LibGuides: NEO Sound: Research Resources

NEO SOUND

NEO Sound (formerly known as the Northeast Ohio Popular Music Archives, or NEOPMA) is a Rock Hall initiative to preserve the history of rock & roll in Northeast Ohio. Through ]community programming for Scan Days and Home Movie Day, the Library & Archives has also acquired a group of archival collections and library materials that focus on the popular music, musicians, radio stations, record labels, recording studios, music venues, concert promoters, booking agencies, and music publishers in Northeast Ohio. These collections contain personal papers, correspondence, photographs, song manuscripts, business records, posters, and rare audio and video recordings, as well as books, dissertations, magazines and journals, commercial audio and video recordings, and sheet music.

Northeast Ohio played a significant role in the history of popular music. Beginning with WJW-AM deejay Alan Freed’s radio show, his coining of the phrase "rock and roll” to refer to the musical style, and his staging of the earliest rock and roll concerts, Cleveland continued to play an important musical role during the 1960s-1970s through the promotion of significant national artists and the development of FM radio. The region as a whole has produced seminal performers in rock music, including the Raspberries, Joe Walsh, Devo, Pere Ubu, the Dead Boys, and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, and the local music scene continues to thrive through acts like Broccoli Samurai, Herzog, Lighthouse and the Whaler, and Wesley Bright and the Hi-lites.

NEO Sound is advised by a group of individuals with extensive knowledge of local music history and archives, representing different aspects of the music scene and the business surrounding it, including the owner and operator of the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern Cindy Barber; Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sponsorship Sales for Live Nation Cleveland and longtime Belkin Productions executive Barry Gabel; local photographers Anastasia Pantsios and Randy Norfus; Chris Butler of the Waitresses, Tin Huey, and 15-60-75 (The Numbers Band); Cleveland musician, tour manager, show producer and more Marky Ray; local musician Dave McDougald, and local musician and former Rock Hall Artist in Residence Marcus Smith; with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's Library & Archives staff, including Andy Leach, Jennie Thomas, Justin Seidler, Lyndsey Godwin-Kresge, Crystal Matjasic, Laura Maidens, Alex Kaufmann, and Maggie Ignasiak.

The materials listed below are just a sampling of what we have in our collections. Researchers can access information about NEO Sound archival collections here, and can browse our NEO Sound library materials here.

Images (L to R): Record Rendezvous owner Leo Mintz, flyer for Cleveland's Dead Boys, postcard from Patti Smith on tour in Cleveland, flyer for Cleveland's New Salem Witch Hunters, Cleveland photographer Jimmy Baynes with Louis Armstrong

Individuals interested in donating archival or library materials to the Rock Hall’s Library & Archives for inclusion in NEO Sound, or who may be interested in doing research in the collections, are welcome to contact us.

Audio

Attack on Memory by Cloud Nothings
Call Number: CD CLOU-N ATTA 2012
Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children by Mushroomhead
Call Number: CD MUSH BEAU 2010
Boddie Recording Company Cleveland, Ohio
Call Number: CDB COLL BODD 2011
El Camino by Black Keys
Call Number: CD BLAC-K CAMI 2011
Everyone Wants the Honey but not the Sting by My Dad is Dead
Call Number: CD MY-DA EVER 1997
The Modern Dance by Pere Ubu
Call Number: VIN PERE MODE 1981
The O'Jays' Collectors Items
Call Number: CD O'JAY COLL 1991
Only Survivor: The MCA Years by Bobby Womack
Call Number: CD WOMA ONLY 1996
The Pink Album...Plus! by Pagans
Call Number: CD PAGA PINK 2001
Rocket Redux by Rocket from the Tombs
Call Number: CD ROCKE ROCK 2004
We Care So You Don't Have To by Styrenes
Call Number: CD STYR WE 1998

Video

The Damnation of Adam Blessing : Exhibit-A
Call Number: VID DAMNA EXHI 2009
Devo: The Complete Truth about De-evolution
Call Number: DVD DEVO DEVO-C 1993
Devo Live
Call Number: DVD DEVO LIVE 2003
Devo Live 1980
Call Number: DVD DEVO DEVO-L-N 2005
Live! at CBGB OMFUG by Dead Boys
Call Number: DVD DEAD-B LIVE-C 2004
Publication Date: 1977
Nine Inch Nails Live: Beside You in Time
Return of the Living Dead Boys
Call Number: DVD DEAD-B RETU 2008
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Live : Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Call Number: DVD COLL ROCK-9 2009 CONC
Urgh! A Music War
Call Number: VID VAR URGH 2010

Web Resources

Ain't It Fun: a Brief History of the Cleveland Proto-Punk Era, 1971-1976
This virtual document, "created by Cleveland native Stephen Slaybaugh for SJ7108 Digital Storytelling as part of the MA Digital Media course at London Metropolitan University," covers three Cleveland bands - Rocket from the Tombs, the electric eels, and Mirrors - and the ways in which they contributed to and changed the landscape of music at the time, influencing the future of punk and rock music, not just in Cleveland, but everywhere.
Akron Sound Museum at the Cleveland Memory Project
Since it's establishment in 2015 The "Akron Sound" museum has assembled a collection of photos, fliers, albums, personal memorabilia, video and audio shot during lives shows, much from the artists themselves. The collection also includes clothing worn by the band, instruments, tour notes, and advertising pieces that tell not only the story of Akron music, but how musicians marketed themselves over the years.
All Music "Artists from Cleveland, Ohio"
List of artists and bands with active dates and associated genres.
American Association of Law Libraries "Rock Bands and Musicians from Northeast Ohio" (2021)
List with brief bios of bands and musicians in the Northeast Ohio rock scene, including garage, punk, industrial, heavy metal, R&B, and rap. All bands, with the exception of Barnstorm and Marilyn Manson, were formed within a 75-mile radius of Cleveland. Sources included.
Cleveland Rock and Roll
An archive of live performances in Cleveland from the 1950s to the present, searchable by band or by date, including historical notes from concert attendees.
d.a. levy collection at the Cleveland Memory Project
As poet, artist and publisher, d.a. levy was an important literary and underground figure in Cleveland's emerging poetry and small/alternative press scene in the early 1960s and continued to be until his untimely death in 1968.
Kent State University Special Collections and Archives - KSU Folk Festival Recordings
The collection spans 1967-1985. In addition to evening concerts, the festivals also provided workshop opportunities for younger musicians to meet popular musicians in a more intimate setting.
Kent State University Special Collections and Archives - Music Related to the Kent State Shootings
The collection contains LPs, 45s, audio cassettes, sheet music, CDs and accompanying materials related to the May 4 Kent State shootings.
"Rock 'N' Roll," Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Originating in the Case Western Reserve University's Department of History, the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History represents the contributions of hundreds of academic scholars and talented amateur historians to the interpretation and understanding of the history of Greater Cleveland.
Summit Memory
An online, collaborative project capturing the history of Summit County, Ohio. Collections include historic photographs, documents, newspapers, artifacts and audiovisual resources contributed by partner organizations throughout the county.
Those Were Different Times - A Memoir Of Cleveland Life: 1967-1973 by Charlotte Pressler
This memoir, the first of three parts, is penned by Charlotte Pressler. Pressler was married to the late Cleveland musician Peter Laughner, described by Richie Unterberger as "probably the single biggest catalyst in the birth of Cleveland's alternative rock scene in the mid 1970s."

Northeast Ohio Music Organizations

Cleveland Rocks: Past, Present and Future
Organization whose mission is to support and preserve Cleveland’s popular music culture and enrich local social welfare and economic growth by stimulating music-centered initiatives.
Northeast Ohio Musical Heritage Association
The Northeast Ohio Musical Heritage Association provides venues and opportunities for the performance, sustenance and preservation of folk music in Northeast Ohio through the creation of inspiring experiences that stimulate a personal love and appreciation of folk music.
School of Rock - Cleveland West
School of Rock is the world's largest and most trusted multi-location music school with tens of thousands of musicians going through our classes, workshops, camps and performance programs every day. School of Rock helps aspiring musicians master skills, unleash creativity, and develop tools they need to thrive in life.

Books on NEO Musicians and DJs

The Akron Sound by Calvin Rydbom
Call Number: ML3534.3 .R93 2018
ISBN: 9781625858634
Musicians the Numbers Band (15-60-75), Rubber City Rebels, Tin Huey, Bizarros, Devo, Hammer Damage, Unit 5, Chi-Pig, the Waitresses; critics Liam Sternberg, Robert Christgau; venues the Crypt, Bank, JB's, Bushflow Studios, and Clone Records.
The Alan Freed Story by John A. Jackson
Call Number: ML429.F74 J33 2005
Profiles the rise and fall of Cleveland DJ Alan Freed, from the Moondog Coronation Ball to the Payola scandal.
Are We Not Men? We Are Devo! by Jade Dellinger
Call Number: ML421.D48 D44 2003
Cheetah Chrome : A Dead Boy's Tale : From the Front Lines of Punk Rock
Call Number: ML420.C47 A3 2010
The Cramps by Comp. Thomas Owen Sheridan
Call Number: ML421.C735 C72 1990
Compilation of articles written on the band, with accompanying black-and-white images.
Diary of a Punk by Mike Hudson
Call Number: ML420.H837 A3 2008
"In this brutally frank memoir of his years in and out of the Pagans, singer Mike Hudson has written a shocking and sometimes disturbing account of a life lived outside society's boundaries"--Back cover
Nine Inch Nails by Martin Huxley
Call Number: ML421.N56 H89 1997
From a well of previously unpublished research, Huxley has carved out the history of this improbable hero: Reznor's rise as an Appalachian outcast to dyspeptic sex symbol; his connections to Courtney Love; and his relationship with his spasmodically fixated fans.
Overnight Sensation : The Story of the Raspberries by Ken Sharp
Call Number: ML421.R38 S43 1993
Pretty Hate Machine by Daphne Carr
Call Number: ML421.N56 C37 2011
Contains interviews with fans of Nine Inch Nails and the impact of the band on their lives.
Sound Art : Beyond Music, Between Categories by Alan Licht
Call Number: NX650.S68 L53 2007
Includes a biography and composition by Bill Fontana, born in Cleveland and known internationally for his pioneering experiments in sound art.

Periodicals

Akron Venture
Call Number: XA .K76
Alternative Press
Call Number: XA .L84
Alternatives
Call Number: XA .L8476
Burning River
Call Number: XB .U7655
Burning River Oracle
Call Number: XB .U76554
Call and Post. Showtime
Call Number: XC .A451717
CLE Magazine
Call Number: XC .L4
Cleveland After Dark
Call Number: XC .L484
Cleveland Edition
Call Number: XC .L4845144
Cleveland Press. Showtime.
Call Number: XC .L4845177
Concert Pages
Call Number: XC .O5317
Continuum : The Monthly Newsletter of Folknet, the Northeast Ohio Folk & Traditional Music & Dance Society
Call Number: XC .O585
The Devil Strip: Akron Music, Art & Culture
Call Number: XD .E95
Ephemera One
Call Number: XE .P44
Exit
Call Number: XE .X58
The Express
Call Number: XE .X77413
Free Times
Call Number: XF .R44183
Go
Call Number: XG .O13
Greater Cleveland Blues News
Call Number: XG .R438
Great Swamp Erie da da boom
Call Number: XG. R43717
Liner Notes : Official Publication of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
Call Number: XL .I54
Modern Musik
Call Number: XM .O34168
Pressure Life
Call Number: XP .R477
Revue
Call Number: XR .E88
Rhythm & News
Call Number: XR .H98169
Scene
Call Number: XS .C45
Terra Luna Tabloid
Call Number: XT .E773
U.S. Rocker
Call Number: XU .S1763
We Have the Technology
Call Number: XW .E1428
Weird & Gilly
Call Number: XW .E47

Home Movie Day Collections

The Home Movie Day Project was funded by an Ohio History Fund grant from the Ohio History Connection in 2018.

Jeff Reding Digital Video Collection
The collection, 1986-2017 and undated, contains videos and images of local and national acts that performed in the Cleveland, OH area. This content was recorded for VidMag Television, a Cleveland show produced by Reding consisting of music videos, interviews, and performances by Cleveland area and national bands and their members.
Jimi Imij Digital Video Collection
The collection, 1977-2017 and undated, contains digital videos, audio, and images of local and national acts in the Northeast Ohio area, primarily Akron / Kent in the 1980s. The video consists of live music recordings, music videos and interviews. The audio is comprised of digitized cassettes containing recordings of live music, practice sessions, and studio recorded music.
Ken Dix Digital Video Collection
The collection, 2014-2018, contains videos of individual song performances from Against Me!, Dead to Me, Delay, Frank Turner, Modern Baseball, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, The Menzingers, The Sidekicks, and Tigers Jaw at Cleveland area venues such as The Agora Theater, House of Blues, Mahall's, and the Grog Shop.
Mary Ruth Koogler Film and Digital Video
The collection contains analog and digital footage of seven Super 8mm films that document local rock concerts or related events from the late 1970s, featuring artists Neil Diamond, Fleetwood Mac, Peter Frampton, Kenny Loggins, Sonny and Cher, and Wild Cherry, as well as Belkin family and Belkin Productions events.
Ron Bierut Digital Video Collection
The collection, 1979-1981, contains silent videos of performances by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band and Elvis Costello & The Attractions at the Richfield Coliseum and the Music Hall in Cleveland as well as the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati.

Find more by searching "Home Movie Day" in the catalog!

Books on NEO Music and Radio

Small Town, Big Music: the Outsized Influence of Kent, OH, on the History of Rock and Roll by Jason Prufer
Call Number: ML3534.3 .P78 2019
The Akron Sound: the Heydey of the Midwest's Punk Capital by Calvin Rydbom
Call Number: ML3534.3 .R93 2018
Rebels and Underdogs: the Story of Ohio Rock and Roll by Garin Pirnia
Call Number: ML3534.3 .P57 2018
1950s Radio in Color : The Lost Photographs of Deejay Tommy Edwards by Christopher Kennedy
Call Number: ML3534.3 .K46 2011
The Buzzard : Inside the Glory Days of WMMS and Cleveland Rock Radio, a Memoir by John Gorman with Tom Feran
Call Number: ML429.G676 A3 2007
Cleveland Jazz History by Joe Mosbrook
Call Number: ML3508.8.C6 M67 2003
Cleveland's Gospel Music by Frederick Burton
Call Number: ML3187 .B87 2003
Cleveland Rock & Roll Memories : True and Tall Tales of the Glory Days, Told by Musicians, DJs, Promoters, & Fans Who Made the Scene in the '60s, '70s, and '80s by Carlo Wolff
Call Number: ML3534.3 .W65 2006
Cleveland's Rock and Roll Roots by Deanna R. Adams
Call Number: ML3534.3 .A33 2010
Cleveland Rocks: The Birthplace of Rock and Roll by George Shuba, photographs; text by Jon Jicha
Call Number: ML141.C85 S58 2007
Discothèque Dances by Dick Blake
Call Number: GV1750.5 .B53 1965
Instruction on 1960s dances with photos of prominent Cleveland personalities
Hang on Sloopy : The History of Rock & Roll in Ohio by Nick Talevski
Call Number: ML3534.3 .T35 2010
Metal, Rock, and Jazz : Perception and the Phenomenology of Musical Experience by Harris M. Berger
Call Number: ML3477.7.O37 B47 1999
Commercial hard rock in Cleveland, heavy metal in Akron, and jazz scenes in Northeast Ohio
Radio Daze : Stories from the Front in Cleveland's FM Air Wars by Mike Olszewski
Call Number: HE8698 .O57 2003
Rhythm & Blues in Cleveland, 1955 Edition by Galen Gart
Call Number: ML3521 .R49 2003
Sh-boom! The Explosion of Rock 'n' Roll, 1953-1968 by Clay Cole
Call Number: ML429.C65 S53 2009
Northeast Ohio rock and roll scene from 1938-1957

YouTube Video

Western Reserve Historical Society Archives

Agora Cleveland Records and Photographs
The Agora began in 1966 as a dance club. In the 1970s and 1980s, it began to focus more on concerts, and it became a prominent player in the world of professional music, booking acts that revitalized the rock & roll genre and created the core for progressive rock. This collection consists of advertisements, announcements, contracts, guest lists, financials, office files, performer files, photographs, press releases, newspaper and magazine articles, venues and event files.
Anastasia Pantsios Papers
Anastasia Pantsios is a Cleveland, Ohio, based writer and photographer. The collection consists of newspaper clippings, correspondence, ephemera, event programs, photographs, and promotional materials.
Cleveland Music Group Records
The Cleveland Music Group was a nonprofit, member-supported organization whose mission was to promote and assist Cleveland, Ohio, musicians both locally and nationally. During the 1990s the group conducted periodic educational forums on topics related to the music business as well as a monthly songwriters workshop at Peabody's Down Under in the Flats. The 150-member group consisted of music industry insiders, sound engineers, journalists and photographers, agents and club owners, radio personalities and musicians. The collection consists of board minutes, newspaper clippings, correspondence, financial documents, lists, newsletters, ephemera (including event flyers and tickets), and press releases.

Jane Scott Papers

As one of the country’s first daily newspaper rock-music reporters, Jane Scott (May 3, 1919 - July 4, 2011) diligently covered the music scene from the most obscure local bands to stadium headliners. Over the course of her 40+ year career with The Plain Dealer, Scott covered every major rock concert in Cleveland and was on a first name basis with many stars. The Jane Scott Papers include her vast library of books, periodicals, scores, and audiovisual materials, as well as her archives of research files, clippings, photographs, memorabilia, and concert ephemera.

Archival Resources

Alan Freed Collection
Primarily financial and court documents relating to payola. Other materials relate to Freed’s renowned career as a radio, television, and film personality and include lobby cards, magazine articles, movie posters, programs, audio and video recordings, sheet music, and yearbooks.
Anastasia Pantsios Collection
Photographs by Pantsios of performers who have appeared in Cleveland over the course of two decades, on and off stage, with radio station playlists from WWMS.
Bill Anderson Collection
Anderson's radio show playlists and station program guides; research on jazz, rhythm and blues, and Cleveland rock music, as well as materials from the Northeast Ohio Jazz Society and Cuyahoga Community College Jazz Festivals.
Cheese Borger Collection
Promotional materials from 1968 to 1997 on various rock artists, including photographs, press kits, and biographical information; as well as top hits charts from the 1960s-1970s from Cleveland area radio stations.
Chris Butler Papers
The Chris Butler Papers, 1969-2005, undated, contains materials on the band the Waitresses as well as Butler's personal papers, including lyrics, contracts, correspondence, collected ephemera and publications, tour itineraries, photographs, and promotional materials.
Cleveland Rocks! Interviews
Collection of unedited interviews in which Cleveland musicians, writers, and radio personalities discuss the music scene, past, present, and future, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's place in it.
Cleveland Scene Photographs
Cleveland Scene was founded in 1970 as The Scene, an entertainment-focused free weekly newspaper. The Cleveland Scene Photographs contain promotional and concert photography collected and used by Scene magazine through about 2006. The collection is split into national touring acts and those from Northeast Ohio. The live concert photography is of particular interest.
Collection on Tommy Edwards
Audiovisual recordings, clippings, photographs (some inscribed to Edwards), posters, and publications related to Edwards' personal life and career, the music scene of the greater Cleveland area, and the continuation of Tommy Edwards Records after his passing in 1981.
Derek Hess Posters
85 concert and exhibit posters featuring Hess's artwork and highlighting a number of 1990s alternative rock groups. Many of the posters document concerts performed at Cleveland, Ohio venues, including the Agora, Euclid Tavern, Odeon, Peabody's, and the Wolstein Center.
Duane Sycz Photographs
A sampling of Sycz's photographic work for various live performances in Ohio, 1990 to the present.
Jim Clevo Papers
Primarily artist files for bands that Clevo assisted through his work under Jim Clevo Presentations and with the Jim Clevo Stage during the 1980s; as well as photocopied articles and ephemera related to Clevo's work as a band manager, concert promoter, and journalist.
Jimmy Baynes Collection
Black-and-white and color images taken at Cleveland music halls, as well as some promotional materials for local artists, concerts, radio stations, record distributors, and venues.
Joe Walsh Lyrics
The handwritten and signed lyrics to "Life's Been Good."
Mike Kole Collection
Provides insight to Cleveland college radio through 199 radio show recordings, music logs, and correspondence for shows hosted by Kole on WCSB.
Swingos Collection
Documents the hotel and restaurants owned and operated by Jim Swingos in Cleveland, Ohio, during the 1970s through photographs, color negatives, menus, and a file for Elvis Presley's 1974 tour stop in Cleveland.
T.E. Newsletter
Created by DJ Tommy Edwards, this newsletter was the first of its kind for the music industry, describing weekly events at WERE-AM, Cleveland, Ohio: what artists had visited the station, which records looked promising.

...and many more!

Scan Day Collections

Scan Days were funded by a Common Heritage grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 2016-2017.

Alan Bescan Collection
Handbills, tickets, and flyers for concerts in San Francisco and Austin in the 1960s and 1970s featuring artists Richie Havens, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Buffalo Springfield, Donovan, Moby Grape, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
Bill Carothers Clippings on Summer Jam at Watkins Glen
Articles and clippings from Elmira, New York newspaper the Star-Gazette, dated Monday, July 30, 1973, documenting the regional impact of the "Summer Jam at Watkins Glen" rock music festival and its audience.
Cindy Barber Collection on Beachland Ballroom and Tavern
Four (4) posters and 366 GB of digitized artist files, concert flyers, and set lists (4,090 digital images) generated and collected by the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern, a live music venue located in Cleveland, Ohio. Artist files make up the bulk of the collection and include artist contracts, stage layouts, promotional materials, and correspondence primarily between artist management and the Beachland Ballroom staff. Concert flyers document musical acts both national and native to Northeast Ohio.
Dave Koubeck Collection
Photographs taken by the donor, articles and backstage passes from Cleveland area concert venues featuring the Tubes and Ian Hunter as well as scans of signed publicity photos of Skid Row and L.A. Guns, 2006-2007.
Emin Batlak Photographs
The collection documents music events in Cleveland through the early- to mid-1970s, including the Mayor's proclamation of August 24, 1976 as "Wild Cherry Day," as well as performances by Rod Stewart and Aerosmith at the World Series of Rock in August of 1975, and a performance of Jefferson Airplane circa 1972.
John and Marian Damico Collection
An article from an unidentified Cleveland newspaper about audience misconduct at The Beatles' September 15, 1964 performance at Public Auditorium, and two stickers from Cleveland radio station WMMS 101FM, circa 1970s.
Mary Ungarsky Photographs of Christine McVie
Photos by the donor of McVie during a performance at the Agora Theatre in Cleveland on May 9, 1984.
Michael Boyer Collection
The collection contains 79 Beatles "plaks"--cardboard trading card-like items, manufactured by Topps and originally sold in packs of bubble gum in 1964; as well as photographs taken by the donor of Rod Stewart at the Richfield Coliseum in May 1979 and the Rolling Stones at Municipal Stadium on June 14, 1975.
Michael Galloway Promotional Card for Billy Joel at Gund Arena
Promotional card for grand opening of Gund Arena, October 17, 1994, featuring Billy Joel.
Pat Depace Collection
Ephemera from President Bill Clinton's pre-inaugural event, America's Reunion on the Mall, January 1993; the grand opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, September 1995; and an event with President Bill Clinton and Bruce Springsteen in Parma, Ohio, October 2012.
Patty Duber Collection
Photographs of Robert Lockwood Jr. taken in Chicago and Cleveland, plus Lockwood's memorial service program, flyers of concerts given by Glenn Schwartz at Cleveland area venues, and promotional materials from Cleveland radio stations.

Find more by searching "Scan Day" in the catalog!