New Stuff....

  More videos ... cool classic rock with This That & the Others at the Holiday Bar, the Bourbon Brothers at Shevie's, and photos only of Sideshow (w/ Rick Seidle) at Rudy's and the Dennis Drummond Trio's last show of the Summer at the Horseshoe Bar.

  New video uploads, from the YRRH Rockfest: Blurok (2 original songs), Paul Scott, the Electracons (2 original songs), and the Blues Devils (one original song). Photos only of Poobah and LJ Fortier, but several previous videos are available. You can hear songs by the Electracons, the Blues Devils, Poobah, and LJ in this site's player... Additional performers at the Rockfest jam were Dave Rowe, Ken Adams, Rocky Lattanzo, Lee Stone, Chris Frederick, Dennis Ahlswede, Dick Scullin, Larry Bondi, Ron Eckenrode, and many others... Unfortunately, Saturday's rain brought a quick halt to Tongue In Groove's (Jerry Centifanti, Butch McCracken, Gary DePasquale) turn on stage. The festivities picked up anew in the covered pavilion a short while later with Poobah's rockin' show, where Jim Gustafson showed off the band's new vinyl "re-unleash" of their 1972 "Let Me In" album with bonus tracks, a two-record set in psychedelic swirl (all disc patterns are unique), available at Ripple Music (also on CD).

  Valley music festival news...

Who isn't aware of Vexfest yet? The Valley's #1 showcase of local (and visiting) music talent is in its 7th, and largest, iteration this Sunday 8/15. This year's fest features 44 bands on four stages - Barley's, Downtown 36, and at each end of a closed-to-traffic block of Federal St. The complete schedule is in the Shows page.

UPDATE: The Dennis Drummond Trio have been added to the Vexfest lineup, at Barleys 1:20-2AM.

The third annual Roxfest takes place next Saturday 8/21, in a new location - 5320 Jimtown Rd, East Palestine (click here for map). Roxfest began as a metalfest birthday party for ROX, Skull'rz Bane drummer and daughter of frontman Drewcifer, and again features food (BYOB), a bonfire, camping, tattoos, and raffles. This year the event has expanded to a full-fledged music festival with nine bands - Skull'rz Bane, of course, with Obsydyan, Six Shots Left, Metalourd, Hollow Sanctuary, And The Weak Lie Frail, Joe (Acoustics), Disgraced, and Klutch.

Another "3rd Annual" event next weekend - three days of peace, love, and music at the Youngstown Rock 'n Roll History Rockfest 2010 isn't just for us aging hippies, it's open to partiers and rockers of all ages as long as they have an invitation from the Yahoo group moderators. So, the sands of time are falling quickly, and you have less than a week to join YRRH before you'll miss out on the music, food, camping, and camaraderie. Friday and Sunday are open mic featuring many of the Valley's most renowned and gifted musicians, and the beautiful private grounds will start rockin' on Saturday at 1 p.m. with six bands -  Poobah, Tongue In Groove, the Electracons, the Blues Devils, Blind Lemon Band, and Blurok.

It might only be a "2nd Annual" show, but Tommy McCoy's Blues Benefit BBQ Reunion and Ohio Musician Gathering (whew!) at Up A Creek will be THE place to be on September 5th. World-touring bluesman McCoy came home to Howland last year at this time and, within a one-week visit, turned his high school reunion into an all-day bash for the benefit of breast cancer patients at THM's Ireland Center, in memory of his wife, Vickie Taylor McCoy, RN. Many, many musicians from Valley bands of the 60's and 70's answered Tommy's call last year, and this event will be even larger. There's way too many bands and members to mention in this article, so please click here to read the press release. You can watch 18 videos from last year's event on this site.

  Mahoning Valley bands in national and world media:

Tune in to internet station Wild Nite Radio, August 14,  5 p.m. to 9, to hear Alton Cooley & Friends' live songs and interview. Alton is also currently in Shades of Gray and previously played in the DJ Magg Band. Meanwhile, you can enjoy videos of Shades of Gray on this site.

I tuned in to Viking Jim's Homegrown Show on Sunday to hear the Deadbeat Poets, among other fine local bands. Later, on the way to open mic, I caught the Poets again on Little Stevens Underground Garage, also on 93.3. Van Zandt (if you're confused, think Bruce Springsteen and the Sopranos) has been playing the Poets' "Staircase Stomp", from their latest CD "Circus Town", in several consecutive shows. In fact, the song was his "Coolest Song in the World" pick on July 11th! Van Zandt also talked about Frank Secich's history with Stiv Bators. Little Steven features the coolest songs that you don't usually hear on the radio, and if I have time I make a point of catching the Underground Garage. You can hear missed shows on his website... The Deadbeat Poets will be heard in Europe and the U.S. this weekend on John Cavanaugh's Soundwave show on Radio Six International. The Poets are getting additional airplay and press attention from around the world. Just a few examples - punkturns30.blogspot.com, sugarbuzzmagazine.com, radio923fm.radio.com (aired "Staircase Stomp" on 7/18), Colorado Free Radio, and Radio New York International... Read the MVLiveMusic review of "Circus Town" here and stay tuned for Deadbeat Poets songs in this site's jukebox.

Jim Gustafson's Poobah has been making news for most of its almost-forty years. Previous accolades for the band, which holds the record for the most Rock & Roll Hall of Fame appearances and the claim to "the most collectable psych-rock band", have appeared in Guitar World and Goldmine Magazines. Poobah recently re-received notice in GW's online edition with a link to a must-read blog at The Ripple Effect (click here to start at Guitar World). You will also enjoy a previous Ripple Effect review of the band - enter "poobah" in the search box at the site. Although Jim currently resides in West Virginia, he is proud to be a native son of the Valley and returns often to perform. In fact, several Poobah songs are featured in Boom Boom Mancini's film "Youngstown: Still Standing", and the band played at the Butler Institute film preview earlier this year. Jim will next appear locally at the YRRH Rockfest. And, of course, you can watch several Poobah videos here on this site.

  MVLiveMusic played a few songs Friday night at Nick Rizzi SOI and Steve Vuich's Birthday Bash, and enjoyed listening to many talented musicians - Honeyboy himself, Art Bain, Kevin Vallely, Rick Seidle of Ke-Nip-Shen, Tommy Bumbico of the Earth Band, Kevin Ciambrone, and, of course, I had to prod proprietor Michele into joining me on a couple songs. You can view Michele's photos and videos of the festivities in the SOI's Facebook page. Vooch and the River Saints will also be celebrating at his tenth annual Birthday Bash at Tully's on Monday, 8/9, and he'll be at the SOI every Thursday hosting an open mic. Speaking of the Nick Rizzi SOI and open mics, you will find MVLiveMusic's Professor Steve playing every Sunday along with host (and incredible musician) Michael Starkey.

Up early the next morning for my 9 a.m. gig at the Howland Farmers Market... Good friend Joe Fritz stopped by and graciously relieved me for several songs, and Matt Dreher of Spider Web Music accompanied me on a few tunes. I almost fell off my seat with surprise while performing the Byrds' rendition of Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom" when old friend Dave Pack appeared out of the crowd of patrons to harmonize with me! Dave was the bass player and a vocalist in the popular and infamous local band, the Holes In the Road. I reconnected with Dave, and HITR drummer Gary Sloas, for the first time in forty years at last year's Tommy McCoy's Benefit BBQ Reunion at Up A Creek. In fact, Dave told me the Holes In the Road will be performing the same song when Gary McCoy and Doug Thomas come home to Howland for the second annual benefit, coming up next month. By the way, Joe Fritz is one of the busiest musicians around, sharing his soulful vocals at many solo gigs and hosting open mics at Shevie's and Blue Magoo's (where you will almost always find MVLiveMusic hangin' out). Check out his page on this site for his schedule and stop by for a listen, and join in on stage at the open mics.

Later Saturday evening, LJ Fortier brought his "Oldies and Blues" show to Quinlan's. You can check out his amazing harmonica expertise in two songs in the new video... Then on to Metter's for French Blue, Jen Lamb and Steve Pownell, accompanied by Seven Saturdays bandmate and bassist Sam Petillo, which prompted a chuckle over French Blue's alias, "3-1/2 Saturdays". Two new videos demonstrate the duo's (plus one) talents, particularly in their own cool tune "Come To Me, Boy"... Sorry, no videos of Rick Hartley at the Champion Beach House Bar, but an enjoyable visit to a pleasant venue to hear a good friend and amazing performer, nonetheless. Photos from Rick's and French Blue's shows are also available, in the slideshow above.