Youngstown - A Cultural Crossroads

This weekend there was not only the VEX Fest downtown along with a Rib Burn-off at the Chevy Centre, there was also a pow-wow held a Willow Ranch in Coitsville Township which is just east of Youngstown.
















The Brier Hill Festival was also held this weekend in Youngstown's Little Italy. There was live music, dancing, and great Italian Food for all. Where else can one find an Italian Festival and a Native Amerian pow-wow all in one weekend. Whew! I'm exhausted!

Mock Revolution Presents

Greg Mocker at Mock Revolution has created an excellent film that features Staughton Lynd, lawyer and civil rights activist,explaining how he became involved in the plight of the Lucasville Five. It also tells the story about how the Lucasville riot became a play. The play was recently performed live at the Fringe Festival in New York city.

Mocker is currently working on documentaries in New York. This, his latest, is listed on Current.com which is Al Gore's website and station. It is said, "This is the site where people in the know find out things."

Please go to the site and click on the piece. Let's get its ranking up, the media and cable are paying attention. This is an important issue. The more coverage of the story, the greater understanding of not only the plight of the Lucasville 5, but also the plight of many others who have been unjustly caught up in the criminal justice system.

Summer Festivals

The Grey to Green Festival planning committee is still hard at work organizing the First Annual Grey to Green Festival. As the month goes on I will certainly keep you apprised of the wonderful activities and entertainment that you will find at Wick Park on September 13, 2008. Please take note that on the day of the Grey to Green Festival RE-CREATE will be having a drop and shop. So start gathering your items to drop off and plan to spend some time shopping.























However, between now and the Grey to Green Festival there are several other festivals happening in the neighborhood. The first is VEX FEST on Sunday, August 17, 2008 in wonderful downtown Youngstown. I don't know about you but one of my pet peeves about all day festivals is that I often can't spend the entire day there waiting for my favorite bands to play and I often don't know in advance what time or where they will be going on stage. For those of you with time constraints like myself I have located the set list for the day and you will find it below so that you can schedule time to spend at least a few hours checking out your favorite bands.
This might be subject to change but as of today it is accurate. The VEXFEST lineup is below:
BARLEY'S MAIN STAGE
11:10-11:40 The Whaling Skies
11:55-12:25 The Slant
12:40-1:10 The Young Stonians
1:25-1:55 Scotfree & the Guilty Plea
2:10-2:40 Haven
2:55-3:25 Aura
3:40-4:10 D-Jones
4:25-4:55 H-Beam]
5:10-5:40 Da Kreek
5:55-6:25 APG
6:40-7:10 Off the Rocker
7:25-7:55 Fuzztub
8:10-8:40 Rosella
8:55-9:25 First in Space
9:40-10:10 Groove Conductor
10:25-10:55 Gingerspittz
11:10-11:40 Frequent Season
11:55-12:25 Bedspins
12:40-1:10 Something to Shelter

WEST/ Chinebox Tattoo's Stage11:25- 11:55 Pro Bono
12-00- 12:30 Acoustic Juggernaut
1:10 - 1:40 Jordan DePaul & The Reputations
2:20 - 3:00 Mystic WIP Hustler
3:40 - 4:10 KKC
4:45 - 5:25 Away from Eden
6:05 - 6:35 Grey Dealer
7:15 - 7:45 Captain Braskey
8:25 - 8:55 5 Elements
9:35 - 10:20 Jones for Revival
11:15 -12:00 VIA SAHARA
12:55 -1:40 Cyrus

EAST 93.3 The Wolf's Stage
12:35 - 1:05 Wake the Lion
1:45 - 2:15 Posture Coach
3:05 - 3:35 Rebreather
4:20 - 4:50 DaBoondox
5:30 - 6:00 Tilt 360
6:40 - 7:10 Grand Fury
7:50 - 8:20 Kenny Ali
9:00 - 9:30 The Kellys
10:25 - 11:10 THE ZOU
12:05 - 12:50 A Sleep

... And then on August 24, 2008 it is Rukus the Festival This festival promises to be great fun. Check out the You Tube Promo below. Hope to see you there!

Tree Lovers Urged to Spread the Love in a Forest and Film It

If you've been wondering why all the videos lately, it is because there are only twenty four hours in a day, and the Grey to Green Festival is taking a considerable amount of my time until September 13, 2008. I hope to see you all at Wick Park on that date to check the festival out, but in the meantime enjoy this video of forest loving from Greenpeace. Click the greenpeace link for details on this campaign. Please note this video is not for children, unless you want to do a heck of a lot of explaining.

Lucus Conley - The Colbert Report

Luke was on the Colbert Report last night promoting his book Obsessive Branding Disorder. The show is really quite funny, check it out!

The Girl Effect

Although this video speaks to the problems of women in developing countries, many of the issues it addresses are similar to those faced by young women in Youngstown. The United States Census indicates that Youngstown ranked 94th out of 100 cities, for numbers of women holding bachelor's degrees. In a study compiled by Biz Journals the best metro areas for women are San Francisco,Los Angeles,and New York City. This would be expected, however, Youngstown, Ohio ranked dead last even behind Toledo. This is not acceptable. The birth rate for teens between the ages of 15 and 17 has also increased. Please go here to make recommendations to Ohio's Anti-poverty Task Force.

This is just a brief reminder to support the young women of the world.