How Steve Popovich & Cleveland International Records Changed Rock n’ Roll

Storytellers: Steve Popovich Jr., John Gorman, Dennis Terez, and Scott Orille

 
 
 
 

Doors open at 5:00pm, with the storytelling beginning promptly at 7:00pm

• Weekly series combining great food with great stories about Cleveland’s past
• FREE ADMISSION – NO COVER CHARGE
• In addition to our regular menu, we will be offering affordable specials on these nights

Story topic this week…

How Steve Popovich & Cleveland International Records changed Rock n’ Roll
Steve Popovich and Cleveland International Records didn’t just make music history – they changed the sound of rock n’ roll forever. With an unmatched ear for talent and the courage to take risks, Popovich championed artists the industry had overlooked, most famously giving Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell its first big break. This storyteller night brings that legacy to life through the voices of Steve Popovich Jr., John Gorman, Dennis Terez, and Scott Orille. Together, they’ll share powerful stories of how a Cleveland-born label became a launchpad for groundbreaking acts, blending rock, soul, and heartland grit in a way that reshaped the music world. It’s an inside look at the passion, risks, and relentless belief that turned underdogs into icons and cemented Cleveland’s place in rock industry.

Steve Popovich Jr. Bio

Steve Popovich Jr. grew up – literally – in the entertainment business. Popovich is the son of music producer and promoter Steve Popovich, Sr. who received many industry awards for his work for Columbia, CBS and Polygram Records in the 1970s and 1980s, including six Grammy nominations, with two wins, for label and/or co-producer.

While in high school, Popovich worked for his father at Cleveland International and many of the acts his father promoted became family friends, including Meat Loaf and Steve Van Zandt. Van Zandt now sits on the board of Steve Popovich Legacy Foundation. The Foundation was started to preserve and promote the arts. It’s first project has been the creation of a music scholarship at Cuyahoga Community College.

Following in his father’s footsteps into the music business, yet taking his own path, Steve Popovich, Jr. worked for many years as a Producer of Specialty Programming/Outlaw Country for Sirius Radio. He also started his own business, Wrecking Ball Entertainment.

After his father passed away in 2011, it took eight years to close out the estate and Popovich has chosen to relaunch the Cleveland International label in his father’s honor. He has started the label relaunch with the release of a remastered Cleveland Rocks, a compilation of artists from the label’s glory years in the 1970s and originally brought together in 1995. The album contains songs like Meat Loaf’s “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” and Ronnie Spector and the E Street Band’s “Say Goodbye to Hollywood.”
 

John Gorman Bio

John Gorman began his broadcasting career operating a pirate radio station from the attic of his family’s South Boston home in 1962. In 1973 he moved to Cleveland to join WMMS, a small, free-form FM station which he would help turn into one of the most popular and influential rock stations in the country. Following his 13 years at WMMS and WHK, Gorman started WNCX/Cleveland. He formed a national consultancy for radio stations and program syndicators before joining WMJI/Cleveland and taking them to the top in ratings and revenue. He became Vice President of Programming for their parent company, OmniAmerica’s radio chain. In 2007, Gorman’s book, The Buzzard, a memoir of his years with WMMS was released, which became a regional number one bestselling book. In 2014, Gorman formed WOW Media, with the intent of broadcasting radio on the Internet. The following year, Gorman debuted his first station, oWOW, an adult contemporary rock station (billed as “Timeless Rock” for the 45-plus demographic), which had a six-year run but ceased broadcasting due to advertising losses during the pandemic. Gorman is currently working on Gray Panther Media, a non-profit online broadcast service for seniors.
 

Dennis Terez Bio

Dennis Terez presently serves on the Criminal Justice Act panels for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In that role, he works as a solo practitioner doing exclusively appointment work on behalf of indigent parties in litigation. Previously, he served as an assistant federal public defender and then as chief defender for the Northern District of Ohio and as acting chief defender for the Southern District of Ohio. Mr. Terez is also an adjunct faculty member at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Law where he created a criminal pretrial practice course. He held a similar appointment with the University of Michigan Law School where he created a federal appellate litigation clinic and an advanced appellate practice seminar. Prior to his federal appointments, Mr. Terez was a partner with the international law firm of Squire, Sanders and Dempsey L.L.P. (now Squire Patton Boggs) where he worked as a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice, Technology and Intellectual Property, Business Litigation, and Bankruptcy Practice groups. Prior to his work in Ohio, he was an associate at the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton and of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, L.L.P. He clerked for the late Chief Judge Frank J. Battisti, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, and for the late Magistrate Judge William H. Baughman, Jr. of that same court.

Mr. Terez earned a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 1980 where he was valedictorian, and studied abroad as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Bonn’s Juristische Fakultät from 1981 to 1982. He earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, magnum cum laude, in 1985 where he was an articles editor of the Michigan Yearbook of International Legal Studies. He recently completed an MBA and a master’s degree in finance at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management.

Mr. Terez’s publications include the forms volume for a multi-volume treatise on Ohio civil practice, a book on Ohio statutory criminal charges, and articles in numerous journals, law reviews, and news magazines, including Notre Dame Journal of Legislation, Case Western Reserve Law Review, Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law, Baylor Law Review, National Law Journal, Ohio Lawyer, and Crain’s Cleveland Business. He also co-authored a case study on Tesla for the Ivey Business School, Western University in London Canada.

Scott Orille Bio

Scott Orille is a 1998 graduate of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University and a partner with the law firm of Gembala, McLaughlin & Pecora, LPA. Scott is a driven and determined advocate for his clients. He has more than 25 years experience representing clients in arbitration proceedings and in courtrooms throughout the country and on both sides of the docket in a broad range of complex litigation matters, shareholder and breach of fiduciary duty disputes, contract disputes, and land-use matters. Outside of the courtroom Scott represents clients in commercial and corporate transactions, real estate transactions, and corporate governance matters. Scott and his family reside in Avon Lake, Ohio where he has for many years proudly served his community in capacities such as the past Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, as a Planning Commissioner, and a member of the Community Reinvestment Area Housing Council.

The goal of the Cleveland Stories Dinner Party is to bring to life some of the fun, interesting stories about Cleveland’s past – from sports, to rock ‘n roll, to Millionaire’s Row, — the series will focus on tidbits from Cleveland’s past that will really thrill the audience. The Music Box is presenting this series in partnership with the Western Reserve Historical Society’s new Cleveland History Center. We think the Cleveland History Center is one of the most important museums in Cleveland. An unknown gem that Clevelanders should know more about, and support. It is the only museum in Cleveland dedicated to preserving and documenting the history of Cleveland. The Cleveland History Center includes two mansions, the Crawford Auto Aviation Museum, Chisholm Halle Costume Wing, Research Library, Kidzibits Hands-On Gallery, rotating exhibitions, and the Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel.

See all Cleveland Stories dates here.