Her city is still here
by Thomas Mulready of CoolCleveland.com

There wasn't a ban on photos at this Valentine's Day 2009 concert. Quite the contrary. We had arranged for media tickets and a photo pass from the presenter, and were met outside the lobby of the beautifully restored and historic Akron Civic Theatre [pictured] to receive the pass and specific instructions: no flash, and only shoot during songs 3, 4 & 5. Many acts prefer to allow only the first few songs to be photographed, to give the media an opportunity to promote the act with concert photos while limiting annoying paparazzi intrusion, so this request was understandable. At the Civic, we notice hand-scrawled signs "No Camera Phones," affixed to the stage.

There exists, of course, a countervailing tradition, most famously practiced by The Grateful Dead, to allow not only unfettered photos, but to allow and even encourage audio and video recording of all concerts by fans and media alike, to the point of setting aside preferred seating so as to provide interested concert goers optimal sound. While limiting access to popular artists allows for the erection of turnstiles to charge money for concerts, books, films and recordings, the Dead turned it around and allowed their biggest fans to do their promotion and evangelizing for them. Most agree that the result has only helped ticket and recording sales, and is in fact responsible for developing one of popular culture's most avid fan bases.

All of this is instructive in our current age of mobile phone ubiquity. Even the most basic cell phone sports a digital still camera, and smart phones may include video, zoom lenses and the ability to instantly post all this and more to the Internet in real time. In fact, I was using my iPhone all night, and you can follow my Twitter (@thomasmulready) and Facebook (http://www.profile.to/thomasmulready) posts for the evening of 02.14.09 right up to the time of the concert. It had been a lovely evening. But first a little history.

Everyone knows the story. A girl is born in Akron in 1951, attends Firestone High School and Kent State University, becomes obsessed with rock and roll and moves to England in 1973, becoming a journalist and working for Sex Pistols creator Malcolm McLaren & Vivian Westwood at their infamous clothing boutique SEX. She bounces between France and Akron before returning to London, hanging out with Sid Vicious and trying to form a band with Mick Jones, who later created The Clash. By the spring of 1978, she has hooked up with bassist Pete Farndon, guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and drummer Martin Chambers, who still plays with her and drummed in the concert on Valentine's Day at the Akron Civic. The band's first single, The Kinks' Stop Your Sobbing, was produced by Nick Lowe, and was also performed at the concert. She eventually met her idol, Kinks leader Ray Davies, had her first child with him, married Jim Kerr of Simple Minds, with whom she had her 2nd child, and in 2002 ended a romance with Brazilian artist Lucho Brieva. Apparently not in the most romantic of moods for the Valentine's Day concert, she repeatedly dedicated her songs to people not celebrating the holiday.

Her trademark vulnerable lyrics and post-punk musical edge generated hit after hit in the MTV era (Brass In Pocket, Message of Love, Talk of The Town, Kid, I Go To Sleep, Back On The Chain Gang, Don't Get Me Wrong, Middle of the Road, My City Was Gone, I'll Stand By You), and propelled the singer/songwriter into the Cleveland-based Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to which her band was inducted in 2005. A truly legendary figure, she is one of the first women to front, write for, and lead a rock band, and her influence on generations of young women is incalculable, although she has stated, "It’s never been my intention to change the world or set an example for others to follow, I just wanted to play guitar in a rock and roll band and make music that people could dig."

Dig it we did, too, on Valentine's Day, with the hometown girl and her band live in concert at the venerable Akron Civic Theatre, a full-blown homecoming. While delivering what would not be described as a blistering set ("You're a little subdued tonight... We're a little subdued tonight..."), the evening's finest moments sparkled like the stars on the ceiling of the Akron Civic. The roots rock and rockabilly groove on their new disc, Break Up The Concrete, was achieved with the help of studio pro drummer Jim Keltner, and in concert Martin Chambers took up the gauntlet with aplomb. From the opening riffs of Concrete's leadoff track Boots of Chinese Plastic, twanged by guitarist James Walbourne, through his scalding fretwork on Rosalee, written by Akron-based 15-60-75 (The Numbers Band) founder Robert Kidney, all the way to the title track with its Bo Diddley beat at the end of the show, the band delivered the hits in grand style, but gelled sublimely on the newer rockabilly and country numbers, sweetened with lap steel by Eric Heywood. Walbourne picked up a mandolin, and the star, outfitted with her trademark knee-high boots, a tux jacket and a "Wear Rubber" t-shirt, unslung her guitar in exchange for maracas. She called out Alcoholics Anonymous founder and Akron native Bob Smith, upon whose nearby gravesite she found inspiration for The Last Ride. There's a sense of discovery of the twangy, straight-ahead roots music that both inspired the original rockers in the 50's and also ignited the punk retro-revolution, and this approach is revelatory for both singer and band on the new disc and live in concert. One couldn't have asked for much more from the stage.

But our evening began, appropriately, a few hours earlier, at a restaurant the singer opened in the Northside Lofts in late 2007, just North of Downtown Akron, where she also owns a penthouse apartment. VegiTerranean [pictured] follows the strict vegan philosophy that she has espoused for most of her career, and the execution, in this meat-and-potatoes town, is close to flawless. The Hot Italian Banana Peppers appetizer stuffed w/Herb Risotto & Soy Mozzarella, basil, lime sauce set our mouths aflame with delight, while the Sweet Eggplant, Caper and Roasted Red Pepper Ragout accompanying the Baked Risotto Cakes over a Braised Escarole is something you want to bottle, take home with you and pour over everything except maybe your cereal. Entrees like the Gardein Veggy Strip Steak w/green beans & Garlic Mashed Potatoes are surprisingly flavorful and satisfying, while the Ghoulardi Pizza, with hot peppers, olives, wild mushrooms, red onion, and a spicy Marinara would please any Northeast Ohioan with an appetite and an appreciation for pop culture. Turn Blue! None of this, by the way, tasted vegan, it tasted great. The Vanilla Bean Custard that accompanies the fresh fruit tart and the cherry pie, was to blame for us arriving late to the Akron Civic, missing most of the opening act, American Bang, which was not all bad. But hey, at least they rock out, and these days, that seems to be almost a lost art. Then the weirdness began.

Now we're into the 3rd song of the headliner set, and I get my iPhone and my little digital camera ready, as instructed, but, to my surprise, two aggressive security guards approach me to put them away. I show my photo pass and one of them signals "3, 4, 5," to remind me which songs I'm allowed to shoot. Sheesh.

Then, one of the more bizarre incidents of my concert-going career takes place. We're in prime seats, 2nd row dead center, and we can reach out to touch the lip of the stage. For a photographer, this is nirvana, aligned immediately in front of the singer, and to boot, our view of drummer Chambers wasn't even obscured. Strangely, though, at the beginning of the 3rd song, a spotlight directly behind the singer is turned on [pictured], backlighting the stage and making photos impossible. The light, you've probably guessed by now, is illuminated through songs 4 and 5 as well, thwarting any possibility of capturing any quality photos.

Unnervingly, the performer herself sees me trying to line up a shot (with the backlighting coming off the stage, the first few rows of audience were in better light than the performers), and blocks her face with her hand [pictured], wagging her finger at me and turning away. I hold the photo pass next to the camera to show that I am a law-abiding citizen, but it's to no avail. My heart sinks a few degrees as I realize she doesn't want any photos taken by anyone, and I wonder why photo passes were issued in the first place.

Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, blogs, personal web pages, Flicker photo galleries. There are literally thousands of sites that can promote an artist today. They are run by people who used to be called fans, and are now considered citizen journalists. It's not difficult to tap into this unaffiliated network to generate buzz, excitement and eventually, ticket and merchandise sales. As mentioned, the Grateful Dead understood this decades ago. Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails are distributing some of their music for free on the Internet, while still selling millions of units. Break Up The Concrete was actually released in this manner from their MySpace page late in 2008. But obviously, not everyone agrees with this approach. Personally, I remain confused as to why an artist would be so adamant about not allowing photos while still maintaining a public persona and making personal appearances and performing concerts. Control? The Internet has made that a futile effort. Camera shy? Get over it. You're a performer. Vanity? Of course, the legend is aging, as is drummer Chambers, and in comparing notes with our friends sitting much further back in the Civic, the effects of aging are more visible up close. But if rock and roll is going to persist more than 50 years beyond it's birth, with modern health care (and vegan diets) allowing artists to continue performing into their sixth decade, everyone has to realize that it is the live performer that we pay to see. We're on the same side here.

The story behind one of the band's most popular songs, My City Was Gone, is instructive. Originally one of the singer/songwriter's earliest indications of her blooming environmentalism, singing, "I went back to Ohio, but my pretty countryside, had been paved down the middle, by a government that had no pride." She called out specific neighborhoods, expressing her dismay at unfettered urban sprawl, "I went back to Ohio, but my city was gone, there was no train station, there was no downtown, South Howard had disappeared, all my favorite places, my city had been pulled down, reduced to parking spaces." When conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh started using the riff from My City Was Gone as his theme song, stating, "it was icing on the cake that it was [written by] an environmentalist, animal rights wacko and was an anti-conservative song. It is anti-development, anti-capitalist, and here I am going to take a liberal song and make fun of [liberals] at the same time." The singer/author forced an agreement that Limbaugh would donate royalties owed the author to PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. She didn't sing the song at the Civic or at her other recent Northeast Ohio appearance, even though it's message has special irony and significance in light of her return to living part-time in Akron to take care of her ailing parents, opening VegiTerranean, and living in the new Northside Lofts development. She calls out Akron glass artist Bob Pozarski and his Highland Square studio and marvels at the redevelopment happening in Northeast Ohio currently. "It's really coming back, isn't it, Akron?" she shouted from the stage, acknowledging in part her own participation in that comeback.

Everyone needs to do what she has done, taking a stand in her community and inviting the public back into our cities to enjoy ethically inspired culture, food, and urban living. It's what we do week in and week out at CoolCleveland.com. Repeatedly throughout the concert, she suggested we all visit her restaurant [pictured]. "We'll see you there later..." she smiled as the band left the stage. She's got such a big heart, we were half-expecting her to invite us up to her penthouse after the show. If that happens, you can bet I'll be packing my iPhone.

From Thomas Mulready http://www.CoolCleveland.com ThomasATCoolCleveland.com

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