So the Black Keys are back home in Cleveland tonight. Well, technically they're from Akron but can't we all just get along? Ok, let's call it northeast Ohio. Anyway, Dan Auerbach and Pat Carney are at the Q tonight playing to friends and the hometown fans.
It is a day we should feel some sort of civic pride. A couple of our own done good. John Soeder wrote a nice piece on the Black Keys in Sunday's Plain Dealer, The Black Keys are bigger than ever as they return to Northeast Ohio to play The Q.
I only wish they hadn't moved away, taking their talents to Nashville as it were. I don't begrudge the move on their part. I know it was a good career move. At least they didn't move to Brooklyn.
The fact is a number of local musicians now call Nashville home. Off the top of my head there's Anne E. DeChant, Rob Muzik, Chris Hanna, Paul Lewis and Jason White. I like to think that they've helped create a musical pipeline connecting Cleveland and Nashville.
In my ideal Cleveland musicians wouldn't have to leave and, in fact, would be welcoming musicians from other cities who've decided to relocate to northeast Ohio. Cleveland would be the new hotbed of music like Portland, Seattle, Brooklyn, Austin and Nashville.
It's not far-fetched is it? We've got everything needed to make it happen. There's reasonable housing costs, talented musicians, plenty of recording studios, geography and architecture that can inspire. We have the Rock Hall that should serve as a beacon to musicians.
So how can we make it happen? What's the missing element that would energize such a movement? I think about this quite a bit. Any suggestions?
