(614) Magazine: JAN 2019

JANUARY 2019 | FREE ISSUE 119

THE INTERVIEW ISSUE

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JANUARY 2019 (614) Magazine

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CONTENTS Cover Section THE INTERVIEW ISSUE 46

WONDERBALL 2019 30

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REMEMBERING CHRIS BRADLEY 44 LOCAL WINTER BREWS 92 WARDROBE THERAPY 94 drunken shakespeare 96

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& JUICE CO. 98 NEW YEAR NEW BROWS 100 IG WORTHY HOMES 102 ARCADE SUPER AWESOME 104

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O N TH E COV E R : Photos by Brian Kaiser,

Design by Jess Wallace

O P E N I N G VO L L E Y

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his is my stop.

I’ll be getting out here, and setting off to preach my buggy gospel to the masses.

It’s a big sloppy sandwich of emotions I’m feeling as I write my third and final opening volley. It’s been a firecracker pop of a stay in my role as Editor-in-Chief. A tumultuous end to a long funfair ride. I was a different person when I first started getting bylines in this magazine the better part of a decade ago. I spent over two years as an editor here under my predecessor. Together, we faced down dozens of deadlines and hundreds of stories. We sat about eight feet away from each other, day in and day out. Sometimes exhausted, sometimes exhilarated, we were never without laughs. I’ve had my short stint in the captain’s seat over these last several months, and now I’m taking off back to my green pastures of science. I’ll miss my (614) family deeply, but I’ll lock the door behind me tonight after meeting my final deadline, knowing that the magazine is in good hands.

Laura Dachenbach will be your new wordsmith, a task she will assume with passion and humor. An experienced journalist with an affinity for the arts, Laura was my first friend at (614). I shyly wandered into my first editorial meeting wearing a huge backpack full of textbooks and a tentative smile. Laura invited me to sit with her, and immediately struck up a conversation with me, oblivious to how grateful I was for someone to help me feel like less of an outsider. She has an eagle eye and a take-no-guff attitude that I predict will help foster a sorely-needed community of writers here in the capital city. There are a lot of us here, but we lack connection.

Every green journalist needs a tough-but-fair editor to help cultivate their skills. I know that’s the reason I’m here. I hope I can keep a foot firmly in that world as it morphs into its next iteration.

Laura’s partner in (614) 2.0 will be Brian Kaiser, the man behind the camera for this series of interview issue portraits, and many other beautiful photographs featured in (614) and Stock & Barrel. An artist as well as a diplomat, Brian has an ability to connect with people and tell their stories in a visual format. He will now be in charge of the beautiful imagery feast we try to cook up for our readers each month.

These two people, as well as the rest of the (614) team, encompass all that is great about this city. Creative, openminded people with a splash of weird thrown in for good measure. Together, they will take this publication to new heights.

There have been a lot of changes here in the mag office in the last few months. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster. But the growing pains within these walls reflect that of Columbus. In order to become a bigger pond, we’ll have to endure some rifts and changes. But the thing about us here at the mag, as well as the city at large is—we’re game.

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Publisher Wayne T. Lewis

Editor-in-Chief Jeni Ruisch Assistant Editor Laura Dachenbach PHOTO EDITOR Brian Kaiser Contributing Photographers Katie Forbes, Hilary Jones, David Heasley, Megan Leigh Barnard Contributing Writers Mitch Hooper, J.R. McMillan Jaelani Turner-Williams, Regina Fox, Linda Lee Baird, Philip Emilio Palma Jessica Edwards, Sydney Smith Danny Hamen, Arianna Urban

Creative Designers Jess Wallace Sarah Moore graphic Designers Hugo Albornoz, Ryan Caskey Advertising Director Meggin Weimerskirch

PHOTO BY BRIAN KAISER

Columbus has never been a place that has been determined to remain unchanged. A progressive city with welcoming arms, we embrace novelty. Our residents are performers and makers, researchers and enthusiasts.

This issue is filled to the brim with in-depth stories of people who are driving change in this city.

Like the rest of the capital area, (614) must evolve. I truly believe when we emerge from this transition, we will be brighter, stronger, and more streamlined than ever. There’s a chrysalis metaphor here, but I’ll give the bug analogies a rest.

I am thankful for my time here. What I’ve learned and been a part of. I can’t wait for what is to come.

Yours,

Jeni Ruisch Editor-in-Chief

SENIOR Account Executives Derek Landers, Liza Worthington Account Executives Becky Hart, Nikki Harris Manager of Audience Development Stephanie McFarland VP of sales and Marketing Lindsay Press

(614) Magazine 458 E Main St., Columbus, OH 43215 Office: (614) 488-4400 Fax: (614) 488-4402 Email submissions to: editor@614columbus.com www.614columbus.com

Welcome to The Insider!

There are so many amazing events happening in the 614 that we needed to give them a little more room to stretch out. Not only will you get more events each month coming from the magazine staff, but a few will be recommended by your fellow readers. Have an event you want to shoutout? Send an email to events@614columbus.com.

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No Menu Monday The Market IV

You know how life is like a box of chocolates? You never know what... yeah, you know. Starting this January on Mondays from 4 to close, you never know what you’ll find at The Market IV as they swap out their regular offerings with a completely new, totally experimental menu created by Chef Tyler Minnis.

Items will rotate weekly, so when it’s gone, it really is gone.

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COSI After Dark: Wizard School Cosi

Miss Alan Rickman? Unfortunately he won’t be here. But you can learn some astronomy, do some flower dissection, learn to care for magical creatures, figure out what technology those muggles are up to today, and grab some butterbeer cupcakes. Be warned: certain potions (provided by Middle West Spirits) are not for children.

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The Merry Widow Lincoln Theatre (1.11 & 1.13)

Should you get back with your ex after the death of her husband? Should you marry for money? These are just a few of the important social questions for discussion in Franz Lehar’s The Merry Widow. This winter Opera Project Columbus will send some high Bs floating across the Lincoln stage in this beloved staple of the light opera repertoire.

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Walk and Woof Glacier Ridge Metro Park

Got cabin fever? Your dog probably does too. Get the both of you up and moving on a 2.5 mile hike through Glacier Ridge Metro Park, named after the glacial debris left behind 12,000 to 17,000 years ago. Explore a bit of (really ancient) history and beat the winter blahs at the same time.

UPCOMING SHOWS! JAN 3& 6

CODY WOODS JAN 4 -5

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SPECIAL

David Brown and the Harmony Project: On Living Together in Harmony

First Community Church

The Coffee & A Love Team brings David Brown to the podium to speak about the vision of Harmony Project, a 500-member community choir and non-profit organization that seeks to engage the community, promote inclusiveness, and foster a sense of volunteerism. Founded by Brown in 2009, The Harmony Project brings arts to the people through outreach to students, the homeless, veterans, and prisons. Be ready to be inspired!

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Appropriate Riffe Center Studio

Family reunions.

Family secrets. Always a recipe for drama. Available Light Theatre brings Appropriate to the Central Ohio stage, written by rising playwright and 2016 MacArthur Fellow Branden JacobsJenkins. Tickets can be purchased online ahead of time or at the door for pay-what-you-will.

RICKEY SMILEY

ENGAGEMENT

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OSU Women’s Basketball v.

Michigan State

JAN 10

AN EVENING WITH GIRL WITH NO JOB

The Schottenstein center

It doesn’t matter which team from That State Up North is coming to Columbus, all we know is we don’t like them. Catch the women’s basketball squad take on Michigan State and hopefully the Buckeyes will send them home packing like the football team did to their brother in November. This game serves as one of the four Big Ten teams they will face this month inside the Schott.

SPECIAL

ENGAGEMENT

JAN 11-13 SPECIAL

BOB MARLEY

ENGAGEMENT

JAN 17

SAM ADAMS

JAN 18-20

JOSH BLUE

SPECIAL

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ENGAGEMENT

Songs & Sounds of the Harlem Renaissance Lincoln Theatre

The recognition of mainstream Harlem culture and its artistic and intellectual contributions was known as the Harlem Renaissance.

Join Columbus in its city-wide celebration of the 100th anniversary of this social explosion with Jazz Arts Group performing the hits of Fats Waller, Billie Holliday, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington.

JAN 25-26

ARNEZ J

SPECIAL

ENGAGEMENT ALL ACTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

VISIT US ON THE WEB www.columbusfunnybone.com TEXT FUNNYBONE TO 31279 TO JOIN THE VIP FUNNY BONE TEXT PROGRAM (msg & data rates may apply)

VISIT US ON

145 Easton Town Center Columbus, OH 43219 RESERVATIONS ARE A MUST!

614-471-(JOKE) 5653 614columbus.com

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Sideswipe Brewing 5-Year Anniversary Party

Sideswipe Brewing

Never-tasted, limited-release beers and Fetty’s Street Food are part of the fun as Sideswipe Brewing celebrates five years brewing for the Capital City. Make sure your Uber app is working and come celebrate!

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The Drowsy Lads Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza

The Lads celebrate the release of their fourth album, Everyone In. Join them at Natalie’s for a night of emotive and exciting Irish folk music.

Go on a journey through time and tales with the lads, and just try to keep your feet from dancing to the beat.

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34th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Breakfast

Participate in the largest community celebration in the nation honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. With the theme “The Purpose of Education: Intelligence Plus Character,” the event will feature speakers from across the city; performances by Capriccio Columbus Choir, Columbus Children’s Choir, Dance E.L.I.T.E. Performance Academy and keynote speaker Dr. John B. King, Jr., Former Secretary Of Education under Former President Barack Obama.

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(614) Restaurant Week (1.21-26)

Community and compassion come together as 120+ of Columbus’ best restaurants break out the silverware for Restaurant Week, co-presented by (614) Magazine and Marathon Petroleum Corporation. During the last full week of January, you can enjoy 3-course meal for just a fraction of the price. Not only will your restaurant bill get a break, but you can earn $1 for NC4K (No Kid Fights Cancer Alone) for each Instagram photo you tag with #EAT614 (up to $5000).

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Wonderball

Columbus Museum of Art

Pull out your best black and white and get ready to dance the night away at the Columbus Museum of Art’s most glamorous party of the year. Live music, artisan cocktails, and creativity come together to support the museum and art education programs throughout Central Ohio.

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Introduction to Weaving Wholly Craft

Make this the year to try something new. Something fun. Something practical.

Something warm. Learn to weave on an actual frame loom (yes!) and add some fancy fringe to your design.

Come in a beginner and leave with a decorative wall hanging. There. You got something done.

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Los Borirengues del Swing Salsa Band

Tio’s Tacos and Tequila

It’ll be a late night, but it’ll be full of salsa dancing. Tio’s Taco and Tequila is hosting a salsa dancing night with a live bachata band with food being offered until 3 a.m. to give you the fuel to keep moving— that is if the tequila isn’t already doing so. And if you’re feeling a bit timid about your rusty dance moves, show up an hour early at 9 p.m. for a quick dance lesson.

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Carnegie Author Series, Wil Haygood Columbus Metropolitan Library, Main Branch

Did you enjoy reading about Wil Haygood in our Interview Package in this issue? Find out more about Tigerland and Haygood’s other works such as Showdown, In Black and White, and Sweet Thunder as he opens this series at the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

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Cirque du Soleil Crystal Nationwide Arena

You’ve seen Cirque du Soleil, but not like this. Acrobatics meets ice in Crystal, where the artists will not only defy gravity, but friction as well. The magic comes to Columbus this winter, and you definitely don’t want to miss out!

Dig. Shuffle.

Click. a monthly musical digest

By K e v i n J. E l l i ott

Dig: Grayhawk - The Sacred Seal As a fan of the ephemera of ‘80s metal—the Iron Maiden mythologies, the abject noise of thrash bands from Sepultura to Exodus, the advent of the Tampa death scene—listening to, and better yet, engaging in, the conceptual first album from Grayhawk, The Sacred Seal, was a nostalgia trip that took me back to basements full of blacklight posters, dirt weed, contraband literature, and lots of late-night fantasy quests.

While there has always been a thriving metal scene in Columbus, it seems as of late it has become a competitive arena, with each new release seemingly trying to top the one before. Grayhawk, a power trio in every sense of the term, consisting of guitarist Zac Szymusiak, bassist Rob Camstra, and drummer Jack Proctor, have taken it upon themselves to create an intricate story filled with swords and sorcery, witch elms and phylacteries, and all the trappings that come in rolling the 24-sided die. Sonically it was a labor of love for Szymusiak to try and simultaneously capture the raw vision of a long-lost demo and the intricate arpeggios and drum fills that define metal’s technical attention to detail. The epic “Test Your Metal” is testament to that dabbling, going from speedy battle anthem, to faery folk, and a glorious upward bridge in the span of seven minutes. It’s not for the faint of heart, or those with a lack of imagination—it may need a companion comic book as it’s hard not to get wrapped up in the adventure, ideal for a hard Ohio winter-in.

To hear Grayhawk’s The Sacred Seal visit grayhawk.bandcamp.com.

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Shuffle: Javon - Irrational Thoughts EP Javon Wright understands the stigma attached to Soundcloud rappers.

Given the tag, the 21-year-old phenom doesn’t let that stop him, instead he treats the platform as the metaphorical double-edged sword. On one hand it’s a place where “lazy artists” and “mumble” mouths flourish, accumulating clicks and viral ascension overnight. On the other, in his own tiny corner of the internet, Wright’s creative talents can run wild. And though he’s a maturing lyricist and emcee, maybe it’s the foundation where he doesn’t even need to deem himself a traditional “rapper” anymore.

Little to nothing is traditional about Wright’s latest release. Of course there are touchstones of modern hip-hop on the eight song Irrational Thoughts EP, from Drake’s sing-speak melodies to the steely industrial grind of Death Grips, but Wright is focused on innovation over imitation. His is a cadence that glides silky smooth, yet bubbles with righteous anger, a perfect foil to the cooing Sade sample on “It’s What You Make It.” Simply look at the title for the point from where his inspiration springs. For Wright, making oddball beats in his bedroom has become his “therapy,” as the strange thoughts—from worrying about domestic violence to the government apprehending him for googling the Illuminati—fuel the music. It’s heady stuff, post-Soundcloud, in a universe of gimmicky amateurs.

To hear the Irrational Thoughts EP visit soundcloud.com/javxn.

Click: Sam Corlett - “Take Me to the Beach” I don’t have any official counter to measure exactly how many times I’ve listened to Sam Corlett’s sparkling “Take Me to the Beach,” but it’s enough times to warrant it my favorite single piece of music made in Columbus, Ohio in 2018. Maybe it’s the hypnagogic looping—contemporaries to Corlett include US Girls and Tune-Yards—that attract multiple listens, as the buoyant melody could play forever.

As one half of Maza Blaska, Corlett has always written within a dreamy template. In this first statement as a solo artist, though she’s hoisting a guitar on the cover, boundaries seem inconsequential. It’s all voice, and perhaps some mouthed percussion, with Way Yes visionary Glenn Davis helming the knobs and levels. All the while, Corlett’s repeated question, “Who’s riding with me?” sounds like a “just wait until my next song” call to arms. If this minimal earworm is any indication, there’s a wondrous bounty on the horizon.

Sam Corlett plays Kafe Kerouac on Saturday, February 16th. To hear Corlett’s first single visit samcorlett.bandcamp.com.

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You’re my Wonderball

By Jaela n i Turner -Willi a m s

A

Top Right: Two-Way Protocols by artist Zane Miller, photo by Nikole Brianna Prete Middle: Photo by Nathan Ward Bottom Left: Special guests of Doc Robinson, photo by Nikole Brianna Prete

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world of wonder lands in the Columbus Museum of Art on January 26th. The night marks the fifth anniversary of Wonderball, a tenure that marketing director Jennifer Poleon has anticipated since the imaginative celebration first began.

“I love the fact that it’s the event for that last weekend in January.

You really see a whole bunch of people from all disciplines and areas that come to the event and it’s nice to actually meet with them. It started about five years ago and we wanted to have another event that was more of a wider event for people to come to that embodied the spirit of the museum, sort of the spirit of wonder and creativity.”

Wonderball doesn’t just ooze creativity; it allows guests to exude their range of artistic nuances, being invited to showcase their individuality in black and white garb. Poleon could pontificate on the costumes alone.

“Last year, a bunch of people came dressed in their wedding gowns. Some people may dress in skeleton costumes or top hats. It’s all over the place, some people come in formals, some people come in an interesting black and white t-shirt or black jeans. I think that just having that theme alone allows somebody that creative challenge just in what they’re going to bring as their dress.”

With invitations scripted on letterpress coasters and past outfits including powdered white wigs and aluminum skirts, there’s a steady fluctuation of themes which guests can interpret. This year’s

Wonderball theme is loosely based on motion, one that CCAD graduate Zane Miller briefly tackled at the event in 2018. Miller’s instillation Two Way Protocol featured two clear cubes that guests could stand within, a commentary on miscommunication in today’s digital age.

Poleon speaks of the endless possibilities that Wonderball has to offer. “[In] the Wonder Room, which has a lot of fabric-based activities, you can be a fashion designer. There’s an area that Kelly Martin designed for us from Alternative Fashion Mob. You can see how we’ve changed out the galleries over the years too—it’s wide ranging.

Every year it’s different. And every year the committee brings their creative energy to it.”

The connection between Wonderball’s committee and partygoers is one that Poleon has observed and enjoyed throughout the past five years, emphasizing the building of community.

“One of the best things about Wonderball is that we have so many creative members on the planning committee that people come up with some really creative ideas that Wonderball will try to encapsulate for the spirit of Columbus,” she says. “It’s the creative energy of both the people who serve on the committee, and the people who come to the event.”

Proceeds of Wonderball tickets will mainly go towards arts enrichment for children, such as the museum’s Teen Open Studio and Wonder School Columbus, a new partnership among CMA, Columbus State Community College, and The Childhood League Center.

“It’s a way to encourage an arts-rich program for preschoolers, which is actually pretty lacking, and allow a laboratory for teachers to teach those skills to kids,” says Poleon of Wonder School.

She also mentions the acclimation of children as guests during the museum’s Think Like An Artist Thursdays, a collaboration with creative partners throughout Columbus with weekly events being held at CMA during the year.

“It’s been interesting watching the audience for [Think Like an Artist Thursdays] grow, because people will bring their kids and be able to create art together, and you’ll get an audience that you wouldn’t think would have the opportunity to sit down together.”

As past themes indulged in the greenlit fairy aura of classic children’s film Fern Gully, and the mystique of tarot card readings, Poleon assures that Wonderball’s presence will elevate from one year to the next, encouraging the proactivity of art long after the party’s over.

“It’s kind of a surprise, and that’s the charm of the event, too,” Poleon says of what’s to come.

“Make creativity a part of your daily practice and sometimes that may mean thinking about things differently. To come up with innovative ideas is taking that leap and allowing yourself to feel the ambiguity of something before you actually make a creative idea.” • 614columbus.com

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CHEF I

n a rapidly growing Columbus food and drink scene, the city’s culinary creatives are fast becoming a new class of local celebrities. Over the next several pages, enjoy a snapshot of some of Columbus’ top chefs, all of whom’s work will be on display during Restaurant Week Columbus, slated for January 22-27th. Then be sure to view all of the menus at EAT614.com. Dig in.

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16 Beer Kitchen

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Nick Krafft

Beverage Crafter & Curator

101 beer kitchen Food & Beer and, more precisely, the pairing of the two is at the core of what 101 Beer Kitchen is all about. Whether you start with our seasonal, chef-driven menu or with your favorite brew, we’ll help you find its perfect complement. Our philosophy is that learning ”what goes with what” is fun when it ends in delicious results, and our hospitable and knowledgeable staff is committed to making sure every experience you have with us wraps up with a full heart, a satisfied stomach, and the joy that comes from partaking of old favorites and discovering new ones.

Alongside our seasonal food menu and rotating draft list you will also find a thoughtfully crafted cocktail program led by Nick Krafft. From classic to creative our cocktails, like our food, are made from quality ingredients and represent the seasons during which they are served.

It is the aspiration of every 101 Beer Kitchen to be that one gathering spot in your neighborhood that feels welcoming and familiar when you’re longing for comfort, and fresh and exciting when you’re craving something new.

signature cocktails 101 Old Fashioned - OYO Michelone Reserve Bourbon, Luxardo Liquor, Angostura Bitters, Muddled Orange & Luxardo Maraschino Epic Big Bad Baptista BBA Stout Candied GINger Hemingway - Hendricks Gin, Luxardo Liquor, Grapefruit & Lime Juices, Rosemary Herb Simple & Candied Ginger Sugar Rim Pineapple Hedgerow - Tres Generaciones Anejo, Pineapple Juice, Maple Agave Simple, Dash of Bitters with Sage Rubbed Rim

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JULIAN MENAGED EXECUTIVE CHEF

STEPHANIE KINCAID

EXECUTIVE SOUS CHEF

BARCELONA Introducing our new culinary leadership, Chef Julian and Chef Stephanie. Chef Julian trained at the Refectory under Chef Richard Blondin.

Chef Julian brings a well-rounded wealth of knowledge, talent, inspiration and energy to Barcelona. He understands the balance of creating authentic Spanish cuisine by using local purveyors when possible and the use of imported Spanish products.

Chef Stephanie is well known for her talents as our Pastry Chef for the past 8 years, but also has a unique approach to savory. Together, Chef Julian and Chef Stephanie lead a talented culinary team always looking for local, new and exciting products to share with our guests.

Tucked in historic German Village, Barcelona is a culinary fusion of metropolitan chic and Old World European charm. Proud to celebrate 22 years of excellence, the team at Barcelona works hard every day to present a great atmosphere, incredible service, a warm environment and above all, wonderful food.

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SIGNATURE DISHES Our menu changes on a regular basis to reflect the season, fresh local products and the creativity of our culinary team.

Braised Pork Shank with a spicy stewed tomato sauce and squid ink toast.

Paella Barcelona with calasparra rice, sofrito, chorizo, chicken and seafood.

Seared Red Snapper with black rice pilaf and coconut cream curry sauce.

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WILLIAM LALLI

EXECUTIVE CHEF AND OWNER

LA SCALA Executive chef and owner, William Lalli, is an immigrant from Cerreto Di Vastogirardi in Italy. William draws upon his roots to create a menu infused with authentic Italian heritage.

La Scala is a family owned Dublin icon that few people in the Columbus area have not had the pleasure of enjoying. Whether in the classic dining room or in one of the beautiful banquet rooms, the restaurant is known not only for delicious Italian food but also for an experienced wait and bar staff. Providing stellar service and food in combination with ambiance and decor gives guests a superior dining experience. Over its illustrious history La Scala has welcomed many celebrities such as Bob Hope, Danny Glover, Ahmad Rashad, Anthony Quinn, Tommy Lasorda, Bon Jovi, and many of OSU’s coaches and players. La Scala has been awarded a Columbus Dispatch top pick for two years in a row as best Italian Restaurant for 2017 and 2018. And this year the restaurant won best banquet hall and best happy hour, as well as being selected as top pick for weddings.

SIGNATURE DISHES Homemade Lasagna Homemade Sausage and Peppers Homemade Ravioli

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Bradley Balch Executive chef and owner

Trillium kitchen & Patio Located between Clintonville and Ohio State Campus, Trillium offers a unique dining experience featuring a seasonal, local menu with an expertly crafted cocktail list and wine menu. Chef Bradley Balch puts his signature touch on dishes like the Lake Erie Walleye served with squid-ink spaghetti, oyster and shiitake mushrooms, and a smoked beet confit that is brought together perfectly by a preserved lemon beurre blanc sauce. Trillium is great for large groups featuring 2 different private spaces that can be reserved for your needs. With a warm, attractive bar and an inviting patio along High Street for when the weather warms, Trillium has a little bit of everything. We’re dedicated to greeting you with open arms, feeding you well, and helping you celebrate everything from the everyday to the extraordinary.

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signature dishes Charcuterie & Cheese Plate: chef’s selection of cured meat and artisan cheese, appropriate garnishes, grilled ciabatta Pork Cheek Poutine: Laurel Valley cheddar curds, peppered pork gravy, house-cut fries Daisyfield Farms Pork Tenderloin 7 oz, blackberry BBQ, 5-spice whipped sweet potatoes, kimchee, shiitake bacon

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Remembering Chris Bradley 1965-2018

By L au r a Dac h e n b ac h • I llu st r atio n by rya n c as k e y

W

hat will be the job of a meteorologist in heaven?

I’m not sure if I think of heaven as a place of eternally ideal weather, but I do think of it as a place of purpose. There’s a job for everyone in heaven.

When I first met Chris Bradley, I didn’t know who he was. I was new to King Avenue United Methodist Church, and Chris was just a nice guy corralling his young son in the milling area, which was full of other people I didn’t know. He was the dad that everyone wanted, standing with a watchful and proud eye and who was always ready for a hug and kiss. Such a stunning smile, I thought.

Almost like a trademark. He was the friend everyone wanted to be with, adding a buoyancy, an accessibility, a welcomeness to the conversation. Sharp ties. This guy’s got some sharp ties. The more I observed, the more I wondered. Somehow, he seemed like someone I knew, or should know. One day, I decided to engage 44

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Chris in the only awkward conversation I knew him to have.

“So what do you do?”

“The weather on Channel 10.”

The dots started to connect. My face became warm. I started wearing hats and sunglasses and avoiding Chris for a couple weeks, hoping he’d forget me. But that wasn’t possible with the gregarious Bradley-Krausses, and eventually I grew to know and adore this charming and very musical bunch: Chris (who was an adopted child) his husband Jason, and their two adopted children Spencer and Maria—four people connected not by blood, but by their love for each other. The Bradley-Krausses became activists simply by being a family and living out their love for each other and their community with endearing authenticity, creating bonds that have extended beyond the loss of a family member.

In their dying, some people give the rest of us life because

they illuminate what life should be about. Chris Bradley’s death from an aggressive form of acute myeloid leukemia was one of those moments. We can sometimes strangely forget the worthiness of our own lives—the reality that life is indeed more than existence and schedules and tasks. Chris fought for his life because he knew life was worth living. And we should also fight every day for this rare and precious privilege to be alive: to understand all that we can, say all that we can, and be all that we can for however long we are called to do so. Life itself is a terminal illness, and once in a while we are granted a remission from that affliction in being allowed to witness a soul such as Chris love life so much that we cannot help but fall in love with it again.

Weather is defined as an “act of God” because it is completely out of our control. Death is also out of our control. Both tend to depress people. I imagine the great faith in God Chris maintained throughout his life and illness is why he could confront both these inevitabilities with awe, never letting either of them overwhelm him, make him become bitter, or lessen his spirit.

Weather is what makes our planet alive. Chris is now a part of the rain that will nourish the beloved gardens around his home. He is part of the sunshine that will smile on his husband and children. He’ll be in the iridescence of every rainbow we post on Instagram and part of the joy of every Columbus kid’s snow day. Each time we marvel at the mercurial, if not downright wacky amalgamation of temperature and precipitation that is Columbus weather, we will remember our Chris Bradley.

Welcome to the incredible green screen of heaven Chris.

You’ve still got a job, we’re still watching, and I have my derecho plan. Thanks for that. •

Donations in the memory of Chris Bradley can be made to The Columbus Foundation.

Visit columbusfoundation.org/ fund/bradley/3730.

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2019 The Interview issue

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t’s that time of year again.

Every January, we feature the movers and shakers of the city in in-depth, in-person interviews that dig into their backgrounds, their plans, and what ties them to the capital city.

Whether that’s being a business owner and activist that helps you see the skyline from the surface of our rivers, their work as a performance artist and slam poet, or their legendary MC status; these are the people that create the rich tapestry of our town.

These interviews are held affectionately close by our seasoned writers. The longform interview tradition is a dance between a learned skill, and an innate ability. It gives them a chance to put their journalistic talents to the test. Coupled with the striking photos of Brian Kaiser, and the deft hands of our designers, this year’s package is a treat fr the mind, as well as the eyes.

Winter is a time of introspection and consideration. It might be cold and gray this time of year, but the fires within burn bright for these subjects.

Read on to find out what makes them tick, the skills and passions they bring to the table, and maybe even a little inspiration to warm your heart during these chilly times.

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Wil Haygood 48

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Author / Journalist / Curator

By K evi n J. El l i ott p hoto by bri a n ka i ser

E

veryone loves an underdog. And in our interview, celebrated Columbus author Wil Haygood referenced many feelgood sports stories woven into the fabric of American culture. From Remember the Titans, to Hoosiers and Friday Night Lights, he maintains that the feat accomplished at East High during the 1968-69 school year, in which the Tigers won championships in basketball and baseball 55 days apart, eclipses them all.

“I would never like to be called an activist,” says Wil Haygood when asked if he might consider himself such. “That’s not my game. I’m here just to find a good story. It’s my calling to be objective. I could never just tell one side of the story.”

Yet, in reading his latest book, Tigerland, and immersing the reader in the strife East High faced in the wake of the assassinations of MLK and RFK, the “feel-good” triumph of two championships takes on a higher purpose. There’s so much more to the story. It’s the tale of a segregated city getting its first African-American principal in Jack Gibbs. Of the white basketball coach Bob Hart, choosing to settle in an East side neighborhood he was warned against. The players, and mothers of players, who persevered in the newly developed housing projects despite overwhelming odds. Haygood may not want the title activist, but Tigerland could easily serve as guide in how to counter civil unrest, especially now, fifty years removed.

That objective journalism is becoming more of a rarity is troubling. Haygood’s storytelling is a resistance, and in Tigerland it’s a redemption story brought “from the shadows” that is uniquely complex and distinctly of Columbus. He insists there are many more stories of Tigerland’s ilk which must be exposed. The uncovering of a zeitgeist forgotten is a theme consistent with Haygood’s recent curation of the Harlem Renaissance exhibit at the Columbus Museum of Art. In I, Too, Sing America (also an award-winning art book), he chose to spotlight lesser-known writers and artists of the era that continue to play “an enduring role in moving us forward.” How that dais influenced the cultural rise of African-Americans in the Mt. Vernon neighborhood where the sub-plots in Tigerland play out, is palpable in Haygood’s words.

In talking with Haygood, he’s acutely aware of how Tigerland’s legacy and the continued re-awakening of the Harlem Renaissance add to the social discourse

that accumulates to this day. Our interview here is abridged, if only because we spent a taut 45 minutes veering down rabbit holes created by the vivid representation Haygood paints of Columbus, Ohio in 1968. Fortunately, it’s a conversation that has and could last for generations.

“ Sports is a very gentle way to open the door to talk about poverty, racism, and sexism. You want to hear about how the winners won and how the losers dealt with losing. “ In an interview you talked about Tigerland not being the story “you were born to write, but a story that the rest of the world needed to hear.” Why is this now such an important story?

Wil Haygood: When I traveled around the country, to about 25 different cities talking about this book, people constantly asked me if the release of Tigerland was intentional given how timely the story was. It just happened that it was the 50th anniversary of the famous Olympic protests by Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the Colin Kaepernick narrative was playing out, the President of the United States was attacking black athletes for their social activism—these were the things on the mind of so many people on this tour. Of course, I didn’t time it, but this story is just so topical, it’s so rich with drama, it just calls for very enlightening conversations with the people I met across the country.

I love it for the locality, and learning about a Columbus I never knew existed. So I’m curious to know if the heroes in this book, Bob Hart (East’s white football coach), Jack Gibbs (East’s first black principal), and the Tiger athletes, have always been heroes in your eyes, especially growing up? Did Columbus, en masse, know the history being made on the East side of town? •

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“ There has been a lot of maturity and growth in this city. I’m very proud of a lot of things that have happened.

There is no big city in this country right now that doesn’t have social problems, but I think Columbus has done a much better job than some cities certainly in creating a peaceful dialogue over the years.”

WH: The city was so segregated that it was hard to give the East side its proper due. A figure like Jack Gibbs—he’s someone who you can almost make a movie about his life. It took so much perseverance and so much focus for the student body of East High to do what they did in that 1968-69 calendar year that I thank the literary gods for the foresight to return to my hometown and pull this story together. Frankly I kept waiting for this to be written by someone else, given the amount of high school sports stories that are on the shelf. I’m not trying to rate this story against any of the others, but I do think that it’s a book with a sports theme. It’s also a book that’s about far more than sports.

Was this your favorite book to write?

WH: That’s a tough question, but here’s how I’ll answer. As a little boy, I lived in the North side of the city. When I lived there East High was a mythical place and I had never laid eyes on that school. But I knew about it because it seemed to be this spiritual epicenter of the East side. It was where you had a lot of black teachers, an all-black student body. Your uncles, aunts, and cousins would always be talking about East High School.

It constantly grew in my little boy mind. I lived within walking distance of the Ohio State Fairgrounds, so I would always beg my mother to let me go watch the team play. You had to be there.

It was a lot wrapped up inside of me as I approached this book, because in a real way I was writing about my heroes. I’m sure that my history and emotions played a part in me wanting to do this book.

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What memories do you have of Columbus during that time, that reminds you that no place was isolated from the racial and social unrest of the events of that era?

WH: In the summer of 1968, the very summer of after Martin Luther King’s assassination, my mother moved her five children to the Bolivar Arms housing project. Within weeks of moving there, there were riots on Mt. Vernon [Avenue]. I, as a 13 year old boy, saw National Guard tanks right through my screen door.

It was a very frightening summer for me to wrapped up in that racial turmoil. I did not know that urban unrest on the North side of town. That street was integrated, our neighbors were white.

Then I was thrust into this community on the East side that was feeling pain—the pain of a lack of good housing, a lack of jobs.

The whole environment of urban America was set right outside of my front door.

How much do you think Columbus has progressed since the time of Tigerland in accepting inclusion and fostering growth in underprivileged neighborhoods like the East side?

WH: There has been a lot of maturity and growth in this city. I’m very proud of a lot of things that have happened. There is no big city in this country right now that doesn’t have social problems, but I think Columbus has done a much better job than some cities certainly in creating a peaceful dialogue over the years. I think that there have been stories that haven’t been championed as much as they should have. There is a gap in what the young people of Columbus know about the city’s past. Another fact from the book is that during that school year in 1969, East High sent more kids to college than they ever had before. Those are stories people need to know.

As a teacher of many students who come from broken homes and neighborhoods, I’d love to know what advice you give to young people?

WH: Since the release of the book I’ve spoken to Somali students in St. Paul, Minnesota, to white students in rural Maryland, black students in Dayton, Ohio. I tell students that on their darkest day, on that day when they feel like the world is not loving them enough, that they need only to take inspiration from these East High Tiger athletes. Eight of the twelve basketball players’ mothers worked as maids, many of them did not have fathers living in the home, two of them had fathers in jail, and none of them were born with a silver spoon in their mouth. But what pushed them and helped them succeed was a championship attitude before they dribbled a basketball or swung a baseball bat. They knew they wanted to be successful. They can lean into this story and they can rise up. Sports is a very gentle way to open the door to talk about poverty, racism, and sexism. You want to hear about how the winners won and how the losers dealt with losing. •

Wil Haygood will be the first featured speaker of the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Carnegie Author series on Jan. 27th. Register for free at Eventbrite.com.

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lisa daris

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River guide / Conservationist / Business owner.

By J EN I R UISC H p hoto by bri a n ka i ser

They say the human body is about 60 percent water. But something tells me that Lisa Daris has a little more H2O coursing through her veins than the average person. Her whole life, she’s never been far from a river. She grew up in Kent, minutes from the Cuyahoga. Now the owner of Olentangy Paddle, Daris has literally made it her business to introduce people to the waterways of central Ohio. With a mane of curly blond hair, and an easy laugh that bubbles up like a brook, Daris is the perfect ambassador to speak for the ecosystems that reside in and around the Scioto, Olentangy, and their tributaries.

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elaxing in her home north of the city, Daris points in the direction of the nearest body of water, a human divining rod. Birds flit up to feeders at her window, and she names them as they come and go. She rhapsodizes about softshell turtle sightings as she gazes into the woods. Daris is at home among nature’s glory. She can read the weather and the rivers like so many books. Between the science she sources and her own experience and instinct, she can paint a picture of what the waters will look like from day to day, and can tell you on a Tuesday if the rivers will be running high on Thursday. Like a farmer reading the summer dust for signs of an early snow, Daris carries herself with an observant certainty that the weather will do what the weather will do, and we humans are simply along for the ride. Even if, here in Columbus, mother nature seems to mostly have been tamed.

“We have this intersection, especially in central Ohio, of urban and nature. It’s not all concrete like it is in Northeast Ohio, in Cleveland. They have a great metropark system, too. But there’s a different closeness to nature in central Ohio.”

When she explains her business and experiences, Daris is doing more than telling you about her job.

She is translating into words the moving, breathing life force that is the continuous river ecosystem. Daris grew up a stone’s throw from the Cuyahoga, a river famous for being so inundated with fuel and refuse that it repeatedly caught fire. Childhood naivety, though, is blissful. Daris, perhaps upstream of the

industry that wreaked havoc on the water’s chemistry, rode her bike to the river daily, and spent her days, weeks, and seasons on and in the water flowing past her home.

“ Every large city in America is living off the infrastructure that was built a hundred years ago or more.”

“Looking back, I must have been isolated. Kent was a pretty small town back then. My mother didn’t drive, and my dad traveled a lot for work. I never felt isolated, but I think that’s because I had the river. I would play on the river all day long. My mom would say ‘go’ and we would be gone all day!”

Daris, it seems, lived a free range childhood— which back then was just called childhood.

“I grew up Catholic and went to Catholic school, so there were a lot of rules with that. But once I got outside, I really got a taste of freedom. I really felt like I could learn things from trial and error, versus the rules that are set up for kids. ‘Do this, don’t do that.’

Outside, you push limits of certain things.”

This freedom and natural learning is what Daris hopes to spread with her business and activism work.

She started Olentangy Paddle in 2014, running kayaks on the river, and renting them out to people who wanted to see the city from a new angle. Back then, low head dams dotted the river corridor every few miles. After the Main Street and Fifth Avenue dams were removed, and the river bottoms re-engineered, a whole new world opened up, both for creatures who live below the surface, and above. Newer Columbus transplants may take our bejeweled riverfront for granted, but long-time residents will remember a time when the water was not only inaccessible, but undesirable for recreation. •

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“Once the dams were removed, me and my friends kayaked it a few times. Everyone, including me, was just totally amazed.

Who would have thought when I moved here in the 90s that you could kayak down the Olentangy? And who would want to?

Because it still had some issues.”

That’s a polite way of wording the ecological near-dead zones that had been snaking their ways through the city for decades. A sewage runoff issue plagued the waters, and the infrastructure around the banks wasn’t made for contact with the rivers. But downtown initiatives put into action by the Coleman administration started a domino effect that, like rainwater, cascaded eventually into the waterways.

The facelift of the downtown area has changed fundamental functioning within the capital city. It has had obvious ecological and economic effects, and Daris has been at the forefront of that activity. In addition to running her business, she volunteers for FLOW (Friends of the Lower Olentangy Watershed), has partnered with the Godman Guild and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, worked with the Ohio River Foundation, and works for TOSRV (Tour of the Scioto River Valley), where she gets to indulge her other love, cycling. With every organization she champions, and every town hall meeting she attends, Daris manages to spread knowledge—her passion tirelessly shining through her words and actions.

“Columbus has been great about cleaning up the water. They bore a tunnel under the river to help with the sewage overflow.

Every large city in America is living off the infrastructure that was built a hundred years ago or more. That would be like if we still had one-lane bridges built over the rivers. And that causes issues. It happened throughout America, and it’s still happening.

But Columbus has done a great job of working with the EPA to resolve [...] a lot of the issues we had back in the 90s and even early 2000s. We’ve grown fast, but we haven’t grown so fast that we can’t take a step back and fix some of the things that have caused the waterways issues. I’m proud to say that decision makers, policy makers, and taxpayers have said, ‘We need to do this.’”

Daris works with people of all ages, and from all walks of life. She connects them with the water, physically and otherwise.

Her hope is that, children who are given the opportunity to bond with the water and the plants and animals that rely on it, will grow up to continue her stewardship. Sometimes it seems like it’s the only way to make it through a news cycle telling of brutal effects on nature from human meddling.

“A part of me really has just hunkered down and focused on saving the waterways one person at a time. I know that sounds trite. But sometimes it’s too big. Sometimes I feel like it doesn’t do any good. So last year I just really focused on Olentangy Paddle and just doing a really good job with that. If I can provide that one experience for somebody, no matter if they’re seven years old or 70, if it makes them care a little bit more about the waterways, that is a good day.”

Her activism exists in a place beyond self interest. Daris dreams of a natural watershed, running uninterrupted through the city. For now, the Greenlawn dam remains one of the few low heads left in the city limits. Utilities running underneath pose an obstacle in removing it, unlike the two dams removed in the last few years. But Daris retains hope that in her lifetime, it will be taken down, and the Scioto can run freely as it once did.

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“ If I can provide that one experience for somebody, no matter if they’re seven years old or 70, if it makes them care a little bit more about the waterways, that is a good day.”

“Wouldn’t that be an interesting sight? To see the Scioto in a more natural state south of the city? I’m in an interesting position, though, because that would also mean that we may not be able to canoe and kayak on that river as much, because it would get too low. The dam backs up the water, which creates a consistent pool year round, all the way up to the confluence.

However, I’m a conservationist first, and I run a kayak business second. And so I would much rather see that river restored, and think about the ecosystem that could be restored there.”

In a city that has thus far defined itself by a search for an identity, the rivers provide a profile and distinctiveness that Columbus need only fully embrace to define ourselves to the rest of the world.

“We need to take what we have and run with it. We have this beautiful riverfront, and we already have some great events downtown. They’re gaining momentum.… [Ginther] is embracing that. Showing off the river to everyone. We have this opportunity in central Ohio to really plan more carefully to allow more green space based on population density than other urban centers have. That’s a difference I see between here and places like New York or Chicago. I say that we have to really put our stake in the ground and say we are going to protect the riverfront and we’re going to protect our green space, and we’re going to be known for having this mix of urban with wild.”

Ushering the next generation of stewards onto the waters plants seeds that Daris hopes the city will continue to cultivate.

Creating a culture of conservation in the capital city will require dedication and work. It will take citizen activists and participants, along with legislation geared toward protection of our waters. It will require continually maintaining public parks and ensuring access for everyone in Columbus, regardless of background or income.

“Who is the greenest city in the midwest? No one has taken that brand and claimed it! So it’s up for grabs! I think we have the potential to claim that, and convince people that, if you want the benefits of living in the midwest, and you want diversity… If you want all that, you can have it here, and live in a city that is green.”

This enthusiastic leadership and curiosity is how Daris lives her life. Paddle in hand, moving at turns with and against the current. Gracefully, and (always) close to the water. •

To book a river tour with Lisa Daris, visit olentangypaddle.com.

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Jason Bradley-Krauss 56

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Graphic Designer / Dad / Ambassador for love

By L aur a Dachenb ach p hoto by bri a n ka i ser

J

ason Bradley-Krauss has a love story to share. For twenty-three years he and WBNS Chief Meterologist Chris Bradley shared their lives as partners, then as adoptive parents, then as a married couple. They lived in near-perfect synchronicity until Chris became ill with leukemia, passing away earlier last month.

But from this partnership, Bradley-Krauss still carries two projects of love. The first is Spencer and Maria Bradley-Krauss, both adopted from Guatemala, who are the fulfillment of their dads’ lifelong desires to be parents. The second is Design with Heart Studio.

Bradley-Krauss, a corporate graphic designer who announced his career ambitions in the third grade, was inspired to begin a paper goods company when he was unable to find a suitable announcement for his engagement to Chris. Design with Heart has now expanded to retailers across the country, as well as the UK, Australia, and Canada, announcing to the world that Love is indeed Love.

On falling for Chris Bradley: In 1995 I did the design work for Steppin’ Out AIDS Walk Detroit. And it was a run, rollerblade, walk event. And I chose to rollerblade. I knew who Chris was; I’d seen him on the news and thought he was incredibly handsome, but I turned around in the registration line in my rollerblades and he was standing right behind me. It caught me off guard and I literally slipped and fell.

But I fought falling, so it was arms and legs all about me and I landed right on my bum. And he started laughing, and I thought, “That turkey.” But I still kind of thought, “Well, I’d still like to meet him.” And about two weeks later a friend of ours introduced us and we hit it off immediately.

On life together: Chris was very supportive of my career and my goals as I was his, and I really think we were on the same page with just about every life issue.

That made parenting together easier. We talked a lot, you know. To know Chris is to know that he was a very chatty person. I remember when we first met, he called me at my office and we talked, and then about thirty minutes later he called me again, and was telling me, “I’m defrosting pork chops for dinner tonight and

I’m going to go the the gym.” And he called me like two hours later, and I thought, “What’s happening?” But we remained that way. We talked throughout the day on a constant basis over the past twenty-three years.

On adoption and raising a family in Columbus: When we moved here in 1998, I was uncertain whether we would stay here in Columbus very long. And Chris was also in a business that moves people around quite a bit. But I used the opportunity to launch my design firm and establish creative roots here. Within a very short period of time Columbus felt like home. When Chris and I decided to adopt, we did not know another male couple who had gone through this process…. So in terms of arriving at parenthood, we really has to carve out and learn a lot about the adoption process, the international adoption process and then about raising kids. But we have found Columbus to be a very welcoming community and we feel really blessed to have raised our children here. Moving forward with adoption was God’s greatest gift to us. Those children are our life’s greatest blessing. •

“ We’ve made choices that not everyone has had the courage to make. But we didn’t make those choices to be cutting-edge. We made those choices because those were the choices that resonated with us.”

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On living with integrity: When I look at Chris’ life, I see it in three segments. I see the way he lived his life, the way he fought his disease, and the way he died. And he was very consistent in each of those three categories. He wanted to live an authentic life. He led a spiritual life. He wanted to be a family man. When he was diagnosed with his illness, he wanted to make certain that something good would come out of that illness…. I remember distinctly a conversation that we had where he said, “The world seems so dark right now, but I want to shed light and make certain that something good comes out of this.” And I really think at that moment I could see cracks in the darkness and I could feel the light entering into our cancer journey. In dying, he showed such great faith.

He showed such a sense of peace that he belonged to God and that God had a bigger picture for him. He knew where he was going. He was proud of what he had done. We were proud of the choices we had made as individuals and as a couple….

We’ve made choices that not everyone has had the courage to make. But we didn’t make those choices to be cutting-edge.

We made those choices because those were the choices that resonated with us.

On grief: What I’m walking through now is what they call anticipatory grief. We knew in September that we had exhausted the treatments that were available. For me, doing everything I could to honor Chris’ wishes which were to come home and [...] to be with his family, to spend as much time with his family as possible, and to die peacefully at home. And I was able to help facilitate that, and there’s a certain amount of peace that comes from that.

On Design with Heart: I set out to just design just a few cards I thought might be appropriate for male couples or female couples. And as I did that work, I thought, “I love this.” It taps into my love of typography, my love of graphic design, my love of illustration. But also, it allows me to put forth really positive messaging. And so I intended for the line to be simply based around marriage equality and LGBTQ lives. But then the message that came back to me is that love permeates all that’s good and hopeful. Love is present in all of life’s greatest celebratory moments: a new baby, new home, birthday, even thank you and thinking of you. And so I just had a little bit of time that opened up with my client work and I decided I would just give myself a week and see what I came up with.

And at the end of the week I had forty-five designs done, and I had forty-five more that I wanted to get done. I just thought, “There’s something here.” I launched Design with Heart in May 2015 at the National Stationery Show in New York and it was a mad scramble to put together an entire product line, website, catalog, inventory, shipping procedures, but it was a passion project, and I derive great joy from it.… Immediately we took orders from museum stores and high-end boutiques around the country…. I think for me as a creative person the greatest thrill has been having the line picked up by the high-end museum stores because what else as a creative person was I ever going to design that would end up in a museum, right?

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“ But then the message that came back to me is that love permeates all that’s good and hopeful. Love is present in all of life’s greatest celebratory moments: a new baby, new home, birthday, even thank you and thinking of you.”

On the written word and love: It’s fun to know that the work that we’re doing is actually a touchpoint between people.

We try to have our greeting cards start a conversation, as opposed to trying to be the conversation, so it is a connection point between two people…. It’s been really amazing also in Chris’ illness to see just how many people still take the time to understand that there is power in the written word. There is power in the connection of reaching out to someone with a written note. I hope we don’t lose that as a people. No one is ever going to take an email and print it out and save it, but I can tell you there are handwritten notes that were sent to Chris and to our family during this time that I will forever treasure. •

Find out where you can buy Design with Heart stationery at designwithheart.com.

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Luis Biava 60

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Conductor / Cellist / teacher

By L aur a Dachenb ach p hoto by bri a n ka i ser

C

lassical music is composed from a center of great emotion. Yet it often becomes background music. What can help us to truly listen to this transformative art and be moved by it? Pro tip: Have a conversation with a conductor. (They love to talk!)

Talking with Luis Biava is a mini-lesson in world music. The recipient of multiple musical traditions, the principal cellist of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra grew up in Columbia watching his father conduct the National Symphony of Columbia, a place where many European musicians had fled to escape war and fascism.

A conductor looked at the young Biava’s hands, deemed them cello-worthy, and Biava’s musical studies began on that instrument, a journey which eventually led him to Interlochen Center for the Arts and The Juilliard School of Music.

Although he performs as a professional musician, Biava has spent his career with musicians of all ability levels. He often sits down with his instrument during a conducting rehearsal to demonstrate, waiting for the “aha” moment from each player. Biava conducts the Columbus Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, the New Albany Symphony Orchestra, and the CSO Nutcracker Orchestra, in addition to teaching cello at Kenyon University and guest conducting for numerous ensembles. Wherever he picks up a bow or baton, Biava embodies the belief that classical music is for everyone.

I love the cello. A lot of people like the cello. What do you think it is about the sound of the cello?

Luis Biava: Everybody always says that it’s the voice, that [the cello] matches the [human] voice. But I think it’s that mellow tone in the middle register, like a baritone or a mezzo-soprano. The warmth—because things are a little bit thicker than the violin, and I guess it just speaks to people with the sound that it is..... I love where it’s placed in a string quartet as the bass, and then [cellists] get some middle range as well, and then there’s a solo here and there.

growing up my father (who is a violinist and conductor), did this thing besides play. I thought that it was really interesting to see a score and to be able to understand what it’s like.… It was really cool to be able to express what one knows as an instrumentalist and put it into the conducting thing —to try and recreate the piece. It’s not about power or ego or anything, it’s about hearing the piece, and you have something to do with its creation.

When you see the Mona Lisa, it’s there, and that’s all it is […] it never gets redone. But with Beethoven Five, you can play it over and over again.

“ It’s not about power or ego or anything, it’s about hearing the piece, and you have something to do with its creation.”

I bring up a TED talk with conductor Benjamin Zander, who believes, “Everybody loves classical music. They just don’t know it yet,” and that a conductor’s silent power comes from empowering musicians.

LB: Extending that […] I think it’s in the actual music where you can get the orchestra to do something that sounds really musical and really moves people. Not everything can move people, but there are moments that the great composers write where they’re saying something beautiful through the music. I think that’s what he means: Benjamin Zander’s thinking about what the phrase is like. He’s silent; [he] shows what it is. The musicians get it. He shares, and it comes out as a beautiful phrase.

At what point in your career did you decide to become a conductor?

In the world of high-speed-instant-gratification internet, how do we get people to slow down and practice?

LB: Actually, when I was first at Interlochen in Michigan—the national music camp—in high school I took a conducting course, and I’d always liked it because

LB: It’s a question of enjoying it, even though it is tedious—it’s a lonely thing. We’re always stuck there •

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in a room by ourselves practicing. “Hey c’mon, let’s hang out…Nah, I gotta practice.” With young kids it’s tough because they don’t know. But if they have some talent, someone has to instill in them that the ultimate goal is really permanent, so that when it comes to the performance, you’re going to really provide something for the audience…. There’s always beautiful musicians in every instrument, and I think it’s because somehow they’ve seen the final line, and they want to get there by repeating things over and other again.

“ There’s always beautiful musicians in every instrument, and I think it’s because somehow they’ve seen the final line, and they want to get there by repeating things over and other again.”

It occurs to me that privately, music can teach us patience, endurance, and how to become good at something difficult. Music should also encourage us to take risks and put ourselves out there in the public view. Music training is life training.

LB: Everybody has to do difficult things in life…. One of the things I think [music] teaches people is the drive….

But you have to have a balance. [A bad outcome] is not the end of the world, no matter what. You try. You take a breather. There’ll be a bad day. Maybe a bad week. But you’ve just got to stick with it, ‘cause that’s what it’s all about. Imagine people in research for cancer. If they gave up, we’d have nothing…. A friend of my father’s in Columbia, he was a great first bassoonist and worked really well, beautiful player. Something happened to his lip […] and he became president of Alitalia [airline]. That type of thing. Good professionalism, good pride to say, “I can do this. I guess I’m not going to play the bassoon anymore, but now I’m going to work hard as president of Alitalia.

What’s on your playlist?

LB: I’ve always loved The Beatles. I had an old record my parents gave me when I was in Columbia. It was A Hard Day’s Night in Spanish. The front was in English but some of the liner notes were in Spanish, and I think I still have that record. I love Salsa […] solid rhythm. It’s a great feel. The chords are great. The major. The minor.

It’s dance music, yet it’s in a minor key. It’s like, “Are you happy? Are you sort of sad-happy?” I like jazz because 62

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I grew up with my uncles playing jazz a lot. My father, after he came from tours, would always give me a record.

He’d go into the cities he was traveling to with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and say, “What’s the big current thing now?” He brought me Joe Cocker’s “Mad Dogs and Englishmen,” the Canned Heat, Rolling Stones records.

It was great that he did that.

“ Everybody has to do difficult things in life….

One of the things I think [music] teaches people is the drive….

But you have to have a balance.”

Accessibility is a general arts buzzword, but what does it mean to you?

LB: One of my goals is to make classical music accessible for all the people. [New Albany Symphony Orchestra has] done concerts where an actual deaf person played in the orchestra. We’ve done sensory-sensory-friendly concerts that are very successful. Accessibility is important. Senior citizens—it’s great to go into senior homes […] and go in and play for them and talk to them.

And then accessibility to the kids. It’s important for them to know there’s something special about classical music, that it is really cool. When you think about it […] why do The Beatles add a trumpet and a string quartet to their music? Why is it in five four and seven four [meter]? It’s because they’re really great composers.

So that accessibility was throwing in the orchestra, the Baroque feel, the quartet thing.

I finally bring up the concert/lecture I saw this summer with Yo-Yo Ma. It was a surprise to me that Ma majored in anthropology. The thesis of his lecture was that the arts awaken the moral self, which leads to the survival of civilization.

LB: [He’s] exactly what one aspires to be, because people do know Yo-Yo. He’s a great ambassador of music…. In a sense that’s how we should all be…. I totally agree with his approach: super-nice, always connecting, always working with the orchestra. It’s true. It is a civilization thing, which is why we were talking about accessibility.

Classical music has to be put out there. •

The next sensory-friendly concert given by the New Albany Symphony Orchestra will be Sleeping Beauty on March 9th, conducted by Luis Biava.

See newalbanysymphony.net.

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Allison Russo

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Representative healthcare advocate Mother

By Linda Lee Ba i rd photo by br ian ka i ser

B

orn in rural Mississippi and married to a combat veteran, Allison Russo has experienced much of the country as she’s moved from city to suburb, and even occasionally crossed the pond to live overseas. But now, quite intentionally, she’s chosen to live here, in the heart of The Heart of It All. “At the end of the day, people are pragmatic,” Russo said of Ohio. “I think that is our strength as a state. We have this really strong history of innovation and working hard.”

Now Russo will get the chance to leave her mark on her new home state as a state representative for Ohio House District 24: Upper Arlington, Hilliard, some of northwest Columbus, part of Clintonville, and several of the townships in southwestern Franklin County. But besides representing a geographical area of the state, Russo also represents working moms of young children: a demographic with historically low numbers among the members of the Ohio General Assembly, but a demographic with great economic influence and policy concerns. Not having held office before, Russo funneled her experience as a healthcare policy research director, her involvement in her children’s education, and her engagement in her community to launch her successful campaign.

With her campaign out of the way and her term in office not yet begun, Russo is taking a breather to get back to reading and bingewatching period dramas on Netflix. (You know, what the rest of us call “an evening at home.”)

It’s a time for her to reflect on what has gone well, and to speculate what her (and Ohio’s) future may hold.

What made you decide to run?

Allison Russo: Running for office was never part of the plan, even though I’ve always had interest in policy. After the 2016 election. I thought I really needed to re-engage. As • 614columbus.com

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I started to become more engaged in what was going on at the state level—certainly what was going on nationally—I realized that there was a real need for people like me who came with some expertise and real-life perspective on many of these issues and how they impact people. This particular seat became open and I decided, well, it’s now or never…. Because of the population growth that we’ve had in Franklin County, the demographics have changed, so you have a lot of young people moving in new suburban areas. You saw districts like mine in this election cycle flip.

“ At the end of the day, people are pragmatic, I think that is our strength as a state. We have this really strong history of innovation and working hard.”

Your campaign was very personal, talking about your kids, spouse and career. I’m interested to hear about that choice.

AR: I was very intent on running as myself and being as authentic as possible, because […] one, frankly I didn’t know any different, and two, as a woman, I have many different roles.

I’m a mom, I’m a professional, I’m involved in my community.

All of that is what made me the candidate that I am. And I think that’s what many women do. We connect with people, and making those connections opens us up to listening to different perspectives. So I just embraced that.

Authenticity and likability seems to be a general problem for women on the campaign trail. What could help?

AR: Part of being authentic was [that] I often had my kids in tow with me while we were knocking on doors and at

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campaign events. But you’re also very aware that you’re judged by a different set of standards. And it’s not just the physical part of it. It’s how you present yourself. It’s even your experiences because many of us who were women running for the first time, we didn’t have the typical politician experience.

It was talking about that, and many times explaining our experiences and justifying why we were just as qualified as someone else who was running.

Is healthcare your passion? Where does that come from?

AR: I originally thought I might go into medicine, but then I studied public health—that’s my background—and kind of fell into the policy after working in public health as an epidemiologist for a couple of years [...] I was working on chronic diseases, mostly, and working on some Medicare issues…. When I was in graduate school I did spend several months working with the county health department and we would go and do disease notifications, and it was during the beginning of hepatitis C [...] that was really interesting because then you were seeing what keeps people from getting treatment and keeps them in these disease states. So that was a real interesting life experience for me.

You’re an evidence-based policymaker. How do we get people who are science-resistant to consider policies that are grounded in evidence?

AR: That’s tough. Some of it is just informing. There’s a lot that happens in policy that is sausage-making. I think part of that is just having voices at the table that bring some of that [experience] with them. I think it’s unusual for people like me [...] who come from kind of these real research, science, evidence-based backgrounds to suddenly be at the table making the policy because usually we’re on the other end of it.

There was a lot said about this being the “Year of the Woman” in elected office. Do you feel like that occurred in Ohio?

AR: You certainly had many more women stepping up to run for these state offices, legislative offices than ever before [...]

I think that women, when they ran in Ohio, they did as well as men. With the new freshman class [...] coming in, we are a 50/50 caucus.

What are some ways folks could get involved without running for office?

AR: Pay attention to what’s happening with your local city council, with your township council, certainly what’s going on at the statehouse. Attend your school board meeting, your city council meeting, a committee a hearing at the statehouse. Anyone can participate in those activities. Once they participate once or twice they realize that, “Hey, there’s opportunity here for me to participate, and to have a voice.”

So much of policy that impacts our day to day lives happens at

the state level and happens in our local governments, and I think it’s a little bit of a mystery to many people about how that works, so I would like to increase the transparency of the day-to-day happenings at the statehouse.

“ Once they participate once or twice they realize that, ‘Hey, there’s opportunity here for me to participate, and to have a voice.’ ” What are you looking forward to about this role?

AR: Building relationships. I think constituency services is going to be huge for me, and making sure that I stay very connected to the people who are in the district. But also building those relationships with my colleagues both within my caucus and across the aisle. I think people are very hungry for this General Assembly to work together and start to solve some of these big issues that Ohio is facing.

And for anyone who did want to run in 2020, any advice you would put out there?

AR: I would start with talking to people who are in elected office. That’s the very first thing that I started doing. In fact, I’d joke that if I ever write a book about running for office, it probably would be titled, “I Hope You Like Coffee,” because I participated in so many coffee meetings with people who are in elected office. •

Allison Russo will be sworn in as State Representative on January 7. Follow her on social media at Russo4Ohio.

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Barbara Fant

POET / PERFORMANCE ARTIST / HEALER

By Ja e l a n i T urner -W i l l i a m s p hoto by bri a n ka i ser

T

here’s a certain metamorphosis that occurs after the longevity of sorrow. It’s a metamorphosis through which poet Barbara Fant has transfigured and has lived to tell. Fant’s words have floated through illuminating performances in globally-recognized slam competitions and prestigiously-awarded literature, but she still finds time for mentoring children and providing ministry through poetry.

But right now, studying comes first. Pursuing an MFA program at Antioch University, Fant divides her time between Los Angeles and Columbus, all while being a voice in citywide promotions for I, Too, Sing America: The Harlem Renaissance at 100. Through her revelations of the past and her eyes ahead on what’s to come, Barbara Fant’s story is still writing itself.

The first time I saw you perform was at Urban Spirit about ten years ago. What I remember most was that your eye contact with the audience was as gripping as the piece. What goes into practicing your performance?

Barbara Fant: I always say that I found poetry when I was really young, and then when I was fifteen, poetry found me. I lost my mom when I was younger and I was kind of an angry teenager, so I didn’t really know how to talk to people. I started writing, it was my way of prayer, it was my language, it was my communication. When I was in high school [...] I saw Sunni Patterson. She’s a poet out of New Orleans and I was like “Oh my goodness, I wanna do what she does.” When I came to Columbus, I said I was gonna find an open mic and get on stage.

I ended up at Black Pearl Poetry which was a spot that Ed Mabrey used to run, and [poet] Will Evans slammed through that scene.... Will and I became good friends.

When it was 2008, [it] was the first Women of the World Poetry Slam, and they needed women to compete. Will was like, “Barbara, I need you to slam” and I was like, “What? You’re crazy, no way.” So, I did and I went to the first-ever Women of the World Poetry Slam, and that’s when I started performing. I’ve been doing it for a long time. I perform a lot, but I also do open mics as my practice. I got used to performing a lot in the mirror, like, looking myself in the eye, then when I got on stage, I’d be able to look other people in the eye.

Is there anything specific that you want your audience to mentally unpack when they listen to you?

BF: My writing in the past has been a lot about spirituality, and now I deal with a lot of trauma and things that I’ve experienced in my childhood that I didn’t really know were traumatic. What I hope that people—I guess— unpack is that I really just want them to be able to see themselves in a piece of it. I hope I give people the space to be able to find themselves in the work, in a way, or feel that they can now tell their stories because I was able to tell mine.

“ The poetry scene is constantly growing and developing.

It’s a place where I can really do my work, hone in on my voice, and still see a national scene, but have a community, a grassroots, a place to come back home to.”

Have you ever had someone in the audience, or someone that’s heard you, approach you very emotionally after you did a piece?

BF: Yeah, that actually happens to me a lot. (laughs) And, I don’t know if that’s because my work is sad or what. People usually want to hug me or something after.

People will come up to me, like, “Can I give you a hug?

Can I just hug you?” I don’t really know what all that is, but yet, people do approach me emotionally a lot. I’ve kinda gotten used to it now. •

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“ I think for so long, black women’s voices have been silenced, and I think the only way that we break through any kind of false narrative is to keep speaking our truth.”

You’re originally from Youngstown and moved to Columbus to attend Ohio Dominican University. After winning so many national competitions, what made you stay in Columbus?

BF: I decided to stay in Columbus because ultimately at the time, I was serving at a local fellowship. That fellowship isn’t in existence anymore, but I was serving there under a pastor who was walking me through the ordination process. I went to seminary after I got my degree, and the reason I went to seminary was to become a prison chaplain.... I ultimately didn’t go that route, but part of my staying in Columbus was because I was back in school. I’ve had a really good community in Columbus, and I still do. The poetry scene is constantly growing and developing. It’s a place where I can really do my work, hone in on my voice, and still see a national scene, but have a community, a grassroots, a place to come back home to.

Did you face some challenges balancing being mentored by a pastor, wanting to be in the religious field and performing poetry?

BF: Well, interestingly enough, when I was in undergrad, I got a call from a pastor out of the blue, and her name is Yvonne Gilmore. I ended up going to her church and she is actually the one who became my mentor. She was in a group called The Cornel West Theory, so not only was she a poet, but she’s a black woman who was also in a pastoral role, started a new church and, you know, she’s a black woman.

I grew up not even realizing that women could be pastors, my father told me that was not possible, that they weren’t supposed to, and here is this black woman in a pulpit, and

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she’s doing her art. So for me, being able to meet her just showed me a new world. It was like, “Oh, it’s possible.” I’ve never considered myself a “Christian poet,” but I always considered myself a poet who is a Christian.

What similarities do you see within the children that you’ve taught at ArtSafe and Transit Arts? Have both experiences compared to your youth?

BF: ArtSafe was such a great organization. We took art into juvenile correctional facilities and that helped me fall in love with that space. I’m still really-really connected and feel a strong call to be in that space with individuals who are incarcerated. I think that is because I saw myself in a lot of those youths; I realized it could’ve been me. I was really empowered in that space.... I think because I’ve lived the life that I’ve had, I connect with people who have really deep, traumatic experiences.

What are some practices that new poets should implement to enhance their craft?

BF: With my kids, [...] they love the arts. Some of them are more advanced that others, but most of them are entry-level writers. What I work with them a lot on is introducing them to new writers and new ways to tell their story. I do a lot of introductory poetry exercises and teaching them different styles of poems, like letting them know that it doesn’t all have to be a sonnet, or it doesn’t all have to be free verse.

There’s different ways to tell your story. We work a lot with introductory metaphors and similes–all the poetic tools you would think of for how to build a poem.

How can black women define themselves in a time when we’re often misconstrued?

BF: I think one of the ways to do that is to keep speaking.

It’s probably a really simple answer, but for me personally, I’m oftentimes in an all-white space, and the only thing that helps me continue to define myself is to keep speaking and to keep being and to not let my voice be silenced. I think for so long, black women’s voices have been silenced, and I think the only way that we break through any kind of false narrative is to keep speaking our truth. That’s something that I do and I work to uplift the voices of other women because I think that there’s power in that. People won’t know it unless we tell it. Only we can tell our stories. •

Barbara Fant will lead a 2-hour performance poetry workshop on January 23rd as part of a poetry slam competition co-sponsored by The Columbus Association for the Performing Arts and The Columbus Foundation.

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Carter Stewart

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Attorney Mentor Social Facilitator

By J.R. Mcmillan photo by br ian ka i ser

C

arter Stewart isn’t your average crimefighter, and he’ll surely shun the description as much as he defies the stereotype.

Following a career watching broken systems contribute to incarceration, the former US Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio left government service to become a fulltime mentor for the social enterprise sector.

Riding a borrowed desk at the Columbus Foundation, he’s a one-man Midwest outpost for the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation.

He’s also been recruited and charged with identifying worthy causes and applying Silicon Valley ingenuity to philanthropy-focused businesses—all to the tune of more than $100 million.

Imagine if instead of investing in capes and cowls, Bruce Wayne spent a fortune funding innovative approaches to solving longstanding injustices?

Not exactly cinematic, but far more effective by addressing the underlying circumstances that foster it. The shortage of services, access, and advocacy are all predictable indicators for both victims and perpetrators. Equipped with the insights and instincts of a prosecutor weary of always being on the receiving end of avoidable tragedies, Stewart shares his experience and expertise with fellow dogooders, guiding them from shaky startups to scalable success.

We first met a few months back at Roosevelt Coffeehouse, itself an anchor for the local social enterprise movement. Overdue for a follow-up cup, we discussed the future of “purpose beyond profits” and why Columbus is the perfect incubator for ideas that really could change the world.

A career in criminal justice isn’t the typical résumé for a social justice champion. You’ve seen the world through an entirely different lens. How has your work as a US Attorney informed your search for solutions through social enterprise?

Carter Stewart: It’s not uncommon to leave law to go into the nonprofit sphere, but it is • 614columbus.com

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uncommon to leave prosecution. The only other US attorney I know who has done it is in Pittsburgh. I actually surveyed colleagues at the DOJ to see if anyone else had done this, and he was the only one. My desire to help is based on what I’ve seen as a prosecutor as much as my childhood experiences growing up in the South, in Atlanta. So many of the people my office prosecuted came from broken systems—school systems that weren’t adequate, housing situations that were poor. So many people in state and local jails suffer from mental health issues, addiction issues. I felt that if we could fix those broken systems, it would reduce the number of people who end up in the criminal justice system.

“ Not all tension is bad, and there can be positive creative tension between traditional businesses and social enterprises.”

Social media and social enterprise seem to have come of age at the same time. There’s not a mutual dependency, but an undeniably growing parallel between purpose and purchase. What trends in digital connectivity distinguish successful social enterprises from those that fizzle out?

CS: I can’t say there’s one pattern, but there is recognition of the importance of social media, especially for start-up organizations that don’t have a big budget and want to spread the word as far and wide as possible. Everyone we fund has to have a website. It sounds obvious, but they have to have something up and running. But we still have some organizations that are spread more by word of mouth. ROX, Ruling Our Experiences, is a good example. It’s a program that teaches girls leadership, entrepreneurship, self-defense, self-awareness. The 20-week program is spread, mostly in-person, by the founder, Dr. Lisa Hinkelman, speaking at conferences to school counselors—who then google it. It’s the second bite at the apple. They hear from her first, then they learn more online and decide it’s something they want to pursue.

But our organizations aren’t limited to the US, and some are dependent on social media to work. But where it’s critical for everyone is funders, who are more likely to research an organization before contacting it directly. They don’t want to raise hopes or expectations too early. It’s interwoven and social entrepreneurs recognize that.

There can be friction between traditional nonprofits and social enterprises serving the same cause. Ideally, raising awareness creates a larger pie, and everyone gets a bigger slice. How should social enterprises answer the concern that they’re competing for the same donors and dollars?

CS: There is perspective among some funders that there are too many nonprofits—to solve education, to solve poverty. Instead of creating new ones, we should improve and, perhaps in some cases, combine the ones that we have. There’s a degree of creation exhaustion. I happen to 74

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disagree. You need constant creation and rebirth, new ideas cycling in.

Traditional nonprofits that have never considered the social enterprise model might feel threatened by that new entity going after the same funding dollars. In an ideal world, the new entity inspires the older entity to change and to grow. I consider the YMCA one of the oldest social enterprises in the country because they have a revenue stream.

You pay for membership. So even though most nonprofits haven’t had that revenue stream, social enterprises have been around. It’s just been a small slice. I haven’t heard traditional nonprofits wishing social enterprises would go away as much as how can they be more like them and less dependent on philanthropic capital. And I think social enterprises can learn from nonprofits, their leadership structures and governance models. It’s a dynamic evolution that will hopefully lift everyone up.

Traditional businesses can also feel threatened by social enterprises. We don’t just vote every four years for president and every two years for Congress. We vote every day with our wallets.

How to both kinds of businesses build brands that inspire their customers to become agents of change?

CS: That competition should help businesses recognize the importance of having a second bottom line. Maybe not a social mission, but a mindset of corporate citizenship. That’s what drives people to Roosevelt Coffeehouse. They know when they spend money, the company does good things with it. It’s a brand they feel good supporting. Not all tension is bad, and there can be positive creative tension between traditional businesses and social enterprises. Draper Richards Kaplan has someone on staff with whom we connect all of our entrepreneurs, to understand that communications is how you reach people, but branding is more, and an essential part of our process. Some folks come with more savvy than others, but in addition to helping build capacity they’re also building a brand. It’s something you should do in the early stages of your organization, so it becomes ingrained in your DNA. The Midwest often gets overlooked when it comes to venture capital, despite our academic credibility, technological capacity, and desirable test market demographics. What does the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation see in Columbus that many still miss?

CS: We’re a particular type of donor. Not all donors look for what we look for, most don’t. Most foundations I know won’t fund an organization unless they’ve been around for four or five years. And they don’t always look for organizations with the potential to scale.

They look for organizations that are well-run, already likely to survive, and succeeding in their mission. We look for organizations at an earlier stage, those that have finished a pilot and want to go big….We look for ideas that have the potential to disrupt, to change broken systems, and not many funders share that desire. But in Columbus, there’s a hunger for it. Social enterprise is a buzzword, and they’ve been in Columbus for years before I got here. But 75 percent of funding still goes to the East Coast and the West Coast, and that’s a huge oversight. People were looking for mechanisms to get national funding to Central Ohio, to build and scale the organizations that are here and those just getting started. There’s a synergy between governments and businesses, nonprofits and social enterprises. It’s an enthusiasm and pride many on the coasts don’t realize is here. I was once one of those people. I lived in New York and California. It was my wife who decided we were moving to Columbus 13 years ago, and I still tell people it’s the best decision I never made. • For more on social enterprises and the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, visit drkfoundation.org.

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Nicole Kraft

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Journalist / teacher / innovator

By M i tch Hoo p er p hoto by bri a n ka i ser

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t’s the day of the interview and I’m scrambling to make sure I’m ready. Is my recorder ready and charged? Yup. Do I have my list of questions?

Check. A little mint gum before the interview?

It’ll be gone before I start my questions. Extra pens just in case mine dries out? I got ‘em.

A great book about the art of interviewing, Always Get The Name Of The Dog: A Guide To Media Interviewing, once taught me to always show up to an interview at least 10 minutes early. Whether you’re a person who is always late, or just need a few moments to set up, it’s always best to beat your interview subjects to the location. It sets a level of professionalism and lets your subjects know you respect them and their time.

These are all things that you should do in good practice as a writer or journalist. So you can imagine my embarrassment when I arrived to Panera 15 minutes early to find Nicole Kraft, author of said book, sitting at a table, checking emails, sipping coffee, and patiently awaiting my arrival for the interview. But what else would you expect? She quite literally wrote the damn book on interviewing.

“ I don’t know who said it, but they said, ‘If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.’ And I’ve never worked a day in my life.”

Giving Kraft the title of just author is not only disingenuous, it’s a disservice. Beyond publishing her digital interviewing book Always Get The Name Of The Dog in 2013 as well as a lengthier and updated print version set to release in January of 2019, Kraft is a communications and journalism professor at Ohio State.

As an Apple Distinguished Educator, she spearheaded the arrival of iPads for freshmen on OSU’s campus.

She’s the director of the Sports and Society Initiative.

She’s an active writer for The Columbus Dispatch and the Associated Press. She specializes in media law and ethics, and she’s a mother and wife. It might seem like Kraft sleeps standing up with her eyes open so she can be ready for the next task to conquer. But to her, the high workload never feels like a chore because she’s able to do the things she wants to do.

“I don’t have any hobbies; everything I do is a hobby in its own way,” Kraft explained as she finished up working on a lesson plan for the Spring semester. “I don’t know who said it, but they said, ‘If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.’ And I’ve never worked a day in my life.”

Whether you want to call it a labor of love, a hobby, or a job—one thing is for certain—Kraft is a go-getter.

From the ripe age of eight, she had already began printing her own local newspaper, “The Bicentennial Times,” that she would hand out to neighbors as she was dressed as Betsy Ross. Once in high school, she said she watched All The President’s Men and was instantly set on becoming an investigative journalist. This flash of insight led her to becoming an editor with her school newspaper, a dream internship with the Philadelphia 76ers, and was eventually what brought her from the West Coast to Columbus.

But the move to Columbus wasn’t as easy as it sounds.

Kraft’s husband, Brian, wasn’t too keen on the idea of moving from the West Coast to the East Coast. Initially, Kraft was hoping to land a job in New Jersey with Hoof Beats, which she had read avidly since childhood. She knew she was perfect for the position as she had spent her life around horses. So, she submitted a letter and resume, and took her shot. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you are Brian), a move to New Jersey wasn’t in the cards. But through the application process, Kraft’s name was forwarded along to an editor who found her an associate editor position in good old midwestern Columbus, Ohio.

In Brian’s defense, Nicole wasn’t exactly thrilled about Columbus at first either.

“When I came here for my interview, I flew from the San Francisco Airport—I’m from Napa Valley—into Columbus and the flatness of it…. I cried when I got to the hotel that night,” she recalled. “I called my husband like, ‘It’s so flat here!’ ” •

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It didn’t help that when the Krafts first moved into Clintonville in 1995, it was still dry. Needless to say, there was some culture shock.

But after 24 years in the community, she said she doesn’t see herself anywhere else.

“We swore we’d only be here for two years; that was it. And now I don’t think we’ll ever leave.”

This little anecdote about her career path is another example of an on-brand moment for Kraft. She’s always wanted to do whatever she wants to do, and her way of achieving this goal is relatively simple: put yourself out there.

“ I always say yes. I never believe I can’t.

And that’s the type of things I tell students all the time: ‘Just say yes. What’s the worst that can happen?”

“I always say yes. I never believe I can’t. And that’s the type of things I tell students all the time: ‘Just say yes. What’s the worst that can happen?’ If I send him a letter and he says no, the worst thing that can happen is he said no,” Kraft explained about the Hoof Beats application process.

That’s how the process went for her second installment of Always Get The Name Of The Dog, too. The first book was put together after she had been trained on how to use iPads. It was a chance for her to play around with the technology, try something new, and show people how to engage in meaningful one-on-one conversations. The second book, however, materialized simply because she was asked to turn it from a digital book into a print book. Her response? “Yeah, of course. That sounds awesome, I’d love that.”

(Even better: she bought copies for her class so students don’t have to shell money out of pocket to gain access to the information.)

While most of the world looks at mobile devices and social media as a plague that is destroying millennials and other generations alike, Kraft sees them in a different light. Her expertise includes mobile technology and iPad learning, and her classroom model incorporates a little bit of everything. Instead of a roll call attendance policy, students check in using a hashtag via Twitter. If you follow her on Twitter, you’ll often see her retweeting articles posing ethical questions to students, or simply tagging a tweet as #osunewsclass to generate conversation. She also uses a “flipped classroom” where students read and watch videos at home, then come to class to discuss, displacing the lecture time traditionally spent in class.

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“When I first started teaching, I didn’t come from academia, so I think that [it’s] different that I came from that real-world setting. I tried to be the professor that I wished I could’ve had, which is somebody who recognizes that the world is important, and that education and the things we do in education have to mirror the world to a degree, and we have to integrate it,” she said.

She’s also a huge advocate of using social media for more than just memes and Tasty cooking videos.

“When we ignore what is real and what’s in front of us—you know the fact is three-quarters of this [Panera] are on social media—that’s where people live, that’s where social networks are made. It’s not called a social network for nothing,” Kraft said, gesturing around the room. “By excluding it from a classroom experience, we’re really cutting students off from a main pathway that they have both to communication and socialization.

The other big part is they are going to use it. I have to teach them in my view to use it for good and not evil, and to realize how beneficial it can be for them.”

That being said: it’s not strictly all work and no play for Kraft on social media. Before each semester, she searches her students on social platforms to get a better idea of who they are, while also pointing out that most of the information they post is accessible by anyone, including potential employers. It’s great for feeling out what the class roster will be like, and it does shock students when she pulls out little factoids about them from when they posted a one-off status in high school.

As a former student of Kraft’s classes, I can attest that the lessons she teaches are worth more than their weight in gold. Going into my final semester at Ohio State, I needed an internship in the worst way. Of course, Kraft had an answer. A little magazine published by (614) Media Group (maybe you’ve heard of us?) named 1870 Magazine was looking for student writers for the summer of 2017 and she forwarded my name to the editor. Now it’s 2019, and I’m still using all the tools she gave me to tell stories for (614) and serve as editor-inchief of 1870 Magazine.

I also remember nearly every fresh writer in her class wanting to feature her and all she does for the university and the city, but those pitches were always met with a stern no. But from hearing her war-like stories, seeing her enthusiasm, and catching her infectious drive, can anyone blame a young writer for wanting to tell Kraft’s story? There’s no question here: she had a story that needed to be told. It just had to be done in the right manner.

Well, Nicole. Life has gone full circle. I’m no longer in your class, but I’m still pitching story ideas to write about you. And this time, I got the green light. •

Read samples of Nicole Kraft’s articles about Columbus at nicolekraft.com/archives.

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mix master ice

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DJ Producer Hip-Hop Pioneer

By Kevi n J. El l i ott p hoto by bri a n ka i ser

W

hat’s the saying about never meeting your heroes? My earliest memory, the one that sparked my lifelong love of hip-hop, happened at the age of eight I was in the bubble of suburban Ohio, but heard scratching for the first time at the hands of Mix Master Ice (aka Maurice Bailey) on my worn cassette copy of UTFO’s seminal “Roxanne, Roxanne.” Little did I know then that many years later I’d be sharing a beer with the man, talking about his whirlwind career and reminiscing about the golden era of hiphop that Ice helped establish.

Born in Harlem, but raised in Brooklyn, Maurice Bailey was drawn to music by his father and a household full of reel-to-reel machines, 8-tracks, and soul records from the ‘60s and ‘70s. In 1979, at his 8th grade prom he witnessed a live DJ for the first time. According to Bailey, “Hip-hop had just started moving from the neighborhoods to the mainstream, and I wanted to be a part of that culture.” Eventually his first dalliance into hip-hop, the Jam-A-Lot Crew, became UTFO, and success followed throughout the ‘80s at a time when the genre was booming.

For the last two decades, with UTFO behind him, Bailey has called Columbus his home. Here he’s done a lot to nurture the old-school renaissance— from a heralded stint on Power 107.5 back in the day, hosting talent shows, to resident DJ nights across the city. And this year, more than ever, Bailey hopes to begin producing emerging young artists and assume his legendary DJ status. He was inducted into the DMC DJ Hall of Fame in 2000 on a world tour. In our lengthy interview, I got the oral history of “Roxanne, Roxanne,” and words of wisdom from a true pioneer. As such, in listening to the tale of one of my childhood heroes, I came to realize he’s not a relic. He still has things to accomplish. •

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“ A lot of the hits are hits but they don’t become classic.

They can’t sustain. We had records that sustained, that stuck to your soul. But it’s a different situation right now.

You don’t need a record label or publishing to be successful.”

What was the atmosphere like living in Brooklyn during that time? Were you a part of that burgeoning revolution of hip-hop?

I was a freshman in high school when hip-hop began, so I was too young to travel to the Bronx. But we would always get these tapes from those parties and battles from the Bronx and from Uptown. We would study them and add our own style to that stuff. It was energy that you couldn’t deny. You just had to be involved. It definitely was a much needed outlet for me. It became an outlet to keep me from drifting into trouble. Trouble was there right when you stepped out your door. It kept me busy, creative, and it kept me off the streets. ...Fast forward to 1983 when Bailey, now going by Mix Master Ice, and the Educated Rapper auditioned two former dancers for Whodini—the Kangol Kid and Dr. Ice—to round out what would become UFO (which stands for Untouchable Force Organization). Soon as the best crew in the neighborhood, they were recruited by the R&B group Full Force and thrust into the studio to start making records. Due to a copyright issue (and legal threats by the British hard-rock band UFO) they changed the name to UTFO. As UTFO they signed with Select Records and recorded their first single, “Hanging Out,” which had little success, but ironically the b-side, “Roxanne, Roxanne” became an instant hit and propelled the group to fame.

Who was the “Roxanne” that UTFO pursued in the song? I guess who was the “real” Roxanne, before there was a Real Roxanne.

It’s crazy because it was completely by accident. We were just doing singles for Select at the moment, and needed a B-side to “Hanging Out,” when Full Force suggested we did a song about a girl. I think one of them might have had a girlfriend named Roxanne, but there was no face to the name. What’s unique about it, is that instead of bragging about getting the girl, it was three rappers talking about a girl they couldn’t get, and battling each other to win her attention. It could have been called “Suzanne, Suzanne” or “Joanne, Joanne,” it didn’t matter. It was imaginary when we wrote it. The whole concept of the song was incredible and really different at the time that it was written. It also had that hardcore edge to it, it had that boom-bap beat. When we were first doing parties, we would always use that break from Billy Squire’s “Big Beat.” That was something Howie Tee suggested we added to the record. ...Though the success of “Roxanne, Roxanne” quickly made UTFO a new sensation in hip-hop, it wasn’t long before competition came in the way of 14-year-old, Lolita Shante Gooden, who at the behest of producer Marley Marl, recorded “Roxanne’s Revenge” over the original “Roxanne, Roxanne” beat. Thus, the “Roxanne Wars” had begun.

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Do you think that Shante and “Roxanne’s Revenge” eclipsed the impact of your first single?

Well it has to be stated that we never wrote this song about her. Her name wasn’t even Roxanne, it was Shante Gooden, and her rap name at the time was Fly Shante. She wrote the Roxanne rap, and what I equate to a cover song, to win a talent show. I think at that moment the people behind her had light bulbs going off. They actually went and pressed “Roxanne’s Revenge,” using the instrumental from our single. We were very upset because we took it as a diss. She would have never been our Roxanne, because she was too young. And how dare you take our instrumental and release it as your own, and how dare you act like you were the Roxanne that we were talking about? She was blowing up and we couldn’t stand it.

So as a result, we decided we would create our own Roxanne, and that’s how the Real Roxanne came to be. Eventually they were going at it. ...The feud spawned a series of “answer” records to the original two singles.

During the phenomena known as the “Roxanne Wars,” there were dozens of songs released by different artists responding to UTFO and Shante, in hopes of cashing in on that initial spark.

Did anyone get in touch with the group when they started to make the movie on Shante’s life (the 2018 Netflix film Roxanne, Roxanne)?

It has nothing to do with them telling her story. I’m all for somebody telling their story. She’s got a great story and has been through some trials and tribulations. However, she would never have that name if it weren’t for UTFO and by naming the movie “Roxanne, Roxanne,” I feel it was a direct insult to us. How do you have a movie called “Roxanne, Roxanne,” and not cast the band who originally recorded the song? They didn’t reach out; they didn’t even license our song. ...Despite the bad blood, UTFO went on to become the second rap group in history (after Run DMC) to release five albums. They were also one of the first rap groups to record with a rock band, culminating in the single “Lethal” with Anthrax, years before Anthrax collaborated with Public Enemy. In the midst of UTFO disbanding due to “creative differences,” Bailey was already starting a worldwide campaign as a DJ, touring clubs as a star in his own right. In 1993, one of his most beloved stops, Columbus, Ohio, became his new home.

When you first got here, what did you make of the hip-hop scene in Columbus?

I thought the scene was live. You had the Groove Shack. I was supporting stuff there. There was Singing Dog Records. There was B&B Records on Livingston, in the ‘hood. I was highly engulfed in hip-hop here because I was very sought after. I embraced Columbus and it embraced me. I’ve always felt the love here.

And now, as you mentor younger artists, what advice do you give them from the lessons you learned back in the day?

Basically I just tell people to be original. Everything is marketed towards hip-hop. It’s a global thing now. A lot of the hits are hits but they don’t become classic. They can’t sustain. We had records that sustained, that stuck to your soul. But it’s a different situation right now. You don’t need a record label or publishing to be successful. I’m not going to knock the kids, because I envy the freedom that artists have right now to push things and to be creative. The blueprint is there. We didn’t have a blueprint.

There are no excuses to fumble right now. Rap is not a hobby. It used to be a hobby, but now it’s a business, so learn the business. • Follow Mix Master Ice on Instagram @mixmasterice 614columbus.com

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Randy Sharma

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physician rock & roll devotee By p hilip e m i l i o pa l m a p hoto by bri a n ka i ser

W

hen Randhir (Randy) Sharma was a young kid, he was self-admittedly, a science geek. When he was in the second grade, he was fascinated by a story he saw on the news of a man who received an artificial heart transplant. But it was on a family trip to India when he was in the fourth grade that the emotional and humanitarian aspects of medicine coalesced with the clinical side of medicine. Walking through the streets of New Delhi with his mother, Sharma saw a young boy, with no legs who was pushing himself on a scooter, begging for change. His mother gave the boy some money, but the incident left Sharma in tears. He realized something at a young age that would resonate throughout his life: “You have to help people out if you have the opportunity.

You just have to.”

Sharma points to this encounter as a catalyst for why he wanted to pursue a career in medicine. “If you don’t do it for the right reasons, you’re not going to be happy, and your patients will not be happy either.”

Originally from the Cincinnati-Dayton suburb of Springboro, Sharma found himself immersed in the middle of a burgeoning alternative music scene the summer he graduated high school, thanks to the breakthrough success of now alt legends Guided By Voices, and The Breeders. Sharma would go to their shows, and subsequently, befriended members of the bands.

“The Breeders had blown up, and Guided By Voices were kinda starting to do some things. They were playing Canal Street Tavern in Dayton, and it was an 18 and up show. [Ed. note: Sharma was 17 when he graduated high school.] I had to take my brother’s ID because he was older than me. I met Bob Pollard [vocalist and lyricist for GBV] after the show and he was like, ‘We play basketball at my house every weekend.

You should come hang out!’ So I would go and hang out with Bob, and Kim Deal [bassist for the Pixies, and co-founder of the Breeders], and Jim Greer, who was the editor of Spin Magazine, and Kim’s boyfriend at the time.”

As a result of early encounters and experiences like this, Sharma is immune to being starstruck. He also started an ongoing love affair with music, particularly going to see live shows. Sharma finished his undergrad at the University of Cincinnati, and attended Wright State University for medical school. After completing his three-year residency program at Riverside Methodist Hospital and then moving on to private practice, Sharma has been proud to call Columbus home for the last 15 years. • 614columbus.com

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“ You have to help people out if you have the opportunity. You just have to.”

Through attending shows at local venues and getting to know people within the business, he was able to parlay his career in medicine into his love for music.

“Honestly, I think it’s going to enough shows—you just get to know people. I had become friends with several people at CD 101 who would call and say they had someone that needed taken care of.... I would get know them, their management, and the folks at Promowest, too.” Because of his demeanor, and his familiarity with celebrity, local venues have designated Sharma as a go-to physician, should a touring act need some sort of basic medical care, thus earning Sharma nickname “The Rock Doc.” In what any fan of live music would call a stroke of brilliance, he plans his vacations around shows and festivals he wants to attend, such as Austin City Limits, and the Secret Solstice in Reykjavik, Iceland. The latter is where Sharma became a little part of history in 2017 when he was part of a select group that attended the first concert inside a volcano. What Sharma refers to as the best experience of his life was also quite harrowing. As a result of severe weather, the group that attended the performance was left stranded on the volcano and had to be rescued by the Coast Guard.

Whether it’s Sharma’s charity work with Columbus performer Nina West, and Steve Weaver from the Candle Lab (they co-founded a charity to help HIV patients who cannot afford the astronomical fees of their medication), or his relationship with CD 102.5, Sharma has quietly become an integral part of what makes Columbus such a unique, vibrant, and continually diverse city. That diversity runs deep for Sharma. The younger of two sons from immigrant parents, his father came to America looking for a better life for himself and eventually made his way to Ohio.

“My parents are from India. My dad moved here in 1970 with nothing really but his education. He’s a civil engineer. He went to England and got his master’s degree there. Around this time, some restrictions were being lifted immigration-wise, and they were looking for skilled people to come in. Someone he knew told him, ‘If you get the opportunity to go the United States, you should go.’ So he did. Of course, he shows up in New York, with very little money, and somehow, somebody that he knew from home knew somebody that lived in Cleveland, and he moved there. They were great to him; they let him stay there. The guy actually might have been

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a stereotypical Quickie Mart owner, to be honest; and my dad was having a tough time finding a job, and told the guy he would just work at this store. The guy was like, ‘No you won’t, you’re gonna get a job. You have a degree, that’s why you’re here. So we’ll take care of you.’ ” But Sharma’s father persevered. “Eventually, my dad worked his way into a job with ODOT [Ohio Department of Transportation] down in the Lebanon area, near Kings Island. At some point, my grandmother was diagnosed with liver cancer some time after my grandparents moved to England. So, he’s stuck here, and her dying wish was to see him get married. So, he went back to India when he got a little time off work and had an arranged marriage. And that was not too long after my dad first moved here because my brother popped out in ‘73, and then I came along in ’76.”

The fact that Sharma loves his work, and gets to marry it with his passion for music is envious as it is admirable. He not only gets to help people—which is why he choose a career in medicine—but he gets to develop relationships with some of the artists as result of his work and his passion for music.

When asked if he would be able to do this in New York or Los Angeles (where the bulk of these artists reside and frequent), he was adamant that it would be impossible. He points to an accessibility in Columbus, and his relationships with CD 102.5 and the venues.

“The greatest thing about Columbus, to me, is the sense of community. When something happens, if there’s some sort of tragedy, people pull together. Whether it’s the arts community or the music community, it’s everybody coming together. Whether they are donating their time, or money; it makes it really easy to stay in an area when you can say, ‘Hey, you know what?

I’m worried about this issue,’ and I can reach out to people that actually want to help. During our entire conversation, the example that best illustrates his credo of, “You have got to take care of people,” as well as being the Rock Doc, is when he arranged for his sister-in-law to meet her favorite musician, Jason Mraz. His sisterin-law is battling cancer and was unable to attend her favorite musician’s concert as a result.

“I don’t call in favors for myself, but I do like to do it for other people. She was going through this very rough spell, and I just reached out to a friend of mine, who happens to work with him. I didn’t even know she was such a huge fan, but somehow it came up, and I was like, ‘Hey, listen, my sister in law, she’s really sick, she’s a big Jason Mraz fan, I saw he’s coming here in December...

Is there anything you can do?’ His friend arranged for tickets to the concert as well as a private meet and greet with the artist.”

There’s that credo again.

You have got to help people. •

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Christina Basham

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Mixologist Entrepreneur By da nn y Ha men photo by br ian ka i ser

E

ven at a young age, Christina Basham carried with her the ingredients for success in the service industry—a gregarious nature, formidable attention to detail, an amiable personality, and the mouth of a goddamn sailor.

Basham gives me the grand tour of the winding Middle West Spirits distillery, detailing the various applications of the towering bronze stills that inhabit the prodigious space. Her golden locks flow feverishly down her ‘90s-style, cocktail-peppered shirt as she explains the real difference between regular gin and dry gin while pouring me a 100-proof taster straight from the elephantine still. As the Sales Manager, former Brand Ambassador, and master Mixologist (and I don’t use that term lightly) at Middle West, it’s Basham’s job to know her shit.

Basham has racked up over 15 years of experience in the service industry, from shaking drinks at local dives, managing the beloved but departed Wall Street Bar and Buckeye Bourbon House, and hosting her uniquely inspired craft cocktail pop-ups, to judging prestigious cocktail competitions. A Goliath of her trade who has put in her time and moved up the ranks, Basham’s eyes are now fixed on the position of president of the Columbus chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild.

The relationship between the ingredients in your glass and the person shaking them isn’t always important, but it’s almost always interesting.

The folks who expertly distill, produce, blend, pour, and/or create your delicious intoxication juice are more than just faces behind a bar—they are influential figures representing the best our city has to offer. •

“ I felt like, to the world, I never made a lot of sense.

This is a place where I can live in all of my weird, and I was supported. People are into it.”

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“ People are simplifying nowadays. You don’t get a high five for adding 17 styles of bitters in a cocktail. Nobody cares.

It’s booze, it’s not rocket science.”

What experiences helped sharpen your teeth in the industry?

Christina Basham: The answer is twofold—I was 21 when I started working at Applebee’s. I wanted to go back to school, so I started serving, eventually moving behind the bar. I still remember that they made us wear these horrible pink and purple t-shirts that said “Half-and-Half Happy Hour” where half of the letters were garnishes. I just remember thinking, “What did I do…. This is not who I am.” I was a young, queeridentified woman working alongside a lot of people who were, well… not that. And it was very challenging.

What really cut my teeth in the industry was years of working corporate turn and burn and managing a nightclub [Wall Street] that served as the last stop on the train for many people—the people you see at their absolute darkest moments, their most booze-induced moments.

Then I moved to Denver in 2011 for a relationship that didn’t work out. I interviewed for a job for the Edible Beats group. I didn’t have the chops just then. It took four to five months, but I got there. The leveled of curated hospitality in that space and attention to detail was something I had never seen before and I was in love. This is what I was waiting for.

But when I moved back home, I didn’t have the network. Sure, I had the gay kids, the turn-and-burn kids, and the club kids, but I didn’t have the fine dining and craft cocktail kids. I needed to create a secondary network that let me be that part of who I really was.

How did that relationship building begin?

CB: I was working at Barrel 44. At that time, we were voted best cocktail list, and I was so curious because at that time they were still putting club soda in their Old Fashioneds. I remember them looking at me like I’m a crazy person for shaming them because I had come from Wall Street nightclub where I only poured three styles of flavored vodka into a glass.

The turning point was working at the Kitchen at German Village.

Anne [Boninsegna] and Jen [Lindsey] very quickly became family to me, two older sisters I never knew I needed. I had access to all of these ingredients I’d never had before, and they just let me do what I wanted. Over the course of two years, I split my time between selling and organizing events, organizing the bar, and bartending two or three events a week. That’s when I decided to join the US Bartenders Guild.

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You decided to throw in the bar towel and start in sales for Middle West Spirits. How do you think they stand out from other distilleries?

CB: We are the first post-prohibition distillery in Ohio. It’s even cooler when you consider prohibition started in Westerville. I think we are honest about what we do. Every drop we make is made here. We source our wheat from Ohio, the same place that Ritz, Pillsbury, and Donatos get their wheat from. It’s funny, nobody who originally invested in the company is from here; they just fell in love with the state and decided to move. There is something great about drinking local— putting money back into the city and the local economy. I don’t think any brand loves the agriculture in this state as much as Middle West.

Columbus has seen a renaissance recently in the way of spirits and cocktails. Why do you think cocktails are an important part of Columbus culture?

CB: Cocktails allows creatives to live in a space where they can really shine. You’re giving them a stage to be expressive. That is what is so amazing about food and beverage and hospitality is that people can be who they really are. I love feeling a part of the underdogs, that secret society. Even though there is a bit of a chip on your shoulder, there is something sexy about that, ya know? I felt like, to the world, I never made a lot of sense. This is a place where I can live in all of my weird, and I was supported. People are into it.

Craft cocktails have made us relevant on a national level. People like Annie Williams Pierce and Alex Chin, these people who have competed and done really well. When you compete, you are just a name and a city.

It’s not just you.

What is the difference between a good drink and a great drink?

CB: I think the service is the catalyst for the drink. That and intentionality. You can serve a highball cocktail, but if it’s served with intentionality, it’s just different. You can feel it and sense it. There’s just a level of exceptional…. Something that makes it different. Of course when it comes to cocktails, fresh juice over frozen, quality ingredients— you can’t take a great recipe and put a shitty vodka in it, it’s just not going to be the same. People are simplifying nowadays. You don’t get a high five for adding 17 styles of bitters in a cocktail. Nobody cares. It’s booze, it’s not rocket science.

Tell me about Bubbles and Agave.

CB: I’d always hoped for more time to do private cocktail events and athome cocktail classes. I really love all of that stuff, and I’ve been doing it as a side hustle for years. Once I was able to balance my work life and home life with my job at Middle West, in October I got a surge of energy and said, “I’m gonna do this.” So I filed my LLC and I’m working on getting the website up. Basically I come and do craft cocktail classes—I bring the tools, everything you need. I love empowering people to make the most of their home bar. Going out and dining is amazing, but it’s not the most friendly to your budget. If you can figure out how to make a simple syrup at your house and get really creative, or if you can feel comfortable mixing drinks, it’s an amazing feeling—like knowing that you have secrets in your pocket. If I can send people home with that feeling, well, that is what really really excites me. •

Look for Basham’s website, bubblesandagave.com, coming soon!

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Hopping Into The New Year Local Brews to Beat The Winter Blues | By Ar i a nna U rb a n

T

here are more to seasonal beers than Pumpkin Ales and Christmas Stouts, especially right here in good ole’ Cbus. Some of your local haunts brew some delicious hoppy goodness to round out the cooler months. With bold full-body flavors and some fruitful favorites to lead into the spring, try one of these bad boys to warm you up on the coldest of nights. Most are brewed in limited quantities and are available as the winter seasonal option, so get them while they last!

Seventh Son’s Winterborn

Stats: Golden Brett Ale, 6.7% ABV, IBU 70 My glass smelled like a tropical vacation, which in the dead of winter might be exactly what you need. Located at 4th and 4th in Italian Village, Seventh Son’s Winterborn is dry with a hint of pineapple to round out the lingering spice and slight funk. This is a popular one and brewed in small batches. It’s very smooth and will have you thinking warmer thoughts.

Endeavor’s Campfire S’mores Stats: Brown Ale (Nitro), 6.5% ABV

There is nothing in the world I love more than s’mores, but having a campfire in the city can be a little tricky. Luckily, Endeavor has solved that problem by having their Campfire S’mores on tap all winter long.

This tasty dream is made with vanilla beans, milk, sugar, real cocoa, and a honey malt to bring out the graham cracker taste. A smoked malt gives a toasty flavor, and the nitro gives it a creamy texture like drinking hot chocolate in the snow, but better because it’s booze.

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Land Grant Goon

Stats: Pale Ale, 6.1% ABV, IBU 65 Hockey season is the best season, am I right? If you like to scream at the TV while watching the Columbus Blue Jackets as much as I do, then this is the aggressive flavor for you. It’s bitter with an earthy taste, a hint of spice, and strong hops. This is a super bold, full-body taste that will keep you happy when we win and comfort you when we lose. You can find this not only at Nationwide Arena, but the taproom as well until hockey season ends.

| p hoto by h i l l a ry jones

Platform Frosty Tips Stats: Witbier, 4.2% ABV, IBU 12

If s’mores aren’t your thing you can head over to the Columbus Platform taproom to try this lemon zest, graham cracker, Tahitian vanilla bean goddess in a glass. It smells amazing, and has a light taste that won’t weigh you down after all the leftover Christmas cookies that you have no doubt been eating. This beer is nothing but refreshing and will have you dreaming of the warmer days to come.

Knotty Pine Snow Day IPA

Stats: IPA, 5.8% ABV

When you think of having a snow day, you may not think of a lemoncitrus spiced flavor, but then you would be thinking wrong. Knotty Pine has a great IPA to offer in a quaint little Grandview spot. Despite its light smell, the hops give it a bit of a spicy kick to warm you from the inside out and is available throughout the winter season.

Brewdog’s Zeitgeist

Stats: Black Lager, 4.9% ABV, IBU 30 If you haven’t checked out the Short North location yet, you should get down there! The Zeitgeist will be there waiting to help you begin the new year. Available January through March and boasting its chocolate, coffee, and cascade hops, it’s unlike any black lager you have likely had before. It will give you the boost you need to get started on your resolutions, unless that resolution was to drink less…

Go forth and wander the city, my friends, and try to stay warm. •

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The Doctor Is In on Trend Wardrobe Therapy gives guidance to those with a prescription for a style refresh

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By Syd n ey Smith

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t’s January 2nd. You’re in a fog and reeling from celebrating the New Year in the beginning of a work week. You open up your closet and your shoulders slump. Bland. You scoured stores for a glamorous New Year look with which to ring in the New Year, and it bears little more than a passing resemblance to what hangs before you. Your wardrobe has been piecey and disorganized for years, but this year is different: you’re tired of it. You need guidance, advice, and a little bit of magic to get your wardrobe together. Maybe just a little therapeutic guidance.

Wardrobe Therapy is a styling team of three women who cater specifically to wardrobe ruts. We’ve all been there from time to time.

Some of us more than others. Their services offer wardrobe consulting— reviewing what you already own, personal shopping, and outfitting.

Elizabeth Bean Smith talks shop with (614), laying out Wardrobe Therapy’s mantras.

Wardrobe Therapy’s tagline is “look good, feel good.”

When did you realize the significance of that phrase?

We started back in 2006. In the beginning, we really thought it was for the working woman, and then we realized it was for every woman and man because we saw people change perspectives and feel better about themselves. When they dressed appropriately for their shape and when they looked good, they felt good. And that’s how we got business. We took pride in making sure that, with every client we worked with, we were being honest and saying, “No, we don’t love that on you. Let’s try a different silhouette.”

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photos prov i d e d by war d ro b e t h e r apy

Are there any other core values that stick out and are personal to you?

We had an executive many years ago that’d say, “You’re like the cool niece that comes in and tells the truth,” and we have always celebrated that. We’re not in it to sell clothing and we’re not in it to make sure they keep spending more and more money. We want to make sure that they invest in pieces that work well for them, and then invest in themselves so that they can build a foundation.

Wardrobe revamping is getting into the thick of someone’s closet. What made you think of styling from the inside out?

I personally started styling in the corporate world, and I was working with mannequins and models. Everything was the “hottest and the latest” that’s always portrayed on someone who we call the “perfect figure,” and it can be so discouraging. On the outside, I began working at a boutique styling women with curves, a tush, and a bust. I enjoyed that so much more because it was really a math problem. How do we balance the hip with the shoulder? How do we camouflage the middle so a woman doesn’t feel self-conscious every time she goes out to dinner with friends? So for me, I felt like our motto of coming in and working with the wardrobe with what they had and adding in pieces that were foundation pieces really made it more relevant.

For the New Year, if someone is looking to clean out their closet, where do you suggest they start?

First we start with the fit. Really being honest with yourself and saying, “You know these haven’t fit in several years. I need to let them go.” We have a good pair of denim but maybe we never feel good when we put it on. Remove it from your wardrobe. That’s why we have that phrase “I have a whole wardrobe and nothing to wear,” because nothing in the wardrobe feels that great. Really be honest about that fit and remove it from your wardrobe if it’s not working for you.

For anybody unready for a full wardrobe transformation, what items would you suggest they upgrade?

If we’re talking about women, denim definitely.

It’s a quick way to spot if something’s been dated or worn. You can tell by a wash. We also would suggest investing in a little black dress that can take a woman to the working world with a cardigan and knee boots or later with a moto jacket and booties out to dinner. And I think a great blazer can do so much for a woman with a bust or a shoulder: key silhouettes that can help balance a woman’s body.

So, for people who are discontented with their look or their wardrobe how do you help them identify/pinpoint their discontentment?

We do an online lookbook so they have [the pictures] per season. We have a newsletter that comes out every Thursday at wardrobetherapyllc.com—tips, tricks, or trends—so followers can get a better understanding. But the proof is in the picture.

We really suggest with a client when we’re putting an outfit together that we photograph the client so they can see, “Oh my God! I do look great!” • For more, visit wardrobetherapyllc.com

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To Beer, or Not to Beer Actors’ Theatre premieres The Drunken Underground Shakespeare series

by Lin da L ee Ba i r d

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n the more than 400 years since William Shakespeare’s death, something funny happened. Plays that he’d written for commoners to enjoy as an escape from the grind of daily life were seen by fewer and fewer of the people he’d written them for. As the English language changed, the scripts became more difficult to understand (at least, for those not well-versed in iambic pentameter), and the puns required explanation. The plays developed a reputation as being for academics. But the stuffy reputation Shakespeare has today is at odds with the way things were when he wrote the plays.

“Shakespeare is really bawdy and raunchy and dirty,” Adam Simon, Managing Director of the Actors’ Theatre of Columbus, said. “We treat it like it’s something sacred, and it’s not. It’s art. And it’s art that’s meant to be engaged with, to be entertaining, and it shouldn’t set on a shelf collecting dust.”

The Actors’ Theatre of Columbus has been bringing free Shakespeare to the community for over 35 years, beginning with summer Shakespeare

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and classic plays in German Village’s Schiller Park. Their mission has evolved over the years to include performances in non-traditional venues such as schools, retirement communities, and juvenile detention centers—even performing for an audience of formerly homeless persons.

“Anywhere we can take theater that it doesn’t traditionally get to be seen, we want to go there,” Simon said.

Eighteen months ago, the Actors’ Theatre organized the first Shakespeare Underground show, a monthly staged reading of lesserknown classic plays, performed at Tatoheads Public House. Each month a new director is responsible for rounding up a group of actors and readying a performance under strict parameters. “Directors are not allowed to have more than three rehearsals—minimal props, minimal costumes, minimal set. It is supposed to be fun,” Simon said. Not all of the actors who appear in Shakespeare Underground shows professionally identify as such. “Sometimes the directors are like, ‘I don’t have enough actors. I’m gonna take my spouse and my neighbors,’ ” Simon said.

In January, the roving band of bards will expand their monthly offerings, with a twist: the cast will get progressively drunker over the course of each performance as part of a series called The Drunken Underground. “The whole point is to take [Shakespeare] back from academia,” Simon said. “It’s not a new idea.

We didn’t invent this; we’ve seen it elsewhere around the country.”

“Shakespeare is really bawdy and raunchy and dirty.”

Pretentious Barrel House on the Near East Side will host these decidedly non-pretentious plays. “From our perspective, it’s real simple: we’re big fans of the art scene in the city. We want to find a way to bring the art scene a little bit closer to our location and expose our crowds to Actors’ Theatre, and the art scene in general,” Events Director Jared Saltman said.

“I’m really looking forward to being part of bringing something that can feel like a stuffy thing, like Shakespeare, back to the masses.”

The “masses” in this case won’t be limited to those who attend the live performance either, as the Actors’ Theatre plans to release each show as a podcast.

Whether it’s a free play in Schiller Park, or a play performed in a bar while the audience joins the cast in having a few too many rounds, Simon continues to look for ways to make Shakespeare accessible to everyone. “Cost isn’t the only barrier. We have a lot of cultural barriers to the arts,” he said. “We have people who don’t feel comfortable coming and sitting in park to watch a play….So let’s take the plays out to somewhere they’re comfortable and let them experience it there.”

Simon firmly believes that once people see Shakespeare’s plays, they’ll be able to relate to them. “The things that he was writing about, I mean they’re still current events. We still have political turmoil—buffoons are still funny! He was writing for the common experience, and incredibly enough, the common experience hasn’t changed that much.” For Simon, that’s comforting information. “It’s kind of a soothing thing to realize that despite the turmoil and strife we feel like we’re going through in our world today, things maybe haven’t changed that much. For as bad as things might seem, they’re probably as good as they’ve always been as well.”

The Drunken Underground will perform at Pretentious Barrel House on the first Thursday of every month beginning January 10th. To learn more, visit theactorstheatre.org.

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ourish. Heal. Cleanse. This is the motto of & Juice Co. (Yes, the ampersand is the beginning of the name.) What originally started as a kale chip company, U+Kale, has grown into three restaurant locations in the greater Columbus area. The rustic and mainmast atmosphere has an instant calming effect. There is an open floor plan with couches, and comfy seats bedecked with throw pillows line the walls. The cafĂŠ-like environment lends itself well to a quick lunch or brunch escape with friends or coworkers.

Spouses Eliah Thomas-Stephenson and Tara Stephenson, the owners and creative minds behind & Juice Co, have drawn from their personal backgrounds and understanding to create a vegan food experience that is imaginative, nourishing, and most of all delicious.

In addition to offering a wide variety of dairy- and meat-free meals, & Juice Co. offers a line of cold pressed juices that are available at variety of locations, including the new Short North Charles Penzone location. If you’re interested in hitching a ride on the cleanse train, & Juice Co. has created an array of juices that can be used in conjunction with a cleanse, which is really a fast.

The purported health benefits of periodic cleanses has lead to their popularity among those striving for lifelong vigor. Purchasing a cleanse means receiving a varied, two-day supply of juices, intended to stand in for solid food. This regimen eliminates the need for an extensive grocery produce run, specific juicing hardware, and the messy process of creating liquid concoctions in conjunction with your goal.

Besides aiming to be delicious and nutritious, & Juice Co. operates with minimal food waste in mind. The tasty and inventive carrot lox with capers is made by using the carrot pulp that is leftover from the juicing process for one of their many cleanses. Eliah explains that the & Juice Co kitchen is more like a lab, where the chefs experiment with new flavor combinations, often inspired by non-vegan dishes.

When asked about her history with and inspiration behind her vegan creations, Tara explained how she developed a taste for vegan food as an athlete growing up in a traditional southern black household, complete with calorie-packed southern cuisine. Though it was delicious, she felt that the traditional southern food she grew up with did little to help her athletic abilities. And from there a passion for clean food was born. This passion eventually led Tara to Washington D.C., where she worked with public school food 98

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• Spouses and owners Eliah ThomasStephenson and Tara Stephenson

programs, helping to craft healthier school lunches for the community.

Eliah grew up in a decidedly different environment. Coming from a Syrian family, dairy-free and meat-free meals were a regular family feature and she didn’t think much of it until noticing how differently her schoolmates ate. As she grew up, Eliah found a passion for marrying the cultures she grew up in through food. With a smile on her face, Eliah describes the satisfaction she gets from challenging herself to take snacks that people love and turning them vegan.

Whether guests stop in to sample something sweet or savory, or grab a quick snack or a filling meal, the goal at & Juice Co. is to leave their customers feeling satisfied, but not weighed down. Having a multitude of delicious options at one’s fingertips makes trying out different ways of eating a little more approachable, and a little more exciting.

“Food and flavors can change and evolve constantly,” she explains.

“We don’t have recipes written down anywhere, which is why you may order the same dish over and over, but will always get something just a little new and different, which is one of the things that makes this place so special.” • Visit the new location for & Juice Co. on 4494 N. High St or check out their website at andjuiceco.com..

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I Feel Pretty

By Regina Fox PHOTOS BY BRIA N KAISER

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discovered tweezers at the ripe age of 12 and immediately developed an obsessive relationship with them. I pluck, pluck, plucked my brows until I couldn’t pluck anymore. (Literally. My mom had to physically disarm me and hide the tool for good.) By the end of it, you could count my remaining hairs on just a few fingers.

My brows never really bounced back from my pre-teen years and to be honest, I don’t blame them—I clearly couldn’t handle the responsibility.

So when the “boy brow” became the one and only style to sport, I was left out in the cold. That is until I discovered Pretty In Ink and got my eyebrows cosmetically tattooed.

Mandi Chisholm, the owner of the gorgeous downtown loft, goes simply by her first name. She has been beautifying brows since 2008 when she became formally trained, certified, and licensed for cosmetic tattoo applications. With some conversation, numbing cream, and a whole lot of expertise, she turned me into the “after” version of myself I didn’t know I could be. Let me tell you a little more about how I ditched my brow burden.

Mandi, aka “FanciMandi,” carefully sketches her arch-work (eyebrows) onto the canvas (me) before the tattooing begins.

Consultation The first step to my brow makeover was a consultation. Mandi and I met to discuss three things—skin type, lifestyle, and expectations—in order to pinpoint which tattooing service was best suited for me. Oily skin, a fast metabolism, and exercise can all contribute to rapid fading. Lucky for me, I check all three boxes. I also told Mandi that I was in the market for a natural-looking fix to my 90s eyebrows which narrowed my options down to two: machine tattooed brows and microneedling.

Machine brows are done using a fine needle within a hand piece powered by electricity to puncture and deposit pigment. Microneedling, on the other hand, is a very popular, manual application using a simple blade to place the pigment into the skin. Machine brows tend to last a little longer, while microblading is more of a superficial application of pigment placed just a little higher in the dermis.

To be honest, I had never heard of the former and the sounds of it intimidated me a bit. But, considering the toll my skin type and lifestyle would take from microblading, Mandi and I both agreed that machine tattooed brows were the best, most durable option to meet my eyebrow expectations.

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Drawing

After considering the shape of my face and some #browgoals photos I showed her, Mandi used a makeup pencil to fill in my brows. This would ultimately become the shape of my tattooed brows, so I made sure to take my time and vocalize any changes I wanted to make. Once we settled on a shape, Mandi leaned me back in the chair and booted up the tattoo machine.

Tattooing

Now, we all have different levels of tolerance, but in my opinion, the pain was minimal. The cosmetic tattoo machine hurts far less than a typical tattoo machine. Plus, after the first pass, Mandi slathered me up with numbing cream which eliminated the pain entirely. All I had to do was sit back and relax for about 90 minutes while Mandi worked her magic.

The Reveal

When Mandi handed me the mirror for the first time, my jaw dropped— even further than it did when I got my braces off in 9th grade. My eyebrows looked fantastic! You couldn’t tell where my real eyebrows ended and the tattooing began! I couldn’t wait to go show them off.

Aftercare

With cosmetically tattooed eyebrows, you really have to channel your inner Philadelphia 76er and trust the process. On day one, my brows were precise and bold. By day three, the tattooed hair strokes had seemingly disappeared into clumps of brown scabs. And when the scabs healed, my tattoo pigment underneath was faded and did not match my natural eyebrow hair. But, this is all part of the process.

Touch up

I used a makeup pencil to supplement my faded tattoos until it was time for my touch up appointment a few weeks later. Mandi retraced my hair strokes and the healing process began all over but this time, when the scabs healed, my perfect brows miraculously reemerged and were there to stay. As long as I avoid the sun and excessive moisturization, I expect to not be back in the Pretty In Ink chair until this time next year.

There’s a meme floating around FaceSpace that says, “When I was little, I never thought eyebrows would be this important.” What I’ve learned is that eyebrows themselves are just a couple stretches of hair on your forehead, but the confidence they give you is what’s so important. I can “face” each day self-assuredly without a lick of makeup and that is the power of cosmetic tattoos.

PHOTO BY @thisisprettyinink

PHOTO BY @thisisprettyinink

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home

How to be the envy of all your followers

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Seven tips on the trendiest tags, and how to make them work in your pad

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By Regi na Fox

Everybody has probably all been tempted to rent a large dumpster and chuck all their home decor out the window, especially after scrolling through social media. But hold up, I’m sure you’ve got a good base going! You just need a few key pieces to make your home a bit more Instagrammable. We’ll help guide you to where you can find them locally, too!

1. Wicker: One easy way to incorporate wicker into your living room decor is by swapping out those hideous, plastic mini trash cans with a more natural-looking receptacle.

It’s a subtle upgrade but nevertheless important because now, your guests’ eyes won’t be drawn to the one thing you don’t want them to see: your garbage.

TJ Maxx, $15

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2. Large wall art:

Ditch the gallery wall and find three of your favorite large wall pieces to eliminate busyness. Be sure to arrange them in a triangle shape to naturally draw your eyes upwards, making your ceiling appear higher.

Happy Go Lucky, $65

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5. Woven baskets: 3. Oversized plants:

Baby succulents are always welcomed, but if you want your greenery to be a part of your living room landscape, it’s gotta exceed two inches in height. I recommend Monstera Deliciosa (Split Leaf Philodendron) for their trendiness, low maintenance, and their ability to set a tropical vibe wherever they live!

Oakland Nursery, $30

4. Throw: It’s called a living room because you live in it!

Besides, perfection isn’t the least bit interesting. An easy way to achieve the laid-back look is with a throw. This can double as your “pop of color” so don’t be afraid to go against your color scheme.

Elm & Iron, $30

Baskets are the perfect way to disguise an ugly plant pot, collect toys, or show off your cute blankets while also adding a point of interest to ground-level. These are a simple way to add maturity and intention to your place.

Vernacular Home, $27

6. Buffet:

Wooden pallet coffee tables are trendy. Buffets are forever.

These hip-high pieces double as a storage unit and display area for your plants, knick knacks, record player, or bar!

Ikea, $329

7. Pop of Vintage:

No, of course it doesn’t work!

But, damn does it look cool. Let your quirkiness shine with a unique vintage item.

Flower Child Vintage, $45 •

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arcade super awesome’s second act By j. r . mc mi l l a n p hoto by H i l l a ry jones

here’s still something rebellious about that little silver ball.

Just ask John Geiger, founder of Arcade Super Awesome, whose pinball obsession heralded a local revival of the oncecontraband contraptions. Historically maligned by moral crusaders as another form of gambling, even outlawed in some cities during the Prohibition Era, the recent rise of so-called “barcades” is an apropos postscript for the birthplace of the temperance movement.

“I grew up in the arcades in Cleveland playing video games, but pinball was spotty. In the small towns outside of Cleveland, pinball was still illegal into the 90s,” Geiger recalled. “So I never really played pinball as a kid. But when I came to OSU, it was all over campus. That’s when I got the bug.”

An avid collector of classic and contemporary games, the pivot to pinball inspired League Super Awesome, a weekly competition attracting world-class talent, now celebrating its 15th season and a new home at Melt Bar & Grilled in the Short North.

Much as disco begat breakdancing and video games supplanted pinball, console games nearly killed coin-ops altogether. But the social component they never replaced has been recently rediscovered by players looking for something Sony and Microsoft don’t sell.

“Pinball is more fascinating to me as a machine. The play is more complex and there’s that factor of randomness,” he revealed. “With arcade games there are patterns that repeat, but pinball has elements of skill and chance. It’s never the same game twice.”

Rube Goldberg would revel in the modern pinball movement, the clever combination of lights and kinetics elevated into a performance art exhibition open to anyone with a spare quarter.

“I’m very particular about curating games together by depth, style, theme, or era. There’s an order everyone doesn’t always see. It’s like a gallery and the placement of the paintings that only makes sense when you see them all together,” he explained. “You can have a collection of things, or you can have a gallery. But it wasn’t an arcade until I opened up my warehouse and people came to play.”

Geiger has been colonizing ever since with enclaves of pinball machines and arcade games throughout Columbus. But the decision to wind down his space above Yellow Brick Pizza in Olde Towne East, followed days later by the surprise closure of Four String’s west side brewery and Grandview taproom left casual patrons and competitive players nervous about what was next.

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T Just ask John Geiger, founder of Arcade Super Awesome, whose here’s still something rebellious about that little silver ball.

pinball obsession heralded a local revival of the once-contraband contraptions. Historically maligned by moral crusaders as another form of gambling, even outlawed in some cities during the Prohibition Era, the recent rise of so-called “barcades” is an apropos postscript for the birthplace of the temperance movement.

“I grew up in the arcades in Cleveland playing video games, but pinball was spotty. In the small towns outside of Cleveland, pinball was still illegal into the 90s,” Geiger recalled. “So I never really played pinball as a kid. But when I came to OSU, it was all over campus.

That’s when I got the bug.”

An avid collector of classic and contemporary games, the pivot to pinball inspired League Super Awesome, a weekly competition attracting world-class talent, now celebrating its 15th season and a new home at Melt Bar & Grilled in the Short North.

Much as disco begat breakdancing and video games supplanted pinball, console games nearly killed coin-ops altogether. But the social component they never replaced has been recently rediscovered by players looking for something Sony and Microsoft don’t sell.

“Pinball is more fascinating to me as a machine. The play is more complex and there’s that factor of randomness,” he revealed. “With arcade games there are patterns that repeat, but pinball has elements of skill and chance. It’s never the same game twice.”

Rube Goldberg would revel in the modern pinball movement, the clever combination of lights and kinetics elevated into a performance art exhibition open to anyone with a spare quarter.

“I’m very particular about curating games together by depth, style, theme, or era. There’s an order everyone doesn’t always see.

It’s like a gallery and the placement of the paintings that only makes sense when you see them all together,” he explained. “You can have a collection of things, or you can have a gallery. But it wasn’t an arcade until I opened up my warehouse and people came to play.”

Geiger has been colonizing ever since with enclaves of pinball machines and arcade games throughout Columbus. But the decision to wind down his space above Yellow Brick Pizza in Olde Towne East, followed days later by the surprise closure of Four String’s west side brewery and Grandview taproom left casual patrons and competitive players nervous about what was next.

“People contacted me worried about where we’d land. It was entirely unexpected, hearing how much they appreciated this community we built,” he said. “But I also got a call from Don Johnson, who is kind of my counterpart in Cleveland, organizing league play and the pinball and arcade convention up there. He connected me with Matt Fish, the owner of Melt, and it was a perfect fit.”

There are lots of stories about how surprisingly small Columbus can be, and this is one of them. Geiger and Fish quickly figured out they both used to be in bands together in Cleveland decades ago.

Never the same band, but definitely the same scene.

“Pinball really fit our punk rock brand,” explained Fish, whose burgeoning Ohio-born empire of grilled cheese eateries first expanded into the Columbus market in 2013. “Last year, Don approached us 614columbus.com

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It’s difficult for us here at (614) to catch it all. That’s where you come in: while you’re out there capturing the city, you might as well slide some of your best shots our way. We’ll throw a few of ours in the mix, too. There’s plenty to see in Columbus, so there’s no reason not to share. #AsSeenInColumbus @pebbyforevee

@thesciotomile

@blu_bella_photography

@sadiebabysweets

@smallcakescbus

@loveinthechaos

@natureinspiredphotos

@collectiveathiawathahouse

@homedogresort

@deliciohio

@ironwoodwolves

@markowensdesigns

@portraits.rakib

@tlc0216

@eastontownctr

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@daniella.siebert

@adamyoungpeter

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