downtownsnob

Pie Day set to bring Columbus together

I posted about the Pie Day Movement and Project M on Indie Columbus last night.

A few more interesting details this morning:

Check out this Good Magazine article about some to the history of Project M and the big social innovations born there.

And, here are a few photos from the new Pie Lab in Greensboro:

 

Anyone want to post an easy pie recipe? (Is there such a thing?)

Available Light's Dirty Math: Back tonight!

Last Friday, ten of my delightful friends and I packed into the third (and fifth) rows of Riffe's Studio 2 to see Available Light's newest production: Dirty Math.

Frist let me say: it was nothing short of awesome.* In the big holy wow meaning of the word (not in the banana clips, jelly bracelets or pegged jeans way).

If you've never seen an Available Light show or think local theater isn't for you, I've got to say: this is the time to try it. Dirty Math is like the love child of Jon Stewart, Ira Glass and Jim Gaffigan.** It's at once laugh-out-loud funny and totally thoughtful. It's a better story slam than This American Life or The Moth ever pulled off. It's sidewalk chalk and Keynes. Rap and rhetoric. Frivolity and fear. It's the single most memorable thing you'll see this year.

What can I tell you about the story - it's a race through time that looks at how greed and gluttony shape our economies. The peaks and crashes that are always predictible and always a suprise.

Three of the Midwest's very best actors own the stage. With little propping and brilliant delivery, they take us through time (an emerging specialty of Available Light) in a way that's at once self-aware and entirely imaginative.

If you've been reading a David Sedaris tome and found yourself laughing out loud in a coffee shop or if you've read America and found yourself both giggling and thinking deeply >> well, you know the experience.

This is a play that can't be missed.

And, the best part: It's entirely homegrown. Written, produced, acted in Columbus.

Congratulations to Matt, Acacia, Ian, Jordan, Brandt, Emily, Artie, etc., etc. I'm going back tonight - can't wait to see it all again.

(*My one quibble: The derisive comment about SUV drivers (of which I am technically one >> I like to think of it as a mini SUV ... although, it's likely does not fit that description) being uncivic-minded, aka shitty to the environment. I think that's an over simplified view. Living a mile from work / play and driving an SUV seems like it nets out better than living 45 miles from work / play and driving a Prius. Just saying - our impact on the world is complex.)

(*We can't ever tell Artistic Director Matt Slaybaugh I said that. He'd likely be appalled - but, seriously, it's true)

Spring: Save the dates

With the warm weather comes very busy calendars. Make sure to mark off these can't-miss events on your calendar:

CCAD Spring art sale.
April 18
Loann Crane Center for Design

First choice ($50): 9 – 10:30 a.m.
General Admission ($5): 10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Wonderful work, unfair prices. Happily, though, the unfair is in our favor this time.

The event features blown glass, ceramics, paintings, handmade paper, drawings, apparel, photography, sculptures, prints and jewelry. More than 125 students and alumni bring original work to this one-day sale. Cash, checks and credit/debit cards are accepted. Admission is charged at the door. Parking is free.

North Market's Apron Gala
May 16
7-10PM
59 Spruce Street

Prices not posted yet, but usually: $75 (worth every penny); $65 for registered Friends of the North Market

This is the single best fundraiser of the entire year. Everyone dresses in cocktail attire, draped with creative aprons. And, the vendors of North Market serve a three-course meal. A third of the eateries open on each hour - offering a heavenly array of treats. And included wine and beer flow freely the entire evening.

It is truly a can't miss. The chocolate-dipped strawberries alone.

Oh, yeah, there's a bunch of other stuff, too - like a silent auction with original art and private chefs. But, whatever, it's THE FOOD.

Link

Comfest
June 26, 27, 28
Pretty much noon - midnight
Goodale Park

Not to put too fine a point on it: But, Comfest is why I live in Columbus. A three-day music and art and community festival that's a groundswell of good times.

You can lay around in the grass all day and just enjoy the weather and the music or pack in at night for Columbus at its most drunk and most social.

Link

Is Available Light Theater for you?

To find out, answer these simple questions:

• Are you likely to read "the next great American novel"? (think: Cather in the Rye, The Corrections)


• Do the television shows that you swear are smart, funny and generally perfect always seem to be getting canceled? (think: Freaks and Geeks, Huff)


• Do you affectionately call the Wexner Center the "Wex"?


• Did you attend Craftin' Outlaws, an independent film festival or Comfest last year?


• Did you vote for the winner in the last presidential election?


• Do you subscribe to Good Magazine, AdBusters or the Economist?


• Can you be found at North Market or the Clintonville Farmers Market most summer Saturday mornings?


• Do you think Liz Lessner should be our next mayor?

If you answered yes to at least three of these questions, Available Light Theater is definitely for you.

And, it's great to find out now because there's a new show coming up. (With, I should note, a little happy hour beforehand). Check out the details here.

 

Who to bring: Your sweetie, your best friend, your cool aunt, that guy with too many tattoos from the office

What to expect:

• Tickets are pay what you want
• Some of the shows are cash-only (so, get some)
• They perform known plays, new work and original material
• The sets tend to be pretty pared down
• And, the acting will move you
• They'll be a probably 100 people at any given show and you can mill around with them during a standard intermission
• The material is pretty eclectic, sometimes you might call it weird
• But, it's also fun and leaves you with a feeling you might call an intellectual high

5 Downtown Christmas Traditions Not to Miss

1. Buy a Christmas tree from the good people of St. Marys on Third Street in German Village. Sure, they can be a little on the Charlie Brown side, but where else can you find a smokey fire barrel keeping people warm next to a busy sidewalk crowded with holiday shoppers and coffee shop goers.


2. While you're there, head two streets east to Fifth where you'll find the nearly-hidden home of Bierberg Christmas Cookies. This fourth-generation Old-World enterprise is open only three months of the year (October - December). Duck into their tiny front office for some tasty samples and memorable holiday treats.


3. It wouldn't be Christmas in the capital city without a little gawking at the statehouse Christmas tree. Then cross the street to the Riffe Center for some holiday theater. Sure, it's campy and native to many cities, but CATCO's performance of The Santaland Diaries is nothing short of delightful.


4. Give something back through Bethlehem on Broad. This multi-church holiday effort feeds 1200 families in our city and includes a big Christmas-day feast and a free call  home for anyone who needs it.


5. Since you're downtown, there's a good chance you are without a proper garage. So, it's also the time of year to spend a few minutes every morning with your neighbors. All cussing angrily at frozen over cars, banging about with flimsy plastic ice scrapers and lining up at bumpers to push one another out of the snow.