I made a horrible miscalculation while formulating the parameters of the “Song of Toledo” song writing contest; I believed a top five or 10 could contain the highest-quality and most affecting entries. That’s not a mistake I will make next year.

With roughly one month from announcement to deadline, I did not expect to be overwhelmed by enough entries to make choosing a top five competitive; if we had received as many as 20 entries, I would have been satisfied. Shame on me.

More than 55 local musicians, and one very national one, sent in music and lyrics for the first year of the contest, and the resulting collection of music offers a stunning, revelatory glimpse into our local music scene.

I am writing this before the votes have been tallied, and as I have only one vote, my comments here cannot affect the contest outcome.

When Toledo Free Press and FOX Toledo agreed to partner on this contest, which was inspired by Robert Grebe and his conviction that the momentum from our earlier “Legacy: Songs in the Key of Toledo” preservation project should be channeled into the current scene, no one could have anticipated the flood of creativity that would be unleashed.

In addition to learning not to underestimate the legion of T-Town troubadours, I have gained some other valuable knowledge from the contest.

For one thing, it’s easy to forget just how much pride people who live in Toledo carry about the city’s past, present and future. Because so much time and conversation is spent by media and political types on the city’s controversies and problems, and because so few of those commentators live in the city full time, it is easy to forget that real people are perfectly content with their lives and are happy to live them in Toledo.

It’s not that the issues fretted over by pundits don’t affect these folks; it’s that normal people maintain a perspective much healthier and contextualized than the leaders of policy and opinion.

Folks like me spend a lot of energy trying to influence Toledo’s real citizens, but I’m learning the influence should flow equally back my way. That sounds elitist, but I mean that as epiphany, not condescension.

Several of the songs entered in the contest reflect this grounded, practical outlook.

Candice Coleman’s entry, “City on the Miami,” is an achingly sung ballad about Jimmy, who grows up in the North End, goes to war, marries a woman he meets at Swayne Field, lives his life and is laid to rest at Woodlawn. It’s an amazing song, a fragile epic, carefully and lovingly crafted, and if city leaders could bottle the majesty and wisdom in Coleman’s lyrics, Toledo would be on its way to recovery in a week.

Another great entry, Kyle White’s “Glass Cities,” says in about four minutes what we’ve been trying to say with our Brain Gains series for two years: “And they say, what are you still doing here?” White sings with amusement. She responds, “And I say I’m happy/I don’t think my life turned out so badly/And I won’t throw stones at glass cities.”

Other favorites for me include the light bluegrass of “Hometown Toledo” by Deepwater Bluegrass, the hyper/funny/sly “Frogtown Stomp” by Highbinder and the pop-inflected jam “Oh, Toledo,” by Purpose, which has a hook in its chorus that settles in your brain as smoothly as a Smokey Robinson couplet.

There were entries by legends Ragtime Rick, Eddie Boggs and Randy Sparks, whose “Saturday Night in Toledo Ohio” in part inspired our 18-months-and-counting musical projects. I laughed along with “Wholly Toledo” by Jonathan Downing and “Glass City (Kiss It)” by Randy Hiser. It took a few plays, but Empire Drift’s “A Good Place to Call Home” earned its place near the top of my list. Lead singer Dave Pfenning evokes Eddie Vedder, if Vedder had any sense of humor and sang about “T-Town hotties.”

The top 10 will be posted here, so you can hear for yourself what amazing musicians we have in Toledo. We are in the nascent stages of talks to make a two-CD set of the contest songs available, and we’re also talking to a local nonprofit agency about making a single CD for charity; both projects depend on artist approval and permission.

All of the contest sponsors thank each musician who took the time to create their unique works, who poured their hearts into testimonies of respect and pride into three or four minutes of melody and voice. We also thank the judges and sponsors — 106.5 FM The Zone, Columbia Gas of Ohio and Michigan International Speedway — whose time and aid were invaluable. Thanks also to Robert Russ, who helped put out a few fires.

Every one of the entries has something to offer; every one of the artists who wrote and recorded their love song to the city merges into a chorus of positive perspective.

Listening to three hours of songs about Toledo helps one temporarily forget mayors, recalls, budgets and all the troubles of the world. Those troubles do not disappear, but for four-minute slices, they take a back seat to joy, pride and love. That is music’s gift to these artists, and their gift to us.

Michael S. Miller is editor in chief of Toledo Free Press. Contact him at mmiller@toledofreepress.com.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Lighting The Fuse, Opinion.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.