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Gray Areas: Cleveland celebrates Stanley’s legacy

Assorted ramblings from the world of entertainment:

• The city of Cleveland today will honor Michael Stanley, who died earlier this month.

Today would have been his 73th birthday, and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson declared it Michael Stanley Day in the city.

A ceremony is planned at 10:15 a.m. today outside of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that will include the mayor’s proclamation and remarks by Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley. Members of Stanley’s family and his current band, The Resonators, also will be in attendance.

It will be livestreamed on the Rock Hall’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. And many northeast Ohio radio stations are planning to remember Stanley and his musical legacy by playing the song “My Town” at 10:35 a.m. today. The time was picked because the opening line of the Michael Stanley Band’s “In the Heartland” is, “It’s 10:35 in the heartland …”

The Rock Hall is including some of Stanley’s memorabilia in its In Memoriam display, including his Jon Hill custom guitar, handwritten lyrics and setlists.

Stanley released more than 40 albums while he was alive, but he also was working on a new album at the time of his death. At the same time as the “My Town” tribute, Line Level Music (the label that has released many of Stanley’s recent albums and re-released his Michael Stanley Band classics on CD) will post two songs from that posthumous album, called “Tough Room.” A release date for the full album hasn’t been announced.

The recording sessions feature members of The Resonators and were mixed by Bill Szymczyk, who produced several MSB records as well as The Eagles’ “Hotel California,” Bob Seger’s “Against the Wind,” The Who’s “Face Dances” and several Joe Walsh / James Gang releases.

• New Jersey rock act Monster Magnet, best known for songs like “Space Lord” and “Silver Future” and its gold-selling album “Powertrip,” is serving up a bit of Mahoning Valley music history on its upcoming album, “A Better Dystopia.”

The album, described as an “homage to some of their favorite songs of all time, while reflecting on the paranoia, dystopia and revolution of both now — and then,” includes “Mr. Destroyer,” which was released on Youngstown band Poobah’s 1972 debut album, “Let Me In.”

Monster Magnet lead singer Dave Wyndorf told Ultimate Classic Rock, “This was like a playlist from the fourth dimension … strange bits of musical obscurity, mostly dredged up from that inglorious and freaky ‘Twilight Zone’ time that preceded arena rock, heavy metal, reggae and disco. A no-man’s land of hard rock that still had remnants of psychedelia and garage punk but had abandoned any notion of ‘flower power’ or frat house fun. And, of course, they rocked.”

Poobah singer and guitar player Jim Gustafson now lives in West Virginia, but the band still plays out locally — or at least did when the band could. Original vinyl copies of “Let Me In,” recorded at Peppermint Studios in Youngstown, have sold for more than $1,000, but Ripple Music has re-issued it in an expanded two-LP version.

“A Better Dystopia” won’t be out until May 21, but “Mr. Destroyer” was released this week as the lead single. Both the original Poobah version and Monster Magnet’s cover are available on streaming sites. If anything, the Monster Magnet cover makes the Black Sabbath influence on the original even more pronounced.

Andy Gray is the entertainment editor for Ticket. Write to him at agray@tribtoday.com.

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