offbeat columbus

catch an advance, “pay-what-you-can” preview of available light’s new production, a lonely crowd, at 8:00 pm tonight at the columbus dance theatre. opens friday.

sunday, june 17th
6:00 - 12:00

greek orthodox cathedral
555 n high st

this is wholly off-topic, but it’s HOT and it’s a three-day weekend and we feel like waxing nostalgic, so in observation of the unofficial start of summer, here’s the unofficial soundtrack from ‘06:

dj eleven: summer madness

one track, 80 minutes, 36 jukebox jams from yesteryear. eleven’s all over the map here, genre-wise — r & b to reggae to ’90s hip-hop and beyond — but you’ll find he mostly keeps it together with panache.

rating: essential

1. Sam Cooke “Summertime”
2. Bob Marley “Sun Is Shining”
3. Devin The Dude “Lacville 79”
4. The Isley Brothers “Summerbreeze”
5. The Originals “Sunrise”
6. Freddie Hughes “Sarah Mae”
7. Ahmed “Back in the Day”
8. Quincy Jones “Summer in the City”
9. Outkast “West Savannah”
10. Main Source “Just Hanging Out”
11. Smokey Robinson “Cruisin”
12. EWF “Sun Goddess”
13. Hi-Tek & Common “Sun God”
14. Wiiliam Devaughn “Be Thankful For What You Got”
15. Brand Nubian “Wake Up (Reprise in the Sunshine)”
16. Commodores “High on Sunshine”
17. De La Soul “Sunshine”
18. Naughty By Nature “Feel Me Flow”
19. Eugene “Here Comes The Sun”
20. Kool & the Gang “Summer Madness”
21. Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince “Summertime”
22. Beyonce & Ghostface “Summertime”
23. Pete Rock & CL Smooth “Take You There”
24. Bill Withers “Lovely Day”
25. Blackbyrds “Dreaming About You”
26. Sade “Kiss Of Life”
27. De La Soul “Pass the Plugs”
28. Raphael Saadiq “Skyy, Can You Feel Me?”
29. War “Summer”
30. Digital Underground feat. 2Pac “Same Song”
31. Osibisa “Sunshine Day”
32. Stevie Wonder “A Place in the Sun”
33. Marvin Gaye “Got To Give It up”
34. Bob Marley “Is This Love?”
35. Sanchez “Here I Am”
36. Roy Ayers “Everybody Loves The Sunshine”

thirsty?

been to the new northstar so much since we’ve been back i think kevin’s getting sick of us. a little too convenient? nah — more like we’re real lazy. but it’s a pleasant stroll through the ravine after a full day’s work.

in additon to the homemade ginger ale (pic courtesy of bryan fenstermacher) which is offered at a higher price point here due to the substitution of bottled pellegrino for soda water, they’ve been featuring a couple specials recently, subject to availability:

an asparagus side of sorts, which i haven’t tried yet;

and an artichoke appetizer, perfectly grilled, with a delectable remoulade that, in the vexing parlance of our times, might be regarded as ‘off the chizzle?’ worth the price of admission, times two.

it’ll be interesting to see how relaxing it is outside with close proximity of 35-mph traffic once the patio furniture arrives…

lastly, that double-chocolate truffle. it’s neither new nor exlusive to the clintonville location; in fact, the restaurant widow’s already written about it with trademark erudition (and accompanying pictures that often border on the perverse; i hesitate to invoke gastroporn because of the connotation, but i do so in admiration of her work), but goddamn is it good! the baked goods are always time-stamped, and even when a couple hours have passed since baking, the chocolately insides are gooey without fail. i’m going to go out on a limb here and say these are the best cookies in columbus…

…and talk about filling a niche, how about this juicy tidbit regarding a favorite restaurateur of ours, from this week’s other paper:

Tip Top Kitchen is less than a week old, but Lessner already has her eye on Clintonville for her next project.

“We look at what the neighborhoods need,” she said. “We’re just filling a niche.”

righto! more on the tip top next.

from the tip top’s myspace page…

OPEN ON FRIDAY @ 5pm

Hey all…

Thanks for your patience.

We open softly on Friday…cocktails only as we get our feet wet and tempt you with free munchies as our chefs train in the kitchen…hours are 5pm-2:30am nightly until our kitchen is 100%. We ask patience, we promise love.

Thanks, Columbus!

Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails

Elizabeth, Tim and Chuck

and also some chatter on cu

pinch the tail, suck the head

big chief

vaughan’s lounge, upper 9th ward

jug band, jackson square

rosey’s diner

walter wolfman washington, d.b.a.

soulive, tipitina’s, 4:54 a.m.

watermelon man

a young ian neville, blue nile, 5:19 a.m

[ed. note: these few pictures do NOT even begin to tell half the story. nor do they do the city justice. go check it out for yourself.]