Fri 7/5 @ 8:30PM
When longtime record executive Steve Popovich — who discovered Meat Loaf in the mid ’70s and launched his career from a Cleveland base — died in June 2011, Cleveland lost a tireless advocate for its local music scene.
Few could advocate with Popovich’s fervor. It was that fervor that drove him to embrace Meat Loaf after he’d been rejected by every record label and continue to promote his seminal debut album Bat Out of Hell for months until it gained the momentum that made it one of the best-selling albums of all time.
It was that fervor also that led him to pursue a lengthy legal battle with Sony Records, his distributor, when he believed they were cheating him on royalties and did not honor their agreement to credit his Cleveland International label on CDs.
Although Popovich had moved to Nashville after he retired to be near his grandchildren, he returned to town frequently. And he always took his usual place on a barstool at the Beachland Tavern to check out whoever was playing.
Popovich’s passion for polka and other eastern European folk music was well-known. So it’s appropriate that polka is the bedrock of an event dedicated to his memory, the 2nd Annual Steve Popovich Polka Pandemonium, at the Beachland Ballroom.
Headlining the show like last year is Denton, Texas polka band Brave Combo, one of Popovich’s favorite groups. They’re promising that they will be joined by Frankie Yankovic protege accordionist Joey Muskulin. “We plan to just turn him loose on a few of his classics and on some things he’s never heard,” they’re promising fans.
Also on the bill is Cleveland DJ Kishka, who spins polka at places like the Happy Dog. Come prepared to dance.
Admission is $15.
Cleveland, OH 44110