Brothers don’t feel stuck
Stuck in Ohio heads to ‘The YO’ for 20th anniversary
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VIENNA -- Danny Mizicko said when a skateboarder, BMX rider or anyone in action sports nails a difficult trick, they often shout something like, "Yo, that's it."
That exclamation takes on an added meaning in the videos Mizicko creates with his brother, Ken, for Stuck in Ohio. Youngstown, often referred to as "The YO" in the same way Cleveland is called "The Land," frequently is the backdrop for the footage the two brothers from Vienna have been releasing for 20 years, and "The YO" is the title of the feature-length documentary they're releasing to celebrate that anniversary.
While they've premiered a few videos over the years at local movie theaters, "The YO" is getting their biggest venue ever, Stambaugh Auditorium, on Aug. 30. They might need it. More than three weeks before the event, Ken Mizicko said they've already sold about a thousand tickets. And the brothers said this is a movie they had to debut within the city limits and not a suburban movie theater.
"Anytime, if I got an idea, the first place I go to is Youngstown to see where I could do it at," Danny Mizicko said. "Do we have something that looks similar? Maybe we could use this as a backdrop or something."
"It was our Hollywood version of LA with concrete steps and all this stuff," Ken Mizicko added. "We grew up in the country setting. We had that in our back pocket. If we needed a city setting, we would go to Youngstown -- We'll find something. No one's gonna bother us. Nobody cares. As long as you're not graffitiing up something downtown, everybody lets you be."
When the brothers were both students at Youngstown State University, they'd carry board wax and even snow shovels with them so, around their class schedules, they could prep the spots where they wanted to play and film.
The videos started as a way to document their prowess and their friends' skills in everything from skateboards, snowboards and waterskis to BMX bikes and motorcycles. They built up a loyal following among sports enthusiasts and reached an even bigger audience through their Stuck in Ohio stickers, which have been embraced by people who've never ridden anything more dangerous than a minivan.
It was a guerrilla marketing technique used by a snowboard brand they liked, Ken Mizicko said, and a way to get their name out there, even if some folks still think Stuck in Ohio is a band.
"That was the old way before social media," Ken Mizicko said, and like the stickers, it stuck.
Many over the years have interpreted "Stuck in Ohio" as a negative, but the brothers always have argued it was a way to embrace where they're from and where they've stayed. They're stuck as in "rooted" here, and their corner of the state has lakes and rivers for watersports and seasonal changes that let them snowboard in the winter and skateboard in the summer.
They regularly hear stories from people who've seen Stuck in Ohio stickers all over the country, even overseas.
Danny Mizicko recently heard a story about a guy who applied for a job at a North Carolina car dealership and got hired without an interview because the owner spotted the Stuck in Ohio sticker on his car.
"He (the owner, an Ohio native) was like, 'Oh, you must be from Youngstown. You get it,'" Danny Mizicko said. "It was a done deal. That blew my mind."
Stuck in Ohio never stopped, but it has been less visible in recent years. Ken Mizicko got married, started a family and took over Small Business Management Inc., a tax and accounting firm not far from where he grew up in Vienna. Those who know him only for one of his roles often are shocked when they learn of the other.
"It's kind of a Superman/Clark Kent thing," he joked.
Danny Mizicko took the skills he learned locally to work for clients such as Nike, Red Bull and Rockstar energy drinks. He even got a job with the NBA during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Even before all the action sports stuff, basketball has always been my first love," he said. "So I was like, 'Man, NBA, that's my dream. I made it.' And it was cool, but I'm cutting highlight reels, sizzle reels, stuff I was doing in high school. It would have been great right out of school, but I was already beyond that."
Mizicko does a lot of work in Cleveland and Pittsburgh and travels farther for various assignments, but these days he's more interested in telling stories than simply capturing stunts. He directed the documentary short, "Skate Rat Since '88: The Kristian Svitak Story," which played at film festivals and won awards, and he has other projects in the works.
But the brothers knew they wanted to do something special to mark the 20th anniversary, and that became "The YO."
Ken Mizicko said, "He was talking about doing a short form, just a little sizzle reel of Youngstown. He started going in the archives (and said), 'I got enough for a movie.'"
Danny Mizicko still is putting the finishing touches on the film, but he expects the final running time to be about 65 minutes. There was no shortage of archival, stunt footage to pick from, but the movie won't be a nonstop highlight reel of tricks and jumps. The desire to do more storytelling encouraged the Mizickos to tell their own story.
That meant having to interview each other, or at least Danny having to interview Ken and turning the camera on himself when shooting at different locations. And because they've known each other their entire lives, Danny didn't hesitate to tell his brother when he sounded fake and too rehearsed. That open give and take may be the reason Stuck had staying power.
"It has survived this long because it's just him and I doing it in typical, brotherly one-upsmanship rivalry," Ken Mizicko said.
For the event on Aug. 30, Stuck in Ohio will have new merchandise. They also will have a rack of older shirts that have been in storage for years, and vintage Stuck in Ohio gear disappears quickly in thrift stores.
"I'd rather have somebody else wear it than us," Danny Mizicko said. "It's just sitting in a box. And vintage is really trendy."
And it wouldn't be a Stuck in Ohio event without stickers, so everyone who buys a ticket for the screening will get a sticker pack at the premiere (as well as postcard with Ken Mizicko snowboarding over the sign for his accounting firm, because the man who graduated with a business administration degree from YSU knows better than to pass up a marketing opportunity).
Following the premiere, the brothers plan to submit "The YO" to some film festivals for additional exposure.
"I want to do the film festival circuit and just see what it does, and then eventually it'll just live online probably," Danny Mizicko said. "I'm not trying to get it on a stream or something. This one was more just a fun project. I want to get it out, so it'll probably just go on YouTube or something."
If you go ...
WHAT: The premiere of Stuck in Ohio's 20th anniversary documentary "The YO"
WHEN: 5 p.m. Aug. 30
WHERE: Stambaugh Auditorium, 1000 Fifth Ave., Youngstown
HOW MUCH: Tickets are $10 and are available at the DeYor Performing Arts Center box office, online at experienceyourarts.org and by calling 330-259-9651.