BENT CRAYON RECORDS IN CLEVELAND

Posted by: stefan | March 13, 2006 09:21 PM

http://phs.abstractdynamics.org/2006/02/high_flyerin.html

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2 good 2 b true

me too. never had a problem back then but i remember having vast problems a couple years back trying to order something and i just gave up.

John used to be the buyer for Borders in Lakewood or somewhere. I remember going there and seeing title cards for Faust, the Dead C etc...at a borders...in 1994. Then he opened Bent Crayon. Like all the Speak in Tounges guys, they totally resented that Oberlin had more music hipsters then cleveland itself, and how cool bands would come through Ohio and play Oberlin but not cleveland, and John was probably jealous that the Co-Op Bookstore record dept was a more well-known CD store. But it was a cool store we'd hit anytime we went to cleveland. No experiance with online ordering issues though. Cleveland seemed like it was on the verge of having a pretty cool scene but I think a lot of the people left. Ralph Hausman(sp?) and Speak in Tounges put on some amazing shows.

While many touring acts bypassed it, Cleveland played host to more quality shows than did Oberlin (at least from 94-02, when I was there).

As for John C's dubious customer service record, I could sooner cure cancer than solve that enigma. Despite it all, BC remains one of the best record stores in the US based on the stock it carries.

Speak in Tongues' demise really hurt the city's underground music scene.

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And Jeff, I'm sure you can attest to how fantastic the Co-Op CD dept was, Dave T. was an influential man.

And I just remembered I played at Speak In Tounges once as well, filling in on keyboards for Tel Aviv during the 2 night festival, was it Frequencies? His Name is Alive headlined, and fellow Obie (and housemate) Songs Ohia played. I still have the poster at home in NJ.

I used to go to the Co-op about 3x a month. Fantastic shop.

What when on in Cleveland in the 90s? I know that Columbus had ele.mental. It seemed like a lot of IDM shows happened there back in the day.

WCSB (where I had a show from 1996-2002 called first Cosmic Slop, then Secret Ions; John C of Bent Crayon may still do his show--Inaudible--there on Wednesday nights) was/is one of the best college radio stations in the country and that helped to spur interest in weird music in Cleveland.

however, amidst the chaos are a lot of good records, so it's worth it.

1) they do list a lot of shit that they don't have. or dont know they have.
2) people in cleveland hate oberlin.
3) there's really no reason for that hate. it's a 30 minute drive either way. if a band plays a show at oberlin, people from cleveland show come to see it. if a band/group plays in cleveland, there are usually some oberlin kids there.
4) i wait until i go to new york to buy records in a store. otherwise, teh internet.

and the dude sounds like a dick whose record store isn't as good as its website makes it out to be so whatever

On the early side of the 90s, before there were such things as IDM shows, I don't remember much of a dance music scene, even though I was on the midwestraves list. Morgan Geist took me to Dan Curtin's Deep records and I met Sleepy C. Columbus people like Titonton and Todd Sines would come out to Oberlin on occasion so I met them as well. Now Todd's a NYC mainstay who I see now and again. And I've met Mahssa from Columbus who works at Other Music or worked.

I did visit Todd Hutlock at the cigar bar but in 99 or so after I graduated when I came back to visit with my girlfriend who was from Shaker Heights. I definitely met you earlier then that while I was still in college at some show at Speak in Tounges, Cul de Sac maybe? Who knows. You also knew Bonnie Huie right? She's in NY now as well but I rarely see her.

I was totally on Hyperreal lists though, hell, my first year at Oberlin when they still had Vax terminals in the dorms so you could check your email, I'd "telnet" to the "vrave"!!!

I met Todd H. early on because I was 1st year and he was a senior but he was in my electronic music class and like week 1 we discovered we were both obsessed by Renegade Soundwave. Then Blevin Blechdom gave me my first radio show.

There is/was a chain of record stores all over called Record Exchange, one in North Amherst or North Olmstead, am I making these names up? It's been a long time. One in cleveland. They were filled with junk being traded in, vinyl, video games whatever. Me and my friend Oliver would get all these WOBC and Co-Op duplicate promos and trade them in, making the kids who worked there super happy, then we'd get hundreds of records, all for 50 cents or a quarter each. Mostly oldies and classic rock staples, but Oliver found A Touch of DNA there for 50 cents. My best find was the Lee and Nancy LP.

anyone wondering aloud "how they're still in business" should really consider that without john's efforts, there would quite literally be nowhere in the cleveland area to obtain 95% of the records he stocks. sure, i could mail order everything, but that's never really been my preferred lifestyle, nor was it anywhere near as feasible when i was growing up in eastern lakewood and the proximity of bent crayon played a seriously crucial role in allowing my tastes to branch off in all manner of directions that would have been impossible otherwise. i think that that's the kind of thing we miss when we narrow our perspective on something like bent crayon to the kind of free market purism that allows statements like "with such bad customer service, it's a wonder they're still in business!" that misses the point entirely.

to me the whole cleveland v. oberlin thing just looks like another example of the oft-repeated process wherein cleveland looks nervously over its shoulder and wonders aloud whether (akron, oberlin, toledo, pittsburgh, detroit, wherever) actually has a better scene these days...boring.

while there hasn't been any clear successor to speak in tongues (whether a "clear successor" would even be desirable is up for discussion), it's not as though everything's been stagnant since 2001. one would be totally correct, in my opinion, to argue that what the experimental music community here actually needs is a space operated by someone who's actually involved in that culture and not just willing to tolerate its shows from time to time - BUT that doesn't mean that there weren't good shows at inside/outside and the church, or even that there haven't been good shows at the tower and tower2012 for that matter. the problem at present is more just classic factionalism...one thread of it is that as near west side punk/diy culture has become increasingly infiltrated by what one might loosely characterize as "parma," it's gotten that much more parochial and less open to anything other than nine shocks clones. the corresponding aesthetic/intellectual/ethical bar-lowering is what's hurt diy cultural projects in cleveland more than anything else, imo.

actually, if it isn't complete heresy, i'd suggest that cleveland currently has one of the better crops of noise/drone/power electronics projects and related cdr labels i've seen in all my varied stints living here. if that's of any interest to you, i'd recommend your swinging by the perpetual amnesia / emeralds / skin graft / bee mask / selfdestructbutton show at the tower2012 (9521 madison) this coming wednesday (11/15) at 10:30ish.

full disclosure: i'm bee mask. i don't do this "graceful plug" thing well.

taking customers orders and then never bothering to send anything or answering their queries misses the point of owning a record store.

Now I don't expect a parade, but maybe a little gratitude for helping keep his little business going would be nice....a smile or kind word perhaps.

I know, I know -- I don't have to keep going back there if I don't like it. But it is the only store with that kind of stock in the city.

I bet he was in a philosophy or English MA program somewhere at some time......

ralph from speak in tounges still puts on shows. i just was in cleveland and he organized the show. and in fact everytime i have organized a show in cleveland (since like 2001), he has somehow been involved.. and jeremy bible too..

cleveland is a strange place. my favorite place so far there is pat's in the flats.

touche. the bottom line is that i can't comment on your experience directly, and it does sound like a regrettable situation, not to mention one that i would be less than thrilled about being put in myself. i'll chime in alongside speculator, however, and say that john has never been anything but nice to me. i suppose i spoke a little defensively, motivated by my own politics and by the fact that i think john takes a lot of completely undeserved shit around town for being reserved with customers he doesn't know well, which is certainly no crime in itself. then again, almost every time i stop by bent crayon, he's engaged in a conversation...about records! ...with customers! shocker!

cleveland is definitely a strange place. pat's in the flats feels like it's about half a block away from the edge of the flat earth...

Ralph used to come out to the co-op bookstore, we bonded over Skullflower and Ramleh.

1 - I Love Everything
2 - I Love Music
3 - I Love Oberlin

The North Olmsted Record Exchange was always clueless when it came to non-mainstream stuff. If they didn't recognize it (and there was a lot they didn't recognize), into the $1 bin it went.

Chris++ way OTM re: John and the store's contributions to the Cle scene, not just for supporting shows but for providing a great selection of many types of musics.

PB, I think his MA is in Classics.

LFam, I mentioned this thread when I saw John today and he said that he thought he knew who you were and (a) he had a delivery confirmation from the carrier and (b) he sent the package to Florida. Re: your claim to have his home phone number, he doesn't have a land line at his house.

LFam, that may be an old number in anywho. I'll mention this to him again and see if he can do some digging.

And yeah, I remember that Stereolab show -- Ui opened for the and then they all joined together for an encore that was like the post rock "Free Bird" it went on so long!

The Co-op and Bent Crayon had a rivalry going on of positively epic proportions -- and so as a fmr employee of the Co-op, none of what's being said here about John not delivering stuff surprises me in the least. Still, I'm sure he did provide a crucial service to the Cleveland scene. It's just if I was looking for another store in that area that had rarities and awesome stock, I was usually fine w/ "My Generation" which was a little further outside of Cleveland than Bent Crayon (pronounced "Ben Crann" by locals for some reason). I feel like it's since closed.

And lastly, I was one of the Nozzle guys, yeah -- funny to see us mentioned here. In retrospect, I guess you could call us "illbient" (this was '95-97 or so). Two of us (me and Zach Layton) were composers at Oberlin, while Hutlock the DJ was the other, so we did things like play Webern 12-tone melodies over stuttering beats. That was a fun band -- def. from before I went crazy for Brian Wilson-esque pop.

We played Speak in Tongues prob. four or five times -- great locale, terrific guys who ran it, I was sad to hear it closed. And I remember playing a show with Jason Molina and Songs Ohia way at the Oberlin Sco, way early on. I remember him thanking us for our "funny noises" -- I suppose I still hold that against him a little!

But Oberlin was a VERY vibrant scene around that time. You had the students' school projects in art, dance, drama, music, etc. You had the various bands emerging like Songs Ohia, Trans Am and Golden, as this was right in the wake of the whole Tortoise/Thrill Jockey thing (you also had a few emerging actors like The Daily Show's/The Office's Ed Helms). The result was just a ton of stylistically transgressive stuff -- much of which was fueled by the vast catalogue of the Conservatory Library record collection and the wisdom of those at the Co-op Bookstore. A really interesting time -- one I think Dan and I would agree we were lucky to be in the middle of...

Anyway, the Nozzle/Tel Aviv/Songs:Ohia show I remember very well because I printed the poster as an assignment in silkscreen class, designed with Jason, it's a very Songs: Ohia looking poster. I played with Tel Aviv because Ray Sweeten couldn't make it back from vacation in time or something. It was fun untill I messed up and Andy said something like "sorry, our normal keyboardist couldn't make it" or something. Ouch.

The other time I played in cleveland was as Sruti Box, my microtonal improvisational drone band, HEAVILY influenced by (ok, ripping off...) Tony Conrad. The first incarnation was me, Leon Rothenberg who was a composition major who'd studied in india and Mike Kelley (aka Polar) on Viola. No disco strings in sight though. We played at the 'sco opening up for Gastr Del Sol, then we played upstairs from Speak In Tounges...though Leon backed out last minute so we replaced him with Ray. It was 3 unkown acts, us, some jazz thing and some big-band improv thing associated with Fuzzhead and/or the weirdo Kent scene. The crowd was tiny but appreciative, I fucked up out of nervousness a million times, but everyone applauded and told me they liked it and strangers said hello and thanks and good job.

The only time I properly DJ'd at the 'Sco was in 96 or 97 and the flyer said "Dan Selzer spins electro-funk, space disco, proto-techno and synth pop" which is why a few years later Nick from the French Kicks (more obies) would introduce me to a girl at Pianos as "this is dan, he invented electroclash", which was pretty hilarious.

I guess Bent Crayon is a goldmine for way way way obscure artist and label hunters.....me, I get my Animal Collective/Clinic/Silver Jews-type records and get out. I never venture into the back of the store cuz I've never heard of any of the records back there. Maybe I should have gone to Oberlin......

Any well-known musicians ever make it to Bent Crayon?

why list a phone number if you dont take calls???? why provide email addys when you dont respond to emails??? why offer mail order and have a checkout system if you never check the orders or send out the orders??? the email said "Items in stock will be delivered the next working day." i havent received a package and i'm sure i never will.

i had about 15 pieces in my order. something had to have been in stock. i needed some of these to use for a mix project deadline that i can no longer meet, so i'm screwed, thanks to BENT.

a simple email response telling me something, even that he cannot fill the order, would be fine, but no response at all...? well, put it this way, this guy deserves a smackdown, in the store, in front of his customers. and if someone is willing to tape it, i'll pay you if you throw it up on youtube! :)

all dicks, right? ;)

the dollar bins aren't quite as good as they used to be -- i've spent so much money there since high school -- but i picked up an Echobelly single and grant mclennan's 'horsebreaker star' for $1. the $5 bins (and $2.50 bins) are unparalleled to this day. there's always some good album sneaking in there due to an excess of promos/ignorance. nowadays the two branches of half price books in rocky river and north olmstead have surprisingly decent selections of music books and CDs.

growing up, i took for granted that i could go to My Generation in Westlake and pick up nearly any CD by any obscure (and not-so-obscure) band i found via reading magazines/embryonic Internet. the early days of 107.9 the End also introduced me to a ton of UK bands; talk about an underrated station...

i wasn't allowed to go to shows in high school. and my parents wouldn't let me apply to oberlin. so, uh. yeah.

also, in terms of quality shows in cleveland? in the four days i was there last week, i saw placebo, the rapture and lloyd cole. i could have seen hot chip and lucero as well. the venues supported there and the shows cleveland gets is insane, in terms of indie/UK rock. i live in st louis now, and the tour routing sails past us most of the time. cleveland is quite the vibrant touring destination. i'm jealous. despite the winters, which ensure i will never live there again. fuck lake effect snow.

oh, and hi dave segal. -- annie z

My Generation was great, and unfortunately I didn't discover it until I discovered great music in college.....fall break trips to Westlake were key. I don't understand why such a comprehensive store like that can't survive in Cleveland. Maybe in 5, 6, 7 years when people start moving back downtown. But not in the current environment in a conservative suburb like that. Now, Lakewood.....maybe in a few years. But until then, it's down to Bent Crayon and the venerable (Record) Exchange......which basically means hit or miss.

Surprised no one's mentioned My Mind's Eye yet -- they recently expanded and have a decent selection, especially if you're into hard rock. On Madison just east of Bunts in Lakewood.

Matt, I wasn't a Co-Op insider, but I never perceived a rivalry with BC (and, as Dan has noted, I don't think John perceived one either) -- I was the only person I know who frequented both stores.

PB, Will Oldham played BC on his recent tour de indie record stores, and John generally does 3-4 in-stores a year -- mix of rock and electronic acts. And I think the presence of Borders (down the road) and the big boxes (at Great Northern) hurt My Gen more than the demographics of Westlake.

My Generation's stock was incredible, but its prices always seemed to be too high for the store's own good.

I went to both Bent Crayon and the Co-Op on a regular basis. If there was a rivalry, it was pretty subliminal.

(Hi, Annie.)

My Mind's Eye has apparently gone down a bit-- the only time I was there, my friends were kind of shocked by how much it had changed. That said, I got this list the last time I went there, so I'm not one to complain:
- George McCrae "(You've Got) My Love, My Life, My Soul"/"I Want You Around Me"
- Sedona Pulsation
- Southroad Connection "You Like It, We Love It"/"Just Laying it Down"
- V/A- The Beat of the Beach
- Elvis His Hand in Mine
- Carol Williams "More" (Special Disco Mix)
- Sparks "Music That You Can Dance To"
- Jazmina "Goodtime" Test Pressing
- Noel Pointer Feel It
- Billy Ocean Suddenly
- and some random 45's

I also talked to the guy about 9 Shocks Terror for a while.

(the southroad connection 12" is really good. and the jazmina vocal track is priceless)

IS from shaker heights.

this thread is a gift from the comedy gods on a slow afternoon.

so true! thinking of him in his shorts with his big gulp of pepsi never fails to bring a smile to my face. john is pretty awesome as well, even if the mail-order service is... spotty. i've never had him be anything less than nice and helpful, although there was a jackass who worked there briefly in the late 90s who assumed that because i was girl i was only interested in buying kathleen hanna records.

I always thought My Mind's Eye was overpriced, although maybe that was just because I salivated over their bootlegs. i used to go to My Generation on my lunch break in high school, which seemed like a nice luxury.

and Cleveland's not a horrible place to live. Tommy's on Coventry, great lakes beer, Big Fun, Malley's, a fair amount of indie films, good shows (like i said), rabid sports fans, Aladdin's eatery, the ridiculous amount of great thrift/vintage stores. the economic depression hangs over the city more; there doesn't seem like a lot of opportunity for personal growth, and that sort of clouds the city like smog.

it is conducive for rad bands to come out of it, though; in recent years i'd count This Moment in Black History, the Lovekill, Whiskeyhounds, Rosavelt, etc. (along with mainstream-er acts Lovedrug, Black Keys, etc.)

There was a record store called Records run be these crazy old guys where every record was 50 cents. That place was awesome.

There was a great guitar shop in Parma with tons of cool looking cheap guitars, I bought my "Telstar" there.

I also bought my Farfisa in cleveland.

Mind's Eye still has great deals on 45s. You can look through a lot and find a few, but the few you find are priceless.

As mayor, Perk became the subject of national ridicule when he accidentally set his hair on fire while attempting to use a welder's torch to cut a ribbon at a campaign event. Perk was again publicly humiliated after suggesting that a study on pornography ought to be conducted by municipal sanitation workers. Perk's wife, Lucille, achieved notoriety when she rejected an invitation from the First Lady Pat Nixon to an event at the White House in order to attend her regular bowling night.

that's what happens when you wash your hair with water from the Cuyahoga River.

Lucille Perk blowing off Pat Nixon to go bowling was one of the great moments in Cle (and maybe US) cultural history.

Go ahead now Lauren, tell everyone about the Soul Veggie Fried Food place we went to.

Yes, grade school kids still sell Malley's chocolates around Easter time. My mom wouldn't let me because she was against the idea of cute little kids making money for big fat businessmen. But then, she always took us to Malley's for a milkshake after science fairs, so go figure.

Where is Tommy's? I can't believe I never heard of it. Johnny Mango's is a cool little veggie place...and it's close to my old high school.

There's a soul veggie place on Lee Road. Also, Mama's Boy and their Fun in Box.

high school and college students are like, wow, I can get a tempeh and bean sprout sandwhich

yeah that was pretty much me when I moved here to go to school. I was also very impressed with Record Revolution.

i thought the soul vegetarian on lee had been closed for some time? i'd be happy to learn i was wrong, though.

The Record Revolution basement of vinyl was decent for classic rock/new wave LPs, you know, those Roxy Music and Gary Numan albums you want for 3 bucks.

I don't even bother going in to Record Revolution anymore. They haven't changed their stock in like 5 years. Cleveland Hts. deserves a better record store. The nearest store w/a decent vinyl collection is 10 minutes away at Music Saves.

The closing of Dave's Warped Records was certainly disappointing. I recall there was a store farther west of Madison Village that closed a few years back as well but I can't recall the name.

ok, so, i went to tommy's in college and was impressed. bah. they had good grilled cheese pitas. and i'm a sucker for those. johnny mango's is fantastic, though. agreed.

record rev used to be the only place i could buy fishnets in the mid-1990s that my mom would take me to before i could drive. yes, back in my day Target and TJ Maxx didn't sell them. they also used to have a decent bootleg selection (i know i bought an REM one there), but i haven't been there in years.

i made a special trip to malley's when i was there to buy Pronk bars featuring Travis Hafner for my friends here. we sold Malley's bars in high school. the ones w/pretzels in 'em are a. mazing.

Matt OTM re: Record Revolution. I've only been in Music Saves once, right after they opened, but it seemed like it might develop into a decent store.

indeed. in a city that contains both almanar (w117 btw triskett/lorain) and sahara (nee pyramid, lorain around w125), it's always mystified me that anyone would bother to go to aladdin's at all. i'm only ever in there because the lakewood aladdin's is a stone's throw from my workplace.

tommy's is definitely overrated, but then again, i'm a west side townie, so what do i know...i do miss the soul veg dearly, though.

Johnny Mango's is a cool little veggie place...

while i wouldn't call it a veggie place per se, it's worth checking out. just had brunch there earlier today, in fact.

recommended for fans of malley's, btw is sweet designs in lakewood.

There was a great guitar shop in Parma with tons of cool looking cheap guitars, I bought my "Telstar" there.

assuming that this is a reference to timeless, that's one of only two reasons to go to parma. clyde has furnished a lot of my most beloved gear over the years.

Owner Charles is the nicest guy in music retail

...until you tell him that you think ac/dc sucks.

cleveland in general is not such a bad place, though i am somewhat down on it and looking to move these days. really not the place for anyone with a cv centered around arts nonprofits, or for anyone with reasonable expectations regarding the quality of art galleries or public transportation. it does, however, have better coffee than anywhere else i've ever lived. (weird, right?)

...until you tell him that you think ac/dc sucks.

He is rather intolerant of blatant falsehoods.

-- the new-ish Lexx single on Bear Funk
-- the re-release of Villalobos' 'The Contempt'
-- the new-ish Alex Under single on Dial
-- Basic Channel Octaedre/Octagon, which I needed for my own well-being.

also, friend got the Nike Bordom single, on which the A-side is da killah