JamBrain-area fans will have a choice of two music festivals in downtown Youngstown on Saturday evening, 4/25. The ‘new’ one is Skollapalooza, with five bands outdoors (weather permitting) or indoors at the B&O Station and the other is the Nouveau Rock Music Festival, with 11 bands on two stages at the Cedars.

SKOLLAPALOOZA

YSU seniors Andrew Emig (electrical engineering) and Jared Ruiz (mathematics) thought it would be cool to recreate and perpetuate the community spirit of an end-of-the-school-year block/keg party. When they decided it would be even better to have live music, their idea changed quantitatively and qualitatively.

They started with a keg in a school parking lot — Hey! Tell your friends — to security, and assurances, city planning, sound equipment, port-a-potties and ticket sales. Still, they persisted and managed.

The name Skollapalooza reflects the original intent. Due to various necessities and conveniences, though, it will be held at the B&O Station, a couple blocks west of Federal Plaza, and the live music will be performed by some local and regional favorites.

“What we wanted to do,” Emig explained, “was to establish a tradition for students to celebrate the end of the school year, and to set it up so underclassmen could keep it going.” They remain focussed on that goal, although the medium has changed. “Now we’re hoping to make enough money to pay the expenses and have some left as seed money for whoever wants to do this next year.”

Local bands for the show which starts at 7:00 p.m. include Nick Funyak and the Resonance, Phoenix Rising, and Warren’s darlings, *The Kellys. *Winslow, from Kent, performs here often and always draws a crowd, and The Jahman Brahman Family Band from Columbus has lots of local fans.

There will be food and drink and other amenities. Tickets are $10 in advance — contact Emig (724 944-6307) or catch him and Ruiz on campus this week — or $15 at the gate.

THE NOUVEAU ROCK MUSIC FESTIVAL

The music for this year’s version of the Nouveau Rock Music Festival is still as ‘nouveau’ as all get-out, but the historical perspective this event provides is actually quite astonishing.

Members and friends of Youngstown’s The Zou developed the idea for the festival in 2004.

“We were one of several new bands trying to come up with some original music and also trying to find a place to play for an audience,” says Khaled Tabbara, The Zou’s main man, “but there weren’t that many places, and none of us could draw enough of a crowd — compared to the established bands, which got most of the bookings — to justify giving us a gig.” (That was, amazingly, just five years ago.)

So they put together a show combining art and music around a new way of perceiving life called “Nouveau Realisme,” and sold the concept to the owners of The Cedars. It is literally incredible, now, to hear Murad Shorrab, The Zou’s bassist, insist, “I had never been in the Cedars in my life before that show.”

The difference in today’s local live music scene can be attributed — in may ways — to the efforts of all the people involved with that, and similar, events (and not, as you may believe, simply the result of the success of JamBrain).

The bands at the 2009 Nouveau Rock Fest are no longer unknown, though their music is just as innovative. For instance, The Zou describes theirs as, “Music for driving off a cliff in slow motion,” which might not tell you how it sounds, but does provide some insight into its creative inspiration.

The music starts at 8:00 p.m., with bands playing alternately and continuously on two indoor stages, approximately half hour sets (just the best of each, no filler).

JamBrain articles about the bands marked with an asterisk (*) here and at Skollapalooza give a hint about their styles; or click-through to their websites from their JamBrain profile pages to listen. The venues also have profile pages.

Exit/Exit will open the show, followed (in order) by: *Sam Goodwill, La Verite’, Wake the Lion, *Braille, *The Real-Time Digimob, D. Jones, The Sewing Machine War, *Third Class, *The Zou, and Rebreather.

Tickets are available from band members or at the door for $6.

The seasonal festival scene starts with a double bill.