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RECENT POSTS

April 18, 2012 | 11:12 AM | By Meg Cramer

Midwest Migration: What’s So Great About Austin? Plenty, According To Former Midwesterners

This week Changing Gears is taking a closer look at the Midwest Migration, and we’re talking with people who have left the region. Reporter Peter O’Dowd met with some of those former Midwesterners living in Austin, Texas, and brings us this report:

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The Brookings Institution reports that 20-somethings fled Detroit and Chicago at the end of the last decade for places like Seattle and Portland. Cities they thought were cool. “Cool” has become a selling point for young professionals. And perhaps no city has it figured out better than Austin, Texas. Over the next few days Changing Gears will profile people who have left the Midwest, and that’s where we go next – to the home of music festivals known around the world.

John Livingston at the Pour House in Austin, Texas / Credit: Peter O'Dowd

John Livingston and his friends say Austin has a soul, and on a gorgeous Friday night in March you can see why.

Livingston is a lot like any other 24-year old. He and his friends still like to party, and on this night, they’re doing it on the north side of town.

Not long ago, Livingston and four others moved to Austin from Bloomington, Indiana.

It was January 2010. College was coming to an end. The friends were drinking at their favorite hang-out, and wondering what to do next in life. It was pretty clear that Bloomington – a city of 80,000 and home to Indiana University – didn’t have what they wanted.

“We just started thinking of places to go – something different, something new. By the end of the night we were all just chanting Austin. We wanted to go to Austin. We were all about Austin,” says Livingston.

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FILED UNDER: Communities, Industry, Jobs, Your Story, Austin, Bloomington, economy, Indiana, jobs, manufacturing, Midwest Migration, music, Public Insight Network, Your Story
February 20, 2012 | 2:12 PM | By Meg Cramer

A Detroit Arab-American Who Was “Made By Motown”

Jeff Karoub writes:

I’m half-Arab, but maybe I should best be described as a Detroit Arab-American, because this is the place that helped to shape my family and my family helped shape.

Like any family of mixed ancestry, traditions have been blended and blunted, but being in a place with such a large, diverse population with roots in the Middle East has allowed us to keep things like the food front-and-center in our lives.

I’m grateful for being part of a family that is open to many cultural and religious traditions and I think we are stronger for it.

As my family’s 100th anniversary in the U.S. approached, I thought of its contribution to this place. My grandfather worked at Ford while he served as a Muslim minister and Arab-Muslim newspaper publisher. My father played French horn for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and so many classic Motown records.

All of it inspired a song I recently wrote called “Made by Motown.”

You can listen to Jeff’s song here.

FILED UNDER: Communities, Your Story, Arab-American, Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Ford Motor Company, motown, music, Your Family Story
February 15, 2012 | 9:21 AM | By Sarah Alvarez

How Much of Midwestern Culture Comes From Somewhere Else?

Changing Gears just wrapped up our Midwest Migration series. The project documented the stories of people who left the Midwest in search of economic opportunity.

Now, we’re exploring stories of people who came into the region from other places. We’re looking for stories of how these traditions change and shape the identity of families, communities and cities. You can send in your recipes, traditions, family trees, usic and stories and become a part of the project.

Brigitte Kirchgatterer from Forest View, Illinois shared some of her traditions, and the photo at left. Her mother immigrated from Fulda, Germany and her Father from Volklamarkt, Austria. They met in Chicago. Kirchgatterer says that one of her favorite traditions is celebrating with Krampus around Christmastime. But, she says the tradition hasn’t always translated to America.

“It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to explain to a non-Austrian in my entire life.” said Kichgatterer. “In fact, my kindergarten teacher in 1981 was so concerned about the “tall tales” I was telling after Christmas break she called my Mom about it saying,’Your daughter said the Devil comes to your house for Christmas?’ Only to learn it was all true!”
Share your traditions with the Your Family Story project here.

 

FILED UNDER: News, Your Story, Chicago, Midwest, music, recipes, traditions, Your Family Story
October 19, 2011 | 5:00 AM | By Dan Bobkoff

Cleveland’s Music Industry Generates Dollars, but Few Jobs

Back in April, we did a story on the untapped potential in the Midwest’s music industry. Today, we have a better sense of the state of Cleveland’s music industry. For the first time, researchers have conducted a comprehensive study on employment and spending in the sector.

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First, the economic impact number: $840 million. That’s how much the study says the music industry contributes to the Cleveland area economy.

But that impact comes from relatively few workers. In Northeast Ohio, about 6000 people work in the music industry. That includes everything from orchestras to record shops. In Cuyahoga County just 2700 work in music. That’s less than half a percent of the workforce.

“We weren’t entirely surprised,” says Kristin Puch, research manager at the Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. That organization advocates for the industry and conducted the study.

“It’s really quite remarkable how small but mighty the industry really is,” she said.

Puch says there’s a lot more potential here. Cleveland has a music reputation: for its Rock and Roll legacy and the Cleveland Orchestra. And, she thinks the music scene could benefit more from the region’s traditional industries: manufacturing and healthcare. Making musical instruments and music therapy are two areas for growth, she says.

The study is considered the first comprehensive look at the industry.  It used a combination of surveys and labor data. And, while the total employment numbers are tiny, the report found that the music industry’s employment was actually more stable than the workforce on the whole.

 

FILED UNDER: Communities, Jobs, Cleveland, cpac, jobs, Midwest, music
June 13, 2011 | 11:38 AM | By Micki Maynard

Detroit Artists In The Spotlight in Chicago

Ask Detroiters to list their favorite musicians and you’ll hear names from Motown to classical music,

Detroit in the Chicago Spotlight

hip-hop to folk. And there’s no doubt that the music business has been an economic ambassador for the Motor City. Now some of Detroit’s notable artists are about to take the stage in Chicago where the Chicago Symphony Orchestra usually performs. On Friday night, the Auditorium Theater will host a tribute to the music of Detroit, as part of its United Sounds of America series. The bill includes singer/guitarist Marshall Crenshaw, violinist Regina Carter, soul singer Bettye LeVette and trumpeter Marcus Belgrave.

Sunday night’s concert in the series was a tribute to New Orleans, whose musicians have many ties to Chicago (think Louis Armstrong and the New Orleans Rhythm Kings).

Wendell Pierce, center, with New Orleans musicians

The night featured the Rebirth Brass Band, Donald Harrison, several members of the Andrews family, and was hosted by Wendell Pierce, the New Orleans born actor who starred in the HBO series The Wire and currently appears in Treme. More than one parasol was lifted and hankies were waved as the Chicago audience spent most of the night on its feet.

Can Detroit give New Orleans a run for its musical money? Which Detroit artists are on your iPod? We’d love to compile a Detroit music playlist. Post your nominations.

FILED UNDER: Communities, Detroit, music
May 6, 2011 | 12:19 PM | By Ida Lieszkovszky

Rock Hall Event Wrap Up: Cleveland Still Rocks. It Just Needs An Audience

 

The panelists, from left to right: Alex Bevan, Cindy Barber, Karen Gahl-Mill and Terry Stewart. Micki Maynard hosts the panel from the far right. Photo by Ron Dustman.

Earlier this week, Changing Gears teamed up with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland to present “Living for the City: Reinventing the Region with Music and the Arts.” Changing Gears senior editor Micki Maynard hosted a panel of local experts in the music business, representing every facet of the industry.

One of the prominent themes of the discussion was that Cleveland does have a vibrant and active music scene.

“But we’ve had a loss of population, a loss of corporations, a loss of revenues and disposable income,” said Rock Hall C.E.O Terry Steward. “So we have to figure out: how do we repurpose ourselves into a new kind of music place.”

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FILED UNDER: Communities, News, Cleveland, Living for the City, music, Ohio, Rock Hall
May 3, 2011 | 6:00 AM | By Ida Lieszkovszky

More Music! Your Midwest Nominations

Kanye West performing at SXSW 2011. Photo by David Wolf via Flickr.

We asked, and you answered. Here are more of your nominations for the Best from the Midwest. Any current band or performer with Midwest roots is eligible. (More suggestions? Post them in Comments.)

From Chicago and Illinois:

Kanye West is from Chicago, Illinois. He’s already received 14 Grammy awards, and often asserts that he deserves even more.

Rapper Common is also from Chicago and also has a couple of Grammy awards under his belt, as is Lupe Fiasco.

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FILED UNDER: Communities, News, Bob Seger, John Mellencamp, John Prine, Lupe Fiasco, music, Nine Inch Nails, Prince, Steve Goodman, Ted Nugent, The Waitresses