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Donate to The Music Lives On fund at www.daytonfoundation.org. Click on "donate online" and type in the fund name.
Contact the Who Concert Tragedy Memorial Committee at cincy12379@hotmail.com.
DAYTON — A late pioneer of the “Dayton funk” sound and the victims of one of the nation’s worst rock concert-related tragedies would both be honored with permanent memorials if plans by separate area groups are successful.
Roger Troutman, a founder of the chart-topping soul and funk band Zapp, will be celebrated with a public art installation at the new Salem and Catalpa Gateway, on the site of the former Troutman recording studio in Dayton.
Roger and his brother Larry Troutman died April 25, 1999, in what police ruled as a murder-suicide.
“I just couldn’t fathom anything going up without remembering the legacy of Roger,” said Shirley Murdock, a singer and actress who credited Troutman with launching her career.
A Cincinnati-based group is seeking to erect a memorial in that city for the 11 young people who died trying to enter a Who concert at Riverfront Coliseum on Dec. 3, 1979.
Area victims included Connie Sue Burns, a 21-year-old mother of two from Miamisburg; Walter H. Adams Jr., 22, of Trotwood; and Phillip K. Snyder, 20, and James T. Warmoth, 21, both of Franklin Twp. in Warren County.
Burns’ sister, Peggy Wilson of Miamisburg, said the effort shows that those victims haven’t been forgotten.
“People still remember and care that 11 lives were lost that night,” she said. “It’s not just us hanging on to grief for 31 years.”
Projects progress
Both memorial projects have gained momentum in recent weeks.
The Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District on Dec. 10 awarded a $10,000 grant to Citywide Development Corporation for the Salem and Catalpa sculpture scheduled to be installed in 2011.
That project is a collaboration of Dayton View Triangle Federation, the Fairview Neighborhood Association and the Phoenix Project, a community redevelopment partnership between the city of Dayton and Good Samaritan Hospital. Citywide manages the Phoenix Project.
“We want it to be a beautiful piece of art that symbolizes the rebirth of the community and the musical legacy of the Troutmans,” said Karen DeMasi, Citywide’s Phoenix Project manager.
Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune said Dec. 3 that he is willing to meet with members of the Who Concert Tragedy Memorial Committee to discuss adding the memorial as part of planned 2011 renovations to the plaza between what is now U.S. Bank Arena and Great American Ball Park.
The group wants more than just a marker on the building, said Michael Babb of Dayton, a committee member who attended the December 1979 concert at age 17.
“We want a memorial,” he said.
Troutman legacy
Roger Troutman found international success both with Zapp and as a solo performer, charting such hits as “More Bounce to the Ounce,” “Dance Floor” and “Computer Love.”
He died in April 1999 at Good Samaritan Hospital after being shot in an alley behind Troutman Sound Labs on Salem Avenue. Police said Larry Troutman shot his brother four times before turning the gun on himself.
“It’s really like rebirth, not only for the neighborhood, but to remember the life and legacy,” said Murdock of Trotwood.
Dayton artist Michael Bashaw said his Salem and Catalpa sculpture will use a triangle motif to represent the Dayton View Triangle, and also incorporate wind-activated tone rods to create a melodic reference to Roger Troutman’s work.
“In first considering the Salem Avenue site I wanted to create a work of art that paid tribute to the significant creative history that occurred there, and given the Troutmans’ commitment to community development, address the geometric motif of the Dayton View Triangle in a broad way,” Bashaw said.
The working budget for the sculpture, lighting, memorial plaque and maintenance is about $60,000, according to DeMasi.
“We probably have a third of that raised at this point,” she said.
Project leaders hope to reach their fundraising goal by spring to allow Bashaw to build the sculpture next summer and install it in the fall.
“We are setting up a fund at the Dayton Foundation called ‘The Music Lives On’ so that people can make tax-deductable contributions to this project and help us to get this built,” DeMasi said.
Concert tragedy
The Who Concert Tragedy Memorial Committee got its start in December 2009 at a vigil marking the event’s 30th anniversary.
Babb recalled being in the tightly packed crowd that surged toward the arena’s few open doors in a crush for nonreserved festival seating. “We were literally off the ground; your feet weren’t touching,” he said.
“These people were literally asphyxiated standing up, and they unconsciously hit the ground,” Babb said.
Wilson said Riverfront Coliseum officials were responsible for the tragedy, not the crowd or the Who.
City officials had previously criticized the arena’s crowd control practices. A police report blamed too few ticket-takers.
“I don’t want the people who went to the concert that night to feel one ounce of guilt that any of this was their fault, because it wasn’t,” she said.
The committee plans to apply for nonprofit status to accept tax-deductible donations for the memorial. The group doesn’t yet have a design concept, but would like to get the victims’ families involved in the process, Babb said.
“It has to get the point across, never let it happen again,” Wilson said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2419 or dlarsen@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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