Random Thoughts On A Sunny Day!

What a beautiful day outside. Sun shining, the winter blues peeling away, a young man’s fancy turns too……. Aw what am I talking about, I’m not a young man and my thoughts turn to what else….music.

This summer music scene looks promising with some big acts returning to the North Coast. A large variety of festivals, art shows and events are going to make this a fun summer.

The summer really kicks off on May 22-23rd with the 41st Anniversary of the Hessler Street Fair. Local artists and craftsmen will be displaying their works as some of the best local bands in the area keep the party going all day long. The fair starts at 11am each day and goes till dusk in this historic area of Cleveland. Last year over 14,000 people came to the party. I’ll be there at the Cleveland Rock and Roll booth so plan on coming out and say hi. For more info goto

http://www.hessler.org

I’ll also be at OddMall out in Hudson May 8th. Come out to one of the largest indoor craft and art shows in the area. Make a day out of it and come support the local artists and pick up some really cool stuff. For more info goto http://www.oddmall.info

One of the best local musicians around David Budin will be playing with Long Road at Nightown on May 6th. As David describes this show “We have, probably, our most varied set of songs ever -- with everything from the '60s singer-songwriter stuff that we specialize in, to a 2010 song that's actually being played on radio stations now, to folky versions of early-rock songs, a Beatles song, a rousing traditional old-English tune, a couple of '70s Baxter Shadowfield originals, an acoustic version of a '60s psychedelic blues number, that song about the forest fire, a '50s TV theme song, and more -- including two songs I guarantee you've never heard before. And we have many new songs (that is, songs we haven't done before).” For only $10 that’s a lot music. Call Nightown for reservations at 216-795-0550.

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is holding it's 9th annual Spring Benefit – It’s Only Rock and Roll at Public Hall. It's an eclectic lineup this year, amd it’s going to be a great show complete with 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Terry Sylvester and Tommy James of the Shondells. Tickets are $15 for balcony seating. All proceeds go to support the Rock Hall’s education programs.

The Rock Hall It’s Only Rock and Roll Benefit proceeds will support the Museum's award-winning educational programming, which explores the impact that modern music has had on our culture, politics and society and reaches more than 50,000 students and educators on site and at great distances each year.

For more information on the Museum's FREE educational programming and to get tickets to this event, please visit www.rockhall.com.

Like I said earlier the summer concert season is coming with some big names. Some can’t miss shows (in my opinion) Ringo Starr and His All Star Band will be playing at Nautica on July 20th. Nautica is probably the best place to see a show these days (again in my humble opinion) and I can’t wait to see Ringo along with band members Edgar Winter and Rick Derringer play. Some other shows I am looking forward to is the Troubadour Tour of Carol King and James Taylor July 7th at Quicken Loans Arena, Jackson Browne September 19th at Tower City and the one show I wouldn’t miss, Roger Waters comes back to Cleveland performing “The Wall” September 28th at Quicken Loans. The only thing better would be for LiveNation to announce shows by Paul McCartney and David Gilmour! What do you think Barry? For info on all shows goto www.livenation.com

National Record Store Day is April 17th and I’ll be making the trip out to my favorite vinyl store, Blue Arrow Records at 16001 Waterloo Road. Blue Arrow Records is working closely with their neighbors at MUSIC SAVES (they will have the bulk of special releases. To see a list, check out their website: www.musicsaves.com and This Way Out. Blue Arrow Records and This Way Out will also open at noon on Record Store Day! Blue Arrow will have a handful of special releases, as well as goodies and prizes for customers. This Way Out is offering 10% off on records all day! So come on out, buy some vinyl while supporting local record shops and hear some live music. What is a better way of spending a Saturday!

The lineup of bands that will be playing at Blue Arrow and Music Saves:
4-5:30pm White Hinterland DJs at MUSIC SAVES (they play the Beachland later that night)
5pm Will Rigby DJs (of the dB’s, drummer for Steve Earle) at Blue Arrow Records5:30pm The Lighthouse and the Whaler at MUSIC SAVES6pm Prisoners at Blue Arrow Records6:30pm The Muttering Retreats at MUSIC SAVES
7pm Tasty Cakes at Blue Arrow Records
7:30pm Cloud Nothings at MUSIC SAVES

So that should get you started to thinking ahead to the dog days of summer. Speaking of dog, I gotta go try to catch my Great Dane puppy chasing some geese off my property!
Nuff said, least till next time
Peace Out
Bear

Thank Goodness For American Idol!

Thank goodness for American Idol!

I know, I know. Your probably saying “Are you kidding me?” or “Have you lost your mind?” or “Bear are you hitting the stash again?”

Ahh ……not yet it’s still early

What I mean is, whenever I am having a hard time coming up with a new story all I have to say is “Thank goodness for American Idol!”

This week it couldn’t get better for me. You all know how I love to hate this show. I’ve done stories on the failure rate of these “idols” it produces, stories on the rigging of the results, stories in general about just what a crock of s___ this show is but this week might be the best of all. Of all of the so-called musical geniuses they could have brought in to give “guidance” to these future superstars of music, they brought in the best yet…..

Miley Cyrus!

Yes I said it right or as Joe Biden would say, Miley F______ Cyrus.

First thing I thought of when I heard this was, as bad as this show is they have officially “Jumped The Shark”.

Miley Cyrus mentoring singers. Isn’t that like Stevie Wonder mentoring the drivers of NASCAR?

Seriously what musical guidance could Miley Cyrus bring to these kids? Could she bring her vast catalog of music to the show…….ahh no. Could she bring her decades of experience in the music world to them…….ahh no. Before any of you get in an uproar about bashing Miley did you listen to her sing on the show? That's all I got to say. Love it when my point is proved!

Look American Idol (and all of the American Idol apologists that will be sending me their emails) if you call it like it is “a staged reality show” then I don’t have a problem with it but to sit there and tell me these are the best new singers in the country week after week is a crock. Look bringing in the Miley Cyrus’s of the world onto this show isn’t going help to produce the next Dylan, McCartney, Lennon, Bono, or even the next Colbie Calliat, Adele, or Jason Mraz. It’s just going to get more pre-teens watching the show, going to the Top 10 tour and then forgetting about all of these singers within a year. (Can I say Adam Lambert who?) Producing the next inductee into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.....ahh no.

I’m going to miss you Simon when you leave. After this show fades away what is going to give me that last minute inspiration for a story. Oh wait! Simon’s next show….

Nuff said, least till next time
Peace Out
Bear

Tonight's The Night or Welcome To My Nightmare

Tonight’s the big night!

Tonight the wait is finally over!

Tonight is what music lover’s the world over have been waiting for!

Tonight ABBA, Sweden’s biggest import since meatballs and Ikea, is inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame!

Okay I’ll wait for the applause to subside……………………………………….

Wow that wasn’t very long.

Tonight the iconic rock staple ABBA is being inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and guess what? Half of them aren’t even coming.

What!

You heard me right, two of the four members of ABBA are not even showing up to be inducted into the Hall Of Fame. One has “a family event” and the other one’s excuse is “I don’t like to fly.” Ahhhh didn’t you used to tour? Didn’t you fly then or did you take Greyhound from gig to gig?

Personally I don’t think any of them should be there simply based on their music, but that’s me. No one gave me a vote but come on, you get inducted over much more deserving bands and individuals and then you stiff the ceremonies. Wow that takes a huge pair.

Do you think the members of Deep Purple would have attended? How about Rush or Heart or Alice Cooper or The Moody Blues or The Doobie Brothers or The J. Geils Band or Chicago or Jethro Tull or Steve Miller or…………… oh hell, you get the point.

So many deserving rock artists are skipped over each and every year for inclusion into the Rock Hall and it is only going to get worse. The Rock Hall Foundation that oversees the induction selections wants to drop the 25 year rule (when an artist’s first album is released) to 20 years. Why? Because then “newer” acts would move up the ballot. Acts that are “fresher” and “have name value”.

Are you kidding me. “NAME VALUE” Really!

Hey Rock Hall Foundation do you ever take a look at the great artists that are not in and can you tell me with a straight face they do not have “name value”. If you can do that all I can say is, Wow another huge pair.

But under this cloud of delusion by the foundation members, the inclusion of ABBA makes perfect sense. They have been eligible for 10 years and in those 10 years only once before have they EVER even been nominated for induction. Once, that’s all.

Did their music somehow get better over the past 10 years to finally make them worthy?

No, it’s simple, ABBA got in to the prestigious Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame because of one thing. The movie Mamma Mia.

The movie Mamma Mia gave them as the Rock Hall Foundation states it “name value”.

Even ABBA member Benny Anderson isn’t as delusional as some members of the selection committee when they voted for him when he told Rolling Stone Magazine that he was shocked Abba received a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nod. “I didn’t think this would happen, because we were a pop band, not a rock band,” All I can say about that is neither did I Benny, neither did I.

Tonight all I want is one thing from Benny and Frida when they accept their awards. I don’t want them to thank God, their manager, their band mate who doesn’t like to fly, the fans, or even their cat’s chiropractor.

I would like to hear their acceptance speech go like this.

“We would like to thank the one person that made this happen for us, Meryl Streep. Without Meryl we would never have been recognized like this. We would have stayed in the obscurity we have been in for decades. Here’s to you Meryl”

If I was Alice Cooper I would be on the phone tomorrow saying “Meryl I got this idea for a movie called Welcome To My Nightmare, you would be the lead. A lot of music, snakes, and guillotines. It could be huge!”

ABBA in the Rock Hall, welcome to MY nightmare folks.

Nuff said, least till next time
Peace Out
Bear

Random Thoughts On A Snowy Day!

Random Thoughts….

It’s been awhile since I wrote my Random Thoughts…I guess my thoughts haven’t been so random with digging out from the snow and wishing for spring…

Can’t wait for today’s hockey game but a little observation from the world of sports and especially the Olympics. The next time I hear an announcer make a comment about the USA-Canada game being dubbed the “Miracle On Ice II” I’ll throw my remote thru the TV. Folks this is nothing like the 1980 game. That game was a bunch of unknown college hockey players upsetting a team of professional players from the USSR. Today’s game is a team of NHL professional hockey players playing against more NHL professional hockey players. I hope it will be a great game and it has all of the makings of a hell of a game, but a “Miracle”. Ahhh no…

Okay back to music….

Looking for a great night out on the town and want to help support a great organization? Then plan on coming out to “Get Back” on March 25th and join Roots Of American Music (ROAM) for it’s 2010 spring fundraiser. The benefit will be held at the historic Rockefeller Building in Cleveland Hts and will feature Northeast Ohio’s own Abbey Road Band playing the music of the Beatles. There will also be a silent auction featuring some one of a kind items including unique Beatles items, a behind the scenes tour of the Rock Hall, Live Nation concert tickets, and tickets to see Ringo Starr at Nautica this summer!. Come on out and enjoy a great night. Contact ROAM for tickets at 216-321-9353.

Did you know that Cleveland has a new rock station, or let me refrain that, more like a “new station” that seems like an “old station”. V107.3 is a throwback to the glory days of radio in Cleveland when it was locally owned and programmed for our listening. Wow how unique! It’s nice to tune in and hear a local station play a variety of music where a playlist can go from Lyle Lovett to Marley to Wild Horses to Derek Trucks to Bowie to King Of Leon to Van Morrison to Dropkick Murphy’s. The ecletic mix is definitely a memory of another great radio station in our past. Keep up the good work John, Ric and Lonnie. You got a listener here.

Speaking of radio. I was sent this video of my favorite DJ, Dusty Street back in her days at KTIM in the San Francisco area in the 70’s. Gotta love Dusty! Check out the video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0ZUOc-bqiI

Have you been checking out Alex Bevan’s live streaming concerts he’s been doing on the internet lately? Alex is doing them usually on Fridays at noon and it’s like going to the old Coffee Break Concerts without leaving your couch! Alex sounds great and it’s fun to listen to an artist just playing music and enjoying the moment. Check out Alex at his website http://www.ncweb.com/ent/alex/ to find his next concert.

Nuff said, least till next time
Peace Out

Bear

Say It Aint So Joe!

Remember that line from the movie Eight Men Out? The young kid looks up at “Shoeless” Joe Jackson with tears in his eyes as word of him being involved in the fixing of the World Series. Fade to the present and the part of the tearful young kid will now be played by yours truly.

Say It Aint So Joe!

Mine doesn’t have anything to do with baseball, or the World Series, or gamblers fixing games (no that was last week in Vegas when I swore the dice were fixed against me playing craps!). No mine has to do with the band Aerosmith and the rumor being floated out there that Billy Idol is going to replace Stephen Tyler.

Say It Aint So Joe!

Billy Idol in Aerosmith?

Say It Aint’ So Joe!

Look I like Billy Idol or at least I liked Billy Idol in the 80’s and especially when he parodies himself in bad Adam Sandler movies now but as the vocals of Aerosmith.

Sorry No Joe!

Why do bands feel it necessary to continue on wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy past their expiration date. I mean do you drink milk wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy past the expiration date?

What do I mean?

Look I don’t have a problem if a band continues with their core playing their music for what seems like forever (IE: The Rolling Stones) or if a band reinvents themselves with a new singer or a new sound. Take for example (for us older folks) Fleetwood Mac. In the late 60’s and early 70’s Fleetwood Mac was a ballsy blues rock band with Peter Green leading the way but members left over time and Mick Fleetwood and John McVie took another direction with the band and added Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham creating a totally different band with a totally different sound and created a more successful band. A newer example is Van Halen when they replaced David Lee Roth with Sammy Hagar. A new band with a new sound and they produced successful albums. Other bands have done it also. Genesis, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple are other examples of bands that changed singers and recreated the band and it worked for the most part.

Why were these examples okay but I hate the idea of Billy Idol leading Aerosmith? I’ll tell you why, its not like they are going to reinvent Aerosmith at this late stage of the game and create a dynamic catalog of “New Aerosmith” albums. No they are going the way of Queen when they rehashed some of the greatest music created in the seventies with Paul Rogers pretending to be Freddie Mercury.

Simply it didn’t work. When I see Paul Rogers on stage I don’t want to hear him do a poor imitation of Freddie. I want to him hear belt out the songs of Free and Bad Company. See I like Paul Rogers and I like his voice but not this way. Now don’t get me started on the rumors of Adam Lambert might be taking up the Freddie torch with Queen, that will be a story here all its own!

Back in 2005 I got to go to see both David Gilmour and Roger Waters on their tours. Both did Pink Floyd songs as well as their solo works. You know what even though I thought Roger was a better concert and he definitely seemed to be having more fun playing the tunes, David is the voice of Pink Floyd and the songs when played by him resonated more to me.

You can’t replace a voice like that, period. The more iconic the band, the worse it is.

Look this isn't just a rant against Aerosmith doing this. Seriously do the other members of Aerosmith, Queen, Journey, ELO, etc need the money? Do they need the women? Do they need their ego’s stroked that bad? Okay maybe all three but do we want to hear it, not me.

These bands go from being Rock Hall legends to bad “tribute” bands. Now don’t get me wrong, I like good tribute bands at times (Fab Faux, Wish You Were Here for example) but I don’t want to see Joe Perry leading one.

The only thing I can say is….Say It Aint So Joe!

Nuff Said, least till next time

Peace Out

Bear

Help For Haiti

This weeks story isn't going to be funny, in fact it is going to be short, serious and to the point.

If you have seen any of the nightly news programs this past week you know why.

An entire country has been devastated by a natural disaster.

I'm not worried about the leadership of the country or the politics of the nation but the images of children, homeless, parentless, injured beyond belief, well that makes me take notice and want to do something. Anything.....

These people of Haiti, need our help.

If you can please give.

Don't know how? Click on one of the links below to find out more.

Clinton Bush Haiti Fund

American Red Cross

or text text "Haiti" to 90999. Doing so will automatically donate $10 for Haitian rescue and recover efforts and will be billed on your bill.

It's a little help but doing so will make a big difference.

Nuff said, till next time

Peace Out

Bear

Happy Anniversary To Me!

Wow, I did it! They said it couldn’t be done and wouldn’t last….Okay it was me that was saying that but….I did it!

I just hit my one year anniversary of http://www.clevelandrockandroll.com/!

Yea!!! Open that champagne up…(I keep hearing that song in my head from The Flintstones – “Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversary, Happpppppppppy Anniversary”)

What started as just a list of the concerts I attended over the decades has turned into really a phenomenon.

Seriously, I never would have thought it.

I can’t count the number of people I have ran into this past year that has told me “I love reading your stuff” or “whenever I get nostalgic for home I check out your site” or “do you think your f______ funny?” Okay that last one comes from some of the people I have criticized over the year and yea I do think I am funny at times…so there!

Like I said, this started as a lark. I was bored over the holidays and started writing down the bands and shows I had seen when my wife (or as she is known here in many stories, Mrs Bear) told me I should put it on the web. After I got done looking at her like she had an elbow growing out of her forehead, she told me “I think people would get a kick out of reading about the old shows.” Little did I know, she was right (as she will often say , she usually is!).

This little website started like a snowball rolling down a hill. Before I knew it, I’m getting emails from people telling me about the shows they saw. People started sending me lists of shows, ticket stubs, concert programs, photos they took and the best ones were the little stories they wrote about the shows. I didn’t even know how they found me, but they did.

Then I started just writing down my thoughts on music and putting them on the site and man….as the great American writer, philosopher and man about town Michael Heaton (you like that build up don't you Michael!) told me, “you want to get people in an uproar, write about music” and wow was he right. I can write a story in the morning and by noon, have a hundred emails either slamming me or saying “you’re a genius!” (okay maybe no one ever called me a genius but when they do agree with me my mind sort of glazes over and morphs it into that). It is very cool to hear from people that use the site for reference for projects or books or to see a story of mine referenced on a blog or a bands site somewhere around the world (that internet is an amazing thing, thank you Al Gore).

Who would have thought….not me that’s for sure!

It is amazing how strong people feel about music. Know that old saying “never talk politics or religion at a party”, go ahead and add music to that list. You know what, that’s what makes this fun. I love sitting around with a beer and just talking music with people and the site allows me to sit around and talk music with thousands and thousands of people at one time that I never would have the chance to do so. I love it when people email me and tell me their stories, they tell me why a certain band should be in the Rock Hall, they tell me how they are turning their children onto certain music or how they picked up the old guitar in the corner and are now playing it, they tell me how bad radio is, they tell me how good radio is (okay they may be nuts), they tell me what great cd (or album) they just got and I need to listen to it, they tell me their complaints about concerts, they tell me I have to see this local band at this bar and hundreds of other things they want to talk about.

I have become the Dr. Phil of music, only with hair!

There are a lot of people I have to thank for getting me here and I know I’m going to forget a ton of them but here goes nothing. I want to thank John Gorman who was pumping my site on his before I even knew John had one (check out the great WMMS “Buzzard” blog of John’s), Matt from addictedtovinyl.com (another great site) who answered all of my endless questions about blogs, websites, etc and shared a few beers doing what else “talking music”. Brian (brokenheadphones.com) for keeping me up on indie and metal, Jim Clevo for supplying me with endless issues of Scene’s from the 70’s and catching my mistakes on the site, Dusty (the best DJ on the air, hands down) for her encouraging emails on my stories, thank you for reading my stuff!, Bob The Cop (a familiar character in my stories and the biggest ABBA fan I know…just kidding Bob) for being like the little devil on my shoulder calling me out, Alex Bevan for being a friend and keeping the music going, Reena and Margaret from the Rock Hall for including me in the party, Rick and Kathy for so many beers around the fire doing what else “talking music” (do you see a trend here beer + music), Barry Gabel (the hardest working man in show business!), Elise from the House Of Blues, Eroc for a couple of the best shows I saw this year,, the always cool Jonah Koslan, Scott from the Artful Dodger fansite who was one of the first to help out and turned me onto Roger Cline And Peacemakers!, Roger Cline for throwing me props, Ann Thompson from afterthegig.com, Kevin and Sheela from ROAM (a great organization to get involved with), Dave W. and Dave H. for all the Michael Stanley info, Dom for ….the trend again…all the great beer and music talk, Janet Macoska for allowing me to use some of her amazing photos, Oprah for being my role model (okay just kidding..seeing if your paying attention), Jimmy from The Winchester Tavern for the great shows and putting me on the air, Greg Rollie, Michael Carabello, Susan Tedeschi, Carolyn Wonderland, Ray Benson and the others for great quotes from the interviews this year, to Shannon, Joanna, Brooke, Janiece, Matt and the rest of the great folks I met at the Art and Craft Shows where I showed my rock poster designs this year (thanks for the warm welcome), my boy Rick from Sony for being a great friend, and all of the friends on Facebook that keep me going with their support and comments and are quick to post them (I love that from you guys!). Some of the more active were Angelle, Leslie, Michelle, Perry, Rhonda, Elaine, Denise, Donna, Danny, Rick, Linda, Pat, Deb, Chuck, Dawn, Ro, Joe, Lisa, Rik, Ted, Billy, Rick, Laura, Chuck, Jim, Roger, and Melissa (okay I know I missed a few…hundred) I could always count on you guys and gals. Alan and Sarah for putting up with me and of course the biggest thank you has to go to Mrs Bear for putting up with my sitting at a computer typing all night, using her in stories, making fun of her for liking American Idol, and for giving me the idea and inspiration to do this and for being my best friend for 30+ years. Love ya..

This year has been a blast and here is too many more good times shared with you my friends.

Nuff said, least till next time.
Peace Out
Bear