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Published in 1997... I thought it was 95 Sorry,,,,,,,
This is Nashville 90's style. The contrasts are stunning. As Nashville sprawls onto the outlying mountain tops, WalMarts, up-scale developments and highways are eating away at the hollers. Civil War-rich Franklin, a sleepy town about 20 miles southeast of the State Capital, has been engulfed by Range Rovers and Fast Food restaurants. The city, once the financial center for the American Frontier, is reawakening from a country music state government parochialism. Vanderbuilt University is expanding, Saturn has located close by and telecommunications and other high tech industries are springing up all over the place.
Nashville is tourism. Outside of Andrew Jackson's Hermitage and the Civil War battle sites scattered throughout the area, Nashville tourism is Country Music. Things could very well have turned out differently. Hanging on by a thread in the late 60's and early 70's, Country Music almost abandoned Nashville for the West Coast when Buck Owens, Glenn Campbell, Roy Clark and other key performers started recording in Southern California. But Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Chet Atkins and other popular country stars refused to abandon Tennessee. These down home stars really were down home and wanted to remain close to where they had built their lives, so Nashville fought back and was able to retained its claim to being the undisputed capital of Country Music.
The usually short-sighted music industry decided to stay, settled in and invested heavy. The reinvigorated Nashville sound, really a collection of seasoned full-time session musicians, topnotch recording studios, and songsmiths to rival the glory days of New York's Tin Pan Alley, remains one of the industries dominating factors, touching all forms of music. Thousands of performers, technicians, agents, songwriters and music industry professionals have made Nashville the hottest recording stop between LA and New York.
Other dynamics, however, were at work that threatened to undermine the rebirth of Nashville. Back to the 60's again. Venerable Ryman Auditorium, home to the Grand Ole Opry, was starting to show signs of wear. The historic area of Nashville where Hank, Roy and Minnie performed, Commerce St., Broadway, 2nd Ave., had little life left. Music City, USA had shrunk to a few broken-down honky tonks and seedy music stores surviving solely on tradition. Music Row, the center of the industry, was surviving while the face of country was starting to show wrinkles.
Recognizing that Country thrives on the personal relationship between performer and fan, a key group of industry insiders decided to act. Folks involved with the business end of country, the Country Music Association (CMA), started electing performers to a Hall of Fame back in 1961. But it was a Hall of Fame in name only. In 1964, the Country Music Foundation (CMF), took control of the situation and went into action. From the beginning, the CMF was charged with not only presenting memorabilia but with preserving the rich traditions of Country and Folk Music. By 1967, the first exhibit opened to the public. When the Hall moved into its permanent home, a building at the gateway to Music Row, it quickly became one of the premier stops for music lovers. On average, 300,000 Country Music aficionados visit the hall each year.
For a time, that's all Nashville needed. In 1974 when the Grand Ole Opry turned its back on the Ryman and the whole show moved out to the new amusement park appropriately titled Opryland, little notices was paid. Besides, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Music Row are still here in town. The industry itself was all over the place. Stars could be scene walking in and out of offices on Music Row and they did something notables in other fields of entertainment viewed as distasteful; they acknowledged fans with a nod, a wave or even, God forbid, an autograph. It was, after all, a company town. All was well. All was right. All was about to change.
Branston, Missouri. This tiny town whose sole mission was to become the new capital of country music, burst on the scene in the 1980's. Second and third rate "stars" suddenly found themselves playing to full houses every night of the year. Nashville looked with disdain as the likes of Jim Reeves built his own theater and took the stage eight times a week. It wasn't until a good portion of the tour buses from the South and midwest started to by pass Nashville that the Industry started to take notice. Even attendance at the Hall, steady over the years, started to be affected.
Nashville City leaders, enamored with the high tech industries, the growth of Vanderbuilt and the Saturn spin offs were slow to act. They may have gotten tired of the boom/bust nature of the Country Music Industry. George Jones was great but Bill Gates was Mr. Wonderful. Downtown Nashville was falling further into disrepair. During a 1993 visit, the closest thing to country left downtown was a record store selling 8 track tapes and a costume shop hawking old outfits supposedly worn by the likes of Lefty Frizzel and Porter Wagoner. Little did I know what was in store.
Sometime in the early 90's, the city made a decision to finally embrace its identity as Music City, USA. Maybe what was happening in Atlanta or worse yet, Columbus, Ohio pushed them over the edge. These two booming economies attracted people, but both were lacking anything like the identity that Nashville already had. As much as the yuppies hated to admit it, Nashville was country music.
The visit in August of '97 was something else. The same area that lay desolate just four years ago now sports a Hard Rock Cafe, a Planet Hollywood, a made-over Ryman Theater, a new arena/convention center and a new stadium to house the Tennessee Oilers. The Wild Horse Saloon, made popular by a televised line dance show airing on The Nashville Network, was packing them in every night. In 1999, a new Country Music Hall of Fame will open down in the district. Good Music was everywhere. Little bars, restaurants, coffee shops and up-scale stores attracted the locals back downtown to mingle with the tourists. Nashville had really come alive.
Branston? Wasn't that the place where the Japanese guy played the fiddle? Nashville kicked ass and emerged from the skirmish with Branston with an NFL team, a growing population, a healthy relationship with country music and a booming economy. One thing to note, Nashville is now ranked 24th in population. Cleveland is 25th.
Now the first question many Clevelanders might ask is why did Nashville get a Hard Rock Cafe before we did? That would be typical Cleveland. Perhaps more disturbing for Cleveland is why is the Hard Rock Cafe sponsoring a live music show broadcast on VH-1 every Sunday night without any involvement form the Rock Hall. Seems to me a missed opportunity. This is a perfect fit. Older audience, less pressure to get the newest alternative angst-ridden child to perform. Hall and Oats, Sting, Bob Seeger, these are the type of acts that might come to Cleveland on a Sunday night to perform and be broadcast on VH-1. Playhouse Square would be perfect. The tie in would be something like this, Live from Cleveland's Historic Playhouse Square, The Hard Rock Cafe presents the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame Sunday Showcase! It's a winner.
Rumor has it the Hard Rock Cafe is finally looking to build here in Cleveland. (Have patience all ye who can't wait to buy a T-shirt.) Maybe it's time to put a little pressure on them to broadcast that VH-1 show from Cleveland. What's the worst that could happen, another burger theme joint doesn't come to Cleveland? That's a blow to the psyche. Remember, the rock hall was able to attract Bruce Springsteen for a tribute to Woody Guthrie; why couldn't performers of his stature play an hour set on a Sunday night? They do it in Nashville all the time.
The Rock Hall should be working hard to develop more tie ins. For instance, everything should be done to attract a state of the art recording studio for downtown Cleveland. If all else fails, set up a division of the Rock Hall to run the thing on an educational basis. Build it and they will come. Start enticing a few acts to lay down some tracks here in Cleveland. More and more movies are being shot here in Cleveland. If the prima donnas from Hollywood can stand to be here in Cleveland for a few weeks, I'm sure a group or two could come to town for a recording session. Set up a label and look into reissuing oldies. Time Life does it all the time. And guess what, the CMF does it quite successfully.
It's time for Cleveland to focus. Didn't we fight tooth and nail to get the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame for Cleveland? .We won, didn't we? We deserve it. We got what we wanted. Now, what do we do with it? We have the Rock Hall, it's time to develop an identity around that glass palace on the lake. Sure we can keep telling everyone we are the Rock-and-Roll Capital of the World, but what are we doing to prove it? Cleveland must get beyond this mania of rushing from project to project, each viewed as an end on to itself. Where are the connections? The Rock Hall is done. We had our induction ceremony. On to the Aquarium.
Nashville has a lot going for it that Cleveland never will. For one, tradition. For another, decent weather all year long. Nashville also has a music infrastructure that Cleveland just can't duplicate. Nashville also has the Opry. Cleveland could very well develop a Rock Hall show along the lines of the Opry that would put our fair city on the map. It will take years of commitment and hard work. It will take vision and a sponsor. Any takers out there?
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