Looking For Something to Do This Weekend? Look No Further than Natalie's Coal Fired Pizza.

Just admit it. You have no plans this weekend. And I know you have no plans this weekend. "How's that?" you say? See, I own a coffee shop and over the past two days I have asked around two hundred people, "What's going on this weekend? Anything fun going on?" Usually at least one person is going ice fishing on Hudson Bay or a tequila binge in Cabo. Not this weekend. Except for that one dude going to Lowe's to buy floor tile for his kitchen, the rest of us are BORING.

However, I have good news. Natalie's Coal Fired Pizza has put together one of the finest weekends of Columbus music you are likely to see until Comfest. If you are looking for great food, beer, & music, look no further.

So what's up?

Friday and Saturday night is Helling Yeah! A benefit/memorial show for the late Brett Helling, who was a beloved person, musician & employee at Natalie's. 100% of the proceeds go to benefit the American Federation of Suicide Prevention.

Friday night features: Winter Makes Sailors, Bicentennial Bear and The Kyle Sowashes

Saturday night: Colin Gawel, (yeah, that's me), The Moving Parts, Fisted Mister, The Whiles.

Trust me when I tell you, I am the least talented person on this bill. So if you like what I do, you will love the other acts.

Click here to read a story about the event by Andy Downing for the Columbus Alive.

And here is when it gets crazy....Sunday might be better than Friday and Saturday.

Sunday brunch features the jazz stylings of the ultra-talented/ overall bad ass, Derek DiCenzo and his trio. FREE!

Sunday night features the one and only Tim Easton.  One of the best singer-songwriters on the planet.

Derick DiCenzo and Tim Easton on the same day. Sunday no less. Can I get a witness?

Click here to reserve you table and check out the fabulous Natalie's menu.

Buggy Eyes and a Big Butt: A 366 Movies Project

My friend Rob is going to watch 366 movies this leap year. I asked him questions about it. -Colin G.

What inspired you to take on this project?

Listening to the Doug Loves Movies podcast, mostly. Doug Benson took this challenge last year. He made it seem fun. I’d heard of people doing it before for blog content. But one movie a day felt like a chore. However, I watched 157 last year without trying. With a little focus and planning, 366 movies in as many days isn’t out of the question.

What is your strategy? One a day? Weekend marathons?  

It’ll be a mix of both. I decided to do this a week or two ago, so there was some catching up to do. In doing so I learned a valuable lesson: Don’t follow a double feature with a 4-hour movie. The 4-hour movie goes first, then more if I feel like it.

A new rule! Do you have any others?  

When watching at home, the phone and tablet are set out of reach. The point is to watch the movie. Not have it playing in the background. 

Are you counting new movies only or also ones you choose to re-watch?  

Only ones I haven’t seen will count. This is an opportunity to see movies I’ve been meaning to see, “classics” I probably should have seen by now and whatever else crosses my path. I’m looking forward to my Netflix queue getting cut down in a substantial way. Now all the “I’d like to see that” titles will stop collecting dust. 

Is Netflix your main source outside of the movie theater?  

Mostly, yeah. The rental and streaming service. There are a few on my initial list that aren’t available in either form but can be rented from Amazon digitally. The Hulu stream has many movies from the Criterion Collection. Though, being Criterion, I think they prefer I call them “films,” but either way, I got plenty of movin’ pi’tures ta take a gander at. [laughs hysterically]

[stares blankly] Getting back to strategy, is your initial list mapped out to the day?  

No, it’s whatever I feel like at that moment. I think forcing a schedule would take the fun out of it. If I don’t get to a title after this, chances are I wasn’t too keen to watch it in the first place.

Are you planning any themes, spotlight a particular director or performer? 

A few days ago I came across a pledge to watch 52 movies made by women. I’ve got room for that and more. There are four lists of great suggestions at womeninfilm.org. Beyond that, nothing officially planned.

Finally, we’re almost through January. How are you doing?  

I’m on pace. Might even be a movie ahead. 

What has been you favorite so far? 

Monte Walsh. Lee Marvin and Jack Palance are cowboys at a crossroad. The Old West is becoming The Settled West. They have to decide to settle with it or contiune with the only life they’ve known. It’d make a great double feature with Unforgiven. 

Sounds good. Will you keep us updated on your progress?

Yeah, I'll check in every couple weeks or so.

Cool.

Q&A Intro, 1-17, 18-36, 37-51, 52-66, 67-74, 75-87, 88-103, 104-120, 121-131, 132-152, 153-173, 174-187, 188-221, 222-255, 256-287, 288-314, 315-341, 342-366, Index

The 50-50 Squad: The Good and Bad of a Young OSU Basketball Team - James A. Baumann

1) What makes this Buckeye team so fun to watch?
It's fun to watch young, athletic, and talented players come together, and grow as a team. Want to enjoy this team? Consider every win an overachievement.  

Case in point, this year:  Kam Williams is turning into DeShaun Thomas, just shorter and with a mohawk. I'm hoping that somewhere he has a tattoo that reads "Shoot to get hot. Shoot to stay hot."
Daniel Giddens and Jae'Sean Tate are becoming fan favorites simply through the effort. Trevor Thompson has been a nice addition as well. Part of this may be fans still shaking off their Amir Williams hangover, but the development will be fun to watch.
The crowd gasps with about every move Mickey Mitchell makes. He still needs to slow down a bit and let the game come to him, but we've got the slackjawed yokels from the NCAA to thank for that.
You are going to have to look long and hard to find any college player quicker with the dribble than A.J. Harris is. 
I'm a huge Thad Matta fan and, even though he says he's not wearing a tie this year to avoid the temptation of hanging himself, I have faith in him coaching these players up.

2) What makes this Buckeye team so frustrating to watch?
It's frustrating to watch young, athletic, and talented players make so many ridiculous mistakes.

Case in point, this year:
The Indiana and Maryland games were embarrassing. I'm not sure that Maryland isn't 20 to 30 points better than Ohio State, but it's been a long time since you saw a team with that collective deer-in-the-headlights look. 
If you told me that JaQuan Lyle was going to get a triple double this year, I would have bet multiple Schottenstein Center $8 beers that one of those categories would have been turnovers. Already this year I have seen him dribble the ball off his leg and out of bounds before he crosses half court more times than I have seen in all my collective years of watching basketball. For every nice pass he has made, he's thrown another one directly into a defender's chest.His defense and outside shot is suspect at best. I'm typing this during Thursday's Purdue game and earlier Tate was bringing the ball up the court instead of Lyle. That probably means something. Of course, I'm the same guy who called Evan Turner "Evan Turnover" most of his freshman year. I'm still hoping to be proved wrong. (*Note: the second I typed that phrase, Lyle had his pocket picked while he was more than 30 feet from the hoop. So, yeah. That happened.)
Marc Loving and K'aite Bates Diop are being asked to do more than they probably are ready to at this point in their career. Imagine if D'Angelo Russell was still on this team and they could be number two scoring options behind him and be on the receiving end of a drive-draw-and-dish for wide-open three pointers. When there is less than 10 seconds on the shot clock, which Buckeye do you want to have the ball in his hands? I don't know. I'm not sure they do either.
Giddens is built like those plastic figures that blow around outside car washes, and sometimes seems to have as much control over his extremities. Again, he's only going to get better -- and those lanky arms and legs will also provide about a dozen more "holy crap, how did he do that?!?!" moments before this season is over. But once the Big Ten season kicked in, he's been in perpetual foul trouble.

What might be driving Thad Matta the most crazy, though, is the spotty team defense. There have been very few steals and deflections to start any fast breaks, which should be a strength of this team. There is little pressure on the ball on the perimeter. And, once the perimeter defender is beaten on the dribble, when Giddens or Thompson comes over for the block attempt, even if they cause a miss, nobody is rotating down, so their man is getting the easy rebound and put-back. In those two non-conference home losses, the other team's best play was to drive past Lyle, throw the shot off the backboard, and get the rebound.

3) The Buckeyes  slide into the big dance this year if....
First I don't see this happening. After the Kentucky game, their chances were at their highest point. But considering the Indiana and Maryland losses -- and the fact that the Kentucky win looks less impressive as they took a few more losses on the chin -- it's an outside shot at best. It would take a couple more signature wins in the Big Ten season and then, probably also playing on Sunday in the Big Ten tournament to earn any consideration. 

I'm not going to deny the prestige of continually making the NCAA tournament, but a deep run in the NIT tournament could give these youngsters two more weeks of practice than a first round loss in the big dance. 

4) Other points?
I wrote most of this during the Purdue game and, in retrospect, it served as a pretty good microcosm of what the year is likely to hold. They went on the road into a really hostile environment -- though probably not as hostile as practice has been the last few days after the Maryland whooping -- and fought hard. They were outsized, but had flurries of being hot from the field. They had a lead and a true chance to win the game, but down the stretch their youth reared its ugly head. Purdue made shots. Buckeyes missed theirs. It reminded me of the Memphis game earlier in the year. 

5) The Farmers Almanac predicts the 2017 snowfall and Buckeye basketball team to be above or below average?

Considering how the weather has been the past couple of years, everyone should just replace the almanac with a Magic 8 Ball. Related, I think the Magic 8 Ball would say of next year's Buckeye hoops team, "Outlook Good." Everyone will be back -- it would have been wonderful to have Kobi Simmons joining them -- and we know the best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores. So the team will be better and will win more games. Now, "good" is also relative to what happens with other teams in the league in terms of graduating players and those that leave early for the draft (look at Wisconsin this year).  So, long story short, 2017 will be the next step in this team's growth. In the meantime, I'm feeling that this year will be the one that real fans will point  to when we look down our nose at all the bandwagon jumpers in 2018.

Colin and Joe to Discuss Hitless Wonder Live w/ The Rock n Roll Book Club Tuesday Jan 26th at the U.A. Library

The Rock n Roll Book Club will be doing a live taping of their acclaimed podcast Tuesday January 26th at the Upper Arlington Library on Tremont Road. The episode will feature the book: Hitless Wonder - A Life in Minor League Rock n Roll with author Joe Oestreich joining the conversation via Skype. Watershed member Colin Gawel will also be on hand to play a few tunes. Complimentary coffee will be provided by Colin's Coffee.

Admission is FREE and the show starts at 7pm.

Click here to visit the Rock n Roll Book Club

Click here to read about the Rock n Roll Book Club in the Columbus Alive.

Dale "Buffin" Griffin of Mott The Hoople / 1948-2016 - by Ricki C.

(editor’s note: For those of you who don’t get a big enough dose of Ricki C. on Pencilstorm, Ricki will be co-hosting – along with founders Curt Schieber & Bill Eichenberger - the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Invisible Hits Hour on CD102.5 this coming Sunday night, January 24, from 9 to 10 pm.  Ricki will – one would imagine – be soundly badmouthing & dismissing much of the music released in the last quarter century.)  

As evidenced by the tickets above, when I was 21 years old in May 1974 I saw The New York Dolls at Vet’s Memorial one weekend and The Eagles and Mott The Hoople two successive nights at Mershon Auditorium the next weekend.  I find it an astounding coincidence that two members of those bands – Glenn Frey of The Eagles and Dale “Buffin” Griffin of Mott – would die on the same day 42 years later.

Many Pencilstorm readers – given my oft-repeated venomous attacks on Henley and Frey & company – are probably asking themselves, “What the hell was Ricki C. doing at an Eagles show to begin with?”  I have a short answer to that query.  In May 1974 I liked The New York Dolls and The Eagles exactly the same amount for exactly the same reason: both bands played short, well-written 3 minute rock & roll songs in the midst of heavy metal, prog-rock, and boogie bands, or oh-so-winsome male & female folkie singer-songwriters.  They just happened to write those 3 minute songs about different things: The Eagles about tequila & sunrises, and The Dolls about heroin & subways.  (In the end, the Dolls won out in my affections, largely because they had the good sense to break up in a narcotized haze rather than become wealthy & tedious as The Eagles did.)

In the middle of all that was Mott The Hoople, a band I loved beyond all comprehension.  And I don’t use the phrase “middle of all that” lightly or accidentally.  I always wondered in the early 1970’s why Mott wasn’t HUGE.  From my catbird seat here in the 21st century I can see it all quite clearly:  Mott were WAY too smart for the lunkhead stoner boogie brigade of Grand Funk Railroad or Foghat, but ROCKED far too hard for the Crosby, Stills & Nash or Joan Baez set.  They dressed way too cool for the blue-jean & chambray shirt Eagles hordes, but not nearly gay enough for the Bowie & Dolls glam-jammers.  It had to be galling for Mott leader Ian Hunter to watch his former opening act – Freddie Mercury fronting Queen – to dumb down Mott’s precariously balanced blend of intelligence, power & passion to the lowest-common-denominator pablum of “We Will Rock You” and go right past Mott The Hoople in terms of popularity and into the rock stratosphere of arenas and stadiums.                     

Anyway, I could go on like this all night, but I’ve reached my 500-word limit, and I have to come to a point.  That point is: I’m sure you all heard on the internet or on Entertainment Tonight about Glenn Frey passing away.  And I certainly don’t begrudge Frey that notoriety: he was a Detroit rocker boy who played maracas on The Bob Seger System’s “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” when he was still in high school.  The point is, you might NOT have heard about Dale “Buffin” Griffin, the drummer of Mott The Hoople dying, because – even by Mott’s own admission – they were a “loser’s band” and history is written by the winners.    

The point is, I can only ask you to watch the videos below or to call up the album MOTT on your Rhapsody or Spotify playlist, and to maybe raise a glass to our dear, departed Buffin.  – Ricki C. / January 21st, 2016.   

I saw Mott The Hoople do this "Sweet Angeline" stage bit – bringing a woman out of the audience for Ian Hunter to sing the last verse to – twice, in 1973 and 1974.  It went great both times: the participants were twentyish/age appropriate, loved being onstage with the band, reveled in being serenaded by Ian. The teenager in this video, however, is THE MOST uncomfortable human being I have ever seen in a rock video.  I've seen hostage situations and/or prison footage where people appear to be having a better time than this girl.  Hilarious & rocking.  (note: "Angeline" begins at the 4-minute mark, but is well worth the wait.)

Quite simply, one of my Top 20 favorite songs of all time, and definitely the best song about a band breaking up EVER.