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Downtown concert boasts variety
By SEAN BARRON
YOUNGSTOWN
It didn’t matter if you were enthralled by roaches or rap music, hard rock or hip-hop, science or a singing art teacher.
If you came to downtown Youngstown on Saturday, you probably got to sample these and more.
Such diversity was a defining aspect of Saturday’s 2010 Pig Iron Community Street Concert on Phelps and West Federal streets.
The five-hour gathering, in its sixth year, brought together a variety of local and regional performers, poets and magicians. Sandwiched in between was a 20-minute science lecture.
Many people feel that good music is art, but Diane Drapcho of Canfield takes that idea perhaps to the next level.
Known as the “Singing Art Teacher,” she performed folk music that borrowed from The Beatles, Amy Winehouse, Mary Chapin Carpenter and others. She teaches at Reilly and Buckeye elementary schools in Salem and specializes in singing songs pertaining to art.
“I write songs for kids, and one of the teachers said to me, ‘You should make a CD,’” Drapcho recalled, adding that she also performs at the Canfield Fair and local First Night events.
Appearing with her Saturday was Tony Lape of Poland, who also accompanies her during a Mass at St. Patrick Church here.
Other performers were 3-D & Tee Party, rap and hip-hop artists from Warren; Embers of Silence, a Hubbard-based electronic band; Makayla Dawn, a 14-year-old regional rock band; Nothing Pure, a local rock band; and Still Form, a Niles-based acoustic, indie and light-rock duo.
Entertainment also came from the Pig Iron Poets, local belly dancers and Dr. Raymond Beiersdorfer, a Youngstown State University geology instructor who gave a brief scientific discussion on Madagascar cockroaches, which can grow to several inches. A few were passed around for the audience to see.
A solemn feeling seemed to fill Phelps Street when 11-year-old Victe’Aria Nixon read a poem titled “The Game,” which captures the tragedy of gun violence and the many lives it forever changes.
It reads, in part:
So stop the PlayStation mentality, take heed, listen quick; when staring down that gun barrel, it’s not a joystick.
When that bullet is fired, circumstances change all of the sudden; you can’t retract or go back and push the reset button.
“I write poetry a lot in school and I wrote a lot in my poetry journal,” said the Rayen Early College sixth-grader, who also read one she wrote called “Music.“
Poetry helps her deal with certain feelings and has a calming effect, she added.
The author of “The Game” is Ellis R. Cathey of Youngstown, also known as “The Master Poet.” Cathey, 46, said he lost his sister to violence when he was 13, and he often reads poetry at funerals.
“We need to let the youth know we care and that we will help you,” he said.
He also has written a book, “Answered Prayers,” which contains poetry he describes as “spiritual, comfort and reality.” The works should be published by Pig Iron Press in December, he said.
Attendees also were treated to card and other tricks by Jason Alan of Salem, who goes by the moniker “Jason Alan Magic.”
The street event was to give area artists an opportunity to exhibit their skills and talents, noted Jim Villani, owner of Pig Iron Press.
“Our feeling was we wanted to have a low-key, grass-roots, homegrown kind of entertainment,” explained Villani, adding that downtown Youngstown had few outdoor events when he started the first street concert 10 years ago.