DeMayne Earvin could be the poster child for the phrase, “Think globally, act locally.” However, it’d be nearly impossible to get him on the poster, as Earvin is adamant about shifting the spotlight to the musicians, artists, businesses, and concert venues he represents and works for with his company, MAyNSTREAM Media.
“My clients are number one, and I’m normally second,” says Earvin in his downtown Youngstown office.
The storefront of MAyNSTREAM Media is a veritable mosaic of the colorful promotional cards that the designers have created for their dozens of clients. Earvin has been at the location 16 months, although he first began MAyNSTREAM Media as a freelance endeavor in 2001, doing graphic design from his home while he worked full time for the Youngstown Board of Education. Half a decade later, that endeavor has pushed local bands and bars into the limelight again and again and landed Earvin and his team a contract with Interscope Records to shoot promotional videos for a Bone Thugs-n-Harmony CD release.
Not too shabby.
Dear Marc Dann,
Congratulations on getting elected state attorney general. You ran a strong campaign based on ethics and accountability, promising you’d give the people of Ohio government they could be proud of again.
After the corrupt shit storm that was Coingate, Gov. Bob Tafts ethics violations and Bob Ney’s dealings with the Boris Badinov-like lobbyist Jack Abramoff, people were rightfully fed up with the Republicans in our state. It just goes to show what can happen when you have one party rule for so long.
The Democrats won largely because they weren’t Republicans (you most of all, with your squeaker of a victory over Betty Montgomery) and also because they promised to clean corruption from the state and end the pay-to-play era of politics. We all know that power corrupts, and now your Democratic party is in power. Though corruption may be inevitable if the Dems keep control long enough, I thought you guys would at least wait a couple years before you started getting greedy with your power.
Which brings me to my main topic of discussion.
Today, the Warren Tribune-Chronicle reported that the plan is being stalled by Forum Health, one of the tenants in the plaza Wal-Mart hopes to relocate. Thus far, Wal-Mart hasn’t offered Forum Health, which has a lease that doesn’t expire for another six years, enough money to make it worth their while to move.
Interim Forum Health CEO Keith Ghezzi said it will cost his company more than $750,000 to move its offices out.
‘‘To date, however, JJ Gumberg has offered Forum no more than $100,000 in expenses, which does not begin to account for our direct costs, much less the loss of productivity and the inconvenience involved,’’ Ghezzi said.
Ghezzi said Wal-Mart officials said they can not come up with a higher figure for moving expenses.
In a Nov.
14, letter to township Administrator Pat Ungaro, Ghezzi said the hospital chain uses its Liberty Plaza offices for its patient finance department, medical records and supply distribution center.
‘‘We have not not yet been able to find alternate space for the distribution center and its 40 union employees,’’ Ghezzi said. ‘‘This is a space-intensive operation Forum would need to be reimbursed for those costs as well.
’’
Trustee Jack Simon said there have been ongoing discussions that may push the $100,000 numbers mentioned by Ghezzi substantially higher.
Either Wal-Mart isn’t all that concerned with coming to Liberty or they think they can bully their way with false hope that a new Supercenter will cure all of the township’s economic woes. Liberty Township Administrator Pat Ungaro certainly has bought into that dream.
According to Liberty Township Administrator Pat Ungaro, the Wal-Mart deal is virtually guaranteed. There are no deal breakers, he says, it’s just a matter of clearing the few remaining tenants. After that, the new Supercenter plan calls for tearing down much of Liberty Plaza.
Ultimately, Wal-Mart hopes to have the store open sometime in 2007, Ungaro confides. “It appears like everything is worked out.”
Ungaro says Liberty needs a Wal-Mart because there is no retail left.
The convenience of not having to drive 20 minutes to the Eastwood Mall in Niles or the Southern Park Mall in Boardman is worth it, he says.
“I know Wal-Mart’s controversial, and I don’t really care about that. If you get up in Boardman and you want to go to Wal-Mart, you can.
If you get into Warren, you can. If you get up into Austintown, you can. We want – I wanted – the same thing for the people in the area here.
”
Ungaro is a walking contradiction when it comes to Wal-Mart. On the one hand, he’s willing to concede that traditionally, when a Wal-Mart comes into an area, there are job losses. And he would like to see the company increase its wages and improve its benefits.
Ungaro doesn’t even shop at Wal-Mart all that often. But he wants the company and he says the people of Liberty are behind him.
“The only people that don’t like it are some of the unions and the competitors, your Sparkle, your Giant Eagle.
The people, 99.9 percent, want it. And I make that real clear what my position is.
I’m not ducking from that. I know the controversy.”
“I know they’re predators.
” He pauses for emphasis. “I want ‘em.”
There is definitely some validity to the claim that Wal-Mart forces job losses and wage decreases when it enters a community.
A study released in 2005 by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that in counties that have had a Wal-Mart for 30 years or more, earnings per person dropped by 5 percent.
A different, Wal-Mart-sponsored, study showed that American wages dropped 2.2 percent between 1985 and 2004, but prices dropped 3.
1 percent, meaning consumers actually increased their buying power by .9 percent.
In fact, some economists have argued that Wal-Mart’s low prices are primarily responsible for keeping inflation in check over the last decade.
According to statistics from Ohio’s Department of Labor Statistics, between 2000 and 2004, Mahoning and Trumbull counties lost 3,417 retail jobs, which amounted to a $15.98 million blow to the local economy in lost wages. While it’s hard to directly attribute one specific reason for the job losses, it would be nearly impossible to argue that Wal-Mart didn’t play at least some role.
Even if Wal-Mart isn’t hurting the Mahoning Valley, it certainly isn’t helping it.
When asked about the retail losses, Pat Ungaro says “It’s possible that Wal-Mart, in being as aggressive as they are in pricing, they might have knocked out a lot of businesses. I think that’s possible, yeah.
I don’t know the answer, but generally speaking, I’d say Wal-Mart. It’s gotta be.”
S. Sen. George Voinovich is leading the way for moderate Republicans to build bridges with the newly empowered Democrats, says AP.
Voinovich, a former Ohio governor, has been a reasonable voice in the Senate calling for fiscal responsibility when many neo-conservatives have been willing to break the bank with record spending and record tax cuts.
I want to become much more aggressive with my own colleagues in my own caucus, Voinovich said after voters rejected most of those Republicans on Tuesday.
Voinovich is telling Republicans that they should work through to Christmas in the lame-duck session to stop putting off the budget process.
And once it was reasonably clear that Democrats would control the Senate as well as the House, Democrats began contacting Voinovich.
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del.
, who is likely to take over the Clean Air, Climate Change and Nuclear Safety subcommittee from Voinovich, called Thursday. They are working together on orientation for new senators.
Voinovich also spoke by phone with the man who beat Ohio s other Republican senator, Mike DeWine.
My relationship with Sen. Voinovich is very good, Democrat Sherrod Brown said. I especially admire his work on trying to balance the budget.
On Wednesday, while most Republicans were licking their wounds, Voinovich said he would hammer away at some of the pragmatic initiatives he couldn t achieve when his own party was in control: helping cities meet current clean air standards without toughening emissions limits, reducing dependence on foreign energy sources, altering the tax code, Social Security and Medicare and extending health coverage for the uninsured.
When compiling our cover story this issue, all the musicians I spoke to were eager to know what other bands we were including in our list of Youngstown’s best music. My memory isn’t what it used to be, so it took time to recite the list.
I’d use my fingers to keep track as I named the bands: Posture Coach, The Zou, Lady Fantastic, We Famous, Tilt 360, Bob’s Country Bunker, B.J. O’Malley and First in Space.
Inevitably, someone would say, “Well what about this band…?” And it’s true, there are many other amazing bands in Youngstown, so many that we can’t possibly highlight them all in one issue.
So please think of the following cover story as eight awesome bands you should check out.
Though their musical styles are diverse (indie rock, post-punk, country, rockabilly, hip hop, classic rock, hard rock) they all have one thing in common: they write original music as impressive as anything coming out of New York, Los Angeles, Seattle or Nashville. They also all have MySpaces or web sites with music you can listen to for free and most of them perform in Youngstown at least once every month or two.
Youngstown’s music scene is thriving and we think these talented musicians deserve some credit.
So without further adieu, please enjoy Yompton Calling, The Walruss’ guide to Youngstown music.
The eclectic trio that is Posture Coach – Kris Mills, Erich Booth and Dennis Thomas – had caught one another’s eye as hallway gazers in high school and their initial meeting stemmed from a mutual crush between Mills and the guys. Mills, who was the “new girl” at the time, had played guitar and Booth and Thomas both played guitar and drums.
Though a few jam sessions later ensued, no musical romance was immediately born from it.
Booth and Thomas, who banded initially under the name Boxfish, opened up for the Zou’s Annual Halloween Show in 2003 as Posture Coach. At the time, Posture Coach was blues rock duo who penned and performed captivating music.
Mills was in attendance at the annual event and was impressed with the overall energy between the performers and fans. “Seeing how you can pack a bar and have people into you. I wanted to be in a band again.
That’s when Erich invited me to play bass,” she says.
B.J.
O’Malley is worried she might say something outrageous. We’re at Borders in Niles, waiting on her special coffee order; something not on the menu that she has specially requested. She’s patient and willing to wait to get what she wants.
The whirring of a coffee machine makes it hard to hear at times.
“People always look at me and say, ‘Did she really just say that?’ I should reserve the right to strike from the record,” she says.
Not that O’Malley, singer, songwriter and local country chanteuse, is especially modest. The proposed back cover of her new album has her buck naked, with just a bit of type covering up her naughty bits.
First in Space has only been playing shows since April, but the quartet has fast grown into one of Youngstown’s finest bands.
Playing a pure form of rock’n’roll rarely seen in the area, First in Space draws influences from the three Bs, The Beatles, The Byrds and “The Boss” himself, Bruce Springsteen.
“These bands that had a classic idea that lasted through the years; those kind of songs don’t really date themselves,” says First in Space’s Johnny Stanec. “They just seem like they could be from any era, just good solid tunes.
”
Stanec, the band’s lead singer and guitarist, Dolus McCormick (guitar and vocals), Joe Greenfield (drums) and Will Kesling (bass) try to write songs with that principle of timelessness in mind. “That’s kind of what we’re going for, that classic, more of a traditional rock and roll band,” Stanec says. “We’re real influenced by ‘60s rock and roll, that kind of sound, jangly guitars, harmonies, catchy songs.
”
In the 1980 movie “The Blues Brothers,” Bob’s Country Bunker was a bar that appreciated “both kinds” of music: country and western. Jake and Elroy’s rhythm and blues songs were not well received.
Bob’s Country Bunker, Joe Shelby’s self-described Hillbillyrockinsurfcountrydeath-punk band, took its name from the close-minded Blues Brothers bar, but Shelby has a much more liberal appreciation of music – over the years, he has played in indie and garage rock bands and as a local promoter of shows, he has brought in many different kinds of bands.
“It’s just a silly little reference,” Shelby says of the Bob’s Country Bunker moniker, brushing off any significant meaning and attributing the name’s origin to his brother and band-mate Matt.
And while Bob’s Country Bunker definitely draws on many different influences, at its core, the Bunker is just a country and western band with the traditional sensibilities of George Jones or the Louvin Brothers, not the soulless Nashville stylings of Toby Keith or Big and Rich. To make the differentiation clear, on the topic of modern country music Shelby says, “I fucking hate it.
It’s fucking horrible. It’s the Nashville moneymaking machine. If you want real country music these days, look to Chicago or Austin.
”
“You know I carry a pimp cup and Lil’ John carries one too. I was backstage chillin’…I look over and see him. He looks at my cup; I look at his cup.
He gives me the look. He puts his cup in the air and says “yea!” and I’m like “please believe it, yea!
”
That was a recollection from Keith “2 Fly” Logan after his group, We Famous, performed with the now parodied-daily Lil’ John. We Famous was the first and, thus far, only rap group to grace the stage at the Chevy Centre. “You heard it here first,” co-founder Hollywood declares.
We Famous is the name of their hip-hip group and the label by which they release music. The group is primarily hip-hop and rap, but 2 Fly says that they “are adding more funk and live instrumentation, dabbling with jazz, and alt-rock. It’s mainly rap, but we venture off with anything.
”
With its new CD, Third Class is out to prove itself to the non-believers
There was a rumor going around for decades that Barry Manilow’s song “Mandy” was really about a dog, not a lover. In the movie Can’t Hardly Wait this drove Ethan Embry crazy. The girl he liked was named Mandy, and the song suddenly made sense to him.
If it was really about a dog, all might be lost.
On Third Class’ new full length CD Chloe’s Epitaph is Chloe, the East Palestine-based quirk-pop group is treading dangerous ground for anybody who knows – and possibly loves – a Chloe. A first glance at the quasi-concept album’s lyrics – one example: “Chloe when you spiral above the carpet, it’s a shame … A drug inside your wrist, my wrist is clean” – might leave you with the impression that primary lyricist Lee Boyle once loved and lost a drug-addicted gal named Chloe.
Turns out the song is about cat who died when Lee and his brother Jack were little kids. They buried the cat and wrote its name on a gravestone, hence Chloe’s Epitaph is Chloe.
The surrounding viewpoints of the Ohio Patriot Act tend to fall on opposite ends of the spectrum: necessary for our safety or unconstitutional?
Earlier this month, Jeff Gamso, Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, stopped at Youngstown State University to discuss the practical implications of the act in a presentation titled “The Real Effect of Ohio’s Patriot Act.”
Gamso, whom Law and Politics magazine voted one of their “Super Lawyers” in 2004 and 2005 (an honor given to only five percent of attorneys in Ohio), is currently heading the fight against the Ohio Patriot Act. The act was passed last September by the Ohio General Assembly and went into effect in April of this year.
We re receiving widespread reports today of Republicans engaging in questionable and possibly illegal voter suppression tactics at polling locations across the state.
If you experience any problems with Republican poll observers inside a voting location or with activists outside, please report them to us by email at or call 1-888-DEM-VOTE.
Republicans have proven they ll do anything to win an election - even if it means breaking the law.
If you experience any problems with Democrat poll observers inside a voting location or with activists outside, please report them to us by email at info@ohiogop.
org.
Democrats have proven they ll do anything to win an election - even if it means breaking the law.
* Republican voters are reporting intimidation tactics being used by Democrat activists outside polling locations.
* We ve heard reports of Democrat poll observers engaging in illegal activity by communicating with voters as they vote.
* Some Republican voters are even being told by Democrat poll workers that they can t cast a ballot.
Help us put a stop to these illegal efforts to suppress the Republican vote.
Report problems now by sending detailed information to info@ohiogop.org.”
If you have not already voted, the polls are open until 7:30 p.
m. We re seeing high turnout in Republican precincts statewide, but every vote is critical!”
Somehow, the Republicans – just like with – have managed to turn the tables on the issues Democrats should, by all rights, have locked down.
Voter suppression and fraud have been alleged at the Republicans in 2000 and 2004 and there has been some worry that the vote would get stolen again.
Just read and written by RFK Jr. about a film called Stealing America Vote by Vote.
This also serves as a way for the Republicans to contest an election they are obviously going to lose big time. It helps them save face if they claim they lost through fraud, suppression and deception.
It’s important to remember that Ken Blackwell is still the Secretary of State, still the head of elections and right now, the Republicans control all the statewide offices.
The Democrats aren’t in much of a position of power to illegally influence the outcome of this election.
James W. Marquart of Cleveland said he left an elementary school polling place without voting because his name wasn t on the rolls even though he had a postcard from the elections board showing that s where he was to vote.
They did offer me a provisional ballot but I have absolutely no faith in provisional ballots, he said. I don t want to do a ballot that I fear won t be counted.
Provisional ballots are counted later only if elections boards can verify the voter s information.
In 2004, 135,000 provisionals were cast statewide, with about 77 percent validated.
Marquart, an independent, said he took the day off work and is consulting an attorney. Elections hot lines set up by the state and voter groups repeatedly rang busy when he tried to call for help around 8:15 a.
m., he said.
Marquart said he eventually was told by the Cuyahoga County elections board that records show he was an inactive voter even though he says he voted in the May primary.
I wonder how many other people this is happening to, he said.
The article also says there are ballot scanning problems in Cincinnati and Akron and long lines are being reported in the state s largest urban areas.
And in Mahoning County, home base of the Walruss, there are problems being reported with the scanning of absentee ballots, .
There are more absentee ballots this year because of the new provision that allows anybody to vote absentee for any reason.
that the 2006 vote has been stolen. But he has a solution: Steal it back by winning big.
Add it all up all those Democratic-leaning votes rejected, barred and spoiled and the Republican Party begins Election Day with a 4.5 million-vote thumb on the vote-tally scale.
It s true you can t win with 51% of the vote anymore.
So just get over it. The regime s sneak attack via vote suppression will only net them 4.5 million votes, about 5% of the total.
You should be able to beat that blindfolded. If you can t get 55%, then you re just a bunch of crybaby pussycats who don t deserve to win back America.
S. population hits a new milestone.
The Census Bureau recently announced that the United States population has reached 300 million, as of October 17.
I happened to be in a very populous area, California, at the time, where I am from, visiting relatives. Later that day I heard some radio talk show hosts talking about the 300 million mark, and both were talking about the milestone in a positive way. One of the radio hosts said that we need even more people, so that these new people can pay for the Social Security pensions of the Baby Boomers.
I sort of cringed at the thought especially since I happened to be in a very populace place at the time, the San Francisco Bay Area, with its 6 million people.
Anyone with even the simplest of mathematics knowledge realizes that what the radio host suggested would quickly lead to exponential population growth. If the population were to increase dramatically to the point of having plenty of workers to pay the Social Security pensions of the Baby Boomers, then when this younger group starts to retire, we would need even more and more people (workers) to pay for THEIR retirement pensions.
This exponential population growth would quickly lead to an overwhelming of the USA s (and the world s) natural resources, possibly causing humans to go underground like rats, THX 1138 style. In George Lucas film THX 1138, the government tightly controls the teeming populace and forces the people to stay underground in vast mechanized cities. The citizens have to take certain pills at certain times to regulate their emotions and desires.
There are some problems that are illuminated by analysis, by an examination of principles, or details. However, some problems can only be solved by accepting the obvious and applying one s will. This is what we are dealing with right now.
The events leading up to and framing the Full Moon on Sunday night, the 5th, demand a nakedness before the raw experience of our situations, and an exercise of the will to move events in the direction desired.
Mercury s Retrograde sabotages our ability to structure things. Instead of making plans and imposing them onto the structure of our lives, we find our lives changing plans and imposing their structure on us.
Adaptability of methods married to steadiness of purpose is key.
The ref stopped the fight early in the fourth round. The crowd left pleased.
The fight was to be aired live on the Versus cable network (a channel formerly called the Outdoor Life Network) but viewers found bull riding instead.
An info scroll on the screen informed viewers that a scheduling conflict forced the fight to be delayed on TV until 11:30 p.m., an hour and a half after the Pavlik fight began.
In addition to the Versus network screwing with a tape delay, they also made Pavlik change his opening music. The middleweight fighter was to come to the ring to the heavy tones of Youngstown group Tilt 360, a bit of local synergy and thank you between friends. But when Pavlik came to the ring, Korn played instead.
Pavlik says Versus wanted to go with a more well known band. As consolation, the Tilt 360 song, “Point Blank,” (which can be heard at ) was played during intermissions and during a highlight reel of Pavlik’s 25 KOs.
Before the fight, Pavlik expressed concern that if he didn’t sell out the Chevy Centre, Top Rank, his management firm, would never bring him back to Youngstown.
The fight ended up drawing more than 4,500 fans to the 5,700 seat Chevy Centre, good enough for Top Rank owner Bob Arum, who said after the fight that Pavlik would come back to Youngstown sometime in the future.
Up next for Pavlik is a Jan. 27 fight against an as yet unchosen opponent on HBO.
If Pavlik wins his next two fights, a title shot should be waiting for him, Arum says, though Top Rank has made similar proclamations in the past. Just a couple of weeks ago, Pavlik’s camp hoped the next fight after Pierre would be for the middleweight title. Jermain Taylor currently holds the belt, though there has been talk that he will vacate the title and move up to the super middleweight division.
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