Thursday, July 27, 2006
Talent show participants will each have four minutes for their acts.
THE VINDICATOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Pig Iron Literary and Art Works' Community Street Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday on North Phelps Street between Commerce and Federal streets, downtown.
The daylong free festival will feature nine hours of stage entertainment and 14 professional acts.
A featured part of the stage program is an amateur talent show at 4 p.m. that will be judged. In addition to the stage show, 39 artists, vendors, exhibits and concessions will create a fairway down Phelps Street.
Three regional acts will be featured, beginning with Youngstown's Jim Frank Trio, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Featured evening bands include: The Human Union with Mike Stout from Pittsburgh and Labor Force from Cleveland.
Mike Stout is a socially conscious singer/songwirter and community activist. In addition to songwriting, Stout has, over a 30-year period, led social crusades against economic injustice and social inequality. Stout will play from 7:15 to 8:30 p.m.
At 8:30, Labor Force will make its initial Youngstown appearance. Their music features punk rock stylings and progressions underneath a blue collar disenfranchised working class ethic. The band will play from 8:30 to 9:15 p.m.
Eleven other acts are also scheduled. Two bands will perform in the early afternoon, including Davis and McKay from Boardman, at 1 p.m.; and Obstruction from Trumbull County, at 1:45 p.m.
Vocalist Rachell Joy will sing pop and gospel standards from 6:05 to 6:30 p.m. Folk-a-billy entertainer Gene Rock performs at 9:20 and rock guitarist Dave Lisko will be the evening's closing act at 9:35.
Other offerings
Rap and poetry are also included in the show. Gospel rap by Patricia Owens of Youngstown is scheduled for 5:30. Youngstown rapper Lippsy will perform at 6:50. Between the rap sessions are presentations by two Youngstown poetry groups, We Be Poetry and The Pig Iron Poets. Organized by Phillip V. Warren, poet and teacher at Wilson High School in Youngstown, We Be Poetry has featured poetry get-togethers and sharing at various inner-city locations and cafes. The group will read at 5:40. At 7:05, the Pig Iron Poets will present. They have had a presence in the community since 1974, and appeared this year at First Night Youngstown, and at the YSU Festival for the Arts.
For children and youths, three acts are featured. Jack and Cousin Otis, a ventriloquist act, begin the afternoon's entertainment at 12:50. At 3:30, Miss D, the Singing Art Teacher, sings her own folk songs that teach youthful listeners about art principles and techniques.
Miss D is really Diane Drapcho, who teaches art for the Salem school system and lives in Canfield. She has been touring as Miss D for two years. Lastly, on the Fairway, not the stage, during the afternoon, will be Aut-Mori Grotto Clowns with Slim Jim.
The talent show is scheduled for 4 p.m. Presenters will be allowed up to four minutes to perform in the skill or genre of their choice. A panel of three judges will award two Best of Show prizes. The talent show will end at 5:30 and the winners presentation will be at 5:55.
Down the North Phelps Street Fairway away from the performance stage will be a total of 39 artists, vendors, exhibitors and concessions lining the sidewalks, selling their artwork and services, or talking about their mission.
For information, call (330) 747-6932.