The Visual Glory Of Rock And Roll

If you were a teenager in the 1970s, you remember the music. Rock and roll was blasting from cars, in living rooms and at parties. With no earbuds, nobody had a private soundtrack. Rock music was part of the culture, a communal experience. The high point of that culture was the live concert, and Cleveland knew how to put on a show.

If you want to relive those heady days of rock and roll or see a photographer whose work spans decades of live shows in Cleveland, join Janet Macoska and Peter Chakerian in the Main Library Auditorium on Thursday, January 17, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. when they present their book, “All Access Cleveland: The Rock and Roll Photography of Janet Macoska.”

At the age of twelve, Macoska sold a photo of Sonny and Cher taken with her dad’s box camera to Teen Scene magazine. She was answering fan mail at radio station WKYC when the duo came in for an interview, and Macoska seized her moment. She’s been seizing moments ever since, using her love of music and photography to cover live shows in Cleveland for over forty years. With a 35mm Minolta, Macoska started photographing shows in 1974, a time she says was remarkable for its open access to performers. No press pass was necessary; she simply took her camera into the show, pushed her way to the front and took as many photos as she wanted.

“All Access Cleveland” is the spectacular result of that access, with 340 photos of rock superstars and other celebrities, posing and performing. Her work is in the Smithsonian, the Grammy Museum and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; it appears on album covers and in the homes of musicians. Macoska’s writing partner, Peter Chakerian, first met her at a concert in 1989, after he’d been admiring her photos for years. As a journalist covering rock and roll in Cleveland, Chakerian has been featured in dozens of publications across the country and is a regular contributor to The Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com.

Join these journalists on January 17, 2019 at the Lakewood Main Library as they talk about their decades of covering legendary rock performers in Cleveland. Books will be available for sale and signing at the event.

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Volume 15, Issue 1, Posted 5:06 PM, 01.08.2019