Joe Walsh in Kent, Ohio

- by Jason Prufer

One of the great rockers to break out of Kent, Ohio is the legendary Joe Walsh. While Joe's career is well documented as a solo artist, with the James Gang and with the Eagles his early days rockin' in Kent, Ohio have long been reduced to legend, tales and semi-credible stories with very few actual prime sources of his Kent days surviving the past half-century. Even those artifacts that did survive only did so by being buried in old newspapers and private collections. What I am providing here is a list with links included of all known (mostly prime sourced) documentation detailing Joe Walsh's relationship to Kent, Ohio. This is likely not complete but it is every single piece that I am aware of and is the most comprehensive list of this kind of material ever put together. This list is basically in chronological order starting in 1966:

Daily Kent Stater photo collage showing
The James Gang in Kent State's Eastway
Cafeteria on Friday, January 17, 1969.

Photos exist in a private collection showing Joe in his first major local Kent band the Measles throughout 1966 and 1967. Photos in this collection from this period show the group at the Fifth Quarter (later McNasty's and now currently the site of Bricco and the Landmark on South Depeyster Street.) along with photos showing Joe with the Measles out at the KSU Airport, eating at Lugians (currently Rockne's on East Main) and performing a show over the lunch hour behind Engleman Hall at Kent State on the old commons. Most of these photos of Joe with the Measles have never surfaced online or in any publication but they might soon. The photos are in a collection documenting the earliest known band scene in Kent.

The earliest piece of Joe Walsh I found in any kind of newspaper is this Daily Kent Stater ad advertising a performance by The Measles for Monday, February 21, 1966 in the Kent State University Student Union which is now known as Oscar Ritchie Hall and houses the Department of Pan African Studies.

The next trace of Joe Walsh in Kent pops up a year later in this Daily Kent Stater ad from February 1967 for the Measles and the Styx (not that Styx) opening for the Dovells at the Fifth Quarter on Depeyster Street. All credible sources state that Joe Walsh quit the Measles in March of 1967 so he was definitely in the band on this night.

An article about Joe Walsh and the Measles with a lot of Kent content was written recently by Chas Madonio and published on KentOhio.net. You can read that here.

Photos taken in spring 1967 shown here and here taken by Gerry Simon show Joe Walsh, Richard Underwood, Don Goldthwaite and others from the set of the Richard Myer's film Akran. The photos were taken on one of the upper corner floors of the old Kent Block which burned down in 1972 and was across the street from where the Zephyr is now. Gerry Simon also took several other photos in this period showing Joe Walsh playing with Bob and Don Goldthwaite out at a long gone venue near 261 called The Barn.

Daily Kent Stater photo showing
Dale Peters and Joe Walsh of The
James Gang in Kent State's Memorial
Gym on Saturday, April  4, 1970.

On October 4, 1968 the Daily Kent Stater ran this article written by Fred Tribuzzo about the up-and-coming James Gang. Fred Tribuzzo who wrote the article says he distinctly remembers interviewing drummer Jim Fox at the Unitarian Church on Gougler Street here in Kent. He also says he's pretty positive that's where the photo that accompanies the piece was taken.

A recording of the James Gang surfaced online not too long ago that was supposedly recorded in late 1968 at Kent State. Some of the info on this is vague and I have not personally been able to authenticate the recording but you can hear it here. Information about the recording is included with the track and if anyone has any more info on this I'd love to hear from you.

This image surfaced recently dated December 1968 from the Kent Kove shows then former Measle Richard Underwood playing drums during a jam with Joe Walsh. Joe can be seen in the photo with the white guitar strap.

On Friday, January 17, 1969 the James Gang played to a packed room in Kent State's Eastway Cafeteria. The Stater ran a terrific photo spread of the event which you can see here. The photo essay was compiled by Paul Tople who later would take some dramatic photos of the shootings on May 4, 1970.

In early 1969 the James Gang had a Thursday and Sunday night residency at JB's on North Water Street. I am not sure how long that lasted but you can check the old ad for this from the Daily Kent Stater here.

In March of 1969 the first James Gang record Yer' Album was released with the cover art showing an iconic view of downtown Kent. You can listen to the entire album here. It's great!

Scene Magazine advertisement for Joe Walsh in concert
Thursday, March 13, 1975 in Kent State's Memorial Gym.

A photo from JB's in 1969 taken by Richard Underwood surfaced recently on Facebook showing Fred Weber (later of DEVO) and Joe Walsh fronting the James Gang.

A series of photos exist in a private collection showing Joe Walsh performing with the James Gang at JB's from early 1969.

This detailed (though incomplete) list of known James Gang performances show several dates in 1969 putting Joe at Fred Fuller Park, a Kent State peace march and at the Electric Barn. Anyone have more details about the Electric Barn? Is it the same as The Barn?

The Daily Kent Stater ran this blurb for a Friday, October 31, 1969 solo acoustic Joe Walsh performance at the Yellow Unicorn. The Yellow Unicorn was a coffee house located in the basement of the Unitarian Church which is still located at 228 Gougler Ave.

On Saturday, April 4, 1970 the James Gang played in Kent State's Memorial Gym on a multi-band bill as part of the "Spring Electric Rock Concert" Click here to see several images from this performance compiled from the Daily Kent Stater and the Chestnut Burr including a review, and some great photos from the night.

Daily Kent Stater photo of Joe Walsh at Kent
State's Dix Stadium on Saturday, October 4, 1986
for KSU's Homecoming football game.

These odd photos of Joe Walsh turned up on Ebay recently purporting to be from a concert in Kent from 1971. (Update: see comments below)

Stories float around that the photo on the back cover of James Gang Rides Again was taken either out on Meloy Road or near Towner's Woods but I have never positively had this substantiated.

On Wednesday, July 18, 1973 Joe Walsh and Barnstorm performed in the KSU Student Center Ballroom. Here is the Scene Magazine advertisement for the show. A handful of photos exist of this show in a private collection.

A circa 1973 photo exists in a private collection showing Joe hanging out at the Deck which is now the location of the Secret Cellar.

On Thursday, March 13, 1975 Joe Walsh came back to Kent as a bonafide rock star and sold out the Memorial Gym which brought with it a lot of publicity and fanfare. Click here to see the original advertisement for this show and click here to read the excellent interview Joe gave to the Daily Kent Stater at the time. The Chestnut Burr also ran this photo from the show. Many more photos of this show exist in at least one known private collection.

A photo taken of Bob Diss and Joe Walsh at an early 80's Kent reunion surfaced on a Facebook Kent group some time back. Photo likely taken in Twin Lakes.

Joe Walsh receiving an honorary doctorate degree in
music from Kent State on Saturday, December 15, 2001.

In the fall of 1986 Joe Walsh came back to Kent for a much publicized concert in the Memorial Gym that was tied into Kent State's Homecoming that year. Joe was on hand for the football game, he was grand marshal for the homecoming parade, he attended a press conference and much more. Click here, here, here, here, here and here to see the original newspaper articles and some period photos that document these events.

Also don't miss this hilarious radio broadcast from WMMS-FM with Joe Walsh in the KSU Student Center from that Friday, October 3, 1986 as part of the promotion for his homecoming concert.

On Saturday, December 15, 2001 Kent State University gave Joe an honorary doctorate degree in music. Click here to see the Record-Courier's coverage of this event.

If anyone has any more information than this I would love to hear from you. I'd love to see more photos, hear more recordings or anything that relates to Joe Walsh in Kent. It's been almost 13 years since anyone has had any local Joe sightings and I hope he comes back to town again for some kind of event or to just get back to his roots. In closing I will leave you with some ROCKIN' Joe Walsh.