many songs that I consider some of my favorites of all time.  I was an impressionable youth and Kasem helped galvanize my love of both music and radio. 

I still listen to these replays every week on WMJI, Cleveland and on the 70s On 7.  For awhile I was recording them and have a decent library of shows on my hard drive. 

Interestingly Kasem was the replacement for legendary Cleveland DJ Pete "Mad Daddy" Myers on WJW in 1959.  Talk about back to back talent.  It was also the station that gave us Alan Freed. 

Here's a nice piece from the LA Times Randall Roberts, Casey Kasem: A critic's take on why he mattered.

Murray Saul, the get down man, has died

I woke up this morning to the news that Murray Saul, the man who ushered in the almighty weekend in the 1970s and 80s on WMMS has died.  He was 86. 

Last Thursday John Gorman threw his annual Taurus party.  Those in attendance wondered why Murray Saul, one of the Taurus's for whom the event was created, couldn't make it.  Saul was reportedly under the weather.

The improbable icon of WMMS will be missed by many.  Away from the microphone and his over the top Friday afternoon ranting Murray Saul was a kind and engaging person.  I had the pleasure of speaking with him in depth on a few occasions.  His "party animal" histrionics will forever live on with many Clevelanders including myself.  My thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and radio colleagues. 

John Gorman wrote this about Murray's traditional Friday rant that kicked off the Cleveland weekend in his book The Buzzard.  

Here's one of Murray's Friday Get Downs from November, 1975. 

 

WMMS TV spot with Murray Saul at a World Series of Rock at Cleveland Municipal Stadium

WMMS TV spot for The Buzzard Space t-shirt featuring Murray Saul

John Gorman and Murray Saul tell some stories about the heyday of WMMS 

The local music community loses a champion in Sean Kilbane

Sean Kilbane fell to his death in a freak accident at the bar he co-owned, The Happy Dog, on Saturday night.  Sunday my Facebook feed was filled with loving remembrances. 

I'm a big Facebook fan and embrace it for the good it's done in bonding the Cleveland music scene, art scene, etc.  But I still am coming to terms with how to handle it when it comes to death. 

I can't deny that when I hear of the passing of a musician I post about it.  In doing so I get people to listen to the music and remember what the artist left to this world.  When it comes to people I know be they family or friends I'm a bit hesitant to broadcast it.  I don't know why.  As I say, I'm coming to grips with it. 

Sean Kilbane's Facebook page has turned into a memorial.  Local musicians, friends, family and customers to the Happy Dog are sharing their grief at the news that saddened Super Bowl Sunday. 

The Plain Dealer and Scene Magazine were quick with obituaries.  They tell of the quiet, soft-spoken man who had many friends and was fervent in his passion for original local music.  Kilbane was key in garnering The Happy Dog much national press in the past few years.   

My thoughts and prayers are with his family, business partner  Sean Watterson and the Happy Dog staff and all of his friends.  Sean grew up in Fairview Park, like myself.  Perhaps it's just a bias but that city sure raised some good people.  He was one of them. 

I heard about Kilbane's accident just minutes after hearing that Philip Seymour Hoffman had died of a heroin overdose.  I literally gasped at that news as I had just met the man two weeks prior at the Sundance Film Festival after the screening of God's Pocket.  I'm still rather stunned by these events. 

Pete Seeger passes on

I woke up this morning at 4:15 by chance and looked at my iPhone for the time and saw the headline alert that Pete Seeger had died.  It came as no surprise since he was 94 years old but it did prevent me from going back to sleep. 

I began to watch some videos and reminisce about my childhood.  My parents weren't big music freaks like me but, like many, they were caught up in the folk revival scene of the early 60s.  So Pete Seeger played in our house.  

One particular record was a favorite of all us kids, Pete Seeger Children's Concert At Town Hall, I still have the record in my collection and will play it today.  You can hear it here on Spotify.  In fact, it's an extended version, much longer than the original record.   

Seeger wrote and co-wrote such classics as "Where Have All The Flowers Gone", "If I Had A Hammer" and "Turn, Turn, Turn".  Other songs not penned by him have become associated with him like Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land". 

He was at the heart of the anti-war protest movement of the 60s and probably swayed many older folks, like my parents.  After all they'd listened to him as part of The Weavers in the 1950s when "Irene Goodnight" was a massive hit single. 

There's the story of Dylan going electric at the Newport Folk Fesitval in 1963 and Seeger being so upset that he looked for an ax to cut the power lines.  If it's true it may be the only example of rage from an otherwise peaceful man. 

Here's some videos to either enlighten you or help you to remember the man.