THE ODEON

THE ODEON

Cleveland, Ohio

05/29/99

Tonight, Dogstar plays in Cleveland's Flats, a strip of land lining the East and West Banks of the Cuyahoga River. Cleveland is known as a "two-fisted, blue-collar, working-class, rock and roll party town" and Cleveland's place to party is the Flats. Since its' beginnings as Cleveland's industrial hub, a place formerly peppered with a few rough and tough bars filled with longshoremen and many other colorful, even dangerous characters, it has grown into a massive entertainment complex. It is home to an array of eating and drinking establishments: waterfront restaurants, underground music clubs, dance bars and drinking holes. It's a popular place and tonight's hot, breezy weather along with the fact that it is a holiday weekend and prom weekend makes it even more popular. We get down here pretty early just to find parking and still have to park a few lots over from the venue. There are too many things to do here and it's much too hot to stand in line, so we enjoy a nice walk and a quick dinner. We get into line at 7:45 pm and wait for the doors to open at 8:00 pm.

The Odeon is a concert club described as a "Bare-bones, black-walled, no-frills jam joint. All music - no bullshit". You have three choices upon entering. You go to the spare bar room, go up to the balcony and sit at tables (which had a very comical and out of place looking sign of plain, white paper attached to the front of it which read: VIP LOGE made with colored pencils) or you can go into the main room and stand in front of the stage or sit at stools that line the walls. I have no intention of standing up against the stage for four hours while getting crushed by the crowd. We sit near the back of the room on the left side looking towards the stage. There are some barstools there to sit on and a ledge to rest our drinks, a perfect place. We contemplate sitting in the balcony, but soon realize from the row of legs that we see up there, that the front seats have all been taken. We decide to stay right where we are at. My husband brings back as many drinks as he can carry so we don't have to keep going up and waiting in line every time we want another. It's not long before I'm feeling good and ready to hear some live music. They don't start on time, it is after 9:00 pm before Moke comes on stage. From where we are sitting we can only see the band from the waist up. Tonight the four man band is sans their bass guitar/keyboard man, Alex Evans. Even without him, they are great. The vocalist, John Hogg, also plays the bass guitar tonight in Evans' absence. Sean Genockey plays lead guitar and Johnny Morgan is on drums. John Hogg is an engaging, energetic on-stage presence, enjoyable to watch. He tilts his head back and turns it slightly to the side while singing each song. The lead guitarist is a good musician, he has command of his instrument. We instantly like what we see and hear. The drummer, Johnny Morgan, is really good. When he plays, I can feel the beat go into his drums, travel through the floor and come up my barstool. There is nothing I can do with that feeling but close my eyes and go with it. It isn't long before I can see that the rest of the crowd is into it too. There are very few people in the crowd that aren't moving with it and even fewer who aren't at least bobbing their heads along with it. There is no doubt that the crowd loves their music. It just isn't possible to stay still. I like to listen to my music cranked up loud and with my eyes closed. Moke's music is perfect for that kind of listening. We both like them so much that we buy their CD. We even agree that "Power Cut" is our favorite song from their set. This is a band that's going somewhere.

Dogstar comes on stage and immediately starts to play. They play fast and hard. It is mostly a power rock sound that comes from them, they play through the first song at an unrelenting pace. My husband, who has been preparing himself for a night of bad to so-so music, admits that they are all good musicians and that he likes the music. We did agree, though, that we would like it more if they would mix it up a bit. With the exception of "Superstar", everything that they play has a similar sound to it. I'm hoping that the new music that they played this evening is only a small sampling of a disc that contains cuts that are more innovative and diverse. It would be a shame if all the songs on it sound alike. Regardless of the similarity of the music, it is good and they are good. We're having a great time listening to the music and having an even better time with each other. Since we are so far back, we don't have any complaints that the music is too loud. In fact, the sound is pretty good back here. My ears won't be pounding and ringing in the morning. I've noticed that in most of the other reviews that I've read, there is a common complaint that they can't see the drummer. Even though we can only see the other two from the waist up, we do get a pretty good view of the drummer (and his knees) from here. Bret Domrose, lead guitar and vocalist has, what I call, "that kind of smooth, raspy sounding voice with just the right amount of edge to it". The kind of voice that has the ability to make a lyric tear at the heart, soar through the soul or just pleasantly float by. The voice that emerges from him is much "older" than one would expect to hear from someone who looks so youthful. On stage, he appears to be equally as comfortable with himself as he is with his instrument. While playing his music and also when interacting with the crowd, his guitar seems as if it is almost an appendage. He jokes with the crowd a little bit and lets us know that they will be back in October, if we'll have them, that is. On bass guitar is actor/musician Keanu Reeves. His style of play is very hard and aggressive. he attacks his instrument with intense concentration, rarely looking up while playing. He takes several in-between song opportunities to look out into the crowd and interact with them briefly. The drummer, Rob Mailhouse, also plays his instrument with the same hard, aggressive style. He gives off such a mellow demeanor that you almost don't notice his thunderous playing. After the show is over, he makes a very brief stop before leaving the stage to wave to the crowd. All three are fine musicians. Bret lets the crowd know that they are pretty tired this evening and that becomes even more evident when their set is over after only 40 to 45 minutes. In between the end of their set and their encore, we see a member of the stage crew place an acoustic guitar by Bret's part of the stage. I am really thrilled to see it because I am sure that it means that he is going to do "Wish You Were Here". They come back out and play two more songs then leave the stage for the night. "Wish You Were Here" is not one of them. The only disappointments of the night, other than that, are that both Moke and Dogstar's time on stage was way too short and the the music in the songs that Dogstar chose to play sounded a bit too much alike. I'm hoping that on their upcoming CD, some of the new music that we haven't heard yet gives each of them a chance to showcase their own particular musical talents.

We don't leave immediately after the show. We decide to wait until the crowd thins out first. Plus, I need to make a pit stop. After most of the crowd has cleared out, I see John Hogg of Moke across the room talking with a few people. Having really liked their music, I decide to go over there and tell him so and ask him to sign my copy of their disc. He is engrossed in a conversation, so I patiently stand behind him and wait. My husband, seeing me just standing here waiting, comes up and grabs the pen and disc from me, interrupts their conversation and gets his autograph for me. Meanwhile, I see the other two members of Moke right next to me talking with some people and I tell my husband that I may as well get them to sign the disc too. They are surrounded by too many people, so he tells me to forget it. I head off to the bathroom while he waits by the front door for me. When I come back, he points out to me that Bret is standing by the front door signing autographs and posing for pictures. Since we have to walk by him to get out and the club is pretty much cleared out by now, he tells me to get him to sign my copy of OLV. So, I get Bret to sign it and pose for a picture. When I'm done, my husband tells me that the flash didn't go off so he takes the camera and gets Bret to pose for another picture. We get back to our car and he asks me why I didn't get the drummer's autograph too. Apparently, Rob was standing about ten feet behind me. Too bad my husband forgets to mention that to me until AFTER we get to the car. Oh well, maybe I'll get it signed by the other two in October.

Scribble

SOME PHOTOS WE TOOK AT THE ODEON CAN BE FOUND HERE:

http://www.ameritech.net/users/tburke/dstarpics.htm

Any questions or comments mailto:Interim35@hotmail.com