The 614ortyPlatter - Rhythm Kitchen 1811

The sign outside Columbus's Ace of Cups, one of the many music
venues/bars which has managed to eke by during the pandemic

I must say, these food-meets-music playlist have all played off the various food themes from last week's chocolate to holidays to "dumpster fire" foods to local neighborhoods have been very fun for me, and in many ways it's the perfect intersection of two things that have been my main pathways of exploration the past several years. 

However, one theme that hadn't occurred to me until it was pointed out to me (and I thank Bethia of Columbus Food Adventures for doing so) was the very obvious intersection of music business and food ventures.  Some of the ventures familiar to many include Sammy Hagar and his Cabo Wabo Cantina, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, and the Wahlberg Brothers and their Wahlburger fast food chain. 

In many ways, this diversification works on both the celebrity and the local level.  For the celebrity (musician or otherwise) restaurant owner, it offers exposure to the public in another multi-billion dollar industry. For those whose fame is more locally based, there's a sense of community ties as well as an added source of income (this article from Inside Hook has a nice perspective on this side of things.)

Interestingly, if I had just known a little more about the local music scene, I could've had even had a Columbus-based band represent in the Italian Village playlist I released not too long ago. So I figured this would be the perfect week for hitting on that theme for this week's playlist, with a perfect split of local Columbus flair blended with some familiar (but not TOO familiar) musicians and their ties to this intersection of food and music.

Do Fries Go With That Take: The Funk Master and The Galley Boy

The cover of George Clinton's 1986 album "R&B Skeletons in the Closet"

While driving around a few weeks back, I caught a song on the radio from noted funk/R&B guru George Clinton. While his solo efforts are considered not quite up to his works for super groups Parliament and Funkadelic (his first album, “Computer Games”, comes awfully close though), Clinton’s albums for Capitol Records contained inspired efforts that melded the then modern electro-synth sounds of the 1980s with his traditional instrument compositions of the years prior.

George Clinton’s 1986 album “R&B Skeletons in the Closet” was the fourth and last full-length studio effort for Capitol Records before his dalliance with the late Prince and his Paisley Park record label at the turn of the decade. Perhaps the second best of his solo efforts for Capitol, Clinton balanced old and new instruments well in songs like “Cool Joe”, the title track, and my favorite song from the album in “Do Fries Go With That Shake.”

You Can't Spell Nostalgia without L-A-G

Just one of the numerous albums put out by Jandek, perhaps the most
cultiest of cult artists in the music world today

Does owning one album from a cult artist count as nostalgia?

Back in college, my favorite place on campus was not the outdoors and most definitely not the classroom, but rather either of the two listening rooms deep inside the bowels of the college radio station. I couldn't imagine much better than cozying up by my lonesome a couple hours with a few dozen vinyl albums, both new and the previously unexplored, prepping for the week's show.

One day, a colleague of mine asked me if I had heard of Jandek.  The Jam, John Lydon and Jesse Johnson, sure. The Jesus and Mary Chain? Joy Division? Yep. But Jandek? I shook my head no.

My colleague's eyes rounded like large saucers. He touted his love of Jandek (almost certainly one Sterling R. Smith), his reclusive nature, and his rambling, weirdly bluesy compositions. In fact, Jandek, who sports Texas roots, might be the cultiest of all cult artists; through his Corwood Industries label, over 100 albums have been produced since the first LP was released in 1978.

An inquiry from an interested party might be reciprocated with a bundle of copies of his latest work, and generally his work can be obtained at relatively low prices. Before I knew it, a copy of his latest album, "You Walk Alone" (the album pictured above) was in my hands.  He looked a bit like Beck, though I would not reach this conclusion until several years later when Beck released his 1994 debut "Mellow Gold." Best of all, the album was free: for a broke-ass college student like me, anything free was indeed gold.  And now for nearly three decades, I've owned a piece of Jandek.

The Inaugural Vinyl COHvers Post: Holiday Edition

I am not one who craves material things all that much, but one of the items that I have received as a gift from my spouse has been one of my most cherished. My Audio-Technica turntable may be a basic edition, but it allows me (not to mention my spouse) to relive our days when vinyl records were king.

Unsurprisingly, one of our new favorite activities has been to refurbish our vinyl record collection. I had a few vinyl records from my younger days (mainly 1970 and 1980s vintage vinyl), but even with the resurgent market, old vinyl can be found at relatively bargain prices at numerous estate sales, antique stores and record stores.

I have Greenville, South Carolina to thank for what has become one of my unofficial official quests during my search for vintage vinyl. At Horizon Records, located just north of the main downtown area, I stumbled across a compilation album put out by one of Columbus' long-time rock stations, Q-FM-96.  Looking back at it, I suppose it wouldn't be too surprising that this compilation record would be found at this record store. but at the time it was such a novel find to me. Coupled with what I thought was a fair price as well as an increasing desire to learn about the history of this area, I took possession of it that day.

Since then, I've been on the look out for records that have some unique and/or novel connection to this area. As the vinyl collection as well as the reach of this blog grew, I had it in the back of my mind to share a little bit of my finds for you readers once I had the time and capability to do so.

Well, that capability has now arrived, and now the time is nigh - here is my first ever Inaugural Vinyl COHvers post.

Nerd Times: "Weird Al" Yankovic (Palace Theatre, Columbus, OH)

The original billboard announcement of "Weird Al" Yankovic's tour stop at
Columbus' Palace Theatre was well within the realm of his 2014 "Word
Crimes" parody hit, but it was corrected a couple days later

Most anyone who pays attention to the world of pop music and pop culture in general has heard of "Weird Al" Yankovic. From his debut as a 16-year-old on the comedy/music-oriented Dr. Demento show, the now 56-year-old performer from Southern California has carved out decades worth of work in the comedy and musical parody worlds. 

In fact, this large time span makes it easy to forget just how much work Yankovic has cranked out over the years. The perfect proof of this was the video segments that were broadcast on the big screen between the songs performed on his current "Mandatory Fun" show on July 6th at Columbus' Palace Theatre to realize this fact. Not only has Yankovic been as spokesperson on the pulse of pop culture, he has in fact become a reference point in that very same culture. The video segments shown on the big screen this night ranged from the reverential to the mocking and everything in between, with Yankovic both the giver and taker of such.

Columbus Coffee Chronicles (Vol. 1): Colin's Coffee

My recent experience on Columbus Food Adventures' Coffee Tour made me realize that with a couple of notable exceptions (Cafe Brioso and One Line Coffee), I've probably covered more out-of-the-area coffee houses than the locally-based ones on this blog. I figure this time is as good a time to catch up a bit with a mini-series of blog posts, and the first one ought to be my very first encounter with the city's coffee scene. As it turned out, it was also my first encounter with the city's music scene.

Back in the day, my pursuit of my running passion was just starting to mature. The combination of the love of this hobby that most people think of as punishment brought me into contact via the Internet with a group of fellow runners and friends from around the country. Aside from our online exchanges, we arranged meetups around the country for some in-person camaraderie, running, and good food and libations throughout. This included a meetup in Cincinnati, which hosts the well organized and festive Flying Pig Marathon every May.

Despite never having traveled within the Buckeye State's borders ever before, I was tasked with driving from Cincinnati to pick up my roommate for the weekend from the Columbus airport (the cost of flying into Cincy for him was cost-prohibitive; I was only able to do it myself by using frequent flyer miles.) As it turned out, the trip to pick him up was fairly easy enough (mostly Interstate routes) but my trip back would end up with an added destination.

One of our running colleagues bragged of an incredible musician in the Columbus area named Colin Gawel, whose band she would always go to see whenever they toured around her part of the country. She added that he owned a coffee store in the area, and that I should drop by and visit him. Moreover, she claimed Gawel had an incredible memory, and that he would recognize her should I drop her name to him.

Back in those days, I was not anywhere close to being a regular coffee drinker, but her story was too good not to check out.

Larking For A Good Cause: Guest DJ at CD102.5

Confirmation, notes, and other important info for a guest DJ stint

In many ways, radio has gone the way of other old-school media forms like television and newspaper. Once the only game in town for miles around, radio has run up against competing forms of media, especially with the rise of the internet. In addition, the way music has reached the listening public has diversified, sucking away the listeners and the corresponding advertisement dollars.

This has lead to consolidation within the radio market. Indeed, it is hard not to hear a radio station identification on the hour without entities like Clear Channel, Cumulus or Disney being mentioned. In California, some of the stations I grew up listening to or learning about (The Quake KQAK or Los Angeles' KROQ) are now part of corporate entities for the most part. Numerous mom and pop-styled operations also now broadcast over that very same Internet, due to its relatively lesser cost.

From listening to those stations, I became involved a couple decades or so ago (both as a deejay and the news division) with a completely independent format station back in college (I'm happy to say my former home forges onward more strongly than ever, with even more antenna wattage and an actual record label promoting local music to its name.) Numerous sessions in the listening room to prepare for shows were invaluable in expanding my knowledge of music styles I had been unfamiliar with prior such as reggae, folk and hardcore. Only a huge case of "broke-ass-college-student" syndrome kept my record collection modest, but I am happy with what I was able to get my hands on during those halcyon days.

Four Ohio Winters, Three Residences, Two Trips to Asheville...

My automobile, still two years from its unexpected retirement, didn't
appreciate its first taste of the Ohio-styled winter weather four years ago.

...and a Hatchback in a Junkyard.

The end of the year and the Christmas season in general always seems to be a topic for every style of blog, and this one is no exception.

It's been almost four years since I made the 2,000 mile trek over to the Buckeye State, packed to the gills with my most important belongings in a somewhat smallish hatchback car along with my then girlfriend-now-spouse. In a weird way, I've come back full circle - despite the picture above, the winter by Ohio standards was a pretty mild one. This year's winter has seen temperatures here that I might expect in the Bay Area around this time; in fact, the number of 60+ degree temperature days have been more or less equal between the two cities, based on a quick check on Accuweather.

While my spouse and I are not adverse to snow, we are definitely thankful for the relatively mild temperatures so far this winter. But in reality, the mild weather is much more of a cherry on top of the proverbial sundae of a pretty good year for both of us.

Of course, the thing we're incredibly thankful for is our new house. While we are learning the subtle details about what a money pit a house really can be (thankfully, more in the way of upgrades versus unexpected repair needs), we couldn't be more happy with our purchase, the surrounding neighbors and the neighborhood. Perhaps most importantly, the house has given us a certain sense of permanence that has given us more incentive than ever to engage with and in the local community.

Another thing we are thankful for are the love and camaraderie of the people in our lives, from our family members to our friends, both long-time or newly met, and even one-time chance meetings at the places to which we have traveled. Our wide circle for the most part has had a fairly healthful year like we have, and we certainly hope things trend that way in the year to come.

From this blog's standpoint, we both have been thrilled to see the continued vitality, creativity and growth shown by many aspects of the Columbus metro area. While I do still pay attention to Bay Area matters and visit the area, it is Columbus that has become the preeminent focus of my life. What has really struck me personally during my experiences and encounters with the people behind the arts, music, culinary, social media and other community-oriented efforts in this metro is not the fact that these folks are hard working; in reality, that kind of goes without saying.

Rather, what has struck me is that how truly nice and gracious the people within and behind the scenes are, from my fellow bloggers to restaurant chefs, musicians and craftspeople, business owners and organization heads, and so forth.

And the support these folks show to each other and the wider creative community as a whole is a pretty wonderful and special thing to witness. Granted, this is something of a general gut feeling, but it is reflected and confirmed in folks like Angela Perley, the lead singer for her band The Howlin' Moons who were just voted as the "Best Local Band in Columbus" for 2015 by the web-based media site Columbus Underground.  Perley, who I have had the pleasure of meeting, stated in the previously referred to Columbus Underground article, “I’m not sure what it’s like in other cities, but in Columbus there’s a strong community where creative people bounce ideas off each other and people are really supportive of each other,”

To all of you, I wish you all a truly wonderful Christmas and holiday season, and may the new year bring you success and prosperity.

Fáilte roimh ár dteach: Rambling House Soda Pop

As the weather turns toward the colder, the value of a warm and cozy house is amplified even further. One house that I've found fits that bill to a tee for its unique blend of music, atmosphere and craft-brewed beverages is the Rambling House, located on the border of Clintonville and Old North Columbus (an interesting debate on the neighborhood Rambling House lies in can be found here.)

The Rambling House is truly a family affair, led by owners and husband and wife John and Jennifer Lynch. John Lynch has explained in previous media interviews that in traditional Irish culture, the "rambling house" was a regularly organized event that provided local residents of a town or region province a venue for entertainment in various forms, including song and music. This particular Rambling House provides that venue in the form of its Old Time Jam on Sundays, when musicians gather and jam away on their instruments, as well as regularly scheduled shows focused mainly on bluegrass and folk music. Coupled with a reasonable cover charge, my spouse and I have found ourselves enjoying some wonderfully talented local and regional artists on several occasions.

The interior of Rambling House provides a relaxed and comfortable venue for musicians and audience members alike. The seating and stage area reminds me personally of a large living room: curtains and lamps bracket the musicians' stage, with communal long tables and casually spaced individual seating areas available for visitors. Music-oriented and/or local-referenced art prints are scattered on the walls throughout. Empty bulk coffee shipping bags cover windows and adds a tinge of garage to the overall environment. On certain busier nights, food trucks have been parked nearby to provide a food option for customers.

The interior of Rambling House reminds me of a warm, cozy living room

The bar area lies toward the back of the space. In a world dominated by big brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi, soda pop is not typically associated with the words "craft brewed" by the general populace. However, Rambling House has carved out a niche in this metro area with their flavorful home-crafted renditions of this staple. Initially, Lynch had intended to open up a craft beer brewery, but the substantial start-up costs made them turn towards their sodas instead. Favorable reception of their sodas at places like the downtown Pearl Market and Comfest as well as the picking up of several local places to carry their product (the current places that carry their soda can be found on their website) led to the development of their space to its current status.

Unlike their corporate brethren, Rambling House's creations are meant to be savored, whether in their pure form or in a cocktail (Rambling House has a select menu of cocktails available mixed with a variety of locally produced spirits.) Typically, four flavors are on the menu - ginger beer, Columbus cola and sarsaparilla are almost always offered along with a seasonal flavor, For those who can't make it to their music venue, Rambling House Soda is served on tap and available in growlers at a select number of Columbus restaurants and markets. In addition, a nod to Lynch's craft beer background and support of the local scene is reflected in their bottle and draft list, which features a select number of offerings from Ohio-based brewers.

Great music combined with tasty locally-crafted beverages is tough to beat

Rambling House Soda is currently in the midst of trying to expand their operations to add more bottling and keg-filling capacity and is holding a Kickstarter campaign which ends in mid-December to get this accomplished. Regardless of this campaign's success (and I personally hope it does succeed), Rambling House Soda is truly a unique gem both in the music and culinary scene of Columbus. It's not really surprising that Lynch and this otherwise unassuming hangout has gotten attention from folks outside of Columbus like The Daily Meal. While that is indeed nice recognition, I'm sure Lynch would be quite satisfied with many happy customers filling their ears with wonderful music and filling their growlers with his sublime soda pop.

Rambling House Soda Pop
310 East Hudson Street (Old North Columbus)
Columbus, OH 43202
(614)468-3415
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