Legendary Vermont Jam Band Phish Descended upon the MAC Center

November 12, 1994

This is one of Kent State’s most storied and well-documented shows, and because it took place on Saturday, November 12, 1994, a good amount of archival materials and memories are still intact. This was the first major concert to be held in this venue since its 1992 renovation and rededication. (The Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center had previously been the Memorial Gym.)

The show was a complete sellout, and the party atmosphere before the concert was in typical legendary Phish preshow fashion. The Student Center parking lot and the C parking lot adjacent to the Michael Schwartz Center were filled with hippies, gypsies, and Volkswagen buses ripped out of some festive Grateful Dead show. This was commonplace for a Phish concert but highly unusual for Kent, Ohio.

Phish, on tour for its Hoist album, was completely in its musical prime. This was Phish’s only ever appearance in Kent, and by the following summer the group’s growing popularity meant it was playing only the largest sports arenas, stadiums, and summer sheds.

In 2005, Phish released a small chunk of this concert (tacked onto the end of another show) as part of its LivePhish.com series. Also of note is that the entire fall 1994 Phish tour was professionally recorded for its official release, A Live One.

I was sitting in the third row on the floor, and I distinctly remember that just before the performance, balloons were batted around in that floor section. First, there was one, then three, and then what seemed like hundreds of balloons of all sizes. The lights went down, and Phish came on to a roaring applause. The stage was littered with those balloons. I think the stage security had all the balloons popped and out of the way by the end of the first song.

On November 12, 1994, Phish played at Kent State. Before their performance, balloons were batted around at the front floor section. (Daily Kent Stater photo by Jeff Camarati)

Kent State graduate Dan Soulsby, the All Campus Programming Board Concert Committee chair for the 1994–95 school year, was the chief promoter for this concert. The show was 100 percent his idea, and he and his staff made this entire thing happen. Dan, who was only twenty-two years old when Phish came to town, shared his memories of the concert with me almost two decades later in early 2011.

None of this would have been possible without the help of a great staff of ACPB board members. It was a team effort.

We were talking about doing a show at the MAC Center because it had just been renovated so the Undergraduate Student Senate wanted to do a big show and fill the place up. At that time there weren’t too many bands that could put 6,000 people comfortably into a venue like that, and I narrowed it down to like five different bands. I actually had the Kent Stater post in the paper a questionnaire about “Who would you want to see play in the new MAC Center?” The whole time, though, I was trying to convince the powers that be that if we brought Phish to the MAC Center we could sell the place out.

A lot of the college kids knew who Phish was, but the problem was the people who had to write off on this thing and hand out the money, i.e., the fraternity kids on the Student Senate, had never heard of them. I mean, you can ask ten different people on campus what’s in and what’s hot right now and you’ll get ten different answers. So, they were worried about giving me the money, but just before the school year started, they gave me like the largest budget ever given to a KSU concert committee ever, with the goal for me to bring a headlining band to Kent State.

I went after Phish not too long after that survey went out, and on September 16, 1994, we made them a formal offer of $37,500 plus 85 percent of net profits to play in the MAC Center on Saturday, November 12, 1994. Phish was cool with it, and by October 6, we had a signed contract between Phish and Kent State University. We also got 20 percent of the money from all of the merchandise sold at the show, which is big, so it had the potential to generate more money for the university than anything I’d ever seen.

At that time, they would have much rather played some place like Kent State than somewhere up in Cleveland. Their album Hoist had come out in March of 1994, and this concert was like eight months later. I think Hoist had become their most commercially successful album up until that time. By the fall of 1994, Phish was just starting to gain a lot of popularity and more commercial success, and it was Hoist that really had propelled them into the mainstream.

I actually got into an argument with Phish’s management, because I insisted that we have a special student ticket sale before they went on sale to the general public. I didn’t want them going onto Ticketmaster or anything until our students got the first opportunity to buy the tickets. I knew that they had a lot of Phishheads traveling with the band who pick up tickets, and I didn’t want some scalpers buying up a whole bunch of great seats to try and sell back to our students in the weeks leading up to the show. I said I wanted our students to have first crack at ’em, and they did. They showed in numbers to the special sale, and most of them bought the maximum they could buy.

I want to say that the concert sold out like within just a few days, and it shut up all the naysayers pretty quick when they saw how fast tickets sold. The people at the Kent Stater and the student government had no idea who Phish was [until] after we sold out the MAC Center, and then they were believers! Of course, now that we had a sold-out Phish concert on our hands, this led to all kinds of other problems.

[Leading up to the event,] I remember several meetings with the police force, and they were extremely worried about all this illegal activity that they perceived would be going around in the parking lot, like they thought this was going to be some kind of San Francisco Hell’s Angels rally or something, and I was telling them, “No, it isn’t going to be like that.”

They were really worried there were going to be all these hard drugs. It almost got to the point where they were going to cancel the whole event, so I told them, “I already signed the contracts, and we’re gonna have to pay them the money anyways.” They made me hire so many police. I thought it was funny, because I told them so many times that you don’t need this many cops. But they said, “If you’re gonna have it, you’re gonna need to hire all of our police force.” The chief was worried. They were telling me all this misinformation about the kind of angry crowd they were going to attract, that I knew was just plain wrong. I kept telling them, “Ummm no … It’s not like that.” In the end, they made me hire twenty-two police officers, thirty-eight hall security officers, and eighteen campus security persons for one show.

In the semesters before we did Phish, I booked De La Soul with A Tribe Called Quest, the Lemonheads, and Koko Taylor, and they didn’t make me hire thirty-some police officers. For this one it was like overkill. Think about how many exits there are for the MAC Center. It’s like, what are they doing? What were we paying these people for?

I think [Phish] showed up the night before. I don’t believe we put them up. I think they stayed on the buses, because I remember those big tour buses pulling up behind the MAC on the Friday and then there being a bunch of students standing outside and trying to meet them. I had to have the campus security guys put some gates around the buses so the students wouldn’t try to get autographs or bug the band.

I remember the sound check. I remember going to the MAC Center and there were like a dozen security people getting into place and then just our staff and my sound guy working with the Phish sound guy. And Trey was on stage alone, just soloing, testing out his pedals, which I thought was so cool. The sounds he was making, it was like an orgasm for your ears. I remember thinking it was kind of cool that a band that was as big as Phish were still doing a sound check. I was just in awe watching Trey play guitar, and then the whole band came onstage and finished out sound check.

Since I was the head promoter, I got to eat dinner with Phish, so after the sound check I walked with the band over to the Schwebel Room. On the way they were asking me about the Kent State shootings; luckily I had taken a class called Peace and Conflict Studies and learned all about it and I was able to answer all [their] questions. I didn’t take them to the memorial or anything, but I pointed out the area since it all happened behind the MAC Center. During our dinner I didn’t want to start gushing or acting like a fan, so we just did like small talk. I remember saying things like that I had never been to Vermont, stuff like that.

[Then, before the concert,] I remember the anticipation leading to the opening of the doors and the police and security thinking that the gym was going to fill up in like five seconds, but I knew they were going to file in slowly. It wasn’t general admission or anything, but the security was acting as if it was [a huge arena show].

I didn’t have time to [see what was going on in the parking lot outside the show]. I really wanted to. We were so busy inside the MAC just making sure everything was set up right. We had a bunch of volunteer ushers to show people where their seats were who got to see the show for free, and I [had] to throw one of them out, because I’m like, “Dude, you’re not showing anybody where their seats are. All you gotta do is just show ’em where their seats are with your little flashlight and then you can watch the show.” And then I came back twenty minutes later, and this guy was just still dancing, so I had to call security and told them to kick [him] out.

I was running around so much backstage and in front of the stage that I can’t even remember the whole set, but I know it’s online and I’m looking forward to downloading it. I remember my parents came down to the show, and I asked my dad about what he thought. He was impressed that they were actually really good musicians.

During the set break, we were having problems with the folding chairs that we had set on the gym floor. They were zip-tied together, and people were pulling the zip ties off and pushing them away, and the fire chief and those people were worried about that because of the fire codes. I remember trying to handle that by bringing down more volunteers, whose job it was to just keep the aisles clear so the crowd could still dance.

I remember getting a check for Phish [right after the show] and sitting down to go over the numbers for the night. We had to write them a check, and we had to get our checks from them for 20 percent of the merchandise sold. I’d never seen numbers in the hundreds of thousands before. It was over $100,000 we were talking about! Ya know, when you’re in college you’re lucky to have $3 in your pocket and 99 cents left on your [meal] card, so [this] was just mind-blowing. I remember breathing a sigh of relief that there were no EMS incidents.

Phish Concert Owes Success to Much Planning

By Ann Milanowski
Daily Kent Stater
Tuesday, November 15, 1994

Although a concert may begin for fans when the lights go down, the evening of the event is simply the culmination of months of hard work and planning for the members of the All Campus Programming Board. Saturday’s Phish show was one of ACPB’s semester-long goals.

Preparation for the sold-out show began last summer. Planning a concert for ACPB is the responsibility of several chairs: the concert, concert publicity, house and stage productions chairs.

These board members work together to unify the multistep process, from booking an act to hiring security. “Before anything can be done, we must determine the budget through allocations from the Undergraduate Student Senate,” Dan Soulsby, ACPB concert chair said. “Then we must reserve the facility and begin to pursue talent.”

Soulsby, a junior communications major, spent most of the fall semester trying to recruit a band to play a concert in the MAC Center. The recruiting process was initiated in September with a band survey conducted at the Black Squirrel Festival. And although Phish only received 10 percent of the student votes, they were chosen to play since they were the only act available.

The Phish concert was the first to be held in the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center, and Soulsby said he wants to make better use of the facility in the future. “The Great White and Tesla show in 1989 was the last concert held in the old gym,” Soulsby said. “Everyone wants to put Kent State back on the concert scene, especially after the renovations and addition of Ticketmaster.”

The main source of pursuing talent is through POLLSTAR magazine, which publishes touring dates and box office summaries. “You have to find someone who can sell 4,000 to 5,000 seats and then check out the information on when they are playing,” Soulsby said. “It’s tough to get a show in because we are in the Cleveland/Akron market.” ACPB had to compete with Belkin Productions to bring Phish in concert. However, the organization won the offer since it had more money at its disposal.

After an offer is made and accepted by the band, their agent sends back a rider that contains the agreement specifications. This is 30 to 40 pages, including information ranging from lighting and dressing room requirements to the band’s special requests. “For instance, Van Halen requests two bowls of all brown M&Ms,” Soulsby said. “We have to go through the rider and cross out everything that we can’t provide, such as alcohol, and then send it to be signed off by the Office of Campus Life and we can finally send it out.”

The agent sends the contract, which is then edited by a group of administrators and the board members. When it is returned, the contract is usually accepted or declined within several working days. At this point, the other chairs begin work on ticket sales, advertising and security measures.

However, the Phish show has proved a unique experience since they are operating on a larger scale than usual. “With the smaller shows, it’s mainly the campus that we target,” said Amy Franjesevic, ACPB concert publicity chair. “But with a show this big, we couldn’t just sell on campus. “For Phish, we did some radio spots and advertised in Scene Magazine,” Franjesevic said. “But the majority of our budget went to advertising in the Daily Kent Stater.”

Franjesevic, a senior visual communications major, said dealing with agents about advertising can hinder creativity. “It sometimes seems like you are working against them, not with them,” she said. “They’ve got a specific way of doing things, and so do you. They want only a specific ad with a particular typeface used for their ad, or they say that we can’t give out many complimentary tickets.”

In addition to advertising, the house productions chair arranges the security, ushers, campus security, police and oversees hospitality. The newest member of the ACPB board, Bryant Compton, took over the position when its old chair resigned last month. “I came in from scratch and had to get my feet wet up to my head and watch out for the alligators,” Compton said.

While Compton takes care of security needs and numbering seats, one of his major tasks is catering to the band’s needs. “With the dressing rooms, breakfast, lunch and dinner, I have a small crew helping me,” Compton said. “But as far as hospitality goes, if they need something, I am their man.” Compton said he must comply with all special requests in the contract. For Saturday night’s performance, this included a dinner of poached salmon with lemon.

Finally, it is the responsibility of the stage productions chair to arrange light and sound specifications and set up equipment on the day of the show. “Our production has been intense for the past week, and this is the first time we have put in a big rig, or a flying sound and light system,” said Brent Walla, ACPB stage productions chair. “For such a large scale show, our crew was impressive, and it’s been a steady operation of a major production.”

After all the months of hard work, the concert was a big success. The band drew a 5,800 maximum-capacity crowd. Many fans drove long distances or took buses to come to Kent State for the show. “Phish is probably the most amazing live act around today,” said Michele Angis, a sophomore philosophy major at Syracuse.

“It isn’t an odd thing for me to come to see them here in my home state, it’s worth the drive.” Jeff Kemp, a University of Guelph student, came from Canada to see the show. “They aren’t playing in Canada on this tour, and though it was a six-hour drive, this was the closest show,” said Kemp, a doctoral student in environmental engineering. “I’m into the Internet news groups and that’s how we heard about the show.”

Members of ACPB were pleased with the show and said they may decide to plan another concert in the MAC Center for next semester. “I feel like it’s a big achievement to sell out a venue that hasn’t been used in 5 years, and we haven’t had a sold out show since Hall and Oates in 1981,” Soulsby said.

 

Kent band Dink signed with Capitol Records in June 1994.

DINK

Next Stop, the World

By Angela Gent
Daily Kent Stater
May 2, 1995

Kent homeboys and rock audio-visual dynamos Dink may have penned a two-record deal with Capitol Records last June, but that certainly doesn’t mean they’re lounging around soaking in the sun.

“We’re working constantly. We’re not sittin’ back smoking cigars,” says Rob Lightbody, the group’s singer/guitarist.

He’s not kidding, either. Since signing the deal, the band has been caught up in a whirlwind of activity. The band kicks off a month-long tour with industrial madmen and Dink comrades KMFDM tomorrow in California. They will be making a stop at the Nautica stage in Cleveland for WENZ 107.9 FM’s birthday bash May 25.

But the tour isn’t the only thing on Dink’s platter these days.

The quintet is also awaiting MTV approval for their latest video, for the single “Get on It.” The video was shot at the Daily Double in Akron in early April and was directed by Californian Nancy Bennett.

Guitarist/vocalist Jer Herring says he was leery about having Bennett shoot the video at first.

“It was really bizarre because we really liked Nancy’s treatment for ‘Get On It,’” he says. “But when we got her video resume, so to speak, she’d done stuff for En Vogue and Tori Amos, this VH-1 stuff.

The menacing force of Dink: Sean Carlin, Jan Eddy Van der Kuil, Rob Lightbody, Jeff Finn, and Jer Herring (Courtesy of the Daily Kent Stater)

“Personally, I was nervous, but it looks nothing like an En Vogue video,” he said laughing. “She did a terrific job.”

Herring says the context of the video, including the familiar local setting, was important to the band.

“We wanted to do something with some local flavor … more local than the last time,” he said. “We also wanted something that set moods and threw images.”

Herring says the new video includes two separate settings and a lot of little colored light bulbs. He said band members were shot in still photographs wearing clothes covered in the band’s practice space in downtown Akron, while the rest of the video was shot at the Daily Double.

Dink’s last video was the major national promotion that got the band rolling. It began on a chaotic morning in October.

The event of the day was the filming of the band’s first video “Green Mind,” a whirling dervish of trash and body parts. It wasn’t long before the video ended up in the hands of MTV and soon began rotation, appearing six to eight times a week, Herring says.

For the five members that are Dink, “the whole video-making process is a trip,” Lightbody says.

He says some of the fun came from looking at the directors’ treatments, which are one- to two-page descriptions of what the director would do for the video.

“Oh man, some of that stuff is so hilarious to read.” he says.

Apparently the band was impressed by Ben Stokes’ treatment, because he was chosen to direct “Green Mind.” Of course it didn’t hurt he had directed videos for Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Public Enemy and Revolting Cocks.

A month after filming “Green Mind,” the band embarked on a month-long tour with Pop Will Eat Itself and Compulsion, after which the band took a much-deserved break for the holidays.

But then January swept in not only a new year but another tour for the five. This time, Dink found itself on the bill with Belgian techno devils the Lords of Acid, who were venturing out on their first-ever American tour. Along the way, the band stopped at The Roxy in Los Angeles, First Avenue in Minneapolis and The Limelight in New York City. It was a trip that left the band in a somewhat harried state of affairs, Lightbody says.

“There’s times when you’ll be doing eight, nine days in a row of shows, getting in the van and driving to another, and you’ll be physically exhausted.” he says “Sometimes you don’t physically feel good, but nobody cares about that. You just want to get out there and do it. When you’re successful, you can totally lose your mind, and you don’t feel bad anymore.”

And for the frantic Lightbody, the stage often becomes a platform on which to exorcise his personal demons.

“It’s definitely an altered state when it’s going good and you’re really rocking.” he says. “Sometimes you’ll come off the stage and go, ‘wow what just happened?’ and you don’t even know, you’re totally somewhere else. You don’t get that feeling flipping burgers.”

Herring, too, says the new found rigors of touring can become a little much at times, and given Lightbody’s comment about touring in a van with eight people for two months straight, “I can sum it up in one sentence: the van smells funny,” it’s no wonder.

“It’s a little overwhelming when you think about being out for two months.” Herring says. “It’s hard to get used to. You miss your friends and it’d be nice to crawl into your own bed.”

Amidst all the fun of touring, Dink was invited to MTV’s 120 Minutes, a two-hour program of alternative videos. Lightbody says the experience proved to be literally an eye-opening one.

“We hadn’t slept at all the night before,” he says. “We did a show in Boston and got in the car and drove to New York to that at like 8:30 in the morning.

“So, when everyone looks dazed and stoned on 120 Minutes, it’s because they do it at some ungodly hour in the morning. It isn’t ‘rock time,’” he says.

The segments on 120 aired March 12, and the band also appeared on the FX channel’s Sound FX music show later that week.

But despite the band’s growing success and contrary to some local beliefs that Dink members have gotten too big for their britches, the members of Dink have not succumbed to self-centered, arrogant fancies. In fact, they are quite humble when asked about their success.

“I don’t know how it happened,” says Lightbody. “I guess it was the right bunch of people at the right time.

“We never started out expecting anything out of this. It seems it happened naturally somehow, go figure.”

Herring echoes Lightbody’s sentiments exactly, adding, “Part of it was that we worked hard and put ourselves in a position to get attention.” But then he adds “I don’t know how the hell it happened. I’m just glad it did.”

Herring says the whole trip is still like a dream.

“It’s definitely work, but I still have to pinch myself and say ‘Yep, I’m making a living playing music. This is really happening.’”

Lightbody says they don’t deny their hometown roots either, saying the band has broken the habit of people in the business who refer to Dink as from Cleveland rather than Kent.

And although Lightbody says he’d like to stick around home base in Kent, there’s certainly no moss growing under the feet of Dink. Herring says the band will probably release another single and tour again before heading into the studio, probably in early ’96, to record their next album.

And where from there?

“The world,” Lightbody says. “I hope we’ll be going to Europe soon—Japan, Australia and all that good stuff. If nothing else I want to see the world with this.

Peter, Paul and Mary performed in the Kent State MAC Center on May 4, 1995.

Peter, Paul and Mary Sing Tribute to May 4

By Tina Grady
Daily Kent Stater
May 5, 1995

Have you ever heard of punk rock–folk music? That’s exactly what would describe the female duo from New York City that opened for Peter, Paul and Mary.

The Murmurs’ psychedelic acoustics kept the audience’s attention although the older generation present didn’t seem to appreciate them as much as the students.

Peter, Paul and Mary performed before a crowd of about 3,800 in the MAC Center on May 4, 1995. Left to right: Paul Stookey, Mary Travers, and Peter Yarrow. (Daily Kent Stater photo by Jeff Camarati)

Leisha [Hailey], with rainbow-colored hair, and Heather [Grody], with pink hair, admitted to being a bit nervous about the performance but that didn’t stop their sweet voices from carrying a melody.

During the song “Bumble Bees,” their playing was interrupted when both of them broke guitar strings. The audience was a bit disappointed, but they came around during the group’s popular song, “You Suck.”

Although the songs contained some obscenities—and the group did apologize for them be-forehand—they decided to perform it anyway.

“There are some things you can compromise and some things you can’t,” Heather said. “This song means a lot to us.”

After performing a few other songs, including “Make Love Not War” and “Sleepless Commotion,” a song about domestic violence, the Murmurs ended their 30-minute set with a pleased audience.

After a short intermission, the long-awaited arrival of Peter, Paul and Mary had finally come.

As the trio made their entrance, the cross-generational audience of at least 2,000 people exploded with applause. Then silence prevailed as the crowed stared at the stage, waiting for the famous group to begin.

“Being with you today is an extremely moving experience,” said Peter Yarrow, referring to May 4. “It’s been an honor to be with you friends.”

They considered it such an honor that all the proceeds from the concert will be used to set up a May 4 scholarship fund.

Opening up the set with “No Easy Walk,” the power of folk music captivated the audience. Somewhat calm after this, the group then went on to perform their famous children’s song.

“It’s a song of hope,” Peter said as the crowd cheered, realizing what song would be next. “When you’re a child, you believe in magic dragons.”

The audience sang along with Peter, Paul and Mary for the first part of “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” then the group just played while the crowd performed the vocals.

Although a bit aged from the Vietnam War–protest era, the threesome’s voices and guitar-playing skills have not diminished.

Mary’s voice in particular was very strong when the group performed Pete Seeger’s “Where Have All The Flowers Gone.”

Midway through the set, Peter, Paul and Mary, accompanied by special guest bass player Noel, played and sang some of their solo songs. Some of the crowd didn’t seem to pay as much attention during these, but as soon as the group came on with “If I Had A Hammer,” the audience erupted with applause while beginning to dance.

Giving them a brief moment to settle down afterward, the group then closed with Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Except for the crowd singing along with Peter, Paul and Mary, the entire place was silent. Many people held hands while swaying back and forth, and others shed subtle tears.

At the song’s conclusion, Mary said we need to promote, “peace, justice, equality and an end to racism—and all of us working together.”

The audience couldn’t get enough. Peter, Paul and Mary, along with The Murmurs, performed “This Land Is Your Land” as an encore.

Everyone danced, clapped and sang, leaving the show on a happy and peaceful note.

John Densmore visited Kent State on Thursday, November 2, 1995.

Writer on the Storm

John Densmore from The Doors Performs for KSU

By Kim Miles
Daily Kent Stater
November 3, 1995

Clutching their Doors albums, books and posters, about 200 students and members of the ’60s generation filed into the University Auditorium Thursday night to see John Densmore, drummer from The Doors.

John Densmore, original drummer for the band the Doors, spoke November 2, 1995, in the University Auditorium. (Daily Kent Stater photo by Chad Mossholder)

A pony-tailed Densmore stepped onto the stage at about 8:30 P.M. and was greeted with a roar of applause and a standing ovation.

“But I haven’t done anything yet.” he said. The crowd laughed and then he got down to business.

“You are probably tired of hearing about Kent known for the killings…. Well, I would just like to say, tonight’s performance is dedicated to Allison Krause and company … done,” he said. Densmore lit an incense and told the audience that’s how the Doors always started their shows.

“Something we copped from (East) Indian musicians,” he said. “It puts us in a collective mood to play … us being you and the band. For this brief time together we are leaving the outside world behind.”

And that’s just what we did. We left the world behind and for an hour went back in time to the ’60s and relived the music, the drugs, the life. Densmore took us on the trip the band made from college dropouts to fame and fortune as entertainers.

The auditorium was dark except for a light clipped onto a music stand from which Densmore read parts of his book, Riders on the Storm. On stage sat Densmore’s original snare drum and cymbals he played as a member of The Doors.

He played his familiar beats and sang some of Jim Morrison’s lyrics. To further explain what life was like in a rock ’n’ roll band, Densmore brought along some film of a rehearsal and a recording session.

Densmore told the audience little-known facts and quirks about the band. Morrison never wore shoes and always had a book in tow. Densmore had an addiction to Pepperidge Farm Bordeaux cookies.

Linda Benjamin, from Louisville, saw The Doors in Cleveland in 1968 and said Thursday night’s performance helped her relive those moments.

“I was in love with Jim Morrison,” she said. “I had his picture in my locker. I still have his poster up at work. I was crying at the beginning. I didn’t know what to expect, but I loved all of it. People talk a lot about how Jim (Morrison) self-destructed but we were all doing it. We were just kids. We were innocent. We were kids loving each other and having fun.”

Crosby, Stills and Nash participated in the 27th annual May 4 commemoration.

Pausing to Remember “Four Dead in Ohio”

By Marti Bledsoe
Daily Kent Stater
May 6, 1997

Approximately 3,000 voices sang the chorus of “Ohio” along with rock trio Crosby, Stills and Nash Sunday on the Kent State Commons, concluding the 27th annual May 4 commemoration.

“We want to encourage them [today’s students] to stand up, to be counted the way those kids did,” David Crosby said before he went on stage. “We don’t want their deaths to let these kids be intimidated. We don’t want the bad guys to win here.

“The bad guys intimidated those kids by killing them and tried to say ‘You can’t have a voice. You don’t have the constitutional right of assembly, you don’t have the right to protest. We’ll kill you if you do it.’”

Crosby, Stills and Nash, who played at Kent State for a $1 charge, also performed a sold-out show at the Agora Sunday, where they finished with the song “Ohio” as their encore selection. The trio is scheduled to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland tonight.

Graham Nash said, in an interview following the Agora show, that “Ohio,” written by Neil Young when he was with the group, sounded different at the Kent State performance than at the Agora concert.

“It’s very hard to get angry in blazing sunlight and when you can see beautiful kids out there smiling at you,” Nash said. “When you bring the show into a place like the Agora ballroom and the lights go down and you can only see the first two or three rows, you can project your anger about what happened 27 years ago much more directly when you can’t see them.

Left to right: May 4 survivor Alan Canfora, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, May 4 survivor Tom Grace, and David Crosby (Photo by Michael Pacifico)

“When we played Kent State earlier today, when we came back, we began to really think about why we were at Kent State, and that made us extremely angry, which came out in ‘Ohio’ tonight.”

Stephen Stills said the best part for him about being on the campus was a chance to make a point that society needs to keep conversing in order to avoid a tragedy like the one in 1970.

Ronald Kuby was the keynote speaker at Sunday’s ceremony. Kuby, a civil rights attorney and former law partner of William Kunstler, focused on the fact that the people responsible for the Kent State shootings, from politicians to National Guardsmen, were never brought to justice. Kuby said by remembering the tragedy, people can bring them to justice.

“There was never any justice for the four students who died in Kent. The men who pulled the triggers, the men who gave the orders to shoot, the men who called in the National Guard were never brought to justice,” Kuby said. “Not a single guardsmen was ever convicted for a crime. There’s nothing we can do about that but one thing—we can remember it.

“Any people that allows its government to murder its own children, and then forgets the victims, is a government and a people that fundamentally has no claim to morality.”

Other speakers at the ceremony included: Al Long and Tom Papp, Vietnam veterans; Kendra Lee Hicks, an 11-year May 4 Task Force member who spoke in honor of Allison Krause; Carol Meyer, a Task Force member who spoke in honor of Jeffrey Miller; Wendy Semon, co-chair of the Task Force who spoke in honor of Sandra Scheuer; Mac Lojowsky, a Task Force member who spoke in honor of William Schroeder; Mwatabu Okantah, Pan-African Studies instructor; Chic Canfora, eyewitness to the events of May 4, 1970; and Jena Brown, the high school essay contest winner from Minerva High School.

“If we lose sight of basic human principles on our college campuses, there is no hope for a better society,” Chic Canfora said. “If we are ever to rediscover the potential of students to mobilize and affect change again, then it must begin here.”

Margaret Mlocki, a sophomore psychology major, is an Alpha Xi Delta sorority member. Sandra Scheuer was a member of the sorority when she died in 1970.

“I was there for the speech (about Sandra),” Mlocki said. “I felt like I knew Sandy even though I wasn’t born. The whole time I felt like I shared our ritual.

“The wind blowing was like her being here. It was awesome that 27 years later I could still feel someone who died when I wasn’t even born yet.”

The Europe Gyro scene in the late 1990s launched the careers of local bands in Kent.

Bands Begin European Tour

By Matt Stansberry
Daily Kent Stater
October 17, 1996

You can feel the pulse on the sidewalk as you stroll by. The muffled sound of the Marshall cabinets draws people in.

On this night, the music is not coming from J.B.’s or the Loft. It’s coming from Europe Gyro.

Europe Gyro has been a musical catalyst in Kent for more than two years. Local bands often get their first breaks here, said Bert Solis of the local band KLC, who also books the shows.

The shows always are free, which helps attract more of a crowd. The bands don’t get paid. That is why there is no cover, but the bands do get something in return.

“Free food, free beer, jam some jams—it doesn’t get any better than this,” said Soma bassist Dave Tenney.

Shows are on Sunday and Tuesday nights from 10 P.M. to 1 A.M. More experienced bands play Tuesdays, Solis said, while bands with less experience jam the Sunday slot.

“All I need is a tape, but a band bio would be classy,” Solis said. “The trend is real heavy, but I’d like to get some jazz in here.”

Ryan Balis, bassist/drummer of Fake, explained why many bands get their start here: “It’s just the easiest place to play.”

Europe Gyro has launched the careers of many local bands, Solis said.

Hate Theory and The Butterfly Effect, Northeast Ohio rock bands, got their start at Europe Gyro. The Butterfly Effect has moved on to play the larger Cleveland scene, and Hate Theory will be playing with Pro Pain later this month.

Europe Gyro (Photo by Travis Estell)

August 9 was the two-year anniversary of shows at Europe Gyro, bands from other areas also show themselves there. The Akron-based band Soma made their debut at Europe Gyro on Sept. 17.

“Kent has a lot of support for local music,” said drummer Jeff Novak. “It’s a new market to expand our boundaries.”

Bands from the Cleveland area that play at Europe Gyro include Cows in the Graveyard and Reason Seven.

Dark, smoky and loud, Europe Gyro is a great place for aspiring musicians to connect with an audience.

“It’s small, it’s loud, but it’s personal,” said Soma guitarist Zigmond Novak.

When heavy bands like NDE and Hate Theory play, things can get pretty rough, Solis said.

“We let people mosh, but when things get broke, the music stops,” he said.

For Kent bands that do not have time to play other places, Europe Gyro gives them an opportunity close to home.

“The Gyro’s a great place to play music and hang out with all of our friends,” said Jason Prufer, rhythm guitarist of the Kent-based band Amazing Larry. “Most of us are students at KSU, and this is where we’re able to have a creative outlet.”