A useful resource for people of all ages who want to know more about rock history, Rock 'n' Roll and the Cleveland Connection links national and international events in music and the world, though the primary focus is on Cleveland. Rock 'n' Roll and the Cleveland Connection is the first in-depth look at the people, venues and artists that made Cleveland the "Rock 'n' Roll Capital of the World." Author Deanna Adams conducted personal interviews with more than 150 musicians, managers, DJ's, promoters, record executives, journalists, and club owners--all pioneers of this new musical movement--to compile these chapters of musical history.

Ever since Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed first called the records he was playing "rock and roll," northeast Ohio has been a driving force in this musical phenomenon. From the disc jockeys who spun the music to the musicians who played it, the clubs that welcomed it and fans who encouraged it, rock and roll has been as much a part of this north coast as the lake that hugs it. It was those early years, from the 1950s on, that led Cleveland to becoming the "Rock and Roll Capital of the World" and ultimately home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. While the city spawned several widely recognized names, such as the James Gang (with Joe Walsh), the Raspberries (with Eric Carmen), and Bobby Womack, it is the music itself that will keep this town rocking on the shores of Lake Erie, and beyond, for a long time to come.

Music fans who grew up with Rock and Roll in Cleveland remember a golden age. We were young, so was the music, and the sense of freedom and excitement the Rock and Roll scene delivered was electric. There were so many great clubs, like the Agora, where every big band seemed to break in the 1970s. The trendsetting radio stations, from A.M.'s WIXY to F.M.'s groundbreaking "Home of the Buzzard," WMMS. And all those memorable shows. The free Coffee Break Concerts--remember Sprinsteen just when he hit it big? The gigantic World Series of Rock. Nights on the lawn at Blossom (including local favorites the Michael Stanley Band and their record-setting sellout streak). This book collects the favorite memories of Clevelanders who made the scene: fans, musicians, DJs, reporters, club owners, and more. Includes rare photographs and other memorabilia such as concert posters, bumper stickers, pins, and ticket stubs.

Cleveland has always been a music town. And thanks to Cleveland deejay Alan Freed, who booked the first venue for rock enthusiasts, music fans have never lacked for places to go see their favorite acts perform in person. This book honors the astute owners and their venues--from yesterday to today--that present fans with the music they crave. The early clubs helped usher in Cleveland as the designated Rock and Roll Capital of the World. Today's venues continue the tradition, thus ensuring that music lovers of all ages, and attitudes, get to enjoy their rock and roll on the North Coast, with all its variety and talent. Because of them, musical memories continue to be made.

This book presents a case study of popular music heritage to address why, and how, Cleveland, Ohio has claimed to be the "birthplace of rock 'n' roll" and became the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It explores the role of radio DJs, record stores, concerts and myths in shaping the relations between people, places, and the past.

What made the summertime special to a Cleveland kid? Building sandcastles in your clam diggers at Edgewater Park. Pulling up to Manners Big Boy in your parents' car for a burger and a Big Ghoulardi. An ornate sundae at Boukair's. Watching the Indians lose (again) at Municipal Stadium. Being terrified by Laughing Sal at Euclid Beach Park. And more!

If you drive into any American city with the car stereo blasting, you’ll undoubtedly find radio stations representing R&B/hip-hop, country, Top 40, adult contemporary, rock, and Latin, each playing hit after hit within that musical format. American music has created an array of rival mainstreams, complete with charts in multiple categories. Love it or hate it, the world that radio made has steered popular music and provided the soundtrack of American life for more than half a century. In Top 40 Democracy, Eric Weisbard studies the evolution of this multicentered pop landscape, along the way telling the stories of the Isley Brothers, Dolly Parton, A&M Records, and Elton John, among others. He sheds new light on the upheavals in the music industry over the past fifteen years and their implications for the audiences the industry has shaped. Weisbard focuses in particular on formats—constructed mainstreams designed to appeal to distinct populations—showing how taste became intertwined with class, race, gender, and region. While many historians and music critics have criticized the segmentation of pop radio, Weisbard finds that the creation of multiple formats allowed different subgroups to attain a kind of separate majority status—for example, even in its most mainstream form, the R&B of the Isley Brothers helped to create a sphere where black identity was nourished. Music formats became the one reliable place where different groups of Americans could listen to modern life unfold from their distinct perspectives. The centers of pop, it turns out, were as complicated, diverse, and surprising as the cultural margins. Weisbard’s stimulating book is a tour de force, shaking up our ideas about the mainstream music industry in order to tease out the cultural importance of all performers and songs.