Beautiful production of Pulitzer-winning play Primary Trust closes the Contemporary's season for two more weeks. My review for @colsunderground.bsky.org - columbusunderground.com/theater-revi...

Reviewed a beautiful version of one of the great American plays, August Wilson's The Piano Lesson, for @colsunderground.bsky.social columbusunderground.com/theater-revi...

This isn't a particularly controversial statement. But notable to me because it's appearing in one of the benchmark publications of DC conventional wisdom. These new facts all derive from a war the President started on a lark because his Venezuela buzz was wearing off.

Thoughts on another magical #bigearsfestival as I get ready to return to reality with a song in my heart richardsanford.substack.com/p/traversing...

At Big Ears, guy checking badges and bags at Mill and Mine: "Already have your bag unzipped, you know the drill! And I commend you bringing deodorant, a lot of people don't even wear it." Me: "I worked a lot of anime conventions in my youth." Him: "Not a response I was expecting."

Always never the same. Contemporary concert works and creative music in New York City, March 25-31 Photograph: The Westerlies by Ebru Yildiz

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding runs through March 22. REVIEW: columbusunderground.com/theater-revi...

Beautiful post about Scrawl from the essential Substack of @stevekirschdrums.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/newwaveo...

Applications Are Open! Apply now for the Music Columbus 2026 Summer Internship Program! Gain paid, hands-on experience in the Columbus music and creative industries. Program Dates: June 1 – July 27. More info and application form are here. musiccolumbus.com/earn-as-you-...

Book club scams are now threatening authors who don't fall for their BS. In December, I received an email from Herry Sharp, so-called CEO of "Super Book Lover Curator" praising my novella We Who Hunt Alexanders. Totally AI-generated and a scam so I didn't respond. Now Herry is threatening me. 1/

The key point here is "space not designed for it" - people have to move across the space of a pub all the time (staff collecting glasses, people arriving looking for friends, people going to the loos, people carrying drinks) - a huge queue bisecting the pub makes all that harder

This is how and why you do it

You should go see this. Available Light is always a joy even when I don’t understand the production. 😂 they care about making art.

Had the chance to talk with Matt Slaybaugh and Meghan Durham-Wall about this weekend's Wexner Center remounting of John Cage 101, which I'm very much looking forward to, for @colsunderground.bsky.social: columbusunderground.com/available-li...

For anyone out there who might be interested in EITHER some great deals on Warhammer 40K figures, some old magazines, or some badass original comic art from Rocket Raccoon and From Hell, check out my eBay auctions? www.ebay.com/usr/theatomi...

I have loved and supported public radio for decades, but Cleveland's Ideastream is way on the wrong fucking side of this and should be embarrassed and ashamed.

ICE is making its way through Columbus. CRIS (Community Refugee and Immigration Services) is giving gift cards to families to keep them home and fed. If you want to join in giving, here is the link to the specific area and team handling it: crisohio.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/c...

My second playlist of favorite tracks of the year, heavier on jazz, classical, and electronic: screenofdistance.com/2025/12/17/b...

A selection of my favorite visual art exhibits from 2025: screenofdistance.com/2025/12/15/b...

My favorite theater, opera, and dance performances of 2025: screenofdistance.com/2025/12/12/b...

My first 2025 Playlist of some favorite songs (mostly non-classical/jazz, those will follow in the next installment). screenofdistance.com/2025/12/11/b...

RIP to one of the greatest singers I was ever lucky enough to see. So glad @fonzette.bsky.social and I went out to see them in Indianapolis last summer with Nicole Atkins.

"As Anne said, "This is what all protest music should sound like: a party that also makes you want to smash shit."" screenofdistance.com/2025/12/08/b...

This, on Hannah Arendt and the perils of making her an icon rather than wrestling with what she thought and wrote, is very good.

My favorite records of 2025. More detail will come in my annual playlists in a week or two: screenofdistance.com/2025/12/01/b...

that’s it. that’s the dynamic that was on the tip of my tongue

Had a great conversation with choreographer Doug Varone about a program he and his troupe bring to the Wex this Friday that spans work almost 40 years old and world premieres. My article for @colsunderground.bsky.social: columbusunderground.com/dance-previe...

Wrote about Todd Snider, East Nashville and how the more things change, the more they change. www.dontrocktheinbox.com/something-go...

Todd Snider, your songwriting and stories are forever burned into my psyche. Whether it was the good times in my life or the bad, you were always there. The songs and stories will forever bring me a smile and a tear. Wherever you are, I hope you find that peace and know you are loved. ☮️♥️🏴

Throwback Thursday: ten years ago Let's Anime looked at the anime fandom scene of 1985 with this article, illustrated with actual 1985 high school yearbook photos starring, among other aliens, idol singers, and students, a future Academy Award winning actress! letsanime.blogspot.com/2015/10/clas...

Had a terrific conversation with Marion Ramirez and Ojeya Cruz Banks about their dance piece Mareas/Tides playing @wexarts.bsky.social Wednesday and wrote it up as a piece for @colsunderground.bsky.social: columbusunderground.com/dance-previe...

Thanks to the phrase somehow congealing in a conversation with @jtreppel.bsky.social, we have concluded that Mental Herpes would be the perfect band name for a terrible funk rock act in 1993, presumably opening for the Limbomaniacs or something.

Completely accurate.

I was already a hard AI-skeptic but this cements my long suspicion that there is no feasible path to anything close to return on invested capital for these data centers. Tech would need 15 to 25 times current AI revenues within the next 2-3 years just to break even. Not financially viable.

Because it's playing on the restaurant background - all deference to Dinah Washington - whoever tried to ameliorate the original cocaine reference with a repetition of champagne when champagne was THE LAST COUPLET feels doddering, like you're visiting your grandfather who's not entirely there.

"I can't say what I think should happen to thieves like this.” @404media.co asked me what I thought about this shit. www.404media.co/ai-generated...

Please report this fucking AI slop. Goddamnit. www.amazon.com/KALEB-HORTON...

If listening to "If Loving You Is Wrong" on the dual CD jukebox with @fonzette.bsky.social while ice literally falls off my bottle of beer at Alex's Tavern is wrong... I love you, Memphis.

Fascinating must-read thread. And yes, donate to support Paulina Borsook, who tried to warn everyone.

“Minimalism’s iron grip on reality is not honest or articulate. It’s a manifestation of a world that is actually out of control. The iPhone screams chaos at us, but it looks clean and perfect. It’s the ideal delivery device for madness.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Someday I will be able to walk into this Cleveland establishment without singing the applicable lines from "Amphetamine" by Rocket From the Tombs, but today is not that day. @fonzette.bsky.social

Yuuuuup. Also, I don't give a shit if some of the worst people in the world think I am being performative or am virtue signaling. Fuck 'em. They don't get to tell me how to be. Anyway, trans rights are human rights, y'all. It's not complicated.

An early-season contender for "most anticipated" theatrical experience of the Fall coming to @wexarts.bsky.social this week.

I have just seen an item described in a catalogue as having "an antique snaffle bar" and I honestly don't care what it is because the word snaffle is incredible

Strong thread that reminds me how lucky I was to grow up near Houston, with both a solid album-rock station that sometimes played entire new records AND a Pacifica station that aired avant-garde classical music, extreme metal, hardcore punk, local acoustic music, hip hop, leftist politics, and more.

“Since about one year ago, many people have begun to think everything on ChatGPT is correct,” Vallata said. “It is not a tool for mountain advice, for routes, or for planning.”

I'm sorry dawg I don't really care how lonely I am I'm not talking to the fucking text generator that makes you insane I'd rather go crazy the old fashioned way (complete lack of meaningful social interaction)

The very very lovely Sloppy Heads are bringing gentle uplift and swelling bliss on a cooling BK evening—what a beautiful night here at @mamatriedbk.bsky.social.

yup, this is why we started anime conventions, to get the chance to force people into non-compete clauses, that's what fandom is all about, telling people what they can and cannot do. Sure