In California’s Bay Area, where I grew up, a single adult movie ticket costs $13.25. In Columbus Ohio, where I currently live, a single adult movie ticket (with my student discount) costs $3. On Tuesdays, popcorn is free. The...
Out of the 90 minutes I spend talking with didi, 30 are consumed by parking troubles. Circling foggy blocks in the Richmond District ahead of the group’s San Francisco show, guitarist/vocalist Meg Zakany tries fitting their tour van into...
As the dusk of May began to fall on Ohio, I discovered fireflies. The first time I saw them, flickering across my cobbled neighborhood street, my overjoyed reaction made my roommate laugh: pointing and squealing like a kid, I...
This is how I wrote this review: I listened to If I Had Known for an entire day, ears devouring my headphones as I walked from my office, to get food, to my home, and again as I rode...
All photos by Kaiya Gordon Over the past eight and a half months I’ve spent living in and writing about Columbus, I’ve been introduced to so many crevices of the city’s arts and music scene, each one as remarkable...
Weeks ago, I teared up while hearing Columbus poet Hanif Abdurraqib read an essay about a Columbus pop-punk band. That band was not The Sidekicks, but as I listen to The Sidekicks’ latest single, “Twin’s Twist,” I can’t help...
“This is a weird time,” Alex Paquet tells me as we sit down over coffee to talk about his musical project, Field Sleeper. “I’m not usually this bright of a person. There was a very long time – a...
Their first album since 2015’s Back to Dreaming, Damn the Witch Siren’s latest release, Red Magic is brooding and addictive. The band’s tags on Bandcamp almost say it all: “electronic, electropop, pop, sex, witch rock, Columbus,” they read. But...
Columbus’ Saintseneca has grown a lot since their start in 2007. But when they returned to Columbus on tour, playing two sold-out nights at Ace of Cups, it was clear that their hometown base hasn’t budged. Joined by two...
“Columbus isn’t Columbus without you love,” Annie Clark sang, opening her 2017 single “New York” cabaret-style, stripped of her guitar, video projections, and samples. “It’s called ‘New York,'” Clark explained, “but you could substitute Columbus for it, and make...
In (yet another) year where coverage of trans lives vacillated between stories of hyper-visible trans people – wealthy “success” stories, wearied activists and advocates, public artists struggling through waves of aggression and hate – and mournful eulogies (22 trans women...
Vada Azeem is irrevocably tied to Columbus. After growing up on the Northeast side of the city, Azeem studied at the Columbus College of Art & Design for a year, and then mentored youth at the Central Community House...
Whether you think Columbus is as cold as I do (@ me, midwesterners) or not, shorter days and darker skies can drag at anyone’s energy. And for those estranged from family or friends, this time of year is especially...
I drifted into a nap at 3pm on Saturday, December 9th, waking an hour later to find all of Columbus covered in snow. I freaked out – it was cold, and I’m Californian, and I didn’t understand how the...
All photos by Kaiya Gordon “Y’all Ohioans know how to do rock bands in a way the rest of the country is trying to catch up to,” said Caleb Cordes of Sinai Vessel on Sunday night at the Ace...
