Photos: Chris Jones
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Quick Read
Saturday’s front page proves (like it needed more proving) that one rotten apple can spoil the entire bunch…. Alan Johnson (Ohio pay cuts will affect everyone), Rita Price (Homeless Housing), and Jack Torry (Mayor Coleman vowing to fight for the stimulus money) type excellent pieces… Unfortunately, their stellar work is offset by Barbara Carmen’s “Property Profiles,” a story that uses four-year-old data, which will be recalculated in two years… The atrocious column should have never been written…
Elizabeth Gibson starts metro with an outstanding story on the Columbus School Board candidates, who now cannot run due to invalid signatures… Suzanne Hoholik’s story concerning Mount Carmel cutting programs is solid… However, Dean Narcisco’s piece on Ohio Libraries, should have been buried on D8… No way it’s a metro front story…
Michael Arasace’s column on Tyler Wright, a name most Columbus hockey fans know, but might have forgotten is exquisite … Not as exquisite, Tim May’s piece of on the lack of name identification in this year’s college basketball freshman class… The piece has a great angle… but, like its subject matter, is unmemorable…
Life and Arts feature on the just concluded New York Fashion Weeks is the edition’s most informative… Apparently, black is the new green…
Elizabeth Gibson starts metro with an outstanding story on the Columbus School Board candidates, who now cannot run due to invalid signatures… Suzanne Hoholik’s story concerning Mount Carmel cutting programs is solid… However, Dean Narcisco’s piece on Ohio Libraries, should have been buried on D8… No way it’s a metro front story…
Michael Arasace’s column on Tyler Wright, a name most Columbus hockey fans know, but might have forgotten is exquisite … Not as exquisite, Tim May’s piece of on the lack of name identification in this year’s college basketball freshman class… The piece has a great angle… but, like its subject matter, is unmemorable…
Life and Arts feature on the just concluded New York Fashion Weeks is the edition’s most informative… Apparently, black is the new green…
Familiarity Breeds Comfort
Essentially, bars are the same. They distinguish themselves on the excellence of things not seen. The connection you enjoy with the bartenders and servers. The casual conversation you have with a manager. The impression you absorb as you look at a throng of strangers, who are enjoying the evening with you…
I want to walk into the bar that remembers my name, what I drink, what my job is… There are very few venues like that in this city… Mostly, walking into a bar is like checking into airport…. And if you order something more complicated than a bottled beer, you’re lucky if you get it by Thursday…
Thankfully, the Frog Bear and Wild Boar Bar is that ideal place myself (or anyone else in their right mind) covet… Upon my arrival, the doorperson shakes my hand… Jeff, one of the best promotions people in this city, remembers what I drink, and orders me one… And for the next six hours I am never without a conversation or a drink…
It’s this attention to detail that makes Frog Bear and Wild Boar such a spectacular venue… And the attention to detail is personified by Owners Tom Selvaggio and David Allsbrooks, two people whom I’ve spent hours talking with in the past two weeks… I could have spent five minutes and still comprehended the joy with which they approach their occupation….
Most nightlife owners see their venues as cash registers… They simply ring the bell and take the money… They are content to count that money, never interacting with a single customer… Selvaggio and Allsbrooks are the exact opposite… They interact, they talk, and they are visible… They not only genuinely enjoy their jobs… They appreciate everyone who chooses their venue, over the hundred other choices in this city…
And on this night, those hundred other choices must have been vacant… After speaking with Tom for an hour, David for a half hour and Jeff for at minimum, twenty minutes, I started to take stock of the bunny population… And the stocks were at record highs… Whether I was walking through the stage area or the nightclub area or the hallway leading into the tiki room, the bunnies were everywhere…
As I’ve said before, I always judge venues on energy as opposed to crowd population… Tonight, the two were equals… Every room was a constant buzz of conversation and a continuous banquet for the eyes… (Did I mention there were bunnies)… Whether the pack was two or four or ten, the array of bunnies was stunning…
Also stunning was the unequaled crown jewel of Frog Bear and Wild Boar… (Anyone want to guess who I’m talking about?)… Amidst one of my many conversations with Tom (who is a tremendous conversation), I felt a smack on my hand… I look toward the bar and it’s Abbi… exemplary, exquisite, superb Abbi… We talked about the previous column and then I had to ask… Why did she switch from jeans and a gray t-shirt to a black pants and a black shirt with Carolina blue piping? “It’s Frog Bear’s birthday,” she responded… (For those of us who looked at her in that outfit the rest of the night, Thank Goodness it was Frog Bear’s Birthday)…
Now, if you read this morning (and I’ve seen our traffic numbers, I know you did)… You know I labeled Lodge’s Kadi the crown princess… I know what you’re thinking… Is Abbi equal to her, is she a step below or above… Abbi is in her own category… She has an appearance that is unrivaled and a personality that is more delicious than any two-pound box of chocolates that anyone received last weekend… Without question, Lodge’s Kadi is the crown princess… But, Abbi is the duchess…
And Abbi wasn’t the only adorable kitten Frog Bear and Wild Boar had behind their bar (although Abbi was the most adorable)… One was dressed in black sequins and a skirt, which I don’t believe could have gotten any shorter… The other was dressed in a virtually backless gray ensemble that made at least four bunny chasers stare (and those were the only one I saw)… If someone out there has the names of either one of those, I would love them for future reference…
With the crowd’s energy continuing to increase, the Seventeenth Floor finally took and the stage… And they were worth waiting for… While the lead singer’s choice of cap was questionable (he wore a bright yellow and dark blue, no not Michigan, Milwaukee Brewers hat), the band’s brilliance is not… Their intensity, their working of the crowd were unparalleled, even by Frog Bear and Wild Boar standards (and that’s saying something)…
The trickiest element in judging any rap, be the vocalist solo or ensemble, is the set list… If the selections are overly gangster and push the thug envelope, I am immediately disinterested… However, if the selections are a compilation of Will Smith’s greatest hits, I am immediately disinterested… The set must possess balance… Hard enough that I know I am enjoying rap… Soft enough that I am not in fear for my life…
The Seventeenth Floor passed the test… They aced the test… From “The Cupid Shuffle” to “Get Low…” From “Gin and Juice” to “Forgot About Dre…” Their play list was perfection… There is something about a great hip-hop song… The unorthodox chords move you and you remember, not just the moment, but also the feeling the first time you heard the song… Listening to Seventeenth Floor’s renditions, that special intensity, which only rap possesses, crackled in the air…
As I swapped the electricity of Frog Bear and Wild Boar’s crowd and Seventeenth Floor’s selections for the frigid (ok, not deadly, but still unwanted) air of February, I walked with two thoughts… Seventeenth Floor needs to perform again live and soon… And Frog Bear, given their excellence, deserves another seven days of birthday celebrations…
I want to walk into the bar that remembers my name, what I drink, what my job is… There are very few venues like that in this city… Mostly, walking into a bar is like checking into airport…. And if you order something more complicated than a bottled beer, you’re lucky if you get it by Thursday…
Thankfully, the Frog Bear and Wild Boar Bar is that ideal place myself (or anyone else in their right mind) covet… Upon my arrival, the doorperson shakes my hand… Jeff, one of the best promotions people in this city, remembers what I drink, and orders me one… And for the next six hours I am never without a conversation or a drink…
It’s this attention to detail that makes Frog Bear and Wild Boar such a spectacular venue… And the attention to detail is personified by Owners Tom Selvaggio and David Allsbrooks, two people whom I’ve spent hours talking with in the past two weeks… I could have spent five minutes and still comprehended the joy with which they approach their occupation….
Most nightlife owners see their venues as cash registers… They simply ring the bell and take the money… They are content to count that money, never interacting with a single customer… Selvaggio and Allsbrooks are the exact opposite… They interact, they talk, and they are visible… They not only genuinely enjoy their jobs… They appreciate everyone who chooses their venue, over the hundred other choices in this city…
And on this night, those hundred other choices must have been vacant… After speaking with Tom for an hour, David for a half hour and Jeff for at minimum, twenty minutes, I started to take stock of the bunny population… And the stocks were at record highs… Whether I was walking through the stage area or the nightclub area or the hallway leading into the tiki room, the bunnies were everywhere…
As I’ve said before, I always judge venues on energy as opposed to crowd population… Tonight, the two were equals… Every room was a constant buzz of conversation and a continuous banquet for the eyes… (Did I mention there were bunnies)… Whether the pack was two or four or ten, the array of bunnies was stunning…
Also stunning was the unequaled crown jewel of Frog Bear and Wild Boar… (Anyone want to guess who I’m talking about?)… Amidst one of my many conversations with Tom (who is a tremendous conversation), I felt a smack on my hand… I look toward the bar and it’s Abbi… exemplary, exquisite, superb Abbi… We talked about the previous column and then I had to ask… Why did she switch from jeans and a gray t-shirt to a black pants and a black shirt with Carolina blue piping? “It’s Frog Bear’s birthday,” she responded… (For those of us who looked at her in that outfit the rest of the night, Thank Goodness it was Frog Bear’s Birthday)…
Now, if you read this morning (and I’ve seen our traffic numbers, I know you did)… You know I labeled Lodge’s Kadi the crown princess… I know what you’re thinking… Is Abbi equal to her, is she a step below or above… Abbi is in her own category… She has an appearance that is unrivaled and a personality that is more delicious than any two-pound box of chocolates that anyone received last weekend… Without question, Lodge’s Kadi is the crown princess… But, Abbi is the duchess…
And Abbi wasn’t the only adorable kitten Frog Bear and Wild Boar had behind their bar (although Abbi was the most adorable)… One was dressed in black sequins and a skirt, which I don’t believe could have gotten any shorter… The other was dressed in a virtually backless gray ensemble that made at least four bunny chasers stare (and those were the only one I saw)… If someone out there has the names of either one of those, I would love them for future reference…
With the crowd’s energy continuing to increase, the Seventeenth Floor finally took and the stage… And they were worth waiting for… While the lead singer’s choice of cap was questionable (he wore a bright yellow and dark blue, no not Michigan, Milwaukee Brewers hat), the band’s brilliance is not… Their intensity, their working of the crowd were unparalleled, even by Frog Bear and Wild Boar standards (and that’s saying something)…
The trickiest element in judging any rap, be the vocalist solo or ensemble, is the set list… If the selections are overly gangster and push the thug envelope, I am immediately disinterested… However, if the selections are a compilation of Will Smith’s greatest hits, I am immediately disinterested… The set must possess balance… Hard enough that I know I am enjoying rap… Soft enough that I am not in fear for my life…
The Seventeenth Floor passed the test… They aced the test… From “The Cupid Shuffle” to “Get Low…” From “Gin and Juice” to “Forgot About Dre…” Their play list was perfection… There is something about a great hip-hop song… The unorthodox chords move you and you remember, not just the moment, but also the feeling the first time you heard the song… Listening to Seventeenth Floor’s renditions, that special intensity, which only rap possesses, crackled in the air…
As I swapped the electricity of Frog Bear and Wild Boar’s crowd and Seventeenth Floor’s selections for the frigid (ok, not deadly, but still unwanted) air of February, I walked with two thoughts… Seventeenth Floor needs to perform again live and soon… And Frog Bear, given their excellence, deserves another seven days of birthday celebrations…
Friday, February 20, 2009
Forced Vacations Settled, Set For Vote?
NBC 4: State employees may soon be voting on a plan to help balance the state budget at their own expense. Published reports indicate that state negotiators have reached a tentative agreement with the largest state employee union that would spare state workers from an outright pay cut, but require them to take ten days off without pay...
Neither the governor’s office, the Ohio Department of Administration or the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association will confirm or deny the details of the negotiations. Both sides agreed not to tell the media or public until after a deal is reached.
After proposing state employee pay cuts as high as 6 percent to balance his budget, Gov. Ted Strickland continues to look for ways to save the state $163 million in employee concessions. If workers take ten days off without pay, it would amount to a nearly 4 percent pay cut. A state employee making $50,000 a year would lose nearly $2,000 in taxable income.
Nearly 25,000 of the more than 60,000 state employees are based in Franklin County, with thousands more in surrounding counties. How would the days off affect state services? Would offices be closed for days at a time or would employees spread out their days off to continue operations, or would the state simply not pay workers for state-recognized holidays?
While critics of the budget said Strickland needs to cut programs and departments, rather than simply cut workers’ hours, the governor’s office will not acknowledge the details of the negotiations or how government will be impacted. OCSEA’s 35,000 members must first vote to approve any deal.
The impact of a furlough could potentially have a huge impact on area businesses as well. Inside Broad Street Bagels, roughly seven out of every ten customers is a state employee, and manager Phil Kukucka said the business averages 350 to 400 people a day when state employees are working.
Neither the governor’s office, the Ohio Department of Administration or the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association will confirm or deny the details of the negotiations. Both sides agreed not to tell the media or public until after a deal is reached.
After proposing state employee pay cuts as high as 6 percent to balance his budget, Gov. Ted Strickland continues to look for ways to save the state $163 million in employee concessions. If workers take ten days off without pay, it would amount to a nearly 4 percent pay cut. A state employee making $50,000 a year would lose nearly $2,000 in taxable income.
Nearly 25,000 of the more than 60,000 state employees are based in Franklin County, with thousands more in surrounding counties. How would the days off affect state services? Would offices be closed for days at a time or would employees spread out their days off to continue operations, or would the state simply not pay workers for state-recognized holidays?
While critics of the budget said Strickland needs to cut programs and departments, rather than simply cut workers’ hours, the governor’s office will not acknowledge the details of the negotiations or how government will be impacted. OCSEA’s 35,000 members must first vote to approve any deal.
The impact of a furlough could potentially have a huge impact on area businesses as well. Inside Broad Street Bagels, roughly seven out of every ten customers is a state employee, and manager Phil Kukucka said the business averages 350 to 400 people a day when state employees are working.
Mardi Gras 2009: McFadden’s
“Booze, Beads, & Bad Behavior”Commencement: 9:00
Venue: McFadden’s (South Campus)
Most Beads receives $250
Drinks (Available All Night)
$5 Hurricane Pitchers
$3 Corona
Mardi Gras 2009: Sugar Bar
Commencement: 10:00Venue: Sugar Bar (525 Park Street)
VIP Access: Text (406-3072)
10,000 Beads Available
Most Beads receives cash prize
Mezzanine Drinks (Available 10:30 – 11:30 p.m.)
$1 Top Shelf Drinks
INVITE: Celebrating Seven Years
“It’s Our Birthday and We’re Throwing the Party”Commencement: 9:00
Venue: Frog Bear & Wild Boar (343 N Front Street)
Performances
The Websters
Venue: Frog Bear & Wild Boar (343 N Front Street)
Performances
The Websters
Snafu & Snow
NBC 4: The Franklin County Elections Board quickly verified the issues and candidates that are qualified to appear on the May Primary ballot. It will take a little longer to replace some polling places that are now not usable because the City of Columbus closed them. The thirteen recreation centers the city closed in a budget cutting measure this month all represent at least one polling place. With those spots off limits, other handicapped accessible places must be found. The new voting locations must be found and voters notified of the change of location in advance of the May 5th election.
The city closes recreation centers to save money, but their budget solution actually creates another problem…
10 TV: Snow will spread into Ohio overnight and early Saturday, with a light accumulation along and north of Interstate 70, according to Live Doppler 10 meteorologist Chris Bradley. Overnight low temperatures will drop to 21 degrees. Models are trending toward a warmer high temperature on Saturday, and that means more of a mix to freezing rain or rain in the Columbus area, Bradley said. Snowfall accumulations will be light in the Columbus area, with a slushy inch possible.
Can’t the snow just go away and stay away?
The city closes recreation centers to save money, but their budget solution actually creates another problem…
10 TV: Snow will spread into Ohio overnight and early Saturday, with a light accumulation along and north of Interstate 70, according to Live Doppler 10 meteorologist Chris Bradley. Overnight low temperatures will drop to 21 degrees. Models are trending toward a warmer high temperature on Saturday, and that means more of a mix to freezing rain or rain in the Columbus area, Bradley said. Snowfall accumulations will be light in the Columbus area, with a slushy inch possible.
Can’t the snow just go away and stay away?
Quick Read
While two important stories, Governor Strickland’s proposed employee furloughs and Nationwide CEO’s resignation, are featured prominently, Jeb Phillips “Afghanistan: A Different Kind of War” is the front page’s star… The profile is bold and stark, painting the picture that even if we win there, we may not win there…
Mark Niquette and Jim Siegel’s tandem piece (metro) on Governor Strickland’s lost money is interesting… Equally interesting, Ann Fisher’s sidebar on property tax… Kathy Lynn Gray’s column on the Golden Hobby Shop remaining open, despite the recreation center closings, is excellent… Unfortunately, Metro collapses under the agony of Bill Bush’s mess about the census and Mark Ferenchik’s “Rubbish District,” about the university district suspending trash pickup…
Tom Reed commences sports with outstanding coverage of Ken Hitchcock’s 500th victory… Ken Gordon, compliments Reed’s piece nicely, typing an intriguing profile of Alex Boone and his attempt to recover from public humiliation…
Mark Niquette and Jim Siegel’s tandem piece (metro) on Governor Strickland’s lost money is interesting… Equally interesting, Ann Fisher’s sidebar on property tax… Kathy Lynn Gray’s column on the Golden Hobby Shop remaining open, despite the recreation center closings, is excellent… Unfortunately, Metro collapses under the agony of Bill Bush’s mess about the census and Mark Ferenchik’s “Rubbish District,” about the university district suspending trash pickup…
Tom Reed commences sports with outstanding coverage of Ken Hitchcock’s 500th victory… Ken Gordon, compliments Reed’s piece nicely, typing an intriguing profile of Alex Boone and his attempt to recover from public humiliation…
BREAKING: Taylor Won’t Seek Senate
Auditor Mary Taylor has decided against a 2010 Senate campaign, according to a Republican source. On January 19, Gossip CBUS reported that Taylor was actively exploring a potential bid. Our source cited internal party pressure as the reason for her reconsideration.
Lodge Bar All Access
On February 27, Snowed Inn will occur live via twitter… Join Gossip CBUS before you arrive, as you enjoy, and after you leave for an unprecedented view of this outstanding event.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
