“I’m old school”, says Drumplay’s James Onysko as he walks into a Willoughby Arabica and sets down a cooler full of CDs, and an Aldi bag with flyers for an upcoming show. The flyers advertise a Drumplay Benefit Concert for XCSB, the new online station that formed after IdeaStream Public Media controversially took over Cleveland State’s college radio station, WCSB 89.3 FM frequency last year.
After 33+ years, Drumplay marks the its longevity and will release vinyl for the very first time on Record Store Day, April 18. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Treelawn Social Club.
As Onysko explains, college radio holds a special place in his heart. It’s where he met the late Daniel Thompson, Cuyahoga County’s first Poet Laureate, who performed and recorded with Drumplay on a regular basis until his passing in 2004.
“It was January of 1986 when I met Daniel for the first time,” he says. “I was a ‘newbie’ at WCSB. In walks Daniel Thompson with his trusty dog, Truffaut. I fell in love with him instantly. The station’s public affairs director at the time told me to help Daniel make a public service announcement. The station was important in bringing local musicians and activists together. I admire that the former General Manager of WCSB, along with Friends of XCSB, are fighting back by filing a lawsuit against the transfer of 89.3 FM by Cleveland State University to 24/7 Jazz Neo while simultaneously moving forward. I think [IdeaStream’s] machinations were underhanded. In secrecy, CSU agreed to essentially give away a nearly 50-year-old cultural institution built by the students and volunteer programmers to IdeaStream. In my opinion, neither [IdeaStream nor CSU] are the good guys in this story of David versus Goliath.”
Initially, Drumplay formed out of an earlier percussion group, Samba Scouts, which was active in the late ’80s until end of 1991. With Drumplay, Onysko has performed all over the world; and in going through the band’s vaults, he found a previously unreleased recording from an appearance at Festival International de Musique Universitaire (FIMU) in Belfort, France.
Proceeds from the vinyl release of that album, which Onysko will have on hand at the Treelawn show, will go to help XCSB build new studios on Waterloo Road just next door to the Beachland Ballroom. XCSB began streaming on March 1 and hopes to be established in their new studios by May 10.
“The recording is from the last time we played FIMU in 2012,” says Onysko. “It’s a soundboard recording. This free festival in Belfort is still going after more than three decades. I became their USA correspondent in 2003.”
Drumplay has performed at FIMU three times over the years and is a festival favorite.
“We’ve been very well received in Europe, and have conducted five tours there — a few times with marimba player Benoit Moerlen from Gong and Mike Oldfield Band,” says Onysko.
Onysko contacted the festival artist who allowed him to use a colorful drawing of a djembe player for the cover art. The vinyl will be limited to 300 copies with three separate covers.
For more than two decades, Onysko has put his creative energy into running the Sandy Chanty Seafood Restaurant in Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio, which he and his wife have owned since 2004. But Onysko says he’s putting Drumplay back onto the front burner, so to speak, hoping to retire from the restaurant business after this summer season.
“I feel like we are again entering a prolific period,” he says. “On the horizon, we have a three-album box set coming next year that features recordings from the Wills Mountain Festival in Pennsylvania. And in 2028, when Gong turns 60 years old, we will release Cleveland Gong. We once backed up Daevid Allen [Gong’s founder and guitarist] when he came through town solo one year without his band.”
After ten Drumplay titles issued on compact disc, Onysko says he’s not releasing CDs anymore — just vinyl.
“I’m falling in love with the band all over again after listening to the test pressing by local manufacturer, Gotta Groove Records,” he says. “I’m hearing nuances in the music on vinyl that I don’t hear on CD. I’m optimistic about the future of the group; and I’m not chasing the brass ring. With whatever time I have left, I just want to do some good for our community.”
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