Sound into Images: Cleveland Rock Photographers Share Stories

Storytellers: Anastasia Pantsios, Jim Lanza, and Karen Novak

 
 
 
 

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…

Sound into Images: Cleveland Rock Photographers Share Stories
Anastasia Pantsios, Jim Lanza, and Karen Novak are three Cleveland music lovers who turned their passion into art. Each took a camera to capture their favorite artists in performance, offering glimpses of diverse music scenes. Anastasia shot the top stars such as Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, and Prince, while also creating an in-depth visual archive of Cleveland musicians from the ’70s through today. Jim’s beat was the underground and punk scene, and he toured extensively with two acts that broke out of NE Ohio, Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson. Karen documented the vibrant post-Nirvana ’90s music scene that centered around the Euclid Tavern, in images that reflected the intensity of the music. Join them as they share what it was like to be in the photo pit or the mosh pit of venues ranging from tiny clubs to the arenas.
 

Anastasia Pantsios Bio

Anastasia Pantsios began photographing rock concerts while in school at Case Western Reserve and became Cleveland’s premiere music photographer by the late 1970s, shooting artists such as David Bowie, Kiss, The Who, Frank Zappa, U2, Michael Stanley, Stevie Nicks, and Bruce Springsteen. Her work appeared in books, album covers, TV shows, ads, tour programs and publications, including Rolling Stone, Spin, Creem, Hit Parader, Circus, The New York Times, Village Voice, USA Today and The Plain Dealer. In addition, she was the go-to photographer for Northeast Ohio musicians. Her work is the definitive photo archive of the Northeast Ohio music scene from the 1970s on, encompassing local acts and events, and international touring acts who performed in the area. She has been in more than four dozen exhibitions, including Girls to the Front: 40 Years of Women in Rock at the Rock Hall in 2017. A show of both her classic and current work is on view at BAYarts Huntington Gallery April 19-June 3.

In addition, she was photographer for the Cleveland Opera from 1987-1995, shot professional wrestling shows across the country for national wrestling publications and promotions from 1985-1992, and has documented the Cleveland burlesque scene since 2011. She did food, news, and concert photography for Scene and the Free Times from 2003-2012. She’s currently editor of CoolCleveland.com where she produces photostreams of events around northeast Ohio.
 

Jim Lanza Bio

Jim Lanza started taking his camera to concerts as a fan before diving in deeper. His first concert was the 1979 World Series of Rock with Thin Lizzay and AC/DC at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. In the ’80s, he mostly focused on obscure college radio favorites. But eventually, his hobby turned into a paying gig. In 1995, he toured the world with Nine Inch Nails, who shared the bill with artists such as David Bowie, Helmet, and the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow. In 1997 he was asked to document the first major Marilyn Manson tour, a two-year trip around the world. He came home, met, and married his wife Rose and focused on travel photography.


Recently, he unearthed his old negatives, shot 30-45 years ago and went back into the darkroom for the first time in 35 years to produce the work on view April 12-May 10 at Sixty Bowls Gallery in Ohio City’s Hingetown neighborhood for his first show since 1999, called Fans and Cameras. “My photographs may not be pretty to some. The images capture a fan’s perspective in the crowd; in the middle of what, at times, felt like a battlefield. I left the scratches, blurs, and dust in my work.”
 

Karen Novak Bio

“Two of my great loves in life are rock’n’roll and photography,” says photographer Karen Novak. She pursued her dream, attending the Cleveland Institute of Art as a photography major. I photographed the Cleveland music scene in such venues as the old Peabody’s Down Under, the Grog Shop, and the Euclid Tavern, shooting both local and national acts such as Queens of the Stone Age, Mastodon, and Green Day, often capturing them in small clubs before they got big. Her work has been used as cover art for numerous bands and has been published in newspapers, books, magazines, and shown in galleries in Cleveland, New York, Chicago, California, and Texas. Her work has been in shows at the Busta Gallery and Foothill Galleries. She says, “My work is more than simple documentation; I seek to capture the raw energy of live rock music and present it true to the visions of the artists.”
 
 
 
 

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.