Cleveland music, television and radio icon has passed to the other side at 72. Back when I was in Athens you couldn’t go far without hearing his band’s music somewhere around campus. I met him on his birthday in a hospitality suite at a college entertainment conference in Cleveland - had tome for everyone. Saw his band at MemAud after graduating - lots of energy that night.

https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2021/03/michael-s...

And Springsteen and the James Gang and Glass Harp. Much of that is due to the fact that WMMS truly ruled the airwaves of NE Ohio - their Friday night get ready for the weekend lineup starting at 5:55 pm with Born to Run promptly at 6 and of course Maggot Brain at 1:30 in the morning every Saturday night/Sunday morning. Then they got greedy and too big for their britches.

https://www.cleveland.com/remembers/2011/04/born_to_run_w...

Alan, Springsteen was big in Cleveland. However, believe it not, he was also big in Central Ohio. On the other hand, I don't recall any central Ohio radio stations playing Southside or MSB. And since this predates the internet, sirius/XM and MTV, someone growing up in central Ohio had no exposure to those bands. At least not until arriving in Athens as a college student.

I believe MSB was the warmup band for a Convo show in fall of 1979.

I still listen to the double live album Stagepass by MSB.

I remember that concert. I had the second of two-a-day football practices at Grandview under Coach Larry Larson that night and listened to the live broadcast on Q-FM96 afterwards. Within a year, I had the bootlegged broadcast on vinyl. Rumor has it that the Agora owner has video of all the the venues' performances and Springsteen fans consider this not-yet-released concert video as the holy grail.

Mark Munch Bishop claims he worked for an FM station in Columbus that played a lot of MSB and hosted a concert at OSU in the mid-1980s. MSB opened for Kansas in the Convo in 1979.

My MSB Memory. Never heard of Michael Stanley until I came to OHIO fall '77. I was from the cornfields of SW Ohio. Once in Ryor's Hall frosh year and around campus met a lot of folks from Cleveland, and MSB was keyed up on the turntables all around campus dorms. After a couple years here and with a lot of new friends from Cleveland, went on a weekend trip to Cleveland. Saturday night we went to see MSB at the Agora. As we were going in, there is a hub bub and right behind us is Lyle Alzado with a girl on both sides of him coming in. Since we were going to the game the next day vs the Baltimore Colts I took the opportunity to say to Lyle - "Get Bert Jones for me!". Which he did sacking him very early in the game! And, that was after watching Lyle dancing with the two girls he came in with right in front of the stage and did not leave until after midnight. I think the game next day started noon, was definitely not a night game.

Great memories!

he was suspected of taking steroids his entire career.
But he repeatedly denied it.

When he had his "come back" with the Raiders he continued to deny taking any kind of steroids.
But it was obvious, to anyone who lifted, that he was "juicing" big time.
You don't get ripped liked he was, especially in your mid 30's, by diet and
exercise alone.
Then he developed a cancerous brain tumor and finally came clean.

As far as I know,they never established a direct link between his brain tumor and steroid use.

What getting the cancerous brain tumor did do is get him to admit he had
used steroids throughout his career.

There's also no way to know what else he was taking back then.
Around that time guys were using a combination of steroids and HGH and all kinds of other stuff.

Who knows what the cumulative effects were.

Don't remember MSB at The Phase at closing time, but when I was a first year student it was popular with the young crowd and they'd close it out with Born To Run. Sometimes you'd have student standing on the tables.

MSB as opener for Kansas -- you guys are right about that one. I didn't see that set, but heard it. I was helping at the pass gate. Man, that was a wild night. There were all kinds of groupies following Kansas on that tour and some of them had been banned at all venues.