Episode 85 – Cleveland Rocks! with Mark Avsec of Wild Cherry/Breathless/Donnie Iris and Jonah Koslen of Michael Stanley Band/Breathless/Solo

This week we pay respects once again to the great music city of Cleveland with a local legend two-fer. 

First up is keyboardist and songwriter Mark Avsec. Mark's first big break was when he joined Wild Cherry ("Play That Funky Music") in the mid-70s before then jumping to Jonah's new band Breathless for two excellent albums in the latter part of the decade. From there he forged what would be the defining musical relationship of his life when he and Donnie Iris joined forces for a run that continues to this day. He even wrote Donnie's biggist hit "Aah Leah" which reached #29 in 1980. A legal issue relating to Aah Leah inspired Mark to go to law school. He's now a copyright lawyer in Cleveland and still gigs with Donnie whenever possible. 

Jonah started out in one of Cleveland's biggest draws of the early 70s, The Michael Stanley Band. He eventually wanted to try his hand running his own band and performing his own material when he went on to form Breathless and released two great albums. Unfortunately, Breathless never quite broke to a mass audience (despite opening for Kiss). Since the early 80s, Jonah has continued to record solo albums that rock most excellently. Though he may have retired to LA, he released another excellent solo album this year with Nusic. 

Enjoy this conversation with a couple guys that have seen a lot and done a lot and have the scars (and killer songs) to prove it. 

http://www.jonah.com.co/