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Assorted ramblings from the world of entertainment:
• The "Flea" is gone, but the "Purpose" remains.
The Northeast Ohio Punk and Goth Network will have a Punk with Purpose event on Saturday at Modern Methods Brewing Company in Warren.
The event originally was planned as the second Punk Flea, and the first event by the newly formed non-profit NEO Punk and Goth Network, which grew out of that inaugural Punk Flea. Organizer Cory Weddell said they wanted to move the flea to Courthouse Square, but multiple obstacles made that impossible.
"At some point, we had to sit down as a group and decide what was more important to us, the event or the mission," he said. "Naturally, the mission is more important, and we decided to refocus, streamline things, and our great friends at Modern Methods offered us a space, so we were able to set this up."
There won't be a vendors market, but there will be live music, sponsored by Cockeye BBQ, featuring Wednesday Demonstration and The Hazards from 2 to 5 p.m., followed by a Dance Pit from 5 to 10 p.m. with DJ Sundawg spinning punk and other tunes.
"The Hazards was with us last year, and we heard a lot of great praise about them, so we decided to have them back," Weddell said. "The band that is opening, Wednesday Demonstration, they're from the Akron area. They do a lot of benefits to help out nonprofits. We thought this was right up their alley, and they agreed."
Proceeds will benefit the Youngstown Food Brigade, which serves hot meals to those in need on the second and fourth Saturday of each month. This month's meals are 3 to 5 p.m. Sept. 12 and 26 in the parking lot across from the WRTA Federal Station in downtown Youngstown at 36 5th Ave.
"It's a real simple, straightforward mission -- getting food to people that need food, and times are tough all around," Weddell said. "We could use a little bit more love like that."
The event will be collecting monetary donations, not food items.
"We want to make sure that Youngstown Food Brigade can buy whatever they need, whether it's food or sterno or utensils or whatever supplies they might need," Weddell said. "Also, from a more practical purpose, we don't want 500 cans of beans. We want something that's going to get used and whatever the Youngstown Food Brigade might need."
• When Don Tanner was promoting the release show back in January for his CD "It's a Large World," he couldn't help but plug a song that wasn't on the record, a track he'd just finished called "Rock Me."
That song debuts on streaming Friday, and he has some help spreading the word about this one.
Tanner said he is working with Cranked Up Records, which is distributing the single. He heard about the label through fellow Mahoning Valley rocker Paul Skowron (Noisy Mama/White Noise). Tanner and his band recorded "Rock Me" and a second song, "Radio Resister," locally, and then sent the tracks to Cranked Up founder Curtis McKinney to mix.
"I've had my first two CDs on Spotify and on streaming, but I didn't really have anybody pushing it," Tanner said. "He (McKinney) is affiliated with Virgin (through a distribution partnership), and their promoter is going to be pushing it, so it's not like when you're just doing it on your own."
Tanner already had a show booked from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday at The Bunker at Double Bogey's in Boardman, and it now becomes a single release party. There is no cover charge.
• Regal Eastwood Cinemas in Niles will be one of eight Regal theaters statewide showing Dolly Parton movies over Labor Day weekend in celebration of the singer and her legacy.
"Steel Magnolias" will be shown Friday and Sunday and "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" will be screened on Saturday and Monday locally with 100% of the proceeds going to The Dollywood Foundation, home of Parton's Imagination Library. Distributing free books to children is one of the many charitable endeavors of Parton, who died Aug. 25 at age 80.
The cost for those screenings will be $9.25, a nod to another one of Parton's films, "9 to 5."
• A sad final note that I'm sure I'll be writing more about later this year -- Youngstown band Infidels, founded 42 years ago, announced Wednesday it will play its final gig on Dec. 19 at Westside Bowl.
Andy Gray is the entertainment editor of Ticket. Write to him at agray@tribtoday.com.