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Book unearths Kent’s impressive rock history
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
KENT
Kent is no ordinary place.
The only real college town in northeast Ohio, it has always been a lightning rod for what is in the air.
Ever since the infamous events of May 4, 1970, when National Guardsmen shot and killed four students while quelling a war protest, the city’s history has been dominated by that day.
But there is another side of Kent history with roots in that era, a side that has been overshadowed and almost lost to history.
In the 1960s and ’70s, and into the ’90s, Kent was a rock ’n’ roll hot spot. Some of the biggest bands in the world played there, while the local music scene nurtured its own stars.
Jason Prufer, a lifelong resident of Kent and a graduate of Kent State University, has compiled a book that covers the college town’s impressive – and previously unappreciated – rock history.
Titled “Small town, Big Music: The Outsized Influence of Kent, Ohio, on the History of Rock and Roll,” the book, which was published this year, elevates the stories of eyewitnesses into gospel.
The oversized hardbound book, printed on heavy stock, is a thorough scrapbook of first-person accounts, reviews from the student newspaper, photos and concert posters, set forth chronologically and tied together with the author’s narrative.
“When people think about Kent, it’s all about May 4,” said Prufer. “There have been 30 books written about it, and it blacked out all of this rock history. All of the stories [that I grew up hearing] were on the cusp of being completely erased or forgotten because the people who were there are now over 70 years old. I wanted to make sure that what happened remains preserved.”
Prufer, who has worked at the KSU library for 20 years, began his research nine years ago by tracking down and interviewing folks who were part of the scene. Once he scratched the surface, the stories poured out, and Prufer lets these eyewitnesses share their memories in their own words.
“I wasn’t there,” said Prufer, who is 44, “so why would I want to rewrite someone else’s words? I wanted their words to carry forward.”
The interview subjects, he discovered, were eager to talk about those glory days, like they had been waiting for years for someone to ask.
“I would ask them about specific dates,” said Prufer, who probed for details and corroboration. “I would ask ‘who was with you’ and then I would talk to those people. The more they talked, the more excited and wide-eyed they got.”
As his research continued, Prufer would occasionally post on Facebook an old article or photo he found and wait for the “I was there” responses to roll in.
While he knew of the major concerts that played at KSU, the full scope of the scene surprised the author.
“I started researching old copies of The Kent Stater [the student newspaper] and that’s when I started to get blown away,” said Prufer. “I went looking for the night Pink Floyd performed, and then Stevie Wonder, and then I couldn’t believe the volume of what I found. I figured out who put on these shows and contacted them, and that’s where a lot of the book came about.”
Other acts that played at the university in their heyday include Paul Simon, Elton John, the Clash, Frank Zappa, James Taylor, Yes, Santana, Roxy Music, the Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The book also contains many vignettes about rockers who played Kent before they were famous, including Bruce Springsteen – who attended an after-show party at a North DePeyster Street apartment – and also Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders and the Replacements.
While the college town hosted major bands, the other side of the coin was the homegrown talent that came out of its bar scene, including the likes of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees DEVO.
But most notable of these was Joe Walsh, whose career started on the KSU campus with his band the Measles and culminated in his 1998 induction in the Rock Hall of Fame as a member of the Eagles.
Walsh, in fact, wrote the foreword to the book.
The rocker became aware of it during a recent visit to the KSU library to do research for a documentary on May 4 that he is working on. That’s when Prufer showed him the manuscript for his book.
“As soon as he saw it, he became smitten with it,” said Prufer, “and offered to write the foreword.”
In his statement, Walsh describes his stint in Kent as “a magical time.”
At A GLANCE
What: “Small Town, Big Music” by Jason Prufer
Details: Published by Kent State University Press; 216 pages; $29.95; order at kentstateuniversitypress.com
Book signing: 7 to 8:30 p.m Wednesday at Kent Free Library, 312 W. Main St.