Stiv Bators

In celebration of the Youngstown debut performance of Ben Neill and David Wojnarowicz's 1991 multimedia piece ITSOFOMO, Don Yallech chats with us about his time in the B-Minors, being one of the first bands to ever play at Cedars, moving to New York and getting involved in the No Wave scene, and his long collaboration with Ben Neill.

Did you know that The Zombies' singer and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Colin Blunstone is from Youngstown?!  You're right...he's not.  But Dean has been touring with both The Zombies and Colin for many years, and it seemed like a no brainer to record an interview with him.  

Count Dean and Count Anthony take you on the scariest journey you could ever imagine.  We when through our archives and pulled out all the Halloween material we could find (not that much), and even got a visit from our favorite trick or treater...Nicky Mouse.

Best known as the frontman for The Dead Boys and The Lords Of The New Church, Stiv Bators was one of punk rock's pioneers.  We talk with two partners from his solo career, Frank Secich and Eddy Best.  These guys knew Stiv from day one and served as bandmates, mentors, co-conspirators, and hot dog roasting partners.  Listen in and hear how power-pop transformed into punk rock in Youngstown.

The Human Beinz were one of the first bands from Youngstown to break out and have international fame.  Their 1968 single "Nobody But Me" was a Top Ten hit, but by early 1969 the band was broken up.  Ting Markulin is a founding member, and tells us about their formation, early days, and how he ended up recording singles with his cousin Steve at Peppermint in the early 70's.

Emissions From The Monolith was an underground heavy music festival that happened for nine years at the Nyabinghi on Youngstown's Westside.  This year Greg Barratt and Nate Offerdahl bring the festival back, this time at Youngstown's new home for heavy sounds, Westside Bowl.  Dean talks to Nate, Jeremy Koerber of Lake Lake, and Sam Buonavolonta of Fear Of Dancing about the festival and the state of heavy music in the valley.  The festival takes place October 8-11 and is drawing bands and fans from around the globe to Youngstown...and who said there's nothing happening here?!

Left End is best known as early glam/shock-rock pioneers.  Frontman Dennis T Menass' theatrical performances are still talked about to this day, and have influenced generations.  Founding members of Left End, Patsy Palombo, Tom Figinsky, and Jim Puhalla join Anthony and Gary for a conversation about their more than fifty year career; which will conclude next month with their final performance.  We talk about their earliest days, including their unreleased but soon to be reissued album, "Umbilicus"!  

Lance is the curator behind the Brown Acid compilations, which feature many Youngstown and Peppermint artists.  So it seemed appropriate to get his take on why he calls Youngstown the Mecca of hard rock...heavy psych...and what heads now just simply refer to as brown acid.  

Youngstown native (though LA based) Ryan Nasci is a Grammy nominated audio engineer who has worked with Harry Styles, Portugal. The Man, Katy Perry, Cam, Young The Giant, and many more.  We usually are talking about the past (and specifically music that had a very small regional audience), but on today's show we examine the life of a young engineer who is working on major pop records.  Dean's on tour, so guest co-host and owner/engineer at Court Street Production Michael Estok joins us as well.

Dedicated listeners are familiar with Nicky Mouse (the Italian American mouse who lives at Peppermint and demands food from us in exchange for not chewing through the studio's cabling).  On this week's show, we were called upon by Nicky to give him a ride to the Brier Hill festival.  While on the scene we ran into and talked to many friends, business owners, and musicians about what the festival means to them and how the Italian immigrant culture has shaped the Mahoning Valley.