Week 36: Ohio

"Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
 We're finally on our own;
 This summer I hear the drumming -
 Four dead in Ohio..."
 - 'Ohio',
 Neil Young

From the underpopulated North Dakota we have scooted back east to Ohio, in the industrial heartland of America. We've got some rock 'n' roll on the radio because, after all, Cleveland, Ohio, is home to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. It was a local DJ that first coined the word you see. Ohio even has its own 'State Rock Song': Hang on Sloopy by The McCoys believe it or not. And don't stop believing - Glee is also set in Ohio.

 

As well as being the birthplace of rock 'n' roll, Ohio also claims to be the birthplace of seven presidents, all Republican, two of whom were assassinated. It is also the birthplace of great aviators. Yes, the Wright Brothers first flew at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, but they grew up in Dayton, Ohio. The first American in space, John Glenn, and the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong who so sadly died last week, depriving the world of one of its few true legends, also hailed from the Buckeye State. Ohio really is the heart of America. It borders one of the United States's original colonies (Pennsylvania), rural and mountainous West Virginia, genteel Soithern Kentucky, Midwestern Indiana and industrialised Michigan. Little wonder that it has recently been known as a bellweather state in American elections. Any election night worth its salt will have hordes of outside broadcasts coming live from Ohio.

 

 

As I finished off North Dakota with some horror movies I thought I would commence Ohio with some as well. My three films for Ohio are:

• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
• Super 8 (2011)
• The Ides of March (2011)