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.