Joshua Gunter, The Plain Dealer
Bassist Tony Quarles and his Discovery Band
Add Harmony to Weddings in Cleveland
Grant Segall, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Does Cleveland marry in style?
Clevelanders spend more and party hearty. Some clients throw the most extravagant weddings.We did a wedding where the whole bar was made of ice. I had another wedding where the bride brought in about 20 dancers from the cast of Riverdance and probably 10 bagpipers. She had 500 guests and spent $20,000 on her dress.
Do weddings ever go awry?
I haven't ever played a dull wedding. We did a wedding at a country club where the groom got caught making out with the bridesmaid in his car. We had a wedding where the bride told me absolutely no requests. But a guy bugged me all night to play "Superstition." Finally she said go ahead. The minute we started to play "Superstition," he stripped his clothes off and started streaking. The whole bridal party was chasing him up and down the hallways.
Got a more sentimental story?
I had a groom dance to "Wonderful World" with his grandmother, who was in a wheelchair.
Tell us about your band.
I offer a 10-piece band, a DJ and a cocktail pianist. My vocalist acts as master of ceremonies. We help clients put together a grand entrance. We do all their announcements for them. Executive Caterers does a salad march; we play it.
At the end of the night, we usually get everyone up to do "Hot Hot Hot," with a conga line. People leave having had a good time.
We accommodate customers in any way. We have allowed family and friends to come and sit in with the band. For a wedding at Kirtland Country Club, the bride requested the French anthem. We learned it. One time, a guy wrote a song. We learned it.
How's the local wedding food?
Every now and then, the brides offer the bands meals. Executive Caterers probably tops them all. I've enjoyed their filet and scampi.
LaMalfa Centre in Mentor puts on a great presentation, and the food is excellent. We've played there during New Year's Eve for several years. They have a great chicken marsala.
Does your band play other gigs besides weddings?
We do concerts regularly at Legacy Village and Vintage Ohio, the wine festival at Lake Farmpark. We have shared the stage with the Temptations, KC and the Sunshine Band, Little Richard and Nils Lofgren. We've been busy, busy, busy.
The band's well integrated. Do you make a point of that?
I always look for the best musicians I can find. Our band's business reaches all ethnicities.
How's Cleveland's music scene?
Cleveland has some of the best music and musicians of probably anywhere I've been in the country. I started a Facebook page called Cleveland Musicians. Just about every musician in Cleveland has signed on.
How'd you get into music?
I've been playing since probably the age of 14. My father was a jazz drummer, Wayne Quarles. There were numerous clubs in the '60s, and he played every night in Cleveland somewhere. Now he pays people in the casino in Las Vegas.
If Dad blew town, why'd you stay?
I've always liked Cleveland. I moved to California a few years ago, San Jose and San Francisco. They didn't really appeal to me. The music business was very competitive. I've always done better in Cleveland.
Tell us about your day jobs.
I managed the Cranwood depot for The Plain Dealer. Now I do day drives between states for PVS Chemicals. I went to Tri-C truck driving school.
Is Cleveland a good place to drive?
I don't think we could have it any better. Cleveland sits in the middle of major expressways. Twinsburg's where my warehouse is. I usually get there in 20 minutes from my home in the Heights.
Any challenges?
Different municipalities change the names of streets. And people tend to not realize the stopping distance needed for a tractor-trailer. They'll cut right in front of you.
Where do you eat with your fiancee and your son?
We go to Eat at Joe's for breakfast at Green and Mayfield. It has great omelets, and it's very affordable. Or Kalie's on Mayfield. They have great fried potatoes and pancakes.
Any favorites in the city?
Slyman's on St. Clair is my place for turkey reubens and corned beef sandwiches. I have to get two extra pieces of bread and make two sandwiches. I'll go to the Landmark on St. Clair. They have great pork chops. My upscale restaurant hands down: Hyde Park downtown. They've got the best steak.
So when will your own wedding bells chime?
We're getting married on June 22nd in Akron, at the Firestone mansion.
Since when's that a party center?
Her son rents there. We're having the wedding in the garden. My piano player and DJ are doing it. They're not even charging me.
Add Harmony to Weddings in Cleveland
Grant Segall, The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Does Cleveland marry in style?
Clevelanders spend more and party hearty. Some clients throw the most extravagant weddings.We did a wedding where the whole bar was made of ice. I had another wedding where the bride brought in about 20 dancers from the cast of Riverdance and probably 10 bagpipers. She had 500 guests and spent $20,000 on her dress.
Do weddings ever go awry?
I haven't ever played a dull wedding. We did a wedding at a country club where the groom got caught making out with the bridesmaid in his car. We had a wedding where the bride told me absolutely no requests. But a guy bugged me all night to play "Superstition." Finally she said go ahead. The minute we started to play "Superstition," he stripped his clothes off and started streaking. The whole bridal party was chasing him up and down the hallways.
Got a more sentimental story?
I had a groom dance to "Wonderful World" with his grandmother, who was in a wheelchair.
Tell us about your band.
I offer a 10-piece band, a DJ and a cocktail pianist. My vocalist acts as master of ceremonies. We help clients put together a grand entrance. We do all their announcements for them. Executive Caterers does a salad march; we play it.
At the end of the night, we usually get everyone up to do "Hot Hot Hot," with a conga line. People leave having had a good time.
We accommodate customers in any way. We have allowed family and friends to come and sit in with the band. For a wedding at Kirtland Country Club, the bride requested the French anthem. We learned it. One time, a guy wrote a song. We learned it.
How's the local wedding food?
Every now and then, the brides offer the bands meals. Executive Caterers probably tops them all. I've enjoyed their filet and scampi.
LaMalfa Centre in Mentor puts on a great presentation, and the food is excellent. We've played there during New Year's Eve for several years. They have a great chicken marsala.
Does your band play other gigs besides weddings?
We do concerts regularly at Legacy Village and Vintage Ohio, the wine festival at Lake Farmpark. We have shared the stage with the Temptations, KC and the Sunshine Band, Little Richard and Nils Lofgren. We've been busy, busy, busy.
The band's well integrated. Do you make a point of that?
I always look for the best musicians I can find. Our band's business reaches all ethnicities.
How's Cleveland's music scene?
Cleveland has some of the best music and musicians of probably anywhere I've been in the country. I started a Facebook page called Cleveland Musicians. Just about every musician in Cleveland has signed on.
How'd you get into music?
I've been playing since probably the age of 14. My father was a jazz drummer, Wayne Quarles. There were numerous clubs in the '60s, and he played every night in Cleveland somewhere. Now he pays people in the casino in Las Vegas.
If Dad blew town, why'd you stay?
I've always liked Cleveland. I moved to California a few years ago, San Jose and San Francisco. They didn't really appeal to me. The music business was very competitive. I've always done better in Cleveland.
Tell us about your day jobs.
I managed the Cranwood depot for The Plain Dealer. Now I do day drives between states for PVS Chemicals. I went to Tri-C truck driving school.
Is Cleveland a good place to drive?
I don't think we could have it any better. Cleveland sits in the middle of major expressways. Twinsburg's where my warehouse is. I usually get there in 20 minutes from my home in the Heights.
Any challenges?
Different municipalities change the names of streets. And people tend to not realize the stopping distance needed for a tractor-trailer. They'll cut right in front of you.
Where do you eat with your fiancee and your son?
We go to Eat at Joe's for breakfast at Green and Mayfield. It has great omelets, and it's very affordable. Or Kalie's on Mayfield. They have great fried potatoes and pancakes.
Any favorites in the city?
Slyman's on St. Clair is my place for turkey reubens and corned beef sandwiches. I have to get two extra pieces of bread and make two sandwiches. I'll go to the Landmark on St. Clair. They have great pork chops. My upscale restaurant hands down: Hyde Park downtown. They've got the best steak.
So when will your own wedding bells chime?
We're getting married on June 22nd in Akron, at the Firestone mansion.
Since when's that a party center?
Her son rents there. We're having the wedding in the garden. My piano player and DJ are doing it. They're not even charging me.
Here's A Violinist Who Really Strings Together a Living
by Bob Popyk, International Musician Magazine
In the March International Musician I did a column on finding interesting gigs. I had many responses and one that stuck out in particular was from Mary Beth Ions. Ions is a member of Local 4 (Cleveland, OH). She wrote : "I read your article in the International Musician with great interest. You invited us to send along stories about our lives as we creatively rethink our life's work in these changing musical times. I thought I would send along some info on my life. Being a brother in this, I know you will get a kick out of what I do. I simply could not imagine going in another direction since I have dedicated my life to music for so many years."
Well, I couldn't possibly put everything that Ions has done in one column. For more than 25 years she has been one of Cleveland's most active musicians. She plays in Playhouse Square productions of touring Broadways shows such as Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Showboat, South Pacific, and Titanic. She regularly provides back up music for performers like Mannheim Steamroller of Local 70-558 (Omaha, NE), Rod Stewart, Smokey Robinson, Yanni, Jewel and Josh Groban of Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA). Ions is the founding member of Amethyst, a popular string ensemble that adds elegance to parties, weddings, churches, synagogues, and high profile social events thorough out the year in Northeastern Ohio.
That is just for starters. What really got me is that Ions has also created an exciting one-woman program "Violin : Up Close and Personal." This presentation is just right for schools, retirement homes, and parties. Audiences travel on a journey through the ages from Bach to Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, Broadway, from country fiddle tunes to fiery gypsy music, even the use of the violin in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and for American Idol. Her calender is full. She works non-stop.
Here's what The Cleveland Press had to say : "Mary Beth Ions enjoys life as a violin soloist in a variety of venues. When not on stage, she loves the intimate elegance of "strolling" through private homes or gardens doing what she does best, entertaining, inspiring, uplifting, and bringing peace through the music of the violin. She has performed for many diverse venues from Giant Eagle grand openings to a Nestle event, where she played and discussed music for inspiration, teamwork, and motivation in the corporate world. She has joined the team of artists at Cleveland Clinic's Arts and Medicine Institute dedicated to the mission of inspiring and healing through the power of music."
Wow. Is that cool, or what? Sometimes she does three weddings a day on weekends, and the retirement communities use her continually through out the week.
Mary Beth said she once earned most of her keep performing in the pops orchestra, and the orchestras for the Cleveland Ballet and Opera Cleveland. The only professional ensemble whose members are employed full time and receive health and pension benefits (which freelancers don't) is the Cleveland Orchestra.
When symphonic work started to go away around 2008, she faced the music by contacting every retirement home in Rocky River and Westlake, Ohio to offer her solo services. Some of the activity directors she phoned were wary.
This is from an article written by Donald Rosenberg, published in Cleveland's "The Plain Dealer": "The first time she called, she was in the parking lot with her violin", says Lisa Harrington, lifestyle director at Westlake Village.
"She said, 'Come on out. I'll play for you.' Lisa thought "Who's this wackadoo?' I had to go to a meeting. I told her, "Let's talk later" Well, if she has that much chutzpah, I'm going to let her come in."
The response of the residents : "They a-dore her!" Harrington says. "It makes a difference with them on a spiritual and psychological level. The music makes them happy and makes them need less medication. She's just a miracle worker. We're so lucky."
Similar refrains are heard wherever Ions takes her fiddle and sequin blouses. At the Cleveland Clinic, she strolls through lobbies playing for patients, loved ones, and doctors on the way to surgery.
I called Ions after getting her e-mail. It was great to talk with her. She says there's still a demand for music if you're willing to search it out. I think what makes her so successful is that her repertoire is very broad. She's a great musician. Also, her personality is terrific. You can't help but like her. Another Cleveland paper writes "She's established herself with a career, and it should be a bit of a model for some of the musicians who are moaning that there's no work."
Ions says, "I think it comes down to one word : passion. It drives everything. The thing about passion is, you can't fake it and can't manufacture it, if you don't have it." Amen to that.
In the March International Musician I did a column on finding interesting gigs. I had many responses and one that stuck out in particular was from Mary Beth Ions. Ions is a member of Local 4 (Cleveland, OH). She wrote : "I read your article in the International Musician with great interest. You invited us to send along stories about our lives as we creatively rethink our life's work in these changing musical times. I thought I would send along some info on my life. Being a brother in this, I know you will get a kick out of what I do. I simply could not imagine going in another direction since I have dedicated my life to music for so many years."
Well, I couldn't possibly put everything that Ions has done in one column. For more than 25 years she has been one of Cleveland's most active musicians. She plays in Playhouse Square productions of touring Broadways shows such as Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Showboat, South Pacific, and Titanic. She regularly provides back up music for performers like Mannheim Steamroller of Local 70-558 (Omaha, NE), Rod Stewart, Smokey Robinson, Yanni, Jewel and Josh Groban of Local 47 (Los Angeles, CA). Ions is the founding member of Amethyst, a popular string ensemble that adds elegance to parties, weddings, churches, synagogues, and high profile social events thorough out the year in Northeastern Ohio.
That is just for starters. What really got me is that Ions has also created an exciting one-woman program "Violin : Up Close and Personal." This presentation is just right for schools, retirement homes, and parties. Audiences travel on a journey through the ages from Bach to Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, Broadway, from country fiddle tunes to fiery gypsy music, even the use of the violin in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and for American Idol. Her calender is full. She works non-stop.
Here's what The Cleveland Press had to say : "Mary Beth Ions enjoys life as a violin soloist in a variety of venues. When not on stage, she loves the intimate elegance of "strolling" through private homes or gardens doing what she does best, entertaining, inspiring, uplifting, and bringing peace through the music of the violin. She has performed for many diverse venues from Giant Eagle grand openings to a Nestle event, where she played and discussed music for inspiration, teamwork, and motivation in the corporate world. She has joined the team of artists at Cleveland Clinic's Arts and Medicine Institute dedicated to the mission of inspiring and healing through the power of music."
Wow. Is that cool, or what? Sometimes she does three weddings a day on weekends, and the retirement communities use her continually through out the week.
Mary Beth said she once earned most of her keep performing in the pops orchestra, and the orchestras for the Cleveland Ballet and Opera Cleveland. The only professional ensemble whose members are employed full time and receive health and pension benefits (which freelancers don't) is the Cleveland Orchestra.
When symphonic work started to go away around 2008, she faced the music by contacting every retirement home in Rocky River and Westlake, Ohio to offer her solo services. Some of the activity directors she phoned were wary.
This is from an article written by Donald Rosenberg, published in Cleveland's "The Plain Dealer": "The first time she called, she was in the parking lot with her violin", says Lisa Harrington, lifestyle director at Westlake Village.
"She said, 'Come on out. I'll play for you.' Lisa thought "Who's this wackadoo?' I had to go to a meeting. I told her, "Let's talk later" Well, if she has that much chutzpah, I'm going to let her come in."
The response of the residents : "They a-dore her!" Harrington says. "It makes a difference with them on a spiritual and psychological level. The music makes them happy and makes them need less medication. She's just a miracle worker. We're so lucky."
Similar refrains are heard wherever Ions takes her fiddle and sequin blouses. At the Cleveland Clinic, she strolls through lobbies playing for patients, loved ones, and doctors on the way to surgery.
I called Ions after getting her e-mail. It was great to talk with her. She says there's still a demand for music if you're willing to search it out. I think what makes her so successful is that her repertoire is very broad. She's a great musician. Also, her personality is terrific. You can't help but like her. Another Cleveland paper writes "She's established herself with a career, and it should be a bit of a model for some of the musicians who are moaning that there's no work."
Ions says, "I think it comes down to one word : passion. It drives everything. The thing about passion is, you can't fake it and can't manufacture it, if you don't have it." Amen to that.