* New posts in the
forum - drummer Steve Young is
looking for a band, and Gary Mumford (Hern
Brothers, Blues Nite Out) says "Hi" from
Charlotte NC.
* For those patiently "watch(ing) this
space", the ruKus - the Sequel article
has finally arrived. See below...
* More changes to MVLiveMusic.com... You
can see all of a band's / musician's gigs
from the
Musicians page. What do you think of the
changes? Email
professor@mvlivemusic.com with any
kudos or complaints.
August 24th, ruKus – the Sequel, was
a day of firsts for me - first visit to the Warren Amphitheater (no, I
haven't seen any of the tribute bands, I've been too busy covering local
musicians), and, I'm almost ashamed to admit, my first encounter with
Jones For Revival and the Zou. Hey, I said I've been busy, and besides,
Youngstown's a long way from Braceville Township, and there are too many
bands and not enough days in the week, and blah, blah, blah - okay,
lousy excuses. Of course,
I've met Jim DeCapua (JFR) and Khaled (Zou) and played at their open
mikes - Barley's and O'Donold's Austintown respectively - and I'm
certainly aware of Jim's contributions to the local music scene through
Vexfest and Jonesfest and his Youngstown Local Music page. Anyway, back
to the bands. Jones For Revival is a "jam band" par excellence, tightly
cohesive throughout their musical explorations. The Zou impressively
demonstrated their mixture of pop stylings defined by their retro
instruments. Our audience group had a continuous discussion over which
well-known vocalist Khaled reminded us of in each of Zou's songs. Words
fail to describe my enthusiasm and I can only reuse an overworked
superlative - both bands were FANTASTIC, and I will have to make time to
catch some of their future shows.
I found myself hurrying between the two stages
at ruKus just so I could catch part of each performance. I even played a
short set at Stage 2, a small tent pavilion on the lawn, where I also
met, and enjoyed listening to, other local talent: Courtney and Nell,
who are "sometimes called Eiffel Tower", and Ron and Spyder of Breakin
Even. My open-mike bud John Falgiani also entertained the audience at
Stage 2.
Jason and the Punknecks - man, that name grabs
your focus almost as readily as their appearance. If you can still
ignore them, their unique music won't escape your attention. They're not
a local band, but I just have to tell you about them. I met the Punknecks at a ruKus radio broadcast / open mike at Royal Oaks a couple
months ago. They somehow found out about it while driving by Youngstown,
and came in the door while I was doing my set. We talked some, a few
words before they took the stage and then a little longer conversation
after they were done performing. They made a connection with Moe Angelo
and Trevor Quillan that night and were invited back to the area for the
festival. When they saw me at the Amphitheater Jason and Woody recognized me
and
remembered my 12-string Carvin, and Polly even knew my first name! I had
another opportunity to get to know them the Wednesday following ruKus, back at
Royal Oaks, where Jason and I had an interesting conversation that
ranged from the music business to religion. After the gig the Punknecks
loaded up their green ex-schoolbus and headed for New York City. They're
great musicians and great folks and I love 'em and wish them safe and lucrative journeys as
they travel all around this Country.
Other ruKus performers include ZR (Trevor
Quillan and members of the Kellys), Reznik, Winslow (from Kent), Jets To
Red (Columbus), and Eclyptic (Hudson). Last, but by no means least - the
Kellys, and Kelly McCracken's great vocals of course, were up to their usual
impressive, distinctive performance. I thoroughly enjoyed watching and
listening to each performer, and I was deeply impressed with the
excellent musicianship demonstrated throughout the day. If there was any
downside, it was only when I read in the program that festival sponsor
Valley24 "...is the biggest supporter of local music..." My computer-worn
butt and fingers object - rephrase that to "commercial" supporter!
Anyway, I digress. The Kellys sponsored an outstanding day of
entertainment, and I'm anxiously looking forward to next year's ruKus -
the Sequel - Part II.
Click here to view
pictures of the festival.
Also check out the following ruKus - related
links:
YOUNGSTOWN ROCK AND ROLL HISTORY is a collection
of Yahoo! Music groups dedicated to the Youngstown-area bands of the
1960's and 70's. Moderator Jac Riblet created the first group in 2004,
and has since added three more to accommodate extra volumes of files.
The YRRH members list includes many, many musicians from bands of the
era, most of who are still performing locally or in their current
locations elsewhere across the country, and fans who still fondly
remember those bands and musicians and the venues where they “hung out”.
The original group currently boasts 198 members, and is where all
message activity occurs. YRRH holds an amazing collection of music
recordings and photos from the era, and other fascinating information
such as a database of bands and musicians and links to other
memorabilia. You can view the YRRH action by clicking on the following
links:
A Yahoo! ID and an approved YRRH membership
request are required before you can participate in the groups.
YOUNGSTOWN ROCK AND ROLL HISTORY held its first
Rockfest August 9th and 10th. YRRH members arrived
from all over the Mahoning Valley and the rest of Ohio, and as far away
as Florida and the West Coast, some of them camping overnight at the
invitation-only event. The two days were filled with great music - a
24-hour jam fest. Jim Gustafson of Poobah capped off the event Sunday
afternoon playing his own material, backed by LJ Fortier on second
guitar, Chris Frederick on drums, and Chris’ brother Greg on bass. The
four musicians laid down such tight licks that many in the audience
didn't realize this was the first time they ever played together
(including the Frederick brothers!) You can
enjoy sample video and audio clips of the jam here:
LJ Fortier played in Freeman Sound in the 70’s,
and currently performs his solo act at many local venues (check the
Shows page for LJ’s gigs). You can hear a sample clip of his song “Lost
Ways” in the MVLiveMusic player.
Greg Frederick played in area bands before
relocating to Oregon, where he currently lays down perfect bass lines in
the band
Rogue Suspects, who have appeared on tour with James Brown, Bo Diddley, Robert Cray, and many, many others.
Jim Gustafson IS Poobah, “the world’s most
collectible psych rock band”, whose original albums have sold among
collectors for as much as $900. Poobah holds the record for the most
shows at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where Jim was recently
interviewed for Goldmine magazine’s National Record Show program. Jim
started playing in high school in Daze Endz before forming Biggy Rat
with bandmates Scott Hunter and Gary DiPasquale (who were also at the
Rockfest), and then Poobah in 1972. Jim currently tours with Mike Fortino on drums and George
DiGiovanni on bass. Poobah will be
playing a free show along with Eddie Money at the Parkersburg (WV)
Homecoming Festival this Friday, August 15th. Poobah’s most
recent CD “Underground” was a three-year recording project, and can be
found on Poobah’s
website and
MySpace page, along with other music clips, upcoming shows, and
Poobah merchandise.
Additional YRRH member/performers at this year’s Rockfest: Jerry Centifanti
(Next of Kin), Lee Stone (Merry Christmas), Mike Smith, Gary DiPasquale
(Biggy Rat), Scott Hunter (Biggy Rat), John Bates, Mick Malone, Steve Lawrence
(L.A.W., Coconut), Dick Scullin.
Phil Keaggy (Squires, New Hudson Exit, Volume IV, and of course, Glass Harp) and Steve Acker (L.A.W.) couldn't make it to this first
Rockfest, so they sent greetings, which you can listen to here:
Jac plans to make the Rockfest an annual event,
and promises to bring additional, very special, musician guests next
year. Don't miss out - join YRRH and be invited to Rockfest 2009. (8/13/08)
Who was who at the Who's Hoo?
Who? How 'bout an assortment of
outstanding local musicians, capped
off with a fine performance by
popular Columbus performer Mike
Perkins.
Adam Jacobs has been singing and
playing around this area since
high school except for a few
years out of town, including
time spent in Columbus where he
met Perkins (a few Who's Hoo attendees noted the
similarity of rhythmic style
between Mike and Adam...
coincidence?). Adam has been
playing Thursdays at Uncle
Butter's for several months, and
struck an agreement with the
tavern to hold a music festival
- the Who's Hoo. Well-known
local musician / promoter Trevor
Quillan and bassist Moe Angelo
(the Kellys) were recruited to
broadcast the live festival over
their RuKus internet radio. Adam
also asked several of his
musician friends to join in for
half-hour sets.
Trevor must have had some rain
left over from his recent
Furthermind festival, and he
brought it along to Mahoning Avenue in
Warren that night. The first
storm threw hail at the
electronic equipment on Uncle
Butter's patio, but the sun
peeked out just after the 5
o'clock start time and proceeded
to bake the first few performers,
French Blue (actually "Seven
Saturdays" - see below), yours truly -
the Professor, Tony T., and Joey
B. At that point the wind-driven
rain returned, sending the
visitors to shelter while Adam,
Trevor, Moe, and Tony scrambled
to keep their equipment dry.
Rick Hartley played during the
next semi-dry interval,
accompanied by Larry Nell on
soprano sax and flute and Vince Monti on conga. Another storm
caused the gang to give up on
the portable gazebos and regroup
under the permanent bar roof.
Denny London started the next
set, followed by Trevor, and
then Adam took the stage for a
few numbers. A short break for
Mike Perkins' setup turned into
a half-hour battle with an
intermittent hum accompanied by
an occasional nerve-rattling
screech from the PA. Finally,
after solving the problem by
disconnecting most of his
effects, Mike proceeded to
entertain the crowd, bringing
them out of their seats to dance
on the deck. The party lasted
until 1 AM and the many faithful
visitors gave all the performers
a standing ovation.
French Blue is Jennifer Lamb
(from Warren, via Austintown) on
vocals, and Steve Pownell
(Niles) on acoustic rhythm
guitar. At Who's Hoo they
were accompanied by Jimmy Martin
(Warren) on lead guitar and
harmonies, Sam Petillo (Niles)
on bass guitar, and Robb
Byron (Howland) on drums.
Jennifer explained that she and
Steve are the cover duo French
Blue, and the full band (who's
name, Seven Saturdays, became
official right there at Who's
Hoo) was formed to perform their
original material. French Blue
hung around long enough to
listen to the Professor's set,
then hurried off to their other
gig of the evening. Robb also
had a later gig with his band
SHAKEDOWN. You can check out
French Blue at
www.myspace.com/frenchblueohio.
I'm Steve, "the Professor", and I'm the
creator of this site. I'm an amateur
guitar player who enjoys going out to listen to local musicians and
occasionally playing a few songs at open-mike nights. I felt there
was a need for a place where people like me could find information
on all of the excellent, hard-working bar musicians in the Mahoning
Valley - who's playing where and when, and background info on the
musicians themselves - so I created this site. In fact, I want the
musicians to be the spotlight of this site. If you are in a band
or perform as an individual, and I haven't talked to you yet,
*Click
here* to be included on this site.
If you aren't a musician,
but enjoy listening to live music at local
bars as much as I do, I want this site to
meet your expectations. You will be able
to see who's playing where and when, what
style of music to expect, and how to find
your way to the pub if it's your first
visit - see the
Shows page. You will also be able to
read bios on all local performers or link
to their own web sites in our
Musicians page. Check out visitors'
comments on the local music scene in the
FORUM, and post your own 2¢ worth. Let
me know if there is anything else you want
to see on this site that I didn't think of
yet, and tell all your friends to visit
MVLiveMusic.com!
Who was who
