The Free Press is bringing back a Reviews section after some absence. We hope to review plenty of events around town. Check back frequently and if what\'s going on is any good.
Arts & Culture
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Schoolboy Q sold out the Newport Saturday. The Southern-Central L.A. rapper’s new album Oxymoron had debuted on the Billboard charts as the number 1 album in the country earlier in the week. While one would assume both of those facts have an obvious correlation, I would also offer that his chart and touring success is a testament to not sensationalizing the extreme negative in marketing makes for a good financial decision in terms of touring the Live Nation/Clear Channel type of venues.
There are plenty of ways to make money in rap. But this is probably the most efficient.
And as the saying goes: If You Don’t Work. You Don’t Eat.
Not that this a new phenomenon: A$ap Rocky packed the Newport when I saw Schoolboy Q open for him in October of 2012 and so on and so forth. In between songs, Schoolboy Q extolled the virtues of smoking weed on stage to the adulation of his audience.
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I wonder how the late Townes Van Zandt would feel if he knew two or three of his songs provided 15 minutes of fame and spotlight to a dozen-and-a-half performers in a crazy little time warp of a place called Dick's Den?
Given the sometimes ragged but nearly always heartfelt performances Friday night in a very packed Den, I think he would've been mildly amused and secretly deeply satisfied. Because there is something very, very special about TVZ's lyrics. Has anybody lyrically captured the essence of lives lived with more naked poignancy? And with novella-like depth and tight economy, never a wasted word or an unnecessary image? If nothing else, if that were my work being sung, sometimes butchered, I'd have been prouder than a three-legged dog winning the Kentucky Derby. The glory was ragged, but the work stands.
It should be noted, in my opinion anyway, Townes is probably the single greatest underrated American songwriter in our recent musical history. As much as I love tribute nights to the Beatles, Stones and Dylan, I think it's great guys like Eric Nassau organize these TVZ nights. And it's reassuring so many aspiring singer/songwriter types love his work.
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As a BBW model/performer, Kelly is passionate about introducing body positive messages into the media spotlight, and promotes her ongoing mantra of “Confidence is Sexy” through a variety of mediums. A proponent of “intelligent hedonism,” Kelly speaks on college campuses and more on how to intelligently navigate female sexuality, negative media messages about size, and bullying, all while developing self-confidence, class, and inner strength.
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Brooklyn’s Cosmo Baker is set to spin at the Wexner Center’s Off the Grid Party Saturday, March 8th. Local support will be provided by George Brazil and Nick Tolford & Company.
Cosmo Baker is a heavily revered deejay.
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During it’s five O’clock Traffic Mix on Monday, Power 107.5 dropped Fly Union’s new song “Flatline” off their new album Small Victories in between various hit records after DJ Big Bink took a request from a female caller to play the Columbus hip hop group.
I caught up with Fly Union earlier in the week to interview them on the heels of the aptly titled Small Victories.
Power 107.5 has played Columbus records here and there. They also have a Sunday show hosted by Yaves Ellis that addresses community issues but, really, there hasn’t been a Columbus record with impact on the station since perhaps “Welcome to Buckeye City” a long time ago.
Fly Union’s manager, Chea explained reciprocation is the key to any good relationship, and especially with a media outlet like 107.5, “It has to work both ways. I think we are on the same page of us showing our support and them showing their support. We need to bridge that gap between people over Fly Union in Columbus. But they don’t listen to radio because they don’t want to.
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In my capacity as music writer, I have been asked by Editor-in-Chief Bob Fitrakis to write a review of the police band Hot Pursuit's 1988 D.A.R.E graduation concert at St. John Arena. This has presented some difficulty -- first, I wasn't at the concert, and second, I'm not entirely sure the event occurred. Although I'm not necessarily averse to stretching the truth in the service of a good story, outright fabrication of an entire concert seems a bit much.
I try, however, to be accommodating to Bob. Therefore, I have collected before me a 1988 AP piece on the band which somehow ended up in the Los Angeles Times, some slightly terrifying pictures, a YouTube clip of the band performing "The D.A.R.E. Song," a 2013 Dispatch article in which the members of the band are crying about having their funding cut off, and my own vague memories of 1988. I also watched some videos of people playing volleyball in the arena to get a feel for the space. It's weak, but what am I supposed to do? Anyway...
It's a brisk windy day in April, and Hot Pursuit is about to take the stage at St. John Arena for the D.A.R.E. graduation, whatever that is. I personally missed out on the D.A.R.E.
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I once got a job writing for a magazine because of a James Brown tribute I'd written focusing on his shiny patent leather shoes during his performance on the old '60s television show, Shindig.
When the Stones played the Shoe back in '97, I was photographing them and standing on a special step built on the front of the stage just for the photographers. I was close enough to Jagger several times I could've untied his hard leather street shoes, which I thought were an interesting choice of footwear for a hyper-active front man such as he.
And Nick Cave? Don't even ask. He used to wear these ridiculous boots with super-long points curling up several times over, like how the dead witch's feet curled up when Dorothy's house fell on top of her. Nick, ha, what a weirdo. But you gotta love him.
My point? You can tell a lot about a performer by what they wear, especially on their feet, which you don't ever normally think about or can even see. What it says I'm not always sure but it sure says something. And no, freaks, I don't have a foot fetish.
Which brings us to Lydia Loveless at the Rumba Cafe last Friday night.
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On March 8th, the Ohio Roller Girls (OHRG) will begin their season with a slam. The season opener will be a home bout against Nashville Roller Girl and may be a classic struggle. OHRG has not played against Nashville since 2010 when they were defeated handily despite predictions of a victory. Nashville started the season ranked 39 in the world but lost their season opener to Evansville Indiana by nearly 50 points in a close contest.
Nashville has made it to the playoffs in the past but does not have the playoff record that OHRG does.
The bout looks to be a classic battle between offensive and defensive minded teams. According to OHRG nine year veteran Amy Spears, who skates under her own name, Nashville can be expected to rotate players through the jammer position. The Nashville team has “Veteran Skaters, this should be a good game.” Spears continued by saying their rotation tactics give their team “a lot of breadth.” Nashville does feature memorable offensive players, including jammer Four Leaf Roller, who was termed “Very Strong.”
22nd Ranked Ohio will focus on their defense according to both Spears and OHRG veteran Bratislava Bruiser, or Bruiser for short.
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Mel Brooks’s The Producers is built on such a clever concept, it’s no wonder it’s found success both in Hollywood and on Broadway.
It was in a 1968 movie that Brooks first told the story of Max Bialystock, a once-great Broadway producer, and Leo Bloom, an accountant who dreams of making his mark on the Great White Way. Together, they realize they can cook the books in a way that allows them to make a fortune by putting on a show so bad that it opens and closes in one night.
When they come across a diehard Nazi who’s written a loving tribute to Der Fuhrer called Springtime for Hitler, they think they’ve found the world’s worst play. Then, to cement their chances of producing a flop, they hire Broadway’s worst director to stage it. The results are delightfully unpredictable.
The Producers has a winning concept, but it’s not foolproof. Though the stage version has catchy tunes, much of its humor relies on broad stereotypes that can get old fast because—well, let’s face it, they start out old.
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Here’s something to make you feel old: It’s been 21 years since the movie Jurassic Park was released. It’s been 21 years since we learned that Velociraptors were truly the most terrifying of all dinosaurs, that Jeff Goldblum can only really play Jeff Goldblum, and that child endangerment is the most exciting plot hook of all. The special effects still hold up well today, even though paleontological research now suggests those terrifying raptors should have had some less terrifying feathery plumage.
There were two sequels made, both of which failed to live up to their predecessor in either quality or financial success. It’s been 13 years since the last sequel, Jurassic Park III, was released to lukewarm box office earnings and poor reviews.
Hollywood is all about taking advantage of nostalgia. Now that the nostalgia calendar is moving up into the 90s, home of Power Rangers, Pokémon and assorted oddball Nickelodeon cartoons, Universal has decided it’s time to take another shot at Jurassic Park.