Outlaws — and in-laws — gather in Struthers

There’s a good story about how Chicago singer Taylor Smith became one of the opening acts for Saturday’s concert by The Outlaws at The Cellar.

And it begins — and ends — in Struthers.

Smith’s mother, the former Linda Belloto, is a 1974 Struthers High School graduate. Linda tended bar at Eddie & JoJo’s, on U.S. Route 422 just over the state line in Pennsylvania, in the late ’70s. The bar was co-owned by Eddie Pannutti of Hillsville, Pa., who now owns a promotions company.

Linda met Henry Paul, founding member of The Outlaws, at Eddie & JoJo’s back in those days. Paul played in the Youngstown area more frequently then, as he was just getting his band started.

Linda had long since moved to the Chicago area, married and had kids, including Taylor, who is now 20.

But she recently re-connected with Pannutti via Facebook. As luck would have it, Pannutti booked The Outlaws into The Cellar, which is in downtown Struthers, this weekend.

Linda told Pannutti about her daughter. After watching a video of her perform, Pannutti was impressed enough to ask Taylor to open Saturday’s show.

Taylor is an acoustic singer-songwriter who plays guitar, keyboards, mandolin and ukelele. She will perform some of her original songs at The Cellar.

Linda, who is one of 10 siblings, still has plenty of family in the Youngstown area, and they are all planning to show up to watch Taylor. Music runs in Linda’s family: her uncle was Steve Garchar, who led a well-known polka band that played throughout Northeast Ohio in the 1950s.

Linda’s homecoming this weekend also has been touched with sadness. Her father, Robert J. Belloto of North Lima (formerly of Struthers and Boardman), died Sunday.

Long-covered signs reappear

As buildings in downtown Youngstown are either torn down or remodeled, old signs that had been covered up for decades once again see the light of day.

The most recent example is on the Federal Building, Phelps Street at West Federal Street, which is being renovated into a restaurant on street level, with apartments on the upper floors.

Workers recently peeled away the layers of facades that had been wrapped around the main storefront. In doing so, they revealed the original signs that once graced the building and reflected its occupants: Lady Orva, which was a women’s boutique, and Smart Style Shoes. The former sign already has been covered again, and the latter probably doesn’t have much time left.

During downtown’s heyday as a shopping district, outdoor advertising was painted like giant billboards on the brick-and-mortar sides of buildings. These signs can be seen in many places, but you usually have to look up.

An excellent example — and a rare one, because it’s on street level — was exposed two years ago when the old State Theater was razed. A sign about 10 feet wide with a yellow background for the Washburn-Crosby Co. (some type of grain mill) can once again be seen painted on the raw-brick east wall of the Morley Arts Building on West Boardman Street. In large letters that are still legible, it reads “Eat more wheat! Bread and milk. Bread and butter. Bread and jam. The best and cheapest food.” It’s accompanied by a painting of a loaf of bread.

Perhaps the best old sign was one for Renner Beer, which was brewed in Youngstown from 1865 to 1962. During Prohibition (1919-33), Renner offered a non-alcohol brew with the very odd slogan “A divorce from beer.” A Renner sign with that advertising message on the south wall of the Jolly Bar building was exposed several years ago when an adjacent building was razed.

The Jolly Bar building, which sat like a lonely rotten tooth in an otherwise empty mouth, was itself razed only a couple of years later, and a piece of history was lost forever.

Ironically, the Jolly Bar sat in what is now a parking lot behind the Burton Building — which is being renovated into a museum of local history.

SENA’S NEXT FILM

“Season of the Witch,” the next movie by filmmaker and Niles native Dominic Sena, will be released Jan. 7. “Season” stars Nicholas Cage as a 14th-century knight who must transport a suspected witch to a monastery, where monks believe her power is related to the Black Plague. Sena is best-known for directing “Gone in Sixty Seconds,” which also starred Cage.

Main Street Theater

Donald Arthurs had put his Main Street Theater up for sale earlier this year but has decided to take it off the market. He isn’t ready to reveal his plans, but there are some shows on the schedule for the downtown Columbiana venue. First up will be “Rockin’ Around the Town Square” Christmas rock concert Dec. 3, 4 and 5. Next will be the original holiday musical “It’s a Wonderful Night” Dec. 10-11 and 17-19.

Arthurs bought and refurbished the then-closed movie house a few years ago. It hosted a variety of movies and family-oriented plays, musicals, comedy shows and other events before Arthurs decided to get out of the business.