Firestone Plumes / Save The Music
Malcolm X Abram
Throughout July, Reverb will be the exclusive seller of a special edition of the EarthQuaker Devices Plumes overdrive, featuring a custom colorway emblazoned with Akron's Firestone High School Falcon mascot. The unique Plumes is part of a fundraising campaign spearheaded by the organizing committee of the Firestone High School Class of 1972, who wanted to do more for their 50th reunion than simply have a good party. So, several former class members banded together and decided to find a way to give back to the community that helped shape their lives.
Working with the national non-profit organization Save The Music, the Firestone High School Class of '72 organizing committee wanted to pay it forward and help some of today's Akron students be their best by forming a partnership with Akron Public Schools and Save The Music. The goal is to raise $20,000 to introduce and maintain a beginning music curriculum at a deserving and underserved Akron elementary school. Through donations from their classmates and others, the class of '72 is already halfway to their goal. But, the group wanted to include the entire community and anyone who realizes the vital role of music programs in schools.
In addition to the special edition Firestone High Falcon-themed Plumes, the Firestone High School Class of '72 has compiled an ebook, Akron Rocks: A Salute to the City, which is available on Amazon.com. The proceeds of the ebook sales will go towards the Save The Music Project. The ebook, authored by the organizing committee, features historical information about many talented and industrious Akronites. Highlighted in the book are several industry captains such as Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company co-founder Frank Seiberling and other persons of note, including abolitionist John Brown. Also scattered through the book’s electronic pages are artists and other creatives, including James Ingram, Devo, and Chrissie Hynde, alongside other notable Akronites in various fields, including Lebron James and Dr. Bob Smith, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.
In addition to the history and information about the city and many of its notable denizens, "Akron Rocks" also features exclusive audio and written interviews with Akron musicians discussing the "Akron Sound" of the late 1970s and early 1980s that brought the city national attention in the music press. The interviewees include Pat Carney of the Black Keys, guitar legend Phill Keaggy of Glass Harp, and Robert Kidney, singer/guitarist of Kebt legends 15-60-75 (The Numbers Band).
Members of the Firestone High School Class of '72 organizing committee; Darryl Scotti, Steve Schwartz, Aleta Anthe Shipley, and Roger Marks, gathered to talk about Akron, the lessons they learned while compiling the "Akron Rocks" ebook and why they felt compelled to help future generations of Akronites.
EQD: Why was it important to do more for your big 50th reunion than simply mark everyone's continued existence?
Roger Marks: Well, an initial email went out, and this class has never done the mail-it-in kind of reunions. So the idea that we floated initially was how do we give back? We can have a good time, but what can we do in terms of giving back. So an ebook was an idea that I had from the standpoint of Firestone specifically, and moreover, Akron has had so many people of note that had either been Akronites or, in a lot of cases, relative to music, specifically graduated from Firestone. So we thought, hey, let's do a book and commemorate and acknowledge the contributions that these people have made. And it really ended up being much broader than we thought it was going to be. It was clearly a group effort, and we all weren't friends coming in. We obviously all knew each other, but what I think has been one of the most satisfying things is that our skill sets tended to complement each other on this project.
How did you all settle on Save The Music as the vehicle to help the community?
Roger Marks: Well, I would say that inspiration really came from the Black Keys. Of course (drummer) Pat Carney and (singer/guitarist) Dan Auerbach are graduates of Firestone. We were going through this process, and we knew we wanted to raise money for a cause, but we weren't sure what it was going to be. And then we saw where, in conjunction with the Black Keys release of Delta Kream, they were giving back to the Mississippi communities that spawned the blues sound heard on that release. And one thing led to another, we got a hold of Save The Music, and we said, hey, you know, maybe that's a good thing for Akron if we raised money for this cause, and it turned out, Save The Music did not have a presence in Akron.
Darryl Scotti: In our vetting of Save The Music, they have done some incredible things around the country. So we thought it was a perfect opportunity to get them into Akron and Akron into them.
Some of you studied and played music during and after your Firestone days. Why do you think music education can be an essential part of a child's growth?
Steve Schwartz: I think a musical education is, is vital. I don't know what I would be like, where I would be what I would be doing if I didn't have music in my life. I was lucky enough to be able to take trumpet lessons from an early age, and that solidified my love for music. Any time you can develop a positive situation, such as a love for anything, that's a good thing, and that's what we want to see out of this fundraising event.
Fifty years have gone by. It's a long time. I'm not that well versed in the state of music in the Akron public school district. But I do know that for the amount of time I spent in those rehearsal rooms, I got an awful lot out of it. And, this is a great way to go, so others can have that same experience.
Darryl Scotti: Well, you know, in our case, when we were at Firestone, we had an incredible music teacher, Mr. Thomas. He was just so giving and so nurturing, and I took his music appreciation class and learned how to appreciate classical music. But he would be nurturing to those musicians that he thought had a creative vein in them, and he wanted to encourage them.
Aletha Anthe Shipley: When we were at Firestone, we had, or I was under the impression we had, the best marching band in the state of Ohio. I was always really proud of that. I wasn't musical; I couldn't do anything, but having that band and seeing them take the football field at any of the games was a really cool thing. And Mr. Thomas did have a lot of gifts that he was able to give, even to the non-musically inclined. We would have these musicals every year, and one year he let me be in it. I had no speaking role, I had no singing role, but I got to be a part of it. I think every child should have that experience, no matter their level of skill, something that is not academic but can help bring their creativity alive.
Donations to the Firestone High School Class of 1972 Fundraiser can be made directly to the Save The Music webpage at: https://donate.savethemusic.org/campaign/firestone-high-school-reunion-committee/c383750.
Malcolm X Abram is a recovering reporter and music writer and a proud 40 year guitar noodler. He lives, works and plays in the bucolic dreamland of Akron, Ohio in an old house with two dogs who don’t really like each other and way too many spiders.
