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Located on the southern shore of Lake Erie and the banks of the Cuyahoga river, the city of Cleveland has an auspicious rock history. It was here that radio personality Alan Freed first coined the term “Rock and Roll” and put on the first Rock and Roll Concert, the Moondog Coronation Ball on March 21, 1952. Legendary frontman for Mott the Hoople, Ian Hunter pays homage to the man and his city in the 1979 classic, “Cleveland Rocks.”

When I first came over, with Mott, you’d do these clubs and nobody would turn up. Then you’d get to Cleveland and it would always be packed. Cleveland and Memphis were the first two towns that picked up on us, long before LA or New York–Ian Hunter.

In 1986 Cleveland was chosen by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation of New York City to be the home for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. Designed by internationally renowned architect I. M. Pei, the museum finally opened its doors 9 years later on September 2, 1995, and touts itself as “the preeminent home for the celebration and study of rock and roll music.”
Unfortunately, despite his consummate skills as a musician and his legendary prowess on stage, Rory Gallagher has yet to be honored at this museum. This despite some kick ass shows he has done in Cleveland throughout the years; shows at, the Allen, the Agora and this month’s “boot of the month” venue, the Empire club!

The Empire opened in 1990 in downtown Cleveland, directly across from Jacobs Field, the home of major league baseball’s Cleveland Indians. The club was owned and operated by John and Tony Ciulla who had managed the shows at Peabody’s DownUnder, one of the pre-eminent concert clubs of the 80s in the Flats. The club had a seating capacity anywhere from 350 to 800, depending on the act, and would often exceed that limit much to the ire of the local Fire Department. Unfortunately, the club’s ability to “pack them in” would prove their downfall and the Empire lasted only 3 short years from 1990-1992. Tony Ciulla would later manage Marilyn Mason, while his brother, John, would become the Special Projects Director for the House of Blues Concert Series, Smirnoff Centre, Dallas, Texas.

There was always something crazy going on, but we just chalked it up to rock n roll. After a Buddy Guy overcrowding situation the fire department reduced the capacity. At that point we started a new venue, (and)…a sports bar took over for a few years after Empire–John Ciulla, former owner of the Empire.

On March 21, 1952, the city of Cleveland put on the very first Rock and Roll concert, Allen Freed’s Moondog Coronation Ball. Almost 39 years to the day, on March 24, 1991, Rory comes to Cleveland and shows the town what Rock and Roll is Really about. This is one of the last concerts on Rory’s final tour of the United States. So kick off your shoes and have a listen as Rory tears down the Empire.

• Read Judy Black’s article from the Cleveland Scene previewing Rory’s 1991 concert at the Empire, HERE.
• Listen to the concert, HERE
• Download an mp3 of the show, HERE.

Sweet Home, Chicago!

Currently ranked as the third-most populous city in the United States, Chicago was first discovered by European explorers, Marquette and Jolliet, in 1673. It’s name was taken from the Native American word shikaakwa, meaning water leek, a plant commonly found along the banks of the Chicago river. The Chicago of today is a dominant force in finance and industry. It’s musical heritage is no less impressive. The list of famous blues musicians who called the “Windy City” home at one time or another is impressive: Scrapper Blackwell, Big Bill Broonzy, Arthur Crudup, James Cotton, Bo Diddly, Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Buddy Guy to name but a few. Chicago was the destination of choice for many of the delta bluesman of the forties and fifties fleeing the South in the “Big Migration”. They took their southern folk music, electrified it, and transformed it into a unique sound called, “Chicago Blues”.

“This is the place where people just like myself came from the South to create new lives and a new kind of music. The generation just before mine came up here playing folk music. But soon they traded in their acoustic guitars for electric instruments. And when they plugged them in, they created a new, urban sound, that we call Chicago blues.”–Buddy Guy

Originally, black artists performed blues for black audiences in the predominantly black, Southside of Chicago in clubs like the Checkerboard Lounge or the 708 Club. The new sound could not be confined to the Maxwell Street area however, and as the music gained acceptance with the white audience, more and more blues clubs started popping up, particularly in the city’s predominantly white, Northside. Black musicians and white musicians were now playing that new, urban sound. It was a sound that would influence and guide many of the famous guitar slingers of the burgeoning rock culture from Mike Bloomfield to Eric Clapton to Jimmy Page to Irish legend, Rory Gallagher.

“My music is for the most part blues…There is more Chicago blues influence in the music than there is rock…one of the characteristics of Chicago blues, [is]its toughness. It has a street feel to it. It’s real tough and hard-driving. I like to get the same effect in my music.” –Rory Gallagher, Cleveland Scene

Rory played on Chicago Blues giant, Muddy Waters, historic “London Sessions” along with Stevie Winwood, Georgie Fame and Mitch Mitchell in 1972.

“It was a real honour. The whole thing has stuck in my memory like a video. I can plug it in at any time and replay it in my head. I only wish I could do it again with my experience now because Muddy taught me an awful lot during those sessions and I came out a much better player than I went in…They were magical nights”–Rory Gallagher, Hot Press 1992

Like many other major U.S. cities, Chicago has a large Irish-American population. By 1860 it was the fourth largest Irish city in America, but unlike their counterparts in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, they have wielded tremendous political power disproportionate to their numbers. Chicago’s twelve Irish mayors have governed for more than 80 years, and on St. Patrick’s Day, the Chicago river is briefly turned green to honor the city’s Irish ethnicity. And what better way to honor the Irish than with a Rory Gallagher concert at one of Chicago’s finest nightclubs, the Aragon Ballroom!

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