Glory Days and Nights: The Toledo Music Scene 1987-90

The Longhorn, Prime Time Bar & Grill, Manos, Theo’s Tavern, Scotland Yard, The Break Room Lounge, The Parkway, Harvey’s, McCready’s Pub, The University Pub, Frankie’s, Micky Finn’s Pub, Rusty’s Jazz Café, Hotlix Hideaway, Chaplin’s, Saxon’s, PJ’s, Kostak’s Playdium, The Oarhouse, Ember’s, Union Lounge, The Omni, Shooter’s Portside (Saba’s Waterfront), Mannequin’s, Northtowne Lounge, Kip’s West and Kip’s South, Digger’s Lounge, Bleacher’s, The Distillery, Shari’s Place Upstairs, 21 West, Southwyck Lounge, The Peacock Café, Papa’s Tavern, The Green Rooster, Rocket Inn/Club College, Angelo’s Attic, The Cyprus, Biddy Mulligan’s, Ottawa Tavern, Moosey’s, Chadwick Inn, The Driftwood, Delaney’s Ol Time Pub, Chaplin’s, JJ’s Aqua Lounge, Speedway Lounge, Zach’s Place, Mac’s Place, RCR Lanes, Buffalo Bob’s, Lan’s, Village Idiot, The Shade Tree Lounge, Brother Baker’s, The Turtle Club, Bleacher’s, Clay’s Tavern, The Country Connection, Michigan Tavern, Mark’s Pizza Pub, Club 21, Dry Dock, the Mayfly, Holiday Inn French Quarter, the Nite Cap Inn, Whit’s End, Secor Lanes, the Anchor Inn …

The list goes on and on and on …

And I’m sure my memory’s not good for the half of it.

Thing is, that was the tail end of an amazing period for live music in Toledo. In 1987, I was 20. A then-recently passed local ordinance raised the entry age to match the legal ability to drink hard liquor. But, I was “grandfathered” in so to speak, which meant I could get in and drink beer but not whiskey.

For that, I’d have to depend on the kindness of strangers. And, I did … lots.

The Tale of the Tapes

Back then, the “hair band” rockers of the day could still be found playing six nights a week at places like Kip’s West and Roxanne’s. On the top end, I’ve got vivid memories of seeing local legends Damien, which featured the amazing Chuck Stohl on guitar; and Edwin Dare, with the equally shrederrific Jeff Kollman. Also in the mix were Axel Brice, Schoolboy Crush, Excalibur, and The Other Half.

I should pause for a moment to say that my mileage will certainly vary from anyone else, so I’m likely to leave out a name or several. This piece-de-resistance isn’t intended to be all-inclusive or even all-that-accurate. My apologies to any band or individual I fail to mention.

A senior at the University of Toledo, I had just entered the music scene myself a year earlier. My “Summer of ‘69” band later on in the summer of ’89 was a three-piece band called Snide Kelly. A couple contemporaries that were in “our league” of sorts were The Flex and The Ray Band, but also dozens more I felt mostly were a peg-up or two from us—both in the quality of the music they played—and on the age/experience scale.

I’ll name-check as having seen and heard Shyster, The Proof (featuring Bob Harvey), Rockestra (featuring Greg Price), High Society (later The Affair) The Extreme (the local Toledo version, later Madison Avenue, featuring Stephen Simon), The Nu-Tones (later The Love Zombies), Tony and the T-Birds, The Glass City All-Stars, Liz and the Buffers (later Creative Rite), The Beefcarvers, Velvet Jones, The Villaruz Sisters, The Rivermen, Touched, O’ Romeo, Great Lakes Rhythm, Blitzen, Up for Grabs, Second Wind, Murphy’s Law (later 4toGo), The XL Band, Bonkers, New & Improved, and The Watermelon Men, among dozens of others, including Ript and Lucky Stryke (both bands I was fortunate to be a part of during the late 80’s; later duos/bands would follow under the names Two for the Show, The Boilermakers, Three Blind Mice).

On the reggae side, there was Groovemaster. Talk about feeding your happy. What a fun group, and the host of one long lost evening in Ann Arbor I’m still trying to piece together more than 30 years later. I didn’t go for that much country music, but Toledo had plenty of it—Locoweed and Jim Seibers Band were two of ‘em.

Speaking of fun, impossible to talk Toledo music in the late ‘80s without mentioning Hotlix, a band loved and reviled for the same reasons—raunchy, politically-just-wrong-tongue-in-cheek-if-you’re-lucky—music and below-the-belt comedy. In those days, if you didn’t have Hotlix “in your ear,” you might be asked to shove it up your a**.

During the late 80’s, if you were lucky, you might have also got a chance to see The Cakewalkin’ Jass Band in its prime at its prime location, Tony Paco’s Café (itself a historic destination for its Hungarian hot dogs, celebrity-signed “buns,” and M*A*S*H’s Jamie Farr—pretty much in that order). And to go along with it, a side of Ragtime Rick behind at the piano in his self-named restaurant in south Toledo.

Blues, I Used—Learning to Drink with the Legends

Mostly though, when I had free nights on the weekends, I gravitated toward the blues. My favorite guitarist to this day, Patrick Lewandowski, was mesmerizing in the ways he could play single note solo lines that would imply the chord changes so well you could hear them in your head. And that’s no small trick. One night at what was the Ottawa Tavern on Bancroft, I watched and listened as he played a 36-bar slow blues solo to a packed dance floor—nobody lost the beat or the “rise in the Levi’s.”

Pat would later form a duo with another Toledo Legend, Bobby May. Together, they’d reign as kings of their court as Two Big Guitars for more than ten years. Bobby, as most familiar with the Toledo music scene will know, had already cemented his status as one of the region’s premiere six-stringers in the bands Georgia Peach and later Dry Bones Revival.

Both of these guys succeeded in teaching me how to drink whiskey; Irish to the former, and Tennessean to the later. I probably didn’t pick-up everything I should have from them as guitarists, but I still hear them in my head every time I play. Same thing holds true for a cat named Jeff Williams. Good gawd, Jeff was and is extremely gifted, articulate, and tasteful with other-worldly chops, but personally friendly and generous with his time.

One night at a jam, Jeff asked me to sit in and play for what I thought was going to be just one song. I’d been mentally practicing “Messin’ with the Kid” for the whole night, making sure my feathers were numbered for just such an occasion. When my turn came, I really went for it, gave it everything I had—brought down the house for a moment.

Jeff looks straight at me and says, “Well, that’s great. Do it again.”

I practically forgot everything I knew in that moment, including my name.

Thankfully, all three are still performing to this day.

Gone, but Fondly Remembered

Still active during this period were the OG’s of the scene, namely, “Big Jack” Reynolds; and The Griswolds (featuring brothers Art on guitar, Roman on keyboards, Professor Easy on sax, and Monk on drums). They held court themselves regularly at Theo’s Tavern in downtown Toledo, as well as shady-as-f**k bowling alleys, bars, and dives across town.

Got to play bass guitar on a couple songs for Big Jack one frigid February night, subbing briefly for his then-regular bassist, the still brilliant, alright, and upright Joel Hazard, who took the occasion to make sure his car would start, “Why don’t you and ‘pork-chop’ come on up and do a tune?” I was thrilled.

That friend, nick-named “Pork chop,” not so much.

Another night at one of the shady bowling alleys, Art invited me to play his “box.” Possibly the biggest and heaviest 335 I’ve ever touched. Probably felt that way, really just because of the giant who handed it to me.

My personal story isn’t complete without mentioning The Dan and Don Show, featuring Dan O’Conner on acoustic guitar, vocals; and the late Don Binkley on bass, vocals. Formerly of the local indie punk band The Defectors, Don passed away in 2021. In my mind, he was one of the most articulate, inventive acoustic guitar players and stellar singers the area has ever produced. His effortless, pitch-perfect vocal leaps, just priceless!

His friendship to anyone who knew him—timeless.

And Speaking of Inspiration

When I started to play guitar, I naturally gravitated toward others who shared the same passion. At my high school, Central Catholic in Toledo, there was Johnny Rodriguez, or “Johnny Rod” by his stage name. I can’t imagine anybody in the area who hasn’t seen John perform at one time or another. His presence on the local scene since 1985 (the year we graduated) has only grown in stature since then.

By far, he was the best guitar player at our school at the time.

No matter how good I get, I’ll always be runner-up in that spelling B (and hell, I don’t even mind). He’s just remarkable. Today, he heads a popular group called Dive Bombing Space Pigeons with Mark Mikel, a guy who’s always raised the bar for himself and others—just a fantastic songwriter and performer—both back in the day, and today.

Also, if you don’t know the name Don Coats, you’re missing out on a local legend. Not all that long ago, there was an independently produced movie out called Playing Nightly. Don, as far as I know, wasn’t in it—but not because his work didn’t fit the billing; he’s been playing regularly both nightly and daily in the Toledo area since long before I even picked up an instrument in 1983.

If I name my influences, I really couldn’t go wrong naming Don as my first. All I wanted to do was play. Don showed me I didn’t need a band. All I needed was nerve.

And as certain friends of mine might say, I’ve got a lot of that going for me.

The Legacy—Or, So I’ve Heard

In any piece about Toledo’s rich musical history, the names that tend to stand out are Johnny and The Hurricanes, Teresa Brewer, Art Tatum, Ruby Starr, and so on—but taking a big jump forward, just before my firsthand experience began—there are a few biggies that need to be mentioned despite me being too young to see them as the “legends” have it.

Top dog for the longest time, Steve Athanas, fronted The Haircuts and Loved by Millions long before The Homewreckers became the de-facto standard for straight-up, horn-driven rock, rhythm and blues. In the late ‘80’s, as much as it pains me to admit it, The Homewreckers absolutely destroyed headliners Cheap Trick on one memorably sunny, party-in-the-park evening.

Soaking in the ovations, Athanas boomed, “The Homewreckers!!!” over-and-over to the delight of more than 10,000 people.

In the clubs around town, and frankly, across all 50 states at one time or another, there was the legend of Ebenzr, “the crowd pleaser.” When I first learned of the band, two of them had just branched off to form a duo called Two’s a Crowd (later Three For All, All 4 It). These guys just captured my imagination and attention like nobody else at the time. Their onstage banter was hilarious, but their musicianship I thought was extraordinary, and they put it together in a way that made for a great night out, every night out.

As a then 20-something, I had my heroes (Cheap Trick, The Who, Rush, etc.), but what I really wanted to do was what they were doing—playing at Holiday Inns no less. That was the life in music I wanted.

To some small extent, that’s what I got.

Drinking Up the Best from Toledo’s Best

I remember seeing a friend Will Mandel, a former Toledoan who now is doing meaningful and successful work in the music business as a bass player, arranger, and performer in Nashville. Apart from being my first guitar teacher, Will encouraged me to listen and learn from others. One night that brought me out to The Distillery on a Tuesday night to see his then-band Looney Tunes.

On guitar was a fella named Vince Majewski (co-founder of The London Boys w/ vocalist Mark VanWinkle; later Bethany and the Bottom Line) who bent and beat the living snot out of his guitar. Yep, I sure as hell wanted to do that, too!

Shortly afterward he introduced me to Doug Wuellner of The X-citerz fame; and subsequently, a lot of “snakebites” at the old Cyprus Lounge. I’d missed the punk scene mostly, but The X-citerz carried the torch and lit the flame—fanned by a long-time close friend and great guitarist in his own “rite,” Gregg Leonard.

In the decades that followed, I’d get the chance, and I’d now say the honor, of playing live music with all four of them at various times—some of the best, some of the not-so-best, and of every conceivable combination in-between. The stage for any band I’ve fronted has always been open. Same thing in return. That’s the way it used to be in Toledo.

All of it set a stage that still reverberates.

Those glory days and nights in the late 80’s gave me moments where post-gig-fueled decadence wasn’t necessarily probable, but it was possible—and available even if you weren’t rich and famous. To catch the tail end of that tiger was a dream itself.

Yes, we all partied and played like rock stars. Once-in-a-while we got to experience it, grow from it—I even met my wife because of it (she’d been the lead singer of Toledo’s biggest all-girl-band, Girls Night Out).

Now it’s a real treat to remember it.