Mike Diehl
You get love for who you are, and respect for what you do -- and you need both.

http://www.mikediehl.com/soulsurvivors/

The Small-town Midwest: An American Place

I grew up in Marion, Ohio, a town I think of as typical of
small-to-mid-size towns in the American Midwest. I can't speak of
Marion as a quintessentially American place, though, without offering
that my experience of it is based primarily on a 20-year span
commencing with my birth in 1950.

The years following World War II were proud ones for the nation. Both
the glory of our victory, and the tremendous sadness for all who died
in battle were felt acutely in Ohio. Though I grew up thinking of the
war as ancient history, I've come to realize that most every facet of
my young life was informed to some degree by that momentous event.

My father was a Marine who fought in the South Pacific, and was
wounded -- which spared his having to proceed with his division to
Iwo Jima, and possibly saved his life. The fathers of virtually all
of my friends fought in the war as well. Patriotism ran deep in that
time, in that part of the country, and in fact still does. In
Memorial Park -- directly across the main north-south street from
Warren G. Harding's stately memorial -- and in an adjacent cemetery,
the city has erected monuments to each of the wars in which residents
of Marion have perished.

As a child, I experienced a peaceful and prosperous land, populated
by a fairly homogeneous middle-class. "Family values" was not a
political agenda or a catch phrase used to coddle voters; they were
the message *and* the context, lived daily, completely and
absolutely. Likewise, though most people I knew attended church, the
True Religion was the American Dream, pursued -- and to a great
degree, obtained -- by most everyone. Some folks were considerably
better off than others, of course, but no one was what you'd call
"filthy rich," and no one relied on a shelter for bed and board.

Typical of towns of all sizes in the Midwest, Marion, Ohio, in the
1950s and '60s boasted many thriving factories -- several, such as a
division of Whirlpool, that produced goods for national consumption.
Marion Power Shovel built machinery that at the time was unrivalled
internationally, and made residents particularly proud by
constructing the behemoth crawler-transporter that carried Saturn V
rockets from their hangars to the launch pads at Cape Canaveral, from
which Americans first flew to the moon. There were as well in Marion
a host of small businesses, and a robust agricultural economy. (I
heard many an edition of the daily "Farm Report" on local radio
station WMRN.) At that time, there were but a few "chain stores" such
as J.C. Penney and Montgomery Ward, and not a single fast-food
restaurant. People I knew owned and ran a hardware store, sporting
goods store, a men's clothing store, a car dealership, the music
store, a restaurant and even a sizable ad agency.

While Marion is a typical American berg in many ways, it's unique
among towns of 30,000 in having produced two candidates for the
United States presidency -- one successful, one not, but both
extremely colorful: Warren G. Harding, whose brief presidency was
shrouded in scandal, and Norman Thomas, who ran six times as a
Socialist. Thomas later founded what became that uniquely American
institution, the ACLU.

Acknowledging the Midwest to be comprised of "average Americans,"
many companies today market test their products in Columbus, Ohio, an
hour south of Marion; if a product does well there, they've learned,
it'll likely succeed throughout the rest of the country. And as
burgers are classic American fare, it should come as no surprise that
Dave Thomas founded Wendy's in Columbus, and Carl Karcher, founder of
Southern California's burger chain Carl's Jr., hails from Sandusky,
Ohio. (McDonald's founder Ray Kroc was from nearby Illinois.)

It was about Ohio that Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders sang "My City
Was Gone," a late 1970s lament about the cancerous growth of shopping
malls and housing developments over Midwest farmland. Her words speak
volumes of truth about Marion specifically: What was once a typical
American small town, featuring locally owned stores and restaurants
and surrounded by farmland, remains typical, as residents crowd the
myriad franchise restaurants and giant discount department stores
that have, over the past 40 years, been built up on former pastures
and fields, putting many of the local concerns out of business.

Since leaving Ohio, I've lived in both New York and Los Angeles, each
a uniquely American city. But I think of the Midwest as somehow even
more American, perhaps by virtue of its distance from the coasts --
where, naturally, most immigrants arrive and settle. The Midwest is
populated primarily by individuals whose descendants came to the
country many many generations ago; in the Midwest, the pot, as it
were, has melted.

Mike Diehl ["deel"]

Glendale, CA
 

 

The Soul Survivors
Marion, Ohio
circa 1966

Left to right: Bob Inlow (rhythm guitar), Danny Hall (lead vocal),
Howard McKinniss ("Nub") (lead guitar), Frank Murray (bass),
Mike Diehl (drums), Terry Tewell (lead vocal)

Listen to the Soul Survivors' hit single, "All My Love"

 

Marion Star article circa 1966 (recreation)

Mike Diehl ["deel"]

Glendale, CA

(818) 552-4110 (w)
(818) 507-6602 (h)

Mike@MikeDiehl.com