The new baby is due in a couple of weeks, so we've been reorganizing and tidying up and all that "nesting" hoohaw. At the bottom of a dresser drawer I found a powder-blue t-shirt for the Central Ohio Music Festival. It sent a chill up my spine.
My first and only real foray into concert promotion (after college, that is) was the - as it came to be universally known - "ill-fated Central Ohio Music Festival," of May, 1992. I helped book, promote, and hosted the concert through my "Cool Tunes" radio show on WRQK.
The festival, featuring an impressive modern rock lineup of the Ocean Blue, Material Issue, Afghan Whigs, Scrawl, In Fear of Roses, and Feversmile was the utopian dream of an aging, gnome-like hippie who had made his fortune in the child-care game. While visions of Lollapalooza danced in his head, a haphazard assortment of semi-professionals was left to mold reality out of the impresario's evanescent clay. One of the central (no pun intended) matters of faith regardign the show was that if we had it in Mansfield - halfway between Cleveland and Columbus - then we would draw equally from each. As it was we drew equally from neither.
The day began as a tropical early-summer's song, and ended as an arctic late-winter howl as gale-force winds and frozen-needle rain tore the backstage awning out of its moorings and sent it, and my entangled brother, flapping savagely into the inky night.
Left to amuse the storm-depleted gathering of a few-dozen stalwart patrons who clung against all reason to the notion of being entertained, the Ocean Blue was the little-band-that-could. The band of willowy Pennsylvania youth stout-heartedly cast its gentle music into the teeth of the tempest, casting the bucolic lyrics of its then-latest album, Cerulean, in a cruelly ironic light.
Article comments
1 - BRICKLAYER
Yo Mr. O:
Me and my pal went to a festival in Ohio in the early nineties that was kind of out in the middle of nowhere. I don't think it was this festival but I consumed many a Pabst Blue Ribbon that day, and that, combined with the concussions kind of blurs my memory. I remember seeing the Clarks, L7, and the Gigolo Aunts, who were a fave at the time-I got to rapping with one of the dudes in the band, he was cool, I think. That reminds me of the time I was at this club to see the Wishniaks. There weren't many people in the crowd, so during a break, one of the dudes in the band came over to our table, and we were having a real nice chat, and then my kind of friend (grew up together as kids-felt obligated to still be cool to him) said something obnoxious, and the dude from the Wishniaks was out of there as soon as he could be. Another time at that same club, me and my dudes were walking in to see Scrawl, and this burly dude in flannel was leaning against the building, and he was like "Hi, what's up?" Real friendly like. And we were like, hey that burly dude sure was nice. Turns out it was Mr. Mike Watt from firehose. They were headliners that night, but like I said, we were there for Scrawl. It's a bummer though, 'cause I would have been like, "Yo dude, what was D. Boon like?" 'Cause that dude rocked! I would have started singing "This aint no Picnic!!!!" and got Mike to play air bass. That would have been sweet! Anyway, at that festival I was at, it started out a be-you-tee-full sunny Ohio day. The cornfed chippys were out and about, and the PBL was ice cold. Then it was like someone turned off the sun, and an opressive wall of weather chaos moved in from the west. Mother of god, did it pour. I wish I could remember more of the bands that day. We split early, so I know we missed some of the bands. Come to think of it, Material Issue might have played that day. I always found them a bit arrogant for their station and relative worth on the jangly pop food chain. Had some catchy tunes, though.
2 - Taloran
Reminds me of the ill-fated Cripple Creek (CO) Music Festival, billed as the next Woodstock, that never happened in 1979. The Outlaws, the Daltons, Stillwater, Emmylou Harris, the Dirt Band, John Prine, and many others were slated to play. The venue was booked, tickets were sold, posters were printed. It was going to be a big show.
My understanding is they forgot to inform the artists....
The promo poster for it is still hanging on the wall in my parents' basement.
3 - Taloran
The Dillards, not the Daltons. It's been a long time since I looked at the poster.
4 - Eric Olsen
excellent! Very glad ot hear the stories, would love to hear more.
Bricky, that might have been and End-fest, put on by Cleveland's modern rock station of the '90s, WENZ. I was a DJ there for a few years. Ohio weather is not reliable, shall we say, especially in the "transitional" months.
Did you know the Material Issue singer-guitarist Jim Ellison killed himself in '96? He was one of the skinniest guys I have ever met. They had the one great album.
Tal, informing the artists is key to a successful festival.
5 - Taloran
Makes for an interesting festival, however, if the organizers communicate with the artists by crystal ball and divining pool.
6 - Eric Olsen
yes, though perhaps less reliable than phone, fax, or U.S. Mail