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Friday, March 6, Drop-off: 4:30 – 8:00 PM and Saturday, March 7, The Swap, 11:00 AM – 8:00 FRIDAY March 6, 2020, 4:30 – 8:00 PM.  8th Annual WHO/O Solidarity Clothing Swap
Our closets are overflowing with awesome clothes that no longer bring us joy, accessories bought on a whim, shoes that have only been worn once (or sometimes twice), so much feminist swag, and all this has much more life left. Let’s put those items to use, be green, save some green, and give some green!  How it works:

Well, the Democratic Party machine in Franklin County is delivering the primary vote this year as if it was Tammany Hall. Instead of the mantra “Vote early – vote often” it’s “Vote early – and vote our sample ballot.”

I got a call from a Bernie Sanders field rep who witnessed Somalians being disenfranchised at the Franklin County Board of Elections during the first week of early voting. He said the poll workers weren’t letting elderly Somali women vote. Their big sin seemed to be they refused the sample ballot.

Despite their names being in the poll book, the Somali women were told they couldn’t vote unless they pronounced their address correctly in perfect English. The Bernie rep had noticed that all the Somali voters in question had rejected to take the sample ballot a Democratic operative tried to hand to them on their way in. The Bernie rep had asked the poll workers if there were translators present and was told they could help translate at the voting machines but not at the poll book area. The three Somali women were turned away.

In August of 2011, the usually boring world of guitar production was jolted by the arrival of federal agents at three Gibson guitar facilities in Tennessee. The agents executed a search warrant and seized large quantities of Madagascar Ebony and Indian Rosewood thought to have been imported by Gibson in violation of a United States law known as the Lacey Act.

In some respects a law ahead of its time, the Lacey Act was signed into effect by President William McKinley in 1900. The Act prohibited the transfer of illegally captured or prohibited animals across state lines, meaning that you can’t poach animals in one state and sell them in a state where they are legal. The law was intended to stop the over hunting of birds for hat plumes and prevent the introduction of invasive species into native ecosystems.

Thursday, March 5, 7-9pm
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 30 W. Woodruff
In the 2020 elections we’ve seen a racist billionaire attempt to buy the Democratic Party nomination, a racist billionaire president attempt to whip up his oppressive record to get re-elected, and a self-proclaimed democratic socialist gain mass popular support, and everything in behind.
Join Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists to discuss questions such as:
Can we transform society through elections?
What position do we take on the various candidates?
How do we build a mass socialist movement to win universal healthcare, free college tuition, an end to police brutality, and other progressive demands?
How can we organize the working class to take power for the vast majority?

Julie Whitney Scott – Free Presscolumnist, radio producer, actor and theater festival director – was honored with the Harold Award at the 20th Annual Central Ohio Theatre Roundtable Theater Awards Celebration show on February 16. Scott founded the Columbus Black Theatre Festival and received the award for her Mine 4 God Productions and for and presenting the annual Festival for eight years. The Harold Award is named for the late Harold Eisenstein the long-time theater director for the Gallery Players.

“I am honored, grateful, humbled, privileged and in awe of what God is doing and has done for me. What he is doing for me has blessed others and I will continue to pay it forward,” Scott said after receiving the award, “I was being recognized for something I had and was doing to serve others in my community, of my race, for the unity of all people, to ensure our stories, the here and now stories, the ‘we are no longer slaves’ stories were being told, under the title of Mine 4 GOD Productions. A title that from the beginning had to fight and preserver through the naysayers because I dared to use ‘God’ in my Theatre production company.”

Snarls will play at Ace of Cups on March 6 to celebrate the release of their album Burst. The Columbus band is attracting attention from the blog circuit while preparing to tour.

Snarls’ sound is somewhere between the better riffs of 90's rock with a shoegaze verse chorus combination that gives a strong backing to songs about relationships.

Snarls fits in with bands like Soccer Mommy and Best Coast.

Snarls ages are 18-22. Their age groups indicates Arctic Monkeys instead of Veruca Salt.

Should I call Snarls college rock?

I interviewed Snarls singer/guitarist Chlo White.

The last time Snarls entered a press cycle there was discussion regarding the uncertainty of graduating high school. Do you feel better?

Definitely. Lol.

Do you have advice for teenagers still in high school regarding their next few years?

1. Those who are working, SAVE YOUR MONEY! Why? Just do it.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020, 7:00 PM

James Brown has been on my mind lately, not sure why.

Wasn't the first time and definitely won't be the last he just pops in and we stare at each other.

My first JB experience was like seeing a being from another planet. And it all started when I....

Got mesmerized by his shoes so shiny they could be seen from outer space as he danced on TV's Shindig in September of 1965, singing Papa's Got A Brand New Bag.

I was ten. And transfixed. His dance moves – mainly from the ankle down – were...incredible. Never had I ever seen any man move like that – certainly not Fred Astaire. I still marvel at his grace and muscular control. I think Mick Jagger copied a couple of his moves. Sad.

But the transfixed part is the key.

That was a long time ago. And I'm still mesmerized by the man in toto.

Something about his music is so, I don't know – primal, yes, but more than that, African, I suppose. But what does that mean?

Valentine’s Day is long gone, but a couple of non-mainstream movies are hoping to bring romance back to Columbus screens. And they’ll go about it in very different ways.

France’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire is the kind of elegant period piece that relies on atmosphere, long pauses and meaningful glances. And, oh yes, it also throws in choice moments of nudity and explicit sexuality – just so you’ll know you’re not watching a French adaptation of Jane Austen. 

The tale begins in the late 18th century as an artist named Marianne (Noemie Merlant) travels to an island estate to paint a bride’s wedding portrait. Once there, she learns that the assignment is not as straightforward as it seems.

Her subject, Heloise (Adele Haenel), has been forcibly snatched from a convent to replace her deceased sister at the altar. Not only is she an unwilling bride but an unwilling model, having rejected a previous artist’s attempt to capture her image on canvas.

Village Taco reopened their newest location last month on Parsons Avenue (formerly Hal & Al's and TatoHeads) with yet another 100 percent plant-based vegan menu to the greater Columbus metropolitan restaurant market. Sitting within a block of Two Dollar Radio and new vegan bar Daddy’s, this neighborhood is fast becoming nicknamed “Vegandale of Columbus” (following the vegan neighborhood in Toronto, Canada).

Their menu boasts much more than tacos, too. They definitely do the typical TexMex favorites one expects from a taco joint: fat burritos, chimichangas, enchiladas and holy Toledo – fried vegan ice-cream. They can even wow patrons with loaded double decker burgers, popcorn chickun and have a kid’s menu, too.