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Ohio Basketball Topic
Topic: New appreciation for the Convo
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Mike Johnson
3/26/2016 12:43 PM
cbus cat fan wrote:expand_more
The Convo was built at the height of the baby boom when Ohio University and many other campuses were growing exponentially. I can't remember the exact story but some of the powers that be envisioned Ohio joining a big time conference in the years to come, for some reason I am going to say these powers that be had connections to the ACC.

The Convo's purpose wasn't entirely athletic, commencements were getting larger as well. By the late 1960s bands were beginning to book huge concert venues. In the early days Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead came to Athens, and while some of the stories that circulated about them walking uptown to hang out may have been somewhat apocryphal, they were essentially true. (I think the Convo wasn't quite done for the Dead, so they played Mem Aud, but I could be wrong. While we are at it, they picture of Led Zeppelin opening up for Jose Feliciano must have been something to behold. I am told the contrast in audiences was striking to say the least) Also, in the 1970s band such as Boston, Styx etc sold out the Convo. During my freshman year in early 1983 I saw an acoustic sold out Neil Young show at the Convo. Music became more decentralized and hard to find band that would fill the Convo or want to come out of their way to Athens.

The Convo is a great recruting tool, but we all know they wouldn't build the Convo today. While society's love for sports continues, it in many ways is more social than it use to be. It is a place to meet and hang our for students and alumni. Families (including my own) have lots of kids activities which makes it harder to get to the Convo than it was in our single days, or if your kids are older, or out of the house. However like Pedan with football, it all comes down to winning. If you consistently win they will come. One only has to look at places which don't have big population centers like Wake Forest, WVU, Oregon State etc. It can be done, but the era of big stadiums and arenas are over.
As I recall from talking a few years ago with Vernon Alden who, if nothing more, was a big thinker, there were informal talks that had Big 10 doormat Northwestern leaving the conference and Ohio joining. What if that had become reality? Ohio likely would have replaced Northwestern as the conference doormat.

Today? I'd welcome a newly formed conference that would include Ohio, Miami, BG, Toledo, Marshall, Charlotte and two to four Sunbelt schools.
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cbus cat fan
3/26/2016 2:31 PM
Alan, thanks for the memories and the set list. I distinctly remember a hippy couple and their children sitting next to us at the concert. Their attire was right out of the Summer of Love. The woman had such a look of joy when Neil plated "Teach Your Children," but when a Trans song was played she looked at me and said, "Do you like this stuff?" No, I said I prefer Neil's classics. "Good" she said, "Maybe you guys (I assume she meant our age group) aren't so bad after all." She was smiling when she said it, at least I hope she wasn't being serious about the "children of the 70s-80s."

Mike, that's very interesting. I faintly recall sometime in the mid 70s when our rival the Redskins were doing well that the late Jimmy Crum on channel 4 in Columbus addressed a rumor that Miami would replace Northwestern in the Big 10 and the Wildcats were going to the MAC. I didn't know enough to understand the complexities of it, but I remember thinking that it was a big enough deal to check the other stations including those from Toledo and Cleveland. We lived at the periphery of all three markets and could receive a signal, though not exactly stellar. Who knows what was on the mind of those movers and shakers in that era. They had lots of faults, but at least they had big plans!
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Monroe Slavin
3/26/2016 3:25 PM
Have the construction costs of The Convo been paid off?

I believe that it was originally financed by bonds which were to be paid off over 30 years. Were the bonds refinanced such that we're still paying the original build costs?
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SBH
3/26/2016 5:54 PM
cbus cat fan wrote:expand_more
Alan, thanks for the memories and the set list. I distinctly remember a hippy couple and their children sitting next to us at the concert. Their attire was right out of the Summer of Love. The woman had such a look of joy when Neil plated "Teach Your Children," but when a Trans song was played she looked at me and said, "Do you like this stuff?" No, I said I prefer Neil's classics. "Good" she said, "Maybe you guys (I assume she meant our age group) aren't so bad after all." She was smiling when she said it, at least I hope she wasn't being serious about the "children of the 70s-80s."

Mike, that's very interesting. I faintly recall sometime in the mid 70s when our rival the Redskins were doing well that the late Jimmy Crum on channel 4 in Columbus addressed a rumor that Miami would replace Northwestern in the Big 10 and the Wildcats were going to the MAC. I didn't know enough to understand the complexities of it, but I remember thinking that it was a big enough deal to check the other stations including those from Toledo and Cleveland. We lived at the periphery of all three markets and could receive a signal, though not exactly stellar. Who knows what was on the mind of those movers and shakers in that era. They had lots of faults, but at least they had big plans!
Hmm. Maybe you were getting a proximity buzz from your hippie neighbor. Neil most definitely didn't sing Teach Your Children, a Graham Nash tune. (And a greatly overrated one, in my opinion. Like a lot of Nash stuff, the lyrics meander...)
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Brian Smith (No, not that one)
3/26/2016 7:49 PM
The internet is amazing.

Neil Young's Convo setlist from 1983:

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/neil-young/1983/convocation...
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cbus cat fan
3/26/2016 8:54 PM
SBH, very interesting it was 33 years ago so I suppose after all of these years, my mind could have played tricks on me and confused Sugar Mountain for Teach Your Children. Thanks for the set list Brian, perhaps most sobering is the fact that if I am in my early 50s, that couple could be pushing 70!
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Alan Swank
3/26/2016 10:04 PM
Brian Smith wrote:expand_more
The internet is amazing.

Neil Young's Convo setlist from 1983:

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/neil-young/1983/convocation...
Lot's of crazy weird stuff in this thread - I thought I posted the set list Brian and SBH dogging Teach Your Children but he is right on one thing - Neil doesn't play that unless he's with the other three. Meandering lyrics? Pop maybe but from the Hollies days but hardly meandering.
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cbus cat fan
3/26/2016 11:05 PM
Alan you are right what a strange thread, but interesting in that we can see the musical skills of other board regulars. What a talented crew we have. I was so perplexed knowing I had heard Teach Your Children that I had to dig out my old ticket stubs. Fortunately, I found ticket stubs for the Neil Young show in Athens, the only time I sat that high up in the Convo was for the Miami game in 1986. I also found my ticket stub from the CSN show in Columbus (Ohio Center) in August of 1987, and yes they did play Teach Your Children at that show.

http://www.setlist.fm/stats/average-setlist/crosby-stills...
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SBH
3/27/2016 8:17 AM
Their father's hell did slowly go by

The one they picks, the one you'll know by



Well, at least it rhymes!



BTW, I was in row 7 for that 1983 show. I camped out for 30 hours to get that seat. Have seen Neil 16 times...some unbelievably good shows and a couple of truly horrible ones (Greendale and Everybody's Rocking). My first date with my wife-to-be was a Neil show at Blossom Music Center in 1985. She thought she was seeing Neil Diamond until the end of the first set.
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bobcatsquared
3/27/2016 8:33 AM
Greendale at Polaris in Columbus. I thought you liked that show.
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SBH
3/27/2016 8:37 AM
The only saving grace was that it introduced me to Lucinda Williams. I've seen her three times and hoping to see her later this year.
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Alan Swank
3/27/2016 9:12 AM
SBH wrote:expand_more
The only saving grace was that it introduced me to Lucinda Williams. I've seen her three times and hoping to see her later this year.
She's playing Stuarts Opera House this Wednesday night. Just pretend you're coming to Athens for a Wednesday night basketball game.

As for Teach Your Children, a song released almost to the day of Kent State, I found this rather interesting.

"Teach Your Children" is a song by Graham Nash. Although it was written when Nash was a member of the Hollies, it was never recorded by that group, and first appeared on the album Déjà Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released in 1970. The recording features Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar. Garcia had made an arrangement that in return for his playing pedal steel guitar on "Teach Your Children," CSNY would teach the members of the Grateful Dead how to sing harmony for their upcoming albums, Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. Released as a single, the song peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts that year.[1] On the Easy Listening chart, "Teach Your Children" peaked at #28.[2]

Nash, who is also a photographer and collector of photographs, has stated in an interview that the immediate inspiration for the song came from a famous photograph by Diane Arbus, "Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park." The image, which depicts a child with an angry expression holding the toy weapon, prompted Nash to reflect on the societal implications of messages given to children about war and other issues.[3]

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://www.metmuseu... =
Last Edited: 3/27/2016 5:14:19 PM by Alan Swank
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OUcats82
3/28/2016 10:29 AM
Alan Swank wrote:expand_more
The only saving grace was that it introduced me to Lucinda Williams. I've seen her three times and hoping to see her later this year.
She's playing Stuarts Opera House this Wednesday night. Just pretend you're coming to Athens for a Wednesday night basketball game.

As for Teach Your Children, a song released almost to the day of Kent State, I found this rather interesting.

"Teach Your Children" is a song by Graham Nash. Although it was written when Nash was a member of the Hollies, it was never recorded by that group, and first appeared on the album Déjà Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released in 1970. The recording features Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar. Garcia had made an arrangement that in return for his playing pedal steel guitar on "Teach Your Children," CSNY would teach the members of the Grateful Dead how to sing harmony for their upcoming albums, Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. Released as a single, the song peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts that year.[1] On the Easy Listening chart, "Teach Your Children" peaked at #28.[2]

Nash, who is also a photographer and collector of photographs, has stated in an interview that the immediate inspiration for the song came from a famous photograph by Diane Arbus, "Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park." The image, which depicts a child with an angry expression holding the toy weapon, prompted Nash to reflect on the societal implications of messages given to children about war and other issues.[3]

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://www.metmuseu... =
I love the breadth and depth of knowledge this board has to share on so many subjects. Always think of my dad when I hear "Teach Your Children" and it has even more meaning to me now that I am a father myself.

Since we are talking about Convo concerts........I picked up what has to be a reprint of a promo poster for a concert that took place on May 10th and 11th of 1974. It was before my time but I love James Taylor and OU memorabilia.

It was headline by James Taylor but also included:
Richie Havens
Leo Kottke
Jesse Colin Young
Earl Scruggs Review
Brewer & Shipley
Pure Prairie League

Tickets were $8, $7.50 and $6.50.

Did anyone on here attend either show?
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Bobcatbob
3/28/2016 1:26 PM
I was at that '74 show. To this day, I remain in absolute awe of Leo Kottke. Have the contemporaneous LP at home and have to listen to it from time to time to prove to myself again that he could do that stuff.

That was one of the "Athens Folk Festival" shows that were annual events in theory though I think only a handful were held and/or presented "national" acts.

I believe Stephen Stills did a solo show in one iteration and I distinctly remember a Convo performance of Down by the River, (speaking of NY) by McKendree Spring that was inspiring.
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OhioCatFan
3/30/2016 9:48 AM
The Convo bonds have been paid off. I don't remember the exact year, but it was quite awhile ago. In addition to the bonded indebtedness some of the Convo costs were paid for by the Federal government under a program that supported the construction of dorms on college campuses. That's the sole reason there are dorm rooms in the Convo.
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Alan Swank
3/30/2016 11:32 AM
OUcats82 wrote:expand_more
The only saving grace was that it introduced me to Lucinda Williams. I've seen her three times and hoping to see her later this year.
She's playing Stuarts Opera House this Wednesday night. Just pretend you're coming to Athens for a Wednesday night basketball game.

As for Teach Your Children, a song released almost to the day of Kent State, I found this rather interesting.

"Teach Your Children" is a song by Graham Nash. Although it was written when Nash was a member of the Hollies, it was never recorded by that group, and first appeared on the album Déjà Vu by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young released in 1970. The recording features Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar. Garcia had made an arrangement that in return for his playing pedal steel guitar on "Teach Your Children," CSNY would teach the members of the Grateful Dead how to sing harmony for their upcoming albums, Workingman's Dead and American Beauty. Released as a single, the song peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts that year.[1] On the Easy Listening chart, "Teach Your Children" peaked at #28.[2]

Nash, who is also a photographer and collector of photographs, has stated in an interview that the immediate inspiration for the song came from a famous photograph by Diane Arbus, "Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park." The image, which depicts a child with an angry expression holding the toy weapon, prompted Nash to reflect on the societal implications of messages given to children about war and other issues.[3]

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://www.metmuseu... =
I love the breadth and depth of knowledge this board has to share on so many subjects. Always think of my dad when I hear "Teach Your Children" and it has even more meaning to me now that I am a father myself.

Since we are talking about Convo concerts........I picked up what has to be a reprint of a promo poster for a concert that took place on May 10th and 11th of 1974. It was before my time but I love James Taylor and OU memorabilia.

It was headline by James Taylor but also included:
Richie Havens
Leo Kottke
Jesse Colin Young
Earl Scruggs Review
Brewer & Shipley
Pure Prairie League

Tickets were $8, $7.50 and $6.50.

Did anyone on here attend either show?
Here's a poster from the grand daddy of all Convo shows from 1973.

http://expressobeans.com/public/detail.php/152796
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Bobcatbob
3/30/2016 11:59 AM
I can't believe I missed that '73 show. If I knew then what I know now....,

Of course, $8 was at least half of my discretionary spending allowance for a week in 1973, I think. I would have already been looking forward to my $1.50 an hour summer job to replenish the coffers. Got to go in '74 because I had a sweet gig in Irvine cafeteria to shore me up.
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Alan Swank
3/30/2016 12:22 PM
Bobcatbob wrote:expand_more
I can't believe I missed that '73 show. If I knew then what I know now....,

Of course, $8 was at least half of my discretionary spending allowance for a week in 1973, I think. I would have already been looking forward to my $1.50 an hour summer job to replenish the coffers. Got to go in '74 because I had a sweet gig in Irvine cafeteria to shore me up.
$8 would have been almost 6 hours of work washing dishes in Patton Hall cafeteria at Muskingum in the fall of 1973 or 4 hours of work managing the big concession stand at Blossom in the summer of 1973.
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Casper71
3/30/2016 12:48 PM
I remember this one...

http://www.capecentralhigh.com/ohio/smokey-robinson-at-oh... /

What fun with my soon to be wife!
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Alan Swank
3/30/2016 7:56 PM
Must have been a Mem Aud show. There have been some great ones in there including South Side and B B King.
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RSBobcat
3/30/2016 9:30 PM
Brian Smith wrote:expand_more
The internet is amazing.

Neil Young's Convo setlist from 1983:

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/neil-young/1983/convocation...
Trans tour - I think Neil has suppressed that phase. Have seen Many better Neil performances - and all included Crazy Horse - or as he refers to them - "The Horse"...
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Bobcat Mac
3/31/2016 9:30 AM
As a 1995 grad, we got the Indigo Girls at the Convo! it was a good show, pretty full from what I remember! Would of loved to had been down in Athens in the 70's for those shows, of course I was a toddler living in Marysville.
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