Music, Museums, and Mexican Food: Rocker Rob Fetters Shares His Favorite Places in His Hometown of Toledo, Ohio

I have a confession: I love dad rock. Wholly and purely and unironically. In college, my roommate and I DJ-ed for our school’s TV radio station (it was the early 2000s, okay?) and I revealed my dad rock-loving heart for all 7 people who listened at 9 p.m. every Wednesday night. One of the bands I included was The Raisins. Listen to “Fear Is Never Boring” from their 1994 album and tell me you don’t dance, just a little. 

Rob Fetters is the man behind the band – The Raisins, and also The Bears, psychodots, and many a solo venture. A Boomer who doesn’t eschew technology, during the pandemic Fetters put together a YouTube live stream dubbed “Fetters Is Cheap!” that put him back into the cultural zeitgeist. He’s prolific, immensely talented, and an all-around awesome guy.

I know this because somehow the stars aligned earlier this year and I had the opportunity to interview Fetters for a freelance project. What a moment for a fan! Talking to Rob was so much fun because, not only are we united in our love of music, but we’re both Ohioans who spent formative years in small towns *and* experienced Detroit during some of its most memorable eras. (For Rob, it was Alice Cooper and MC5; for me, The White Stripes and The Von Bondies.)

Rob grew up in Sylvania, a small town minutes from Toledo, and an hour from Detroit. Location plays a big role in his life and musical career; he met fellow artists Chris Arduser and Bob Nyswonger while attending Sylvania High School and saw ALL the iconic bands in Detroit as a kid and teen. Today, Rob lives in Cincinnati, is still making music, and isn’t shy about his hometown pride. Here's his story, as told to Sarah McCosham:

I moved from Toledo when I was 7, to Sylvania, a community about 15 minutes away. Sylvania, at that time, was a sleepy bedroom community. The suburbs.

I had a lot of allergies and childhood asthma. That turned into a benefit because when I started playing guitar at 12-13, there were entire summers where I stayed in, camped out, played records. It was the late ‘60s when learned to play guitar and got good at it. 

When I did venture outdoors, it was to Centennial Terrace, a quarry filled with water that’s been there with generations - we’d go swimming out there and get sunburned but also, great bands used to play out there. Alice Cooper played shows there! That was one of the first places where I got to see a real rock band play. When I got older, I got to ride my bike out there -- the landscape very flat - cornfields. Today, it's still an awesome place to catch a show and a hidden gem for music lovers.

Another outdoor place I enjoy as an adult is Wildwood Preserves; it's a Toledo city park that's a great place to run. I'm a runner and it's flat and quite beautiful.

The Toledo Botanical Garden is another very beautiful place. My mom introduced me to it as a kid -- she was a commercial artist before she because a stay-at-home-mom. She worked on "Mighty Mouse" and loved to paint. She loved Crosby Garden, a beautiful botanical gardens and art center that also hosts an annual art festival. If you go to the botanical gardens, you can watch modern glass blowers at their craft. It’s so exciting to watch.

Toledo really supports artists. The Toledo Museum of Art is like a longtime friend. This museum just has an incredible amount of art. If I was in Toledo for a week, I’d go there more than one day. You can really go deep there -- it is so good. (Now that I’ve lived in New York and gone to the Met a ton of times, I would say the Toledo Museum of Art could stand up to any museum in the world. It may not have as big of a collection but it’s awesome.) 

As far as restaurants, in Toledo there’s a wonderful variety. Back in the ‘60s, there were a lot of international restaurants in Toledo, which was unique. The Mexican restaurants were, and are, spectacular - my favorite was always Carmels. Ohio-grown tomatoes and “too much cheese” on everything. The Margaritas are dangerous!

There are also a lot of Mediterranean restaurants in Toledo. Immigrants would see the Great Lakes and see the Mediterranean Sea. The Beirut is another standout. It's a Lebanese restaurant; my favorite by far. I’ve been to Beirut and Israel (touring with The Bears) and this is as good as it gets! Best fattoush ever. I don’t eat meat, and you can get vegetarian dinners [in Toledo] are really good.

When I'm in Toledo, I always make a point to stop at Jing Chuan. Best Chinese food around. My 102-year-old friend loves Chinese and we always pick up dinner for her there!

Toledo's bars are also great. My bands played in bars there; Frankie’s on the East Side of Toledo is an institution. I’ve played there, the White Stripes have... a lot of bands on their first tours would play there. There’s also a place in Maumee called The Village Idiot - that might be the best small place to see really cool bands. The Village Idiot is a great place for a good drink!

Back to Sylvania where I grew up; today, it’s full of art galleries. Danny Fuller Gallery [Fuller Art House] is really good. Hudson Gallery on Main Street is another can't miss. 

I go to Brooklyn and love the libraries -  you can pick up a book and get lost. Toledo is the same way. The Toledo Main Library is totally awesome and a great place to spend a day. 

As a young musician growing up in Sylvania, as soon as someone got a license, we would go to Detroit for concerts. But there were lots of concerts in Toledo, too; my first concert was the Jimi Hendrix Experience when I was 13 at the University of Toledo.

By the way, the University of Toledo campus has to be the most beautiful campus in the Midwest. Talk about a hidden gem! It’s a really good school and a beautiful campus. I used to go to lots of concerts at the University of Toledo -- I saw Janis Joplin there! I was a young kid and I got to hold her hand. I got to see so many bands there; I’d stand right up by the stage and talk to the bands in between sets.

Then we started going to Detroit and started going to shows with really big bands. I saw them all. I saw Alice Cooper there, Iggy and the Stooges, Ted Nugent — all those Detroit bands, we saw them all the time. The MC5. They were my favorite. Those bands - if they didn’t know my name, they knew my face. I learned so much doing that. 

The thing about Sylvania High School and my generation: it is truly remarkable just how many of us went on to become professional, lifelong musicians. It was a weird, magical time... becoming a musician just seemed like a thing we could do.

My mom would say “you only live once, kid. Go for it now. Do it - if this is what you love.” That even extended to my aunts and uncles - “Go for it, Robbie,” they'd say. So I went for it.

Toledo has a reputation as a sleepy place. But I would give it more credit. It's a place where people work, yes, but it’s also a place where people can think. Museums, galleries, libraries, the natural resources there, the riverfront - lots of restaurants and cool places. When I moved here [Cincinnati], it was like that, but Toledo is like that now.

Rob Fetters, as told by Sarah McCosham.