21 March 1952: This Day in History: Rock & Roll and Anniversaries

As most Clevelanders know, the term “rock n’ roll” began right here, on the Alan Freed Show on WJW-AM radio.  Freed’s nickname was “Moondog” and his followers were known as “moondoggers”.  On this date in history, the very first rock music concert, The Moondog Coronation Ball, was held at Cleveland Arena. 

Sadly, the concert ended before it really began.  You see, while Freed was the only one promoting the concert (and doing so primarily via his radio show), someone was busy printing counterfeit tickets to the show.  Freed originally printed 7,000 tickets for the 10,000 seat venue, and when they immediately sold out, he printed another 2,000.  A day later, those tickets were gone as well.  On the night of the show, 30,000 people crammed the interior of the arena – with another 15,000 outside, trying to push their way in.

As Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams was performing the first show of the night, the fire marshal shut the place down.  With windows breaking, concertgoers dancing in (at the time) ”suggestive” ways, rock n’ roll was born – along with its reputation for the irreverent and unholy.  They never even got to hear The Rockin’ Highlanders, Tiny Grimes or the Dominoes.

It’s no small wonder today is regarded by most as the birthdate of rock n’ roll, nor should it be a surprise that Freed was in the very first class of inductees to our very own Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  I’m sure we’re all glad he didn’t follow his original course of Mechanical Engineering at The Ohio State University.

You can find an incredible “genealogy chart” of the history of Pop/Rock music here.  Isn’t that fun?  Here are some more links of fun or unique genealogy charts that I have come across:

http://www.ancestor-circles.com

http://www.ancestryprinting.com

http://genealogy.about.com/library/nrelationshipchart.htm

http://www.thetreemaker.com/family-tree-printing.html

http://www.genealogysearch.org/free/forms.html

(p.s.  On this day in Ohio history 1992, another incredible thing happened:  I married the greatest guy in the world. We met at that same magical university Freed attended, and he’s been rocking my world ever since.  Love you, sweetheart.)

(p.s.s. You can get tickets to your very own Moondog Coronation Ball scheduled for this coming weekend here.