Thursday, July 5, 2012

Jane Scott....

I met Jane back in the seventies when she came to a teeny library I frequented to discuss some of the biggest rock bands of all time and how influential Cleveland was in the music scene.  I think the library was expecting a full house, but the audience turned out to be a teenage me, one of the librarians and a bemused elderly gentleman who just wandered in for the cookies.

Jane didn’t care. She entertained us full throttle and when she was done, she sat down with me, pulled a bunch of grainy candid shots of the Beatles traveling on a plane out of her purse and proceeded to tell me about being with Jimi Hendrix when he bought a car.  I think that was the first time I ever wished I could crawl into somebody’s pocket and live there.
John Soeder [The Plain Dealer’s Pop Music Critic] posted an article online today announcing that The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame dedicated a statue to Jane this afternoon. Describing the statue by Cleveland sculptor David Deming John Soeder says:
The statue is slightly larger than life, with neat details. Scott's beaming likeness has a concert ticket pinned to her jacket, as was her wont. Her bulging purse includes a jar of peanut butter, because she made a point of carrying peanut-butter sandwiches while on assignment. And in her notebook are written two questions that she often asked the musicians she interviewed: "What's your favorite color?" and "Where did you go to high school?"
Jane was a really interesting woman and not a bit afraid of being who she was 100% of the time.  If I thought they’d let me, I’d go into the Rock Hall and stick a post it in her notebook – I’d thank her again for the candid Beatles photos I took home with me that day, but I think the more important thing I took home was the idea that you can choose how you want to be regardless of the situation. 
Jane never felt like a fish out of water, even though she was sometimes twenty to thirty years [or more] older than the rockers she was interviewing. She loved her job and did it with style and heart for fifty years. There’s a really lovely piece she wrote when she decided to retire called in part “Jane Scott, witness to rock history….” , but another piece written about her called “Forever Young” really resonates with me. She was a grown up, but she wasn’t afraid to feed the child inside.   Gotta love a woman like that.  
Jane Scott statue by David Deming unveiled at Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame July 5, 2012
[image from cleveland.com]


Read more about Jane Scott [May 3, 1919 - July 4, 2011]   here and here

12 comments:

Laura Eno said...

She sounds like an extraordinary woman!

Karen from Mentor said...

She was Laura. And she was a hoot. Said what she wanted to, but did it with a gentle touch. She started way back when before the internet -- before we were inundated with every minutia of a celebrity's life -- her interviews highlighted little peeks of what the person was behind the persona, and always in a respectfully human way. And she did it with joy.

thanks for stopping in.
*smooch*

shannon said...

Don't you just feel so lucky to have known a woman like this, to have spent one on one time with her? Do you ever wonder what the reason was that you met her? Was your life influenced by her in some minute but important way?

Oh no. I think her questioning spirit is contagious...lol.

Thanks for sharing her with us. I love that they took the time to add those details to her statue. Makes it more human.

ps. Glad to see you out of your cave. I always look for you.

Karen from Mentor said...

I'm pretty sure that she was the first [non teacher] adult I ever met who loved her job Shannon.

She was a really interesting woman. Quirky and not afraid to show it.

[not unlike some other writers I have the pleasure of knowing now]

---------------
I was tired of being in the cave....and I'd run out of cheerios.

*hugs you tightly and scampers off to write even more new stuff...*

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about the loss.

Haven't heard from you in forever and started to worry. Was glad to see a post, even though one of loss.

Karen from Mentor said...

She died last year and the outpouring was amazing. She was well known and well loved by so many rock fans and artists alike.

It's fitting that she's in the rock hall since she was instrumental in bringing it here to the place where the term Rock and Roll was coined.

I told Laura offblog that I know journalistically that the lead needed a job description for Jane, but to say in Cleveland that Jane was a rock reporter/critic/reviewer is like saying water is wet.

-----------
thanks for the concern over my loooooong absence. It's good to be flitting round the web again.
*gives you a cookie...*

KjM said...

She sounds like a hoot, indeed. It's good to meet people like that. They serve to remind us how to be - and that it's simple (though not always easy.)

Good to "see" you again, Karen.

Now, go stock up on cheerios! :D

Karen from Mentor said...

Nope -- just one box at a time so I have a reason to leave the cave. It's like a big carrot [w/o the stick] -- only this carrot comes in a yellow box and sometimes gives me a star wars toy.

I'm currently carrying a teeny tiny Anakin Skywalker pen in my purse because it delighted/horrified me so much when I found it in the top of my cheerios box.

The delight is self explanatory --[free toy] the horror was partly because he has no legs -- and also because they packaged him reclining in a cardboard L and then sealed him in clear plastic.

He looks like he's lying in a little space age coffin.

I bet cheerio eating children all over the country were traumatized.

----------
thank you sweet kevin for coming in to peek at my post.
*smooches you*

Estrella Azul said...

A perfect post to jump back into blogging with :) Loved it!

Karen from Mentor said...

thanks sweetie.
:0)

Cat Russell said...

Great post on someone you admire. I'm glad you got to know her. She sounds like an amazing person!

Karen from Mentor said...

She was an original. Glad that her family and the rock hall made a fitting place for people to remember her.

There's a quote that goes something like A person is not forgotten as long as someone speaks their name....

Jane's name will be kept alive in Cleveland.

Thanks for stopping in Cathy.
:0)