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SPUDS FLOCK TO OHIO for TOTAL DEVOTIONAL

The DEVOtional moved to a new venue this year; The Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio. For the last few years, the DEVOtional had been held in DEVO's hometown of Akron, but the tradition of DEVOtionals all started at the Starwood Ballroom in Cleveland in 2000. We Must Repeat!

The Beachland was a *perfect* venue for 2007's gathering of DEVOtees from all over the USA. Lots of room, a great stage, a restaurant/bar, and a wonderful staff who where all a pleasure to work with. We certainly hope to see the DEVOtional return to the Beachland in 2008.

TOTAL DEVOTIONAL '07 had the highest attendance in the history of DEVOtionals, and most everything ran smoothly from start to finish. The cover feature story in Cleveland's FREE TIMES weekly surely helped boost attendance. Big thanks to FREE TIMES Associate Editor, Anastasia Pantsios, who wrote the cover story.

As with the last few DEVOtionals, the weekend of festivities started with an art show at Asterisk Gallery, featuring the Postcard Diaries prints of Mark Mothersbaugh. The opening reception was packed with spuds who'd traveled from all over the USA for the DEVOtional '07 weekend.

On the same night, The Spudboys were rehearsing in Akron for their performance at the DEVOtional. Jerry Casale showed up to rehearse a couple songs, which he was to perform the following night, in spite of the extreme heat that evening.

The DEVOtional officially opened at noon on Saturday Aug. 25th, but a few of us were there by 9am, ready to set up the sound system, band gear, vendor booths, etc. Special thanks to Mike, the soundman we worked with at Beachland Ballroom, who spent the night in the club on Friday so that he could be there at 9am for us. Three cheers for Mike!!

There were no less than 3 Ohio-based photographers who graced the DEVOtional with their vintage DEVO photos, offering limited edition prints for sale to DEVOtees. All the photos were from DEVO's early days, circa late 1970's, and some had never been released to the public.

Rare DEVO audio & video played throughout the day, which included several demo versions of DEVO's new "Watch Us Work It" track, concert footage from their recent Europe tour, and vintage black & white live DEVO dating back to the mid 1970's.

Speakers for the day included Jerry Casale, KRK Ryden, and Rev. Ivan Stang.

The Beachland provided a great sound system for the bands who performed: Ken the Magic Corner God (KRK Ryden), Poopy Necromonde's Tater Blaster, Baditude, The Mutant Mountain Boys, Genral Jackett, and The Spudboys (who Jerry Casale performed with on a few songs). Spuds in the crowd were flingin' & floppin' & dancin' around like bubble-eyed dog boys as the bands played throughout the night, and especially for the grand finale by The Spudboys.

Click the thumbnail photos on this page to see larger images and to read more about what happened at the TOTAL DEVOtional 2007 event.

ONLINE REVIEWS of TOTAL DEVOtional 2007:
Cleveland Free Times | DevoDude | Blog Review

OK comrades, let's not waste time...Start planning for DEVOtional 2008!

To the spuds who missed out - Don't miss out next year!!

DUTY NOW,

-Michael Pilmer / for Devo, Inc.

Thanks to everyone who supplied photos for this report.