Located on High Street in the heart of Ohio State University, the Newport Music Hall was originally a movie theater, built in 1922 and used in that capacity for nearly fifty years. In 1970 it was refashioned and renamed as the Agora Ballroom, one in a chain of about a dozen rock clubs throughout the country. Ted Nugent played the first ever show here in May of that year, and while it was renamed and expanded in 1984 to its current incarnation, it has remained in continuous use without pause from the moment the Motor City Madman christened it. Much later, while a student at OSU, Kim Deal of Pixies and Breeders fame used to clean the toilets here. To date, the unexpected champions Dick Dale and GWAR emerge as the most viewed shows for me, at this particular venue. Here’s a quick recap, with a bunch of other, possibly extraneous information thrown in. Or you can always click on these individual years below to jump ahead a little bit:
1991
January 10 – The Replacements. Above playlist is from that show.
January 26 – Rik Emmett from the band Triumph. Set list is as follows:
Stand and Deliver
Saved by Love
Lay It on the Line
Big Lie
Midsummer’s Daydream
Suitcase Blues
Pizza
When a Heart Breaks
Hold On
Drive Time
Magic Power
Fight the Good Fight
January 28 – Nine Inch Nails. Set list:
Terrible Lie
Sin
Something I Can Never Have
Sanctified
That’s What I Get
Suck
The Only Time
Get Down, Make Love
Ringfinger
Down in It
Head Like a Hole
Die Warzau and Chemlab were the opening acts
February 1 – Social Distortion. Set list:
So Far Away
Prison Bound
Mommy’s Little Monster
Drug Train
Let It Be Me
Sick Boys
Ring of Fire
When She Begins
This Time Darlin’
1945
Bad Luck
King of Fools
February 4 – Slayer. Set list:
Raining Blood
Black Magic
War Ensemble
Blood Red
Postmortem
Skeletons of Society
Seasons in the Abyss
Die by the Sword
Dead Skin Mask
Spirit in Black
Expendable Youth
Born of Fire
Mandatory Suicide
Captor of Sin
Chemical Warfare
South of Heaven
Angel of Death
Testament and The Spudmonsters are the opening acts.
1993
October 22, 1993…….Primus, The Melvins
Heather and I attend this show with her friends Jake and Travis as last minute replacement picks to join us. I write about this show at length in my book Stop Rewind Fast Forward: 1993.
Since Heather has essentially commandeered my white Primus tee for months now, I buy a black Pork Soda one at the Newport, and then the four of us make our way upstairs. Speaking of that white shirt, though, my all-time favorite picture of her features it in a starring role:
School of Fish’s cameo here is an unfortunate one – and I only refrained from cropping them for historical reasons – but otherwise this is a classic. Vintage Heather, with one of the best smirks ever captured on film.
December 5, 1993…….Smashing Pumpkins, Swervedriver, The Frogs
A month and a half later, here I am back at the Newport for another show. Heather is a keeper, a returning member of the concert attending lineup. But we’ve switched out some of the defective parts, so to speak, from our previous ensemble, and this time make the drive down with my own friends Kenny and Chris.
Immediately inside the Newport, after I buy this black tee shirt with a red devil surrounding by gold glitter on front, the legend Mission To Mars on back, as Kenny opts for the white one with an angel instead, the four of us drift upstairs and plop down in a sea of familiar comrades. I also write about this show extensively in Stop Rewind Fast Forward: 1993.
April 7, 1998…….Dick Dale
The four of us are hanging out around the kitchen on Summit Street when the phone rings and Damon answers it. The TA for one of his classes, Eugene, a music fanatic I’ve met a couple of times, is on the phone with a curious proposal: he and his wife won seven free tickets to some Dick Dale show tonight, but they can’t go, and he was thinking we might want to. With his hand over the mouthpiece Damon polls Alan, Paul and me, and we shrug, figure what the hell.
“How many you got? Okay. We need four, I guess,” we hear him say, and hang up.
We ride down to one of the school buildings on OSU proper to get these tickets from Eugene, and, after killing considerable time in the name of blowing through a dreadful opening act or two, don’t even set off on foot until well after the stated 7pm start time.
As it turns out, we don’t miss the cruddy opening act after all. The Franklin County All Stars, these guys call themselves, and they are a local group. In fact Damon points out that we have seen the bass player before, with another band at Ruby’s, but I’m having trouble placing that. While this probably isn’t factoring into the equation tonight, watching these guys is a really good example of why I often prefer to just hang in the background – at smaller venues, that is, where this is more likely to apply – and stick to more of a fly-on-the-wall approach, rather than ever meet the band. The conundrum is that I have a hard time writing anything negative about people who’ve been cool to me. But then if you take all the edges off, it’s not honest anymore, and it’s pointless to boot, as you’re now writing a bunch of vague, soft, meandering pap, like that old guy always going on about his cats in the Short North Gazette.
I’m lucky that most of my friends who play music are actually very good at it. Pertaining to these guys here, well, I’m sure they are nice fellows and all. Maybe they sound really good in other combos, or maybe they’re just having an off night. But it’s not working right now. This squadron of somewhat older dudes is bludgeoning its way through generic classic rock – and actually, though this analogy just occurred to me, I guess this is the sonic equivalent of that old guy in the Short North Gazette. The cumulative effect of which, I have to tell you, in this dark, cool, still sparsely populated club, is I keep nodding off throughout this set. What makes this all the more amazing is that we are up front, sort of half sitting on and half leaning against this curved wall to the left of the stage. Feeling my body lurch forward and feet firmly rest on the ground continues to act as a snooze alarm, briefly reviving me.
After these characters exit the scene, as the venue continues filling with bodies, the four of us move up to where we are right against the stage. Nearly every other act would have barricades of some sort, but Dick Dale apparently does not. Thus we are at a perfect height and vantage point, able to rest our elbows atop this wooden stage, while we wait for him to appear.
None of us are really all that familiar with this surf rock legend, though he’s been around since the 1950s. It’s possible that the only song I’ve heard of his is that one from Pulp Fiction, and the other guys know about the same, or even less. So we’re not quite sure what to expect as he drifts into the view, long grey ponytail and the remainder of his band trailing behind – much younger kids on guitar and bass who round out this trio.
All three are dressed entirely in black. I’m not sure about the drummer, but Dick and his bass player both sport identical tee shirts featuring Dale’s distinctive skull logo, and even identical jewel studded guitar straps, the same sparkly gold finish on their instruments. Dick is stocky yet impressively muscular for a guy his age, and we will soon learn why. One possible clue that maybe this isn’t some quaint, tinny little surf rock ensemble would be his guitar, which features about the fattest string size any of us remember seeing. As for the cat behind the kit, he has a shaved head and, according to Alan, “looks like the drummer from 311.”
Dale plays left-handed, but with a right-handed guitar flipped upside down. This was a common practice back in the day before lefty instruments become prevalent, and is a testament to just how long this guy’s been around. But they erase any notion about this being a pastoral stroll down the nostalgia circuit the instant he begins shredding away on said guitar.
We thought we had signed on to watch some silly old timer plink through surf music all night. It never imagined to the four of us that this stuff might actually rock, which it does, to an often pulverizing degree. They play both loud and fast, and the bass player never takes his eyes off of Dick, as if even he is on the edge of his seat, unsure what might happen next. In fact, he appears to be giving the drummer cues at various junctures, to indicate what the boss man is doing.
As for Dale, it soon becomes apparent why, apart from looking cool on its own, he chooses an outfit of all black. He has a pick dispenser glued to the bottom front face of his guitar, because he goes through about a million per show – they don’t break, but are ground down into sawdust by his relentless riffage. Featuring his skull logo as well, these picks are white, and have him covered in this white pick shrapnel before too long.
“People ask me why I make funny faces up here,” he says, only half joking, as he catches his breath in between songs, “it’s because I’m in pain. The strings I use are so thick, they tear up my hands and shred my pick into pieces!”
As if any additional corroboration were needed, his hands are red and somewhat raw looking after just a couple of numbers. And still they keep right on cruising. Mostly, they stick to upbeat instrumentals, originals from Dale’s back catalog. But on occasion the trio shakes up this pattern, such as with wordless covers of Smoke On The Water or Ghost Riders In The Sky, and Dick even sings on House Of The Rising Sun. Vocals are not his strong suit by any stretch, and you wouldn’t want to listen to this all night, but he does an okay job. If nothing else, it makes for another effective change of pace, before they lurch back into this surf metal hurricane.
Between most songs, he does pause long enough to explain a little bit about the song, or at least an interesting anecdote. And when he says “I’m a grass roots kind of guy,” you can tell there’s a great deal of truth to this, that it isn’t your typical empty stage banter. For one, removing the barrier and allowing anyone who wants to actually touch the stage is an unexpected move, even at this level. Plus he also has this habit of making eye contact as he looks around the crowd, and winking at you, which for some reason reminds me of a grandpa sneaking you candy even though you’ve been told not to have any more. Or something like that.
So when he explains, “okay, we’re going to try something we’ve never done before. This is a first for us,” maybe this is standard rock show b.s., but it seems legit. He and the bass player break out acoustics, and strum these across three much more tranquil pieces. It’s another masterful dynamic break, as they then launch back into thunderous surf rock mode, a cinematic sweep of pacing.
This makes sense considering the final, expected track of the evening. We know we’ve arrived here when he launches into a spiel that begins, “I was approached once a few years ago by this video store clerk who introduced himself to me as Quentin Tarantino. He said he wanted to use one of my songs in this movie he was making, a song called Misirlou. Quentin told me that when he wrote movies, certain songs made him think up whole scenes, and he thought up a scene based on my song. I told him he could use it.”
Dick grins, as if expecting that most of the crowd knows how this extremely left field, career reviving stroke of luck turned out, but also that he still can’t get over his good fortune. Like most master showmen – old time country singers, and local cover song specialists come to mind – you sense that he’s gotten quite adept at maybe stretching the truth just a wee bit, or at least carefully rehearsing how he’s going to phrase things for maximum myth building. But we are certainly not going to begrudge him such by this point.
“I could relate, you see,” Dale continues, during his longest monologue of the night, “he was a grass roots kind of guy, too, trying to buck the system, just like me. No one wanted to put out the movie, so he released it himself, and it ended up making three hundred million dollars! That movie was Pulp Fiction.“
The crowd roars as this band now lurches into Misirlou, without question his most well-known cut. Even so, they shake up the arrangement quite a bit, and basically play this song in two parts. First the drummer and bass player launch into the groove, carrying this as a roadie brings out a trumpet and this chart with a bunch of notes on it. Though surely done for comedic effect alone, the roadie holds up the chart, and Dick pretends to read it while playing the trumpet solo note for note, exactly as it appears on record.
Once his stage hand takes these props away to a surge of applause, Dick grasps his guitar, shreds his way into that highly recognizable riff, and the band rides off into the sunset on the backs of this tune, played to its conclusion. After which only the latest, most unexpected twist develops, as the roadie reemerges to take away his guitar, and the other two musicians leave the stage: Dale plops down on the edge of the stage, says he’ll sign an autograph for everyone who wants it.
And orderly line fans out from the left of the stage, one we’re in prime position for, to be among the first. And not only does he sign ticket stubs, merchandise, or whatever else you want, the guy absolutely talks your ear off, if you ask him a question, or sometimes even if you don’t. While Alan and I breeze through, telling Dick he sounded awesome as he’s scribbling his name for us, Damon and Paul, guitarists both, are wondering about his sound on a technical level, and have more extended conversations with him.
“You seem real sincere,” Damon tells him. Dick comments on this, which somehow turns into another story we haven’t heard yet concerning Tarantino and the movie soundtrack.
Paul, meanwhile, asks him what strings he uses. Dale names the brand and says they are 16 gauge, and for the duration of our walk back to the house, Paul is raving about these, says he’s going to order some immediately. Once inside, it goes without saying, we immediately thrown on my cassette copy of the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. It’s the only Dick Dale music we have on site, although you suspect that oversight won’t last much longer.
Franklin County All Stars: trousers
Dick Dale: bandanna boots shades trousers
Events Calendar, 2000:
January 19 – Blue Oyster Cult
January 21 and 22 – Insane Clown Posse
February 4 – Jazz Mandolin Project
February 5 – Dark Star Orchestra
February 9 – Fight Night
February 10 – Dance Night. I take it these are lean times for booking actual bands.
February 11 – Ben Harper, Corey Harris
February 12 – Lords of Acid, Praga Kahn, DJ Genoside 2
February 14 – Long Beach Dub All Stars
February 15 – Cowboy Junies, Josh Rouse, Over The Rhine
February 16 – Blue Floyd
February 17 – Dance Night again
February 18 – Chris Cornell
February 19 – 5 People, Monkeynut, Killbomb
February 23 – Dance Night
February 24 – Primus and P.O.D.
February 25 – Ekoostic Hookah
February 26 – Queensryche
February 27 – Powerman 5000, Static X, Dope, Chevelle
March 17 – Mix Master Mike
March 19 – Matthew Sweet
March 31 – Podunk
April 5 – Guster, Luna
April 21 – The Flaming Lips, Looper
May 2 – Orchestra Morphine
July 7 – Deftones
July 20 – Tragically Hip
July 22 – Widespread Panic
August 4 – Wu-Tang Clan
Events Calendar, 2001:
January 12 – Green Sky Grey CD release party. Rezzin, The Stepford Five, On Tap also play.
June 28 – George Clinton and P-Funk show. This is Michael Christian’s first as audio engineer for the Newport.
July 1 – Slash’s Snakepit. Christian’s second gig, and first time meeting Slash. The famous guitarist called out to him before the show and offered him a…lollipop. Then Pete Way of UFO/Ozzy Osbourne fame calls and wants the hookup on tickets for this sold out show. You can hear more about this hilarious odyssey in his episode of the Columbus Local podcast.
October 11 – Reel Big Fish, Goldfinger
October 12 – Howlin’ Maggie have a CD release show, for their new album Hyde. Shawn Smith (Brad, Pigeonhead) and The Jive Turkeys are listed as special guests. It’s an all ages show beginning at 7pm, tickets are $8.
October 13 – Moonlight Drive
October 14 – Dropkick Murphys, Sick of it All
October 26 – Jupiter Coyote and Sister Flow
October 27 – Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd Tribute Band)
October 28 – Insane Clown Posse, Twiztid, Blaze, Dark Lotus
October 31 – My Life With Thrill Kill Kult (Halloween Party)
November 1 – Afroman, Soul Fu Villains
November 2 – Oval Opus
November 3 – Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan, featuring The Frank Harrison Group
November 4 – Good Charlotte, Mest, Movielife
November 7 – “Jackass” the TV show tour
November 10 – The Prodigals
November 11 – Megadeth, Iced Earth
November 12 – Butthole Surfers, Kid606
November 14 – D12, Kottonmouth Kings, Bionic Jive
November 16 – Red Wanting Blue CD release show
November 17 – Cold, Dope
November 18 – Relient K and special guests
November 20 – Slayer, Chimaira
November 21 – Fenix TX
November 25 – Psychedelic Furs/ Echo And The Bunnymen
December 6 – Ben Folds. In his Other Paper review, Harvilla doesn’t exactly rip on the guy, seems more confused as to why a bunch of college age kids like him so much
December 21 – Clutch, Biohazard, Candiria, Disarray
December 29 – Holiday Rock Fest featuring local bands Hookt, Pownd, Green Sky Grey, Tower
December 31 – Hoodoo Soul Band, Howlin’ Maggie
Events Calendar, 2002:
January 16 – Pennywise, Boysetsfire, Deviates
February 2 – Dark Star Orchestra
February 20 – Kings X
2006:
Is it me or is this not the most underwhelming lineup I’ve ever seen from this place? Then again C The Columbus Magazine for some reason has them listed as being in “downtown” Columbus, which is maybe not helping matters any.
February 24 – Tim O’Brien and Danny Barnes. At least I have the complete audio from their set, which might seriously be the highlight of the year at this venue:
April 4 – 30 Seconds To Mars
April 7 – Red Wanting Blue
April 8 – 10 Years
April 12 – Stellastarr and the Editors
April 13 – She Wants Revenge
April 15 – Keller Williams
April 21 – Chimaira
April 26 – Built To Spill
April 29 – S.O.D.
May 12 – Ordinary Peoples headline a show with Scotty Boombox and the Ocean Ghosts, Stretch Lefty, Bottom Brick opening.
May 18 ’06: Petric sees Yngwie the same night as Dick Dale. Says he had a literal wall of Marshall amps, from one end to the other, behind him on the stage. You pretty much know the drill here, a nonstop onslaught of guitar shredding. The only tune specifically mentioned is Demon Driver. He rates Malmsteen’s show as having been the better of the two, in his Other Paper review.
June 1 – Zoso
June 2 – Sighlo & Headchange, Varian, Silent Surface, Intrigue
June 3 – A New Shade, Retoric, Austerus, Study Of Revenge, Seven Deadly, Shineout Liberetto, We Walk By
June 9 – Fall Of Man, Charlie Buckett, Plagued On Earth, State Your Cause
June 10 – The Stee Raszka Band, The Iry, Vinyl, Freak Nut Rat Patrol, My Final Breath
June 12 – Lifehouse, Rocca DeLuca
June 13 – Dar Williams
June 14 – Lamb Of God, Children Of Bodom, Thine Eyes Bleed
June 29 – Ozric Tentacles
July 3 – Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Pitbull Daycare
July 7 – Dark Star Orchestra
July 8 – Caption, 30 ot 6, 9gt, Headchange, Silent Surface, Halo Effect
July 14 – Robin Trower, Franc Aledia
July 16 – Mindless Self Indulgence, Kill Hannah
July 17 – Beth Orton
July 18 – Candlebox, Skywynd
July 26 – Blue October (CD101 Low Dough Show – all tickets $5)
July 28 – The Futureheads, Tapes ‘N Tapes
August 6 – Kottonmouth Kings, Hed Pe, Subnoise Souljaz
September 7 – Rancid, The Explosion
