Youngstown’s regional culture magazine for loving life and living
NO TAKE
KIDDING
AROUND PAGE 11
YO
A JOKE,
PAGE 9
IT’S ALL ABOUT IMAGE SPRING
2010
*‘free’ up the radio waves PAGE 7 *hell on wheels PAGE 16
-STAFF-
Youngstown’s regional culture magazine for loving life and living
Editor Chelsea Pflugh Contributors Nick Young Gary S. Angelo Doug Livingston Emmalee Torisk Chelsea Miller Josh Stipanovich Alicia Pattillo Aaron Workman Photography Nick Young Gary Angelo Doug Livingston Teresa Soos Alicia Pattillo Aaron Workman Copy Editor Emmalee Torisk Designers Brian Cetina Adam Rogers
Our Mission The Yo* Magazine, a subdivision of The Jambar, spotlights society and celebrates what it means to be a young adult in the city of Youngstown. Through the voice of college students, the magazine offers everything the audience everything they need to stay inspired, understand and appreciate the unique challenges of living in our region. The pages of the Yo* Magazine are filled with compelling profiles of exceptional members of the community, local music acts, theatre, celebrity natives’ memoirs of the city and some of the best photography of Youngstown. Our goal is to prove the diversity of the city is worth celebrating. Every street, person and building has a story to tell. spring 2010
l *the surviva
2009
ds VexFest sen s shockwave y* through cit
PAGE 11
You know him; you see him everywhere. Dive deep into the history of Phil Kidd, Mr. Defend Youngstown. If he has his way, you won’t be knocking Youngstown’s bad image much longer.
KINGS
issue, spring
draws Local artist wn on Youngsto experience*
RING
OF THE PAGE 9
Urbanrk* artwo
Local fight to survive Whatwrestlers better way to express inside theforropes your love Youngstown than Photoshopping Jesus with lasers in the skyline? Michael Noll takes us inside his new group, Offend Youngstown, and tells us why poking fun at the city is just another way to relieve stress and make new friends … or enemies.
PAGE 7
Come take a look inside the fishbowl of Louie B. Free’s downtown radio station. Find out this radio host landed a gig in the business without even wanting to be in it.
PAGE 16
Skate alongside our Yo* Diary girl as she trades her girly-girl image for a total badass stature. Will the 5-foot-2-inch, 98 lb. skater be able to handle throwing her weight around on the track and live to tell about it?
2
Dear readers:
image means ed to believe that We are all groom yourself, everything. way you present e th , ok lo u yo The way you say all s and the things es dr u yo ay w e th bel you with. eption people la rc pe e th to e ut at image, contrib at perception, th th t ou ab g in th The nice it over time. stort and change di n ca u yo at th is t. You don’t ve to be a burnou ha s ay w al t n’ do You a go-getter. always have to be singlen’t do, though, is One thing we ca . Especially e image of a city th ge an ch ly ed mous hand is already synony e m na ’s ty ci at when th own” and angerous,” “run-d with labels like “d “dying.” age 11) what Phil Kidd (p tly ac ex ’s at th But volution idd is starting a re is trying to do. K When e of Youngstown. ag im e th ve sa to r the town, we look fo we look at Youngs at s t; when Kidd look quickest way ou visions tells us he how en he n, w is his to gs un Yo uncertain future ’s ty ci e Th . ty ni rebirth, opportu e reaction. sure its success. motivation to en e without advers et pl m city’s co be ld wou n, embraces the w to gs un Yo But no revolution nd Offe allenges us to der of the group n (page 9). He ch ow s hi Michael Noll, foun of g in ris e city skyline. create an up veral images of th se g rin te al negative image to by ls and art. city’s bleak labe nerate discussion ge find humor in the to m Our Yo’ iu ed m s isery is hi l, is shattering it. m be s la n’ a w e, to ag gs im un Yo ng an shy, frail and best part of havi ays been seen as w al s Sometimes, the ha ho w rl l women’s e spotlights a gi hang with the loca to s ek se e sh Diary for this issu r as age 16). the skates with he just a girly girl (p an proper. Lace up th l artists e or m s e’ ove sh ords. Three loca pr w to nd am sa te ou y th rb a de age worth roller of their artwork (p that images are t in es po go l ca ng yi fo e sa th d The ol ving text be t studios in a new level by ha why starting up ar to t ou hé ic d cl fin is to th ss ke ne ta mad hods behind the 4). Read their met ticed. no t ill. But as we’ve best way to ge maybe it never w t, gh ni er a small city is the ov ge advantage. age won’t chan at image to your th e us to ay Youngstown’s im w a d individual issue, you can fin ho live here. Our is w th le in op d pe fin e to th e to com ils down town’s image bo After all, Youngs . e city as a whole images reflect th
Photos by
s
Teresa Soo
What’s yours?
Chelsea Pflugh Editor
3
theI M A G E issue
Spring 2010
n a h T More s d r o W By Chelsea MIller
The Use of Text in Art
The Analyzer For Sarah Bokone, “strength” is the word that started it all. Bokone, 24, recently opened her photography studio in a loft in Warren. A budding artist, she hopes to make it big in a small city. Strewn across her loft are paintings, sheets and several other knickknacks she uses as props. “Sorry,” she apologizes. “I’m in the process of moving in still.” Bokone is just beginning her photography career after graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, but what separates her from other budding photographers is the level of experience she already has. Bokone has received recognition from several local newspapers. She’s also been noticed for her work taking shots of Playboy model Lisa Neeld and is beginning a project that is generating buzz around the area, a project called “The $25 Secret.” “It all started with a self-portrait … I wrote the word ‘strength’ across my mouth. I don’t know why I did it. I usually never know why I do these things,” she says laughing. “And at that moment I was like, ‘This would be really cool to write a word on every person that would represent who they are.’” Bokone’s love of meeting people and her interest in psychology merged into the $25 Secret. The project consists of Bokone writing a word on a model who is interested in having his or her photograph taken. The word is carefully Spring 2010
Artists have been exploring the relationship between text and images for several centuries. Rene Magritte, a surrealist artist in the early1900s, was most popular for exploring the connections and linkages between text and images. In one of his pieces titled “The Treachery of Images,” Magritte shows that images are only that. Images. Under a drawing of a pipe, Magritte wrote “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (“This is not a pipe”) to show that a picture of an object is not the same as the real thing. Several contemporary artists also explore the relationship between text and images, such as conceptual artist Jenny Holzer, who uses messages in public settings, and Barbara Kruger, who juxtaposes images and text. Some believe words have greater impact or can change the feelings that one has for the piece.
chosen by Bokone after a questionand-answer session with the model in which she decides which word would best describe him or her. The result is a black-and-white photograph of the model’s innermost secrets. Bokone describes the process before the photo as a minipsychological session. “I think everybody wants to be read,” she says. “A lot of people … have different personalities with their friends and there’s so much more to people than we usually express. So that’s why I like this project because I kind of bring it out of them.” Nathan Kirk, one of the models used in Bokone’s project, first became interested in participating after he saw a friend’s picture that Bokone had taken. He decided to contact her and set up a session. After a series of questions, Bokone chose the word “relentless” for Nathan. He said that they had talked about a few words he had in mind, but Bokone’s judgment was the final call. “At first, I was … real unsure about it, but then we talked more and she asked me personal questions about my life and she said that was the word she felt was more appropriate,” he said. Since her start less than half a year ago, Bokone has already taken 90 pictures for the project. She hopes to reach 100 and publish a book with the pictures. She will then expand her search for models as far as New York City and Las Vegas.
“Basically, right now, I’m just going anywhere that I have friends I can stay with, and they’re gonna help me spread the word a little bit and just get some different people from different areas,” she says. And Bokone does not plan on quitting anytime soon. “A lot of people think that I’ll run out of words,” she states knowingly. “But there’s so many different versions of the same word.” In an area more famous for its steel mills than the arts, Bokone’s main goal with the project is to “meet everybody” and motivate local struggling artists. “My main goal, as of right now, is to inspire a lot of people in this area. The arts aren’t that big, but there’s a lot of artists that kind of don’t know what to do with themselves … I wanna let people know that you can do something. It doesn’t matter where you’re from,” she says. “I really honestly didn’t think this place had anything to offer, but now that I’ve been downtown, I see a lot of potential and I want to be a part of it and bring it out … I think I might be bringing something a little different to the area.” The Thinker Lydia Roden, a senior art student at Youngstown State University, has been exploring self-portraiture and writing on the body for two years. As an artist, however, she goes above and beyond. For a project she began in February 2009, Roden gave up something that was precious to her … her hair. 4
“I shaved my head to see how it felt. I’ve always had long blond hair. I wanted to see how it felt to be looked at as somebody different,” she reflects. Roden, whose hair is now growing back, but not quite the long flowing locks she once had, then wrote in her journal people’s reactions to her and her experiences of being bald. In one such entry, she writes, “Nobody said anything at first,” then, “Everybody asked if I was sick.” She said that although others had misconceptions about the project, it was a fulfilling experience for her. “It was really interesting and it was really fulfilling because some people thought I had cancer when I first shaved it off. And some people thought I was a lesbian. And some just thought I was a punk,” she says. She then scanned the journal entries and put them behind pictures of herself with a shaved head. Roden explores text in most of her art. She recently finished a book titled “Eye Believe.” In it, she explores others’ beliefs and writes their thoughts next to pictures of their eyes. “I asked people things they believe that maybe everybody doesn’t necessarily think is true. Kind of like the idea that truth is in the eye of the beholder,” she says. Most of Roden’s art pieces, however, are
5
investigations of self. She has been using song lyrics and feelings and writing them on her body for self-portraits for two years. Roden states that her self-portraits are a very personal look into herself. “I was just interested … first I started off trying to figure out things about other people walking around that you don’t really know anything about them, about how they feel or think and that was interesting to figure out things about them,” she explains. Roden claims that using text in art, rather than just the images, is more effective at conveying a feeling. “I don’t know, an image just doesn’t do it for me,” she says. “So I have to put things into words because, I mean, it’s more about the honesty. Like, you can see an image and take it several different ways, but the words just put more feeling behind it.” The Feeler Kristina Smith, 25-year-old graduate from YSU, uses words in her art as a means to express herself. Covered in clay from her head to her feet, Smith, who is finishing up a ceramics project, shyly wipes her hands on her apron. A short girl with mousy brown hair and big brown eyes, she looks scared but eager to show off her work. Her project is titled “Love, Loss and All That Remains: The Things I Couldn’t Say Out Loud.”
In it, she explores her hidden feelings through a series of photographs and messages drawn throughout the wall. This project started after a bad breakup with her boyfriend of six years, Jason. “We had gone through a really bad breakup. Life changing, groundcollapse-from-underyou kind of thing,” she recollects. Smith’s art began as a series of photographs of herself and her boyfriend through their relationship and different representations of their romance. The words enveloped in her art were the things she could never say out loud. “It’d be like things we’ve said to each other, things we’ve texted each other, song lyrics … just poignant things,” she says in a soft-spoken voice. Her project includes a series of scattered photographs of Smith in intimate poses with Jason and pictures taken throughout their six years. The project also contains song lyrics and quotes that are written directly on the wall behind the photographs. While working on her project, Smith states she learned to communicate better. Now reunited with her boyfriend, Smith says her art is what helped her express herself. “He’s very supportive,” Smith says of Jason’s reactions to her project. “He wasn’t exactly thrilled about this really in-depth, personal thing, and since then, I’m better at communicating it instead of just making work about it. Before, I would just make work to explain it or to tell him how I was feeling … I can actually say how I’m feeling now.”
Spring 2010
Interracial Dating
New generations prove love is colorblind While some older generations seem to shun interracial dating and hold onto the idea that race is a determining factor in relationships, younger generations, including some Youngstown State University students, simply see love without color. One half of an interracial couple is Dacmara Delgado, who is Peruvian; her boyfriend is Ecuadorian. Her parents’ thoughts are straightforward: She should date a white, blue-eyed guy. Delgado says if they could choose a boyfriend for her, they’d choose an American guy. But she’s not as narrow- Kristen Monroe and Willam Beard are comfortable in their interracial relationship, minded. saying color is no ‘big deal.’ “It’s my decision. If I like the guy, I don’t discriminate,” she says. Delgado says she doesn’t official, Stafford’s parents became experience any discrimination at concerned. school. “They just didn’t want anyone “I just think some [people] to make our lives difficult because may be curious, [but] it’s never an of our different races, but they uncomfortable feeling,” she says. don’t feel that’s any reason for us Sarah Stafford is Caucasian, not to be together,” Stafford says. while her boyfriend is Hispanic. Sean Hinderliter, who is of His coloring is very dark, and he Sicilian descent, and Jenee is often mistaken for an AfricanThurston, who is Bahamian, American. Still, when the two have been dating for over a year. are at school, they rarely receive Hinderliter says interracial dating is strange looks or stares. no “big deal.” “We aren’t the type of people “I’m fine with it; interracial that show PDA, but if we hold couples have good-looking hands or kiss we are more prone babies,” Hinderliter says. to stares,” Stafford says. Pretty babies are not the only Stafford says her parents adore reason Hinderliter says he dates her boyfriend. Before the two outside his race; he says Thurston started dating, Stafford took him is the most amazing girl he has to meet her mother. ever known. “My mother said he was the “She’s actually the first girlfriend nicest guy I ever brought home,” I took home to meet my parents; Stafford says. they absolutely love her. She’s the Still, when the couple became sweetest person I’ve ever known, Spring 2010
STORY AND PHOTOS BY
Alicia Pattillo
so it doesn’t matter what color outside his race before. she is,” Hinderliter says. “I am white, and she was Hinderliter says he only ran black,” Mitchell says. into problems with dating outside Josh Powell and Ashley his race when he lived in Little Palmer say they don’t experience Rock, Ark. for six years. negativity about their relationship “People in the Deep South and “could care less.” have different views on interracial “Some older people still dating than the North. I believe stare and probably still see a that some African-American men problem, but we don’t care. We’re don’t like to see African-American comfortable,” Palmer says. women date outside their race William Beard and Kristen down South,” Hinderliter says. Monroe are relaxed when it comes But he says he’s never to the subject of interracial dating, seen anything like that around even though Beard remembers Youngstown. that he saw only one interracial For Thurston, dating outside couple in high school of her race has not always been “It doesn’t matter … it’s not a perfect, either. She has faced big deal. If I’m happy, my parents problems but says now she will be happy with whatever doesn’t mind others’ opinions. decision I decide,” Monroe says. “I’m cool with it; my parents were fine with it. At first I got stares … it made me feel uncomfortable, but I got used to it and put it behind me,” Thurston says. Thurston and Hinderliter seem to agree about negative comments coming from African-American males. “Black guys would question why I’m going out with a white guy. I guess it was the race difference; they think our culture is too different from [white people],” Thurston says. “Race shouldn’t matter. Love doesn’t have a color. It shouldn’t be a stereotype.” Deonte Tate, an AfricanAmerican, says he’s not against interracial dating, but if he were to bring a Caucasian girl home, his Josh Powell and Ashley Palmer share a tender mother would disapprove. moment by the Candy Counter at YSU’s “I don’t know why. That’s Kilcawley Center. just the way it is,” Tate says. Thomas Mitchell has dated 6
“I never worked my way into radio. It was never the plan.”
‘Brainfood’ for Y-town By Aaron Workman
Additional reporting by Josh Stipanovich Photos by Aaron Workman
7
Louie B. Free stands out in a crowd. Every day he wears a different T-shirt declaring love for his library with blue jeans and a wrist full of eclectic bracelets. At 56, his hair is graying, but it remains long enough to be pulled into a messy ponytail, a glimpse of the younger man he used to be. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday through Friday, Free broadcasts his radio show, “Brainfood from the Heartland,” on WGFT 1330 AM. “Brainfood” is Free’s selfstyled, highly localized version of talk radio. The signal from his station isn’t strong, so most of his listeners are from within the city of Youngstown, though he often touches on national topics as well. Free stands on his toes in front of a large microphone now, sweat beading along his hairline, his hands animated, delivering his words with a passion. “We would not have a school that’s on the bottom, we would not have failed school systems in America if we really cared about our kids,” he says heatedly. Then he takes a silent pause from his rant to smile and wave at a woman outside from his “fishbowl.”
His Federal Street studio is three walls and one huge window overlooking downtown Youngstown. He likens it to a zoo. One day, a man came by his window and posted a sign. “[It said] something like ‘Disc Jockeus Americanus in its Natural Habitat,’ which I thought was great,” he said. Free, who is self-taught, said
his show has given him a sense of purpose — taking phone calls, spewing opinions, offering advice and crusading. But being a radio host wasn’t a lifelong dream for Free. He has a criminology degree from Youngstown State University, and he once made a living driving a taxi in a city he didn’t know. “I never worked my way into radio. It was never the plan,” he said.
Louie B. Free broadcasts his highly localized version of talk radio, “Brainfood from the Heartland,” on WGFT 1330 AM. Ten years ago, he pitched a show idea to a radio station president, not intending to be on the air, but rather just to throw the idea out. The exec told Free he had no interest in the show idea. He did, however, take an interest in Free. He asked if Free had ever considered being on talk radio. “I thought, ‘Oh boy, there’s something I haven’t failed at.’ … I went back to tell him you shouldn’t toy with people like that, and he had a contract on his desk,” Free said. The Show: ‘Brainfood’ Although he felt an obligation to let people discuss and debate issues, he soon found his listeners needed him to share his own opinions as well. “I learned early in radio it’s important to put my opinion out. People — they need a line to say I agree or disagree,” he said. His show is an anomaly in nearly every way. There is very little advertising. His time slot misses the morning
and afternoon drives, and his segments tend to run long, with each guest having enough time to share all of his or her thoughts, rather than jumping quickly from caller to caller. Free said this is the main difference between him and other local talk radio personalities. Free has had a slew of highprofile guests, including one-time U.S. presidential candidate Steve Forbes and Jane Goodall, the expert on chimpanzees and recent speaker at YSU. Free said he believes people want to come on his show because of its unusual format. “I don’t think it’s about Louie,” he said. “I think people want to have an opportunity to talk about what they do in a forum where they’re not constrained to a sound bite.” Another factor in his ability to land hard-to-get guests may be his commitment to preparation. “When I interviewed Steve Forbes, he was so blown away that I actually read his book on the flat tax. He sent me an autographed copy and a Steve Forbes tie,” he Spring 2010
said with a laugh. He said Forbes “couldn’t be nicer … you find how people are when you’re talking with them off-air.” He gives the everyman as much airtime as the bigwigs, though. “I frequently wave people in [off the street] that I don’t know, and it’s fun. I honestly believe that everybody has an interesting story. All you’ve got to do is either ask them the right questions or ask them a question and shut up — get out of their way,” he said. Throughout his broadcast, Free uses the Internet to find information about what his listeners share and to communicate with them during the show. He also writes a blog on The Vindicator’s website that further discusses topics from the show. It also offers links to the stories he talks about, so listeners can view the same sites. Open and Shut: What to Share and What to Hide He often injects personal anecdotes into his broadcast and has been open about his past with his audience. Several times during the broadcast, he plays disclaimers Spring 2010
stating that “Brainfood” is an adultoriented show. No topic is off-limits, including sex. “Sex is not a bad thing, so I talk about it a lot. I get a lot of sexologists on [my show]. It’s a part of my life. It should be spoken about … I don’t see it as shocking,” he said. He has discussed some painful and difficult experiences, including the sexual abuse he says he experienced as a child. He does not feel ashamed, saying he is thankful for all of the experiences in his life, even the bad ones. “I was sexually abused, so I talk about it,” he said. “If I can’t be real with my audience, how can I expect anyone to be real with me? I am the compilation of my experiences, that’s what we are. If there’s any good in what I do, it is in part from the bad experiences that I’ve had.” He said he’s received numerous letters from listeners telling him how helpful his openness has been for them. Free feels it is his place to help when and where he can for his listeners. “We’ve got to start getting real
“I honestly believe that everybody has an interesting story. All you’ve got to do is either ask them the right questions or ask them a question and shut up — get out of their way.” -Louie B. Free about [sexual abuse] and putting those monsters in jail and keeping them in jail,” he said. He hopes his willingness to open up will allow his listeners to do the same, and he feels it has actually helped him in the long run. “I think it makes me more valuable in the job I do, having that experience, so I actually see it as an asset. Things happen that you do, and things happen to you. It’s what you do with them. Do you become more compassionate or do you become angrier?” he said. Though he is willing and happy to share almost anything about himself, recently Free has found himself in the position to hide things — legal things. Free, who also chooses to never reveal his real last name on air, has become entangled
with the federal government over a tax issue. His listeners have been commenting on the matter, but Free has chosen to remain rather tightlipped. “I can’t talk about it, other than to just say I can’t talk about it,” Free said. Free said he will be happy to discuss the matter when all is said and done and hopes his listeners can respect that. “I’m sure my lawyer squirms at his desk whenever I’m on,” he said, but maintains that he’s keeping his lips sealed. For now, Free will continue to broadcast daily from his tiny Federal Plaza studio. He urges the public to walk on by and say hello while he’s in the fishbowl. Who knows, he may just pull you in off the street. 8
Offend Youngstown tells the 3-3-0 to grow up By Gary S. Angelo
“I am sick of people who can’t take a joke and act like making a bit of fun about a city with high levels of crime, corruption and unemployment is the same as saying their mother is a fatty.” -Michael Noll
Michael Noll is still standing on his beer-soaked soapbox telling Youngstown to get a life. Noll, embraced as Youngstown’s satirical folk hero, is constructing Offend Youngstown as a propaganda bulldozer, destroying clichéd ideas of Youngstown. All 543 members of the group are fighting fire with fire, serving as loyal creative activists. Knoll is fed up with people associating Youngstown with rape and crime and calling Youngstown “the Valley.” Noll reminisces about how, during his pre-Offend Youngstown days, he was a naval intelligence officer seeing action in Vietnam and later growing a mustache 9
and working as a private investigator in Hawaii. Outside of Offend Youngstown, Noll pursues a rather helpful, yet strenuous occupation. “I currently conduct seminars to men around the country on how to deal with enormous penises. I discuss surgery options, but mostly talk about the kinds of pants they can wear. Wait … I think I’m getting ‘Magnum PI,’ ‘Lord of the Rings’ and my life confused again. There are just so many parallels. The penis thing is true, though,” Noll says. Back to business. Noll is a procurator, transforming Offend Youngstown from a Facebook group to an entire movement. He is fed up with those who cannot simply have a sense of humor and let go of the rusted
gears of Youngstown’s past. “I am sick of people who can’t take a joke and act like making a bit of fun about a city with high levels of crime, corruption and unemployment is the same as saying their mother is a fatty. Youngstown’s only a city. It’s not your mother, Youngstown has never baked you cookies and I’ve never made out with Youngstown,” Noll said. Noll is willing to debate anyone (on an “Insane Clown Posse level”) who terms Youngstown as “the Valley.” He sees the “Youngstown Valley Debate” as a debate on science. “Youngstown is not a valley,” Noll insists. “It’s a depression in the ground; a giant pothole! I will deny your science and claim
Youngstown is just a giant pothole or a ‘miracle.’ Because there is magic everywhere in this bitch.” So what was the tour-deforce that propelled Noll to create the Sherman Tank that transfigured into Offend Youngstown? Was it industry, Handel’s ice cream, Isaly’s chip-chopped ham or simply the communication fuel that America is running on, Facebook? “I wanted to create Offend Youngstown because not enough people wanted to join my ‘Did My Man Cheat Because I Have Only One Leg’ Facebook group. ‘Offend Youngstown’ is a Facebook group with [more than] 560 members. Spring 2010
It’s sponsored by a handsome succulent website www.mrnspace.com. It’s a fun place for people to make jokes and get into fake fights with each other and Photoshop pictures of penises on to the city’s skyline,” he says. Besides being a forum of angry young progressives, Offend Youngstown is a treasure trove of controversial artists, such as local artist Jason Van Hoose. Most of all, Offend Youngstown is a commitment that requires a lot of undivided free time and of course many dates with that special woman … Photoshop.
“What are we against? What do you got?” Noll challenges. “We’ll protest pretty much anything and everything, even if it has nothing to do with Youngstown. Like Boardman Park and the city of Poland. I think we had enough of those places. Also, I might begin Photoshopping vaginas instead of penises on scenes of Youngstown. I spent weeks online researching this,” Noll says.
Spring 2010
“I might begin Photoshopping vaginas instead of penises on scenes of Youngstown. I spent weeks online researching this.” Photos courtesy of Michel Noll
10
Bleed Youngstown By Doug Livingston
He’s a forceful presence, standing more than 6 feet tall with a walk of calculated determination, a shaved head and a firm handshake, a stare devoid of doubt. Wearing a pressed white button-up, cuffs sliding past his wrists when his elbows bend. He’s practical, a minimalist, with an idea bigger than himself. Phil Kidd is Defend Youngstown, or maybe it’s the other way around. He’s the voice of a grassroots, revitalization process determined to shake the rust off this tarnished trophy once shimmering along the Mahoning River: Youngstown. He’s a member of the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative, the acting vice president of the Mayor’s Community Foundation, formerly the city of Youngstown’s director of Downtown Events and Special Projects, a 2008 Leadership of the Mahoning Valley graduate, named the “Champion of Change” in the Valley by WYTV Channel 33 and an active player in everything Youngstown. He was born in Burgettstown, Pa., the product of another Rust Belt town, taken in by the Valley, the adoptive son of a city caught up in the perils of its past: Youngstown. He left Pennsylvania for Youngstown State University in 1998, seeking a degree in criminal justice and political science, and the tools to take on history, joining the ROTC program his junior year, exacting the fortitude to maintain his convictions. He graduated from a Georgia military academy and served as an officer in the army, traveling the United States. Photos by Doug Livingston spring 2010
11
Double page spread photos going here Double page
In 2004, Kidd returned to Youngstown. He moved into his old neighborhood on Broadway Avenue along Wick Park. In the morning, he would stamp out a battery-operated alarm clock and roll off his twin-size mattress, gather up an empty can of baked beans from the night before, open the tailgate, tuck his head under the cap, take a step off the bumper and toss the refuse into a trashcan along Wick Park where he parked his Dodge Ram the night before … right in his old neighborhood. His transient home along Wick Park turns out to be folklore, a tragically noble endeavor based on a true story, an exaggeration disclaimed by Kidd himself. The truck was only a year old. The stint lasted no longer than two weeks, and Kidd had enough money to get a hotel room. But somewhere buried in this veracious tale is the cause for which Kidd fights. That 15-hour drive from Georgia brought him past Burgettstown, past his childhood, to a place where an ambitious, young man could 12
make a difference, back to maternal Wick Park. Like every thing else he has done in the area, his decision to reside along the park in his old neighborhood was his choice. “Since I’ve been back to Youngstown, I call my own shots,” he says. What shots can you call from under a truck cap? Well, military pay afforded him a membership at the YMCA where he showered in the morning. He utilized the amenities available to him typing up resumes at the library and visiting the university to let his old professors know of his return. He started getting involved in the community, attending town hall meetings and reaching out to his neighbors, his community, his new home. Kidd is not budging; that’s no secret. “I have dreams to live in Youngstown until they incinerate me and spread my ashes over the Mahoning River,” he exclaims. But the all-things-Youngstown man was born in Pennsylvania, spending most of his
later childhood in the city of Weirton, W.V., a once vibrant town pinned between Ohio and Pennsylvania, between an industrial past indelibly marked by the standing smoke rings of steel mills gone under and the presently marred existence of a rusted town scraping for survival – an intrinsically regional conflict inherited by the first-removed generation of empty-handed auto workers and feckless steel unions. In the fall of 1998, Alli Tomich loaded her Ford Escort with bed sheets, enough clothes to last a week and her only son, Phil. It was a one-way trip for Kidd, with YSU at the other end. After they settled his possessions into a cramped, three-bedroom dorm room on the sixth floor of Kilcawley Center, Alli turned to her son before leaving. “There’s just something about Youngstown. It feels like home,” she told him. “Yeah, Mom,” he agreed. “It does.” Kidd has Youngstown coursing through his veins. The people, the heritage. “It has the down-to-earth people just like us,” his grandmother Betty Dumbovich explains. “I know, he told me. Hard-working people, that’s the kind of people he likes.” “That’s why he was attracted to Youngstown,” his grandfather Joseph adds, “because he grew up in that kind of town.” When Kidd was 10 years old, he stood at his spring 2010
“We’re more than what they think.”
e spread photos going here
father’s side at a bridge project in Washington, Pa. His father, Robert Kidd, helped organize the project while working for the Washington County Redevelopment Authority. Robert later taught biology at Burgettstown High School until he died when Phil was 15 years old. “He died of an enlarged heart,” Phil recalls. “They found him upstairs, face down. When he died, his heart was twice the size of a normal heart.” He was a large man, with a large heart. “When my dad passed away, they had all these rather low-income people from Washington, largely African-American people, came all the way out to rural Burgettstown, about 50 of them from that neighborhood to attend his funeral. I remember the line being out the door just to pay their respects. These were people with no means, really … they could barely get to work.” Every year a distinguished service award is given to one senior from Burgettstown High School’s graduating class. Robert Kidd received that honor in 1973. “He was always someone a lot like Phil,” Alli says, reflecting on her late husband. Twenty-four years later in that same school, adorned by an American flag dedicated to the memory of Robert with an illustration of the man commending his life’s work, Phil was spring 2010
handed that same award. “He’s kind of followed in his dad’s footsteps,” Alli says. Kidd’s uncle and grandfather stepped in after his father’s untimely death, both worked at Weirton Steel, both served in the Navy. Eight years before Black Monday crippled the steel industry in Youngstown, the Weirton mills went under; his uncle was one of those laid off. “It was sort of a crossroads for [Phil],” his mother notes. He found himself intersected by industrial and community heritage, a heritage he carried to Youngstown, a city with historical problems, opportunistic disinvestments and the enticing, staggering challenge of combating an ignorance of its own heritage. “Between all that is kind of my DNA,” Kidd considers. “Having my father serve in that capacity, having my mother [a Pennsylvania housing projects auditor] serve in a similar capacity … I see where my interests and kind of my evolution to where I got now. Where that really came from. It was from all these experiences growing up.” “I’m an advocate,” Kidd says. “I do what I can as an organizer.” The 30-year-old remains humble, disclosing no intention of seeking public office. It’s a humility that has allowed him to walk up to a displaced stranger, look him in the eye and tell him with absolute conviction, “We’re
more than what they think.” Kidd’s efforts caught the eye of a promising young politician campaigning for mayor. “I met this guy that people just gravitated toward,” Mayor Jay Williams reflects. Williams found himself wondering “who is this guy and why is he so passionate about Youngstown … He’s everywhere!” On a warm summer night, after an arduous workday, Williams decided to take it easy. He attended a film at the Covelli Center. The movie let out around 9:30 p.m. He can’t remember if it was Madagascar one or two. His most vivid memory of that night took place after the projector cooled off. Williams recalls leaving, thinking only of going home to get some much needed sleep. Then he spots Kidd. “Phil hops on his bike, with a Defend Youngstown T-shirt on, riding off into the darkness, probably to another event.” The image of Kidd riding off into the distance lingers in his mind. “Like a superhero,” Williams says. “When 2010 was launched and Jay Williams became mayor,” Kidd says, “I wanted something [to combat what] was to me one of the biggest if not the biggest hurdle for the community… this attitude prevalent throughout the Valley that was like, ‘We’re f--k-ups and we’re never gonna fix this place.’” Kidd put his foot down, and Defend 13
Youngstown was born. “To me, it was like … enough! We’re going to recognize all of our challenges, all of our history, all of our baggage, our scars.” Through a breathless cadence, Kidd slams his knuckles on the table with each alternating syllable. “We’re drawing a line in the sand ‘cause we have to move on. We don’t have anymore time.” Kidd took to the streets, holding up hope on a piece of weathered tan cardboard with bold, black lettering reading “Defend Youngstown.” Every Friday and Saturday night, this baldheaded Croatian guy stood downtown in the middle of Youngstown’s dormant heart, like a crusader with a passion borderlining lunacy. His plan was simple. “I wanted to get people talking.” And not the usual talk either. In the aftermath of a rash of arsons sweeping through the Wick Park neighborhood last fall, a community meeting was held on Nov. 9. Nearly 50 concerned residents listened impatiently to longwinded rhetoric and empty promises echoing through old Wick Park Pavilion. Tyler Clark, a friend of Kidd and founder of Youngstown Renaissance blog, recalls citizens refuting officials’ claims that their voices would be heard, that their phone calls and concerns would be answered. Ninety minutes into the meeting, after feeble talk of block watches and wandering investigation leads, Clark recalls a voice from the back of the hall. A man stood up, introduced himself as Phil Kidd, then began. “Listen, this is what we want,” Clark remembers him saying, never raising his voice, polite, courteous, articulate, steadily piercing the ineffectual atmosphere. A councilman, community leaders, government officials, Kidd looked straight into their eyes. “We want you to prioritize the preservation of Wick Park.” “Everyone turned around to him,” Clark says. “They thanked him.” U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan remembers first hearing of a guy from out of town, bringing “an appreciation for all the good things he saw” in the Mahoning Valley. Ryan picked up a local newspaper and read about Kidd’s campaign, selling Defend Youngstown T-shirts, selling hope. “I ended up buying a bunch of shirts off him,” Ryan says. “I had a period where I was wearing
Defend Youngstown T-shirts everyday.” A passionate man himself, Ryan threw his support behind Kidd’s movement. “It’s symbolic of what’s been happening around town,” Ryan says with a proud air of optimism. Kidd’s movement is driving change. “It’s all heart,” he explains. Phil is very “targeted and smart. You gotta have that person.” That person builds bridges that transverse ages and oceans, bringing people together, throwing the past in their faces, tearing open wounds so they may finally heal. John Slanina is the founder of Shout Youngstown, a website with Defend Youngstown intentions. Slanina, a Youngstown native,
"We’re drawing a line in the sand ‘cause we have to move on. We don’t have anymore time."
14 #
-Phil Kidd
has worked across Ohio, the United States and overseas for the past 11 years, directing his gaze back toward Youngstown at every turn. During his last stint in Europe, Defend Youngstown “got on [his] radar.” To this day, Slanina and Kidd maintain a healthy e-mail correspondence. The day after Slanina moved back to Youngstown from the Netherlands, he attended a rally for Ted Strickland in September 2006. He noticed the governor was wearing a black T-shirt with white lettering that read “Defend Youngstown.” He knew then the scope of Kidd’s work. Later, after meeting Kidd, he understood the man’s dedication, his drive and his determination. “Phil is a tank,” Slanina explains. “Why people gravitate to Phil? If you see the effort he puts in, this guy works his ass off from sun up to sun
down. It’s inspiring, actually, to watch him.” Most people run to stay in shape, Slanina says. “But Phil does it with a huge, 30-pound log [resembling a small telephone pole] that he keeps in the back of his truck.” Phil no longer owns that truck, it’s just one of many used vehicles he has bought over the years. The vehicles ultimately succumb to Kidd’s routine trips to Columbus or Washington, D.C., for his work on the National Vacant Properties Campaign. The vehicles always bring him back home though, all the time the log, worn smooth from use, is sitting in storage in Kidd’s garage. Kidd wakes up at 7:30 a.m. Any given day, 30 to 40 e-mails await him in his inbox when he arrives at the MVOC. He works right through lunch, planning projects or events for that evening. He almost always attends a neighborhood meeting before arriving back at the office around 9 p.m. where he spends the next three hours blanketing his Defend Youngstown Facebook page with the accomplishments of the Valley, holding up the city like a first-born child. At midnight, he calls it a day. Saturday mornings are usually spent on clean-up projects. Kidd was walking down a littered Youngstown street with an empty 40-ounce of King Cobra in his hand, silhouetted against the cityscape. He found the bottle hanging from a steel mill relic next to the Youngstown Historical Center of Labor and Industry. The bottle hung from the structure, a testament to the ignorance Kidd is trying to put to rest. Trashcans are few and far between on Wood Street, but Phil found one after 15 minutes and laid that bottle to rest. His Saturday mornings are ritually interjected by a cup of coffee at the Golden Dawn … right in the old neighborhood. At the same table every week, he surrounds himself with a copy of The Vindicator, The Business Journal, his laptop, The Week Magazine and a pile of policies and reports on upcoming community development projects. He has hopes of amending his routine someday. “I see myself at a high school football game when I’m 50,” he ponders. He doesn’t have any children yet, but maybe he’ll be watching his son play on that field, under the lights, with his family and friends … right in the old neighborhood. spring 2010 theyomag.com
A Yo* Diary
HELL ON WHEELS
By Emmalee C. Torisk Photos by Nick Young
YO* GIRL TRADES HER SKIRTS FOR SKATES No one has ever, not once, described me as athletic or aggressive. It wasn’t until this past summer that I ran a full mile without stopping. I quit tennis after one day because I hated chasing after the ball. I once won dodgeball in high school because people were afraid to throw balls at my 5-foot-2-inch, 98-pound self. When driving, I never honk or yell out the window, but instead quietly mutter, “Excuse me” under my breath, and sometimes, but only sometimes, give other drivers the finger. My pinky finger. To calm down, I furiously knit and crochet. I am not, by any means, the ideal person to practice with a women’s roller derby team. But I did. Before a practice, my only knowledge of roller derby included vague recollections of “Rock of Love” skating contests with baby dolls and strollers to win the heart of Poison lead singer Bret Michaels, Sam’s mom on the early-’90s Nickelodeon show “Clarissa Explains It All” and late-night replays of 1972’s “Kansas City Bomber,” starring a sassy Raquel Welch. Of course I’d also heard about roller derby’s resurgence and renewed popularity, especially in cities. From my limited experience, roller derby looked badass. And really freaking brutal. Still, my skating experience wasn’t entirely nonexistent. I’d had my fair share of skating rink birthday parties, and even envied the kid who got to ride around in
“From my limited experience, roller derby looked badass. And really freaking brutal.” the big birthday skate. When I was 16, I wanted to play hockey – my dream was to appear on MTV’s “Made” – and ice skated fervently for a couple weeks, even investing in a pair of hockey skates. These bursts of athleticism didn’t last long, however. After a few too many bloody ankles and bruised knees, it was inevitable that I’d return to my knitting needles and craft glitter. So when I signed up to practice with the Little Steel Derby Girls, a women’s roller derby league in Youngstown, I knew I was far, far out of my comfort zone and realm of ability. And so did my family and friends, who responded to this announcement with looks of concern, apprehension and even hints of actual terror. To them, it wasn’t likely I’d make it out of practice alive. Or with all my teeth and bones intact. A co-worker even shook his head sadly and said, “It’s been real…” The days before practice, held on a Sunday in Youngstown State University’s Stambaugh Stadium, were filled with heavy, almost studious roller derby research. From what I discerned with my limited athletic understanding, the game itself seemed simple enough. Each team consists of a jammer, a pivot and three blockers, all skating on a circular track. The jammer tries to score points and the pivot is the main blocker, while the blockers do what their name implies: they attempt to stop the jammer. Every time the jammer passes 16
“As I drove to practice, my jitters caught up with me ... ”
“I felt like I should apologize for my sweat.” 17
an opponent’s blocker, the helmet after my dad tried to convince team gains a point. Truthfully, me that wearing a hockey helmet – just reading through the complete with wire face cage – or a game’s descriptions and hard hat to would be fine. At lunch, my rules made me cringe. parents virtually begged to come with Discovering that roller me, for both entertainment and medical derby players even reasons. But this was something I had come up with their own to deal with on my own. After all, Tifany intimidating monikers said practice would be tough, but fun. or nicknames was, well, Fun. That sounded promising. a slight bit threatening. As I drove to practice, my jitters Emmy Faye probably caught up with me, and I tried to block wouldn’t cut it in roller derby. them by gulping an energy drink and When I talked with Tifany shouting along with Bruce Springsteen Griffith, who started the and the E Street Band’s 16-minute Youngstown league last version of “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out.” November, my fears were It’s my go-to song in situations like that. eased slightly when she Getting to the gymnasium was another mentioned that very few hassle. Aside from my athletic failures, people on the team had I’m also directionally challenged. previous skating experience, I stumbled into practice 5 minutes and that roller derby players late and slightly damp from running were of all sizes and shapes, around the massive building in search including some “littler, teeny-tiny of the elusive Gym B. girls.” I breathed a sigh of relief. After signing a disclaimer (um… Then she happened to mention OK) and changing into my specially that athletic ability and endurance purchased athletic clothing, including are absolutely necessary. a pair of knee-high argyle socks, I Damn. was ready for the warm-up portion of After that, I started taking the practice. Of course I hadn’t remembered stairs. to bring tennis shoes, mainly because Tifany also gave me a I don’t own a pair, so I completed the list of items to bring to the 5-minute jog in my navy blue suede two-hour practice, including flats. Good thing I’d forgone the quad skates, a helmet, an heels that day. Next, the team and I assortment of pads and stretched for 10 or 15 minutes, and a mouth guard. Around 2 lunged, leaped and ran backwards a.m. Sunday, I ransacked my and sideways across the gym floor. closet for a pair of white roller Although I hadn’t exercised that much skates I bought for a few bucks in, well, ever, I felt alright. I didn’t even at a garage sale a couple years ago. I mind the unfamiliar, slightly disquieting found my old hockey knee and elbow sound of the referee’s whistle blowing. pads. I watched a half dozen YouTube However, then it was time for the real videos on roller skating basics, the most deal: skating. important of those being how to stop. I sat down on the bleachers, laced That night, I slept fitfully, with burly roller up my skates, borrowed a pair of wrist derby women named Scarlett O’Terror, guards and covered my body with Anarchy Kournikova and Demonica protective padding. All the while, I made Lewinsky aggressively skating through nervous small talk with the other girls my dreams. on the team, even having them help (Yes, those are real roller derby me figure out how to put on some gear. names.) Finally, one by one, the girls on the Before practice, I encountered team got up and began to skate around several mishaps, such as melting the circular track, marked by orange and a mouth guard and having to buy a yellow cones on the polished gym floor. Spring 2010
Their pink-wheeled roller skates and legs, Plopped is probably more accurate. I just rashes on my inner elbows from too-small clad in multi-colored tube socks and fishnet kind of dropped, and kept doing this until one of pads. In the midst of my falling attempts, the stockings, were a blur. No giant birthday skate the other skaters told me it’s easier to fall if you Velcro closures on my knee pads had flung would appear on this rink. It was my turn. crouch more, a lot more, and keep your knees open and I had to adjust my sliding helmet with Shakily, I stood up and wobbled a bit as I bent. What a difference. We practiced other falls the assistance of another skater. Still, despite skated onto the floor. Soon, however, I got into too, including left knee falls and a baseball slide, feeling a bit tired, gross and dehydrated from the roller skating groove, especially since I complete with hip action. Another even involved forgetting a water bottle, I kept skating. was aided by the other girls. Even the switch to falling on all fours and hoisting your body up with After learning some hip and arm whips, roller skating backward around the rink wasn’t your elbows. Something important I learned was which pass momentum and speed from one a big deal. Despite having limited (read: no) that you must get up quickly, but should never let person to another, we split off into two teams experience with backward skating, Tifany gave your hands touch the floor. The consequence? and formed lines. Each skater held onto the me a quick lesson. I soon found myself glancing hips of the person in front of her. It was at this over my shoulder as I skated in the opposite point that the gym began to smell like what direction, checking for any cones or fellow I remember from a few hockey locker room skaters. experiences, and I felt like I should apologize We then moved onto learning different for my sweat. The trains we made reminded me stopping maneuvers. I quickly learned the of those I’d always wanted to participate in at Snowplow Stop, which involves spreading skating parties. At practice, however, only one your skates apart a bit wider than shoulder person skated at a time, either skating in back width and pointing your toes in toward each and pushing or skating in front and pulling. I other. However, the T-Stop was a lot more tried both, even running on my toe stops to get troublesome. The T-Stop, which is performed by the train moving. I struggled, fell and was called dragging one skate behind the other, just made “little,” but I did it. Somehow. me trip and almost fall. After some help, I still Surprisingly, the two hours of practice couldn’t figure it out, even after practicing on my passed quickly. Before I knew it, the team and I own for a little while during a short break. T-Stop were back on the bleachers, taking off our gear. (and balance) fail. I had survived practice – roller derby practice Falling techniques were next. As Tifany – and I actually felt OK. I knew that tomorrow, demonstrated the falls, I again doubted why I and probably for a week after, I’d be sore. I’d was at this practice. This looked kind of hard, not dread stairs and anything that wasn’t my soft, to mention painful. The first fall involved landing comfortable bed. Still, though, I did something I, on the right knee. After I heard the whistle, I Run-over fingers. Ouch. Falling with your hands and others, thought I wasn’t capable of. looked around and saw the other girls falling balled up in fists was recommended. I did it. properly, accompanied by a clatter of skates and By this point, I was sweaty, had bangs equipment. I had no other choice. I fell. plastered to my forehead and discovered red Spring 2010 18
s n a i n o t S g Youn m a j e h t d a e spr By Nick Young
The bar at Cedar’s is alive, but dead at the same time. The seats around the horseshoe bar are nearly all filled, but the crowd seems lacking in excitement. The Bloodsugars, an emo-like punk band, is warming up on stage getting their sound ready and no one looks too impressed. They play their set and the crowd remains the same. Then, suddenly the crowd starts to come alive. What suddenly brought the crowd to life? Was the alcohol just starting to kick in for everybody? No, The Young Stonians have taken the stage. Almost instantly, the people that were just sitting around waiting are up on their feet, in front of the stage, ready to dance the next 45 minutes or so away. spring 2010
They start the set with one of their oldest songs, “The Cat’s Meow,” a song about a former boss of the singer’s who thought he was … well, the cat’s meow. Almost instantaneously the smell of a certain illegal substance is filling the air like you might encounter at a national act’s show in a large venue, not like you would ever expect at a little bar in Youngstown. During the second song, Vapor Burns, one of the newest by the group, a fan in the crowd actually goes up to the stage and blows a cloud of smoke in the guitarist’s face. The band plays only three more songs, “Disco Pizza,” an older tune, “War of the Worlds,” another newer one, and then they finish with “Do It To It,” one that is probably over two years old.
Craig Reho plays the d’jembe during a performance at Cedars. Photos by Nick Young. 19
Between the jamming and mix of what are generally long songs anyway, this is all they can fit into their 45 minute set, and once they’re off the stage, the crowd seems to settle back to the bar and the swell of energy that was present not just five minutes ago has suddenly flushed from the bar like a quick breeze coming through the door as a patron exits. The Young Stonians, a jam/ rock band that includes plenty of improvisation, electronics, wailing guitar licks, funky bass beats and a plethora of percussion came onto the Youngstown scene about twoand-a-half years ago. The band consists of Craig Reho on secondary percussion and the keyboard, Eddie Smotrilla on guitar, Ryan Bissett on the bass and lead vocals and Dave Humphrie behind the drum set. They have taken some side steps since coming onto the scene. They went into a forced sabbatical shortly after they started to play out live, when they’re, at the time, rhythm guitar player, Smotrilla broke his leg skateboarding in Mill Creek Park and was laid up in the hospital for an extended stay. They wrote a song out of the whole experience, though, so it wasn’t a total loss. They hit a bump in the road, again, when they eliminated their other guitar player and had to rewrite all their songs with Smotrilla on lead and no second guitarist. The change has been well worth it, however. Since reshaping the band, the group’s sound has done nothing but improve and their tightness together on stage has become a thing of near perfection. 20
Q&A The Young Stonians with
What’s your favorite venue to play?
What inspires your music?
Do you have any pre-show traditions?
“Cedars has good sound, Barley’s always treats us good, but the Vexfest stage was our favorite.We like to play anywhere in Youngstown, though.”
“Good times with good people, like Eddie’s dad. Everyday things that we just stop and happen to notice and laugh at.”
“We don’t really have any traditions. It’s kind of like when you wake up hung over in the morning. We just move really slow while we load the van.”
What are the challenges of playing in Youngtown? “Expensive beer prices, stuff getting stolen and a lot of local bands are too close-minded to play with genres other than their own, and our style is kind of on the backburner of the local scene, but we’ll play with anybody.”
Bassist and singer Ryan Bissett.
How long have you been playing together? “Two and a half to three years.” What was your most memorable show?
Is there anything major you guys are doing in the next month or so? “Hopefully we’ll have a real dotcom website up soon, and we’re working on songs for a new CD.”
“Jonesfest at the Ledges because it was more than just a show, it was a whole fun time.”
Drummer Dave Humphrie.
spring 2010
A slow dance into space
the Rebreather story By Gary S. Angelo Rebreather surfaced like a phoenix from the shards of Youngstown’s mid-‘90s noise rock climate, from bands such as Package E, Slumber Pig and Universal Expansion Kit. Finally, 1999 crept around the corner, and frontman/guitarist Barley Rantilla, bassist Chad Fondak, drummer Jeremy Koerber and guitarist Jake Harnett bound forces to form the heavy space rock unit, Rebreather. Even though Rebreather plays a form of down-tempo, tubular guitar rock, they free themselves from the traditional standard stoner rock atmosphere. Instead, they draw influences from early-’90s melodic-noise guitar icons such as the “critically acclaimed” Hum, Quicksand, Chokebore, Handsome and Barkmarket. Rebreather still stays true to their doom metal roots, paying homage to the bands Floor, Cavity and the Melvins. Rebreather’s first full-length effort, “Need Another Seven Astronauts,” was released on the Philadelphia indie label, Infernal Racket Records. Twin Earth Records out of Georgia put Rebreather on a split EP with psychedelic metal merchants, Starchild. The band’s follow-up, the full-length “Half Speed Ahead” (2003), featured the song “Southdown,” which was a favorite at Nyabinghi’s Emissions From the Monolith festival, from which Rebreather generated great revenue. Midway through Rebreather’s career, drummer Jeremy Koerber was replaced by Steve Gardener, who was the former drummer of Pittsburgh’s indie- folk outfit Boxstep. Rebreather took a brief hiatus. While on break, Rantilla and Gardener formed the side project Low Divide, recruiting former drummer Koerber to play bass. The year 2007 saw a successful reunion for Rebreather, and they began to put together their 2008 full-length “Sunflower” out on Columbus’ indie label, Nice Life! “Sunflower” proved to be Rebreather’s most structured and loudest output ever. The Rebreather days ignited when all four members from various musical backgrounds met at a record shop. Fondak and Koerber were in a band together at the time called Slumber Pig, while Rantilla and Harnett were in another group called Package E. It was at that point when 21
Rantilla, Harnett, Fondak and Koerber decided to give Rebreather a whirl, forming a band together. “My former band Slumber Pig was an instrumental, atmospheric heavy rock project in the vein of heavy space rock icons Handsome. Jeremy Koerber played drums and guitar, and I played bass,” Fondak said. Rebreather combines the explosive guitar chops of England’s the Spacemen 3 with the experimentalism of Chicago’s ’90s icons Hum in their music. There are also massive hints of doom metal in the vein of Southern sludge masters Buzzoven and Neurosis. “There are tons of influences to choose from, but for me personally, I would have to say guitar-wise and vocal-wise, I was blown away by bands that seem to have a minimalist approach, but delivered an insanely enormous sound,” Rantilla said. “Bands such as the Unsane, Lungfish and Fudge Tunnel, the Melvins are an inspiration for Rantilla. For me, it’s about getting sucked into a groove that doesn’t need to be interrupted.” Fondak comes from a funkier music background, expressing more of a soulful urban influence. “I would have to say as a bass player I was most heavily influenced by the music my parents had around the house when I was a kid, which was largely the darker side of ’60s and ’70s soul, psychedelia and funk and rock music,” Fondak said. Some influences were artists such as Isaac Hayes, the Doors and Black Sabbath. “These were bands that have tonally been inconsistent with each other and explored different sounds. These bands all had concurrent themes of simple melodies and strong looping riffs, as well as songs that weren’t always limited to 3-minute formats and were not exclusively created for the purpose of radio play,” he said. Fondak incorporates a lot of distortion feedback in his playing.
“I play largely atonal, dissonant, droning bass lines and rarely stray too far out of the pocket or into odd time signatures,” he said. On 2008’s “Sunflower,” Rebreather progressed maturely, tightening up their sound. Their past releases such as “Half Speed Ahead” and “Need Another Seven Astronauts?” display the band’s heavier sound. “Our sound has always been loud and super heavy, but in the beginning, our songs were predominantly very slow with a much looser feel than the newer material,” Rantilla expressed. “The new songs come at listeners at different angles. We did our first cover ever on ‘Sunflower,’ the classic Lungfish song ‘No False Suns.’” Fondak feels that the band is progressively better at everything it plays today, versus when they were younger. “We kind of used to care only about volume, feedback and stringing a couple riffs together. The new songs are more punctuated, and there is advanced interplay between individual musicians and the band,” he said. Fondak mentioned that the band incorporated Gardener on the “Sunflower” album. He adds a new element to the rhythm section. Both Gardener and longtime drummer Koerber are awesome drummers to play with, but have slightly different playing styles. Fondak said that having a new drummer has changed the overall vibe in certain ways that are more complex and precise. He adds, “Don’t get me wrong, we’re still musical cavemen. It’s just that recently we taught ourselves how to use a couple of new tools.” Rebreather just recorded their latest full-length album, “Slow Dance.” Rantilla feels that the album will showcase the creative side of the band. Rantilla’s brother, Briar Rantilla, is a local artist and designed the vinyl artwork on the foil label of the record, which is an actual sundial. “When listeners start the dial on the record, pointing north at noon, it will line up the first song with the shadow, and all the tracks will play in real time,” he said. Producer Josh Roman recorded the album at Mindrocket Studios in West Middlesex, Pa. Rantilla said the band spent three or four days texturing and layering all the recorded Spring 2010
Barley Rantilla, Rebreather guitarist, vocalist. Photos by Gary S. Angelo. Spring 2010
An Interview with Rebreather guitarist/vocalist, Barley Rantilla
“Once everything was thrown down, we recorded all the vocals with Josh Roman,” Rantilla said. The band has recorded some unique covers on Slow Dance. “On Slow Dance, we do two covers which are rare and out of character for Rebreather. We did a cover of the advant –Jazz group, Spain, and their single, ‘World of Blue.’ We also cover of the song ‘Parasites’ from the Columbus, Ohio act, The Bravado.” Briar Rantilla sings background vocals on “World of Blue,”he said To Rantilla, Rebreather has progressed naturally, but is still staying true to their sound. “We have been refining the sound that we already had as well as changing a few elements in our music, but no conscious changes,” Rantilla said. Rantilla said he comes up with different riffs and tries to incorporate those into the set. According to Rantilla, the band does not stick to one strategy, but just goes with the flow, and creates the music they feel is natural to them The band enjoys playing in the Youngstown music circuit, adding a visual slideshows behind each of their sets. These slideshows were created by Briar Rantilla. Barley Rantilla adds, “My favorite thing about Youngstown is that it is where the people we love hang out. It’s a tight community, and it’s easy to feel at home. The Youngstown music scene has that whole “little pond” thing about it, but it is packed full of big fish.”
Q: What is your favorite venue to play and why? A: Actually, in Ohio, for the area we love The Royal Oaks because we feel at home there. The Nyabinghi on Youngstown’s West Side, which closed in 2007, was our favorite place to play because of their incredible PA system. At the Nyabinghi, there were great crowds and we met some really great friends and good people there. We also like the Carabar in Columbus, Ohio, and the Grog Shop in Cleveland, Ohio. (The Nyabinghi was originally located on Salt Springs Road in Youngstown, Ohio.) Q: What inspires your music? A: Even though this might sound cheesy, I guess music is a good complete stress release. If we don’t play music for a while, it gets under our skin. The more we play, the better. Any kind of release inspires us with positive and negative stress. Musically, we are inspired by any band that plays genuine and heartfelt music. We like music that makes us feel the emotions of the band. That way we could tell what they were going through. Some solid bands we all commonly listen to are Jawbox, Quicksand, Lungfish and the Who. Jawbox is a huge inspiration of mine because the quality of their albums pumps me musically in many ways. We all listened to Quicksand in the ‘90s, before we all knew each other. They were a huge influence on our sound. Q: How long have you played together? A: Since 1999. We are pushing 10. With drummer Steve Gardener in the band, it’s been two and a half years. Q: Most memorable show and why? A: Any of the Emissions [from] the Monolith shows at Nyabinghi. We played with so many super great and talented heavy rock bands at those shows. People flew in from all over the world to Youngstown to see great music. Q: Do you have a pre-show tradition? A: Drink heavily, unfortunately.
22
Summer
events in the Yo
Saturday, May 15: Johnie 3, Tilt Patrol, Hollywood Blondes and the Hi Life at Cedars Lounge, 10 p.m. Saturday, May 22: Ditosto Production and Juggalo Family Entertainment present thirty band extravaganza at The Paradise Inn, 4 p.m. Saturday, May 29: Opening night of Summer Concert Series at Warren Amphitheatre, Opening Act: Jackie, Headliner: Zoso (Led Zeppelin Tribute), guests urged to get there by 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 30: Jonesfest III at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park at noon and 1 p.m.
23
Saturday, June 5: Gay Pride Festival at Federal Plaza, noon to 9 p.m.
Saturday June 26: Rock the Block 2 at Downtown Youngstown 3 p.m.
Saturday, June 12: Warrenstock Music Festival, 6 p.m. opening act: Stranglehold (Ted Nugent Tribute), headliner Thunderstruck (AC/DC Tribute)
Saturday, July 3: Summer Concert Series, Warren Amphitheatre, 6 p.m. opening act: Rudey and The Professionals, headliner: Fins to the Left (Jimmy Buffet Tribute)
Saturday, June 19: Electric Frankenstein, Turbo Lovers and The Cheats at Royal Oaks, 9 p.m.
Saturday, June 19: Summer Concert Series at Warren Amphitheatre, opening act: Lock 4, headliner: Almost Queen (Queen Tribute)
Sunday August 15: VexFest 7 at Downtown Youngstown, noon
Spring 2010
Calling all writers, editors, designers and photographers 330-941-1991 24
theyomagazine@gmail.com Spring 2010