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My favorite things Ohio

I'm hardly here for long, so here goes:

1. Author: There's Sherwood Anderson and William Dean Howells and Toni Morrison; I'll pick the latter though none are true favorites of mine.   

2. Director: Wes Craven remains underrated; I still like his The Serpent and the Rainbow, among others.  I can't think of a notable movie set in Ohio, can you?

3. Painter: George Bellows's reputation has shot up in the last twenty years; here's an unusual Bellows print.  I very much like the botanical paintings and prints of Jim Dine, although I can't find a good one on-line.

4. Popular music: I can't think of much...Boz Scaggs doesn't count nor does Peter Frampton.  Lonnie Mack's The Wham of That Memphis Man! is one of the least known great albums.  Doris Day is a very good singer and do see Pillow Talk if you don't already know it.

5. Jazz: There is Art Tatum, especially the early Capitol work, not so much the later Pablo recordings.  Billy Strayhorn was often behind the best Duke Ellington arrangements.

6. Classical music recording: George Szell's Beethoven's 3rd remains a landmark recording, or try his Piano Concerti set with Leon Fleisher.

7. Philosopher: Willard van Orman Quine. most of all Word and Object.  Now that's a favorite.

8. Sculptor: Maya Lin did the Vietnam Memorial though she hasn't had much of a second act.

The bottom line: The achievement from this state is remarkably well-distributed across different artistic fields and genres.  Why?  Is it because the state has so many different cities of at least middling size?  Or is it because the state straddles the East and the Midwest?  Sadly there is no Cincinnati chili for me this time.

Addendum: Angus of Ohio comments.

Posted by Tyler Cowen on August 1, 2008 at 06:58 AM in The Arts | Permalink

Comments

Popular Music: Dean Martin

Country Music: Dwight Yoakam (born KY, raised in Columbus)

Posted by: charles at Aug 1, 2008 7:21:26 AM

I'm pretty sure Thurber is the classic standard answer to "who's a great Ohio author."

Posted by: michael vassar at Aug 1, 2008 7:28:28 AM

Major League is certainly notable. Each home game is, of course, set in Cleveland.

Posted by: Loweeel at Aug 1, 2008 7:38:50 AM

Movie set in Ohio: The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

Posted by: Kent Guida at Aug 1, 2008 7:40:44 AM

Note that most of the artists named above came FROM Ohio, just like T. S. Elliot was from Missouri.
George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra are standouts on this list. How did a steel town on Lake Erie attract one on the greatest classical musicians of the twentieth century and provide him with the conditions to do his greatest work, leaving a legacy that lives on in the work of the Orchestra and the musical culture of Northern Ohio to this day? Awesome.

Posted by: John Mark Rozendaal at Aug 1, 2008 7:40:46 AM

Jim Jarmusch, Akron's own, set a bulk of the classic "Stranger than Paradise" in Cleveland. Then there's also "American Splendor".

Posted by: John F at Aug 1, 2008 8:11:33 AM

Tommy Boy starts in Ohio.
There's also Gummo, if you want something more artsy.
Of course, what could be more artsy than a Farley/Spade vehicle?

Posted by: adam at Aug 1, 2008 8:23:58 AM

>> "I can't think of a notable movie set in Ohio, can you?"

The classic Tommy Boy! ;-)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114694/

Posted by: Speedmaster at Aug 1, 2008 8:27:57 AM

Popular music: Guided by Voices is from Dayton.

Posted by: Jebs at Aug 1, 2008 8:37:39 AM

Movies set in Ohio: A large chunk of Rain Man was set and filmed here in Cincinnati. It scores points with me by featuring a scene in Pompillio's, just as this blog does by mentioning Cincinnati Chili.

Posted by: Joe at Aug 1, 2008 8:49:22 AM

http://intelligenttravel.typepad.com/it/2008/07/here-we-are-hal.html

For movies shot in Ohio.

Posted by: John Ur at Aug 1, 2008 8:52:26 AM

Yes, Guided by Voices! Also, Devo, Pere Ubu, and Albert Ayler(!)

For authors, there's Hart Crane.

Also, re: movies, don't forget Heathers and Howard the Duck.

Posted by: Aaron at Aug 1, 2008 9:03:54 AM

A Christmas Story was shot in Cleveland, but set in Indiana. The street they lived in was called Cleveland Street.
Parts of Spiderman 3 were shot in Cleveland downtown as well..

Posted by: clevelander at Aug 1, 2008 9:03:56 AM

Strayhorn is fantastic, but isn't he from Pittsburgh?

Posted by: Aaron at Aug 1, 2008 9:06:48 AM

The prison from Shawshank Redemption is in Ohio, I believe.

Posted by: Dan at Aug 1, 2008 9:07:10 AM

Jazz: How about the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra?

Joe Henderson was orignally from Lima, OH I think.

Posted by: Dan at Aug 1, 2008 9:08:47 AM

"Billy Strayhorn was often behind the best Duke Ellington arrangements."

The statement is virtually meaningless and hella ill-informed, but I'll react to what I think was the intended meaning--some kind of sideways swipe at Ellington.

Best stick to econ, Tyler.

Posted by: josh chaffin at Aug 1, 2008 9:09:13 AM

To "philosopher" you should add David Lewis, who was a better philosopher than Quine, and grew up in Oberlin.

Posted by: Dylan Dodd at Aug 1, 2008 9:17:11 AM

Movies: Heathers is set in Ohio.

Jazz: Jon Hendricks is from Toledo, and is back teaching at the University of Toledo these days.

Cartoonists: I know, not a category mentioned above, but there are several notable cartoonists living in Ohio, including Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes), Tom Batiuk (Funky Winkerbean, Crankshaft), and Jeff Smith (Bone).

Posted by: Sol at Aug 1, 2008 9:17:28 AM

Radio talk show host and Sports Humorist - Dan McDowell of Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket. Well!

Posted by: Lefty at Aug 1, 2008 9:29:59 AM

Dan,

Maine.

American Splendor and second Major League.

Posted by: josh at Aug 1, 2008 9:36:42 AM

We've gone this far without a mention of Chrissie Hynde? Scandalous!

Douchebag of the thread award goes to Josh Chaffin.

Posted by: bartman at Aug 1, 2008 9:37:08 AM

How about comedians? From Bob Hope to Drew Carey.

Posted by: Tom at Aug 1, 2008 9:45:47 AM

Maya Lin's sculpture and architecture is consistently excellent, if less well known (and how could anything attract as much attention as the Vietnam Memorial?) Check out her park in Grand Rapids (completed in 2001) --
http://www.metropolismag.com/html/content_0302/lin/index.html

My understanding is the ice rink was entirely her idea -- a brilliant and risky move for an inner city public space.

Posted by: joanne mcneil at Aug 1, 2008 9:58:58 AM

Popular music: Props to whoever mentioned Devo and Chrissie Hynde. Also worth mentioning Trent Reznor of NIN, Maynard James Keenan of Tool and Brian Warner aka Marilyn Manson. Having lived in (and escaped from) the OhWhyOh suburbs I can tell you that it makes a lot of sense that so much repressed angry music comes out of that area.

Posted by: bob at Aug 1, 2008 10:04:44 AM

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