To drum up some regional support for the upcoming Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions, Positively Cleveland hosted what it called a “fam tour” (fam as in familiarization) with area journalists last week. The day started with the Rock Hall press conference about the Inductions that included handing out a proclamation to Parliament/Funkadelic’s Bootsy Collins and the O’Jays’ Walter Williams, both of whom are already inducted. From the Rock Hall, a bus took the writers out to the Beachland Ballroom where co-owner Cindy Barber talked about how she and partner Mark Leddy, who quietly manned a pair of turntables and spun old-school soul singles, had transformed the Croatian dancehall into the area’s most happening music joint. Their hope, she said, was that the entire Collinwood neighborhood would become a haven for artsy types.
As if to prove her point, she took everyone on a tour of the area shops, including the indie record store Music Saves, the unique toy and T-shirt shop Shoparooni and the newly opened vintage vinyl store Blue Arrow. The group also visited Exit Stencil Records, the local label and studio manned by Ryan Weitzel. From there, local musician and scholar Lawrence Daniel Caswell (pictured) took over, leading the group out to Zombie Proof Studios, the East St. Clair loft space where his band, This Moment in Black History, has recorded at dirt cheap rates. Then, as if to provide contrast, he led everyone next door to the more refined Ante Up Audio, where one of its well-dressed owners noted that millions of dollars had gone into the state-of-the-art gear there which has attracted national acts such as Dave Matthews and Kelly Clarkson). Pulled from a Chicago studio where Loverboy and Def Leppard once laid down tracks, the mixing board alone is worth a small fortune.
