In 1978 Scene magazine staffers Rich Reising and Jim Girard assembled the Euclid Beach Band, a tongue-in-cheek Cleveland surf-pop group whose co-founder Reising had previously played guitar for Eric Carmen’s backing ensemble Magic. Their opening single, “There Is No Surf in Cleveland”—a line borrowed from an unreleased Carmen composition that gained extra resonance amid the harsh winter of 1977/78—was cut with vocal support from John Hart and Pete Hewitt plus a roster of area players. After the band pledged to direct every cent earned by the novelty track to local charities, the record attracted widespread press attention and exhausted its initial run of 10,000 copies. Buoyed by that response, the Euclid Beach Band secured a deal with Cleveland International and, with Carmen installed as producer, headed to New York to track a debut album. Though the sessions featured numerous top session musicians, costs quickly escalated beyond expectations; while the follow-up single “I Need You” reached the Top 100 in 1979, the self-titled LP drew poor notices and the group disbanded the next year.
