Pabstolutely 5 14 bands set to rock at The Royal Oaks

Staff report

youngstown

Pabstolutely 5 will showcase 14 bands including local acts and national performers at the Youngstown music festival scheduled to begin at noon Saturday at The Royal Oaks, 924 Oak St., on the city’s East Side.

The festival, originally the idea of Royal Oaks’ regulars Joe Stilson and Mark Calvaruso, started in 2008 as a 10-band outdoor rock show. Five years later, attendance is expected to be nearly three times what it was in the festival’s first year.

“We just wanted to start a festival to be a little different vibe from the norm,” Stilson said. “We wanted it to be outside of the mainstream.”

Festival organizers of Pabstolutely 5 have strived for originality and diversity.

“We decided the Oaks needed their own original representation of the East Side,” Stilson said. “It started as a way to kind of do our own thing.”

Admission to Pabstolutely 5 is free, but a wrist-band to drink costs $5. Proceeds go toward the festival’s out-of-town acts and Golden String and The Royal Oaks.

Golden String is an organization that helps adults with disabilities. Jimmy Sutman, Iron and String Life Enhancement director and Golden String chairman, has made it his life’s work to help those who are less fortunate. An added feature to Pabstolutely 5 will be Golden String Radio with a DJ throughout the event.

Sutman also owns and operates Touch the Moon Candy Saloon, another of the event’s vendors, and Purple Cat Ranch. All of Sutman’s facilities provide employment and residence for the disabled.

“It’s always been about helping adults with disabilities,” Stilson said. “It also helps the Royal Oaks at the same time.”

This year’s lineup includes Lo Pan of Columbus, Daikaiju of Alabama, Living Deads of Colorado, Yankee Bang Bang of New York, Thunder Vest of Pittsburgh, Mutts of Chicago and Whatleys of State College, Pa. Local acts include The 8-Balls, Turbo Lovers, Batt Lion, Sirens Everywhere, Mississippi Gun Club, Punk Willie and Grease Monkeys.

“We were really unsure how far it would go,” Stilson said of the original idea for the festival. “Now that we’re at a milestone, we’re stepping it up. We don’t want to be recognized just locally but also nationally. We want to push our own little piece of Youngstown out onto the rest of the world — get people to recognize we have legitimate things going on.”

Other features of Pabstolutely 5 will include various tributes to the late Brother Ed of the Cleveland-based garage/rockabilly/gospel duo Uncle Scratch’s Gospel Revival.

“We want to pay tribute to Brother Ed as well as other friends of the Oaks we’ve lost over the years,” Stilson said.

Royal Oaks owners John and Louie Kennedy also will heckle patrons from the perch of the now annual dunk tank as another way to raise money.

Other vendors include Artistic Dermagraphics, Bareknuckle Tattoo, Rusty Waters Apparel, The Youngstown Rock and Groove Company (originators of 93.3 WNCD’s the Homegrown Show), photography by Melissa Smith and many more.