Comfest returned this year. Comfest celebrated a 50 year anniversary last weekend.

Comfest began in 1972 as a community concert founded with a group of political activists, artists, craftspeople, local business owners, musicians, and plenty of dreamers near 16th avenue off the Ohio State Campus.

Our Columbus Free Press was amongst the founders of Comfest.

Comfest’s principal goal aims for elimination of prejudice against people on the basis of age, class, ability, income, race, sex and sexual preference/orientation.

In 1983 Comfest relocated to Goodale Park in the Short North.

I know I like freedom, justice, and equality, and outdoor drinking.

Last year, Comfest existed virtually last year because of COVID.

It was really weird thinking about the fact all of Columbus wouldn’t drink together in 2021.

Everyone was stuck inside.

Last weekend, I looked at the Comfest program guide as 2022’s Comfest returned to the Short North.

I didn’t know which music group I would watch but I knew I would find vegan food.

The necessity of food insured this.

I took the number 1.

Once I arrived in the Short North, I stepped off the bus which was bustling because of Saturday’s Comfest.

I thought about the Short North as the center of BLM protests in 2020 which gave a conscious to neighborhood which was essentially a real estate developer’s idea of where people should watch bands, shop, drink, and eat.

BLM gave the Short North soul outside of art galleries and music venues.

I thought about while music and politics still interacted, politics were dominate while music had deferred to backing music during 2019-2022.

Columbus used to exist as a college town which needs constant rebuilding in terms of artistic achievement because people move.

The townies would provide the foundation for the next generations to understand a continuum of sound within the national, and local context.

I thought because of COVID our city completely lacked any tangible referencing regarding music.

Because shows just began performing after covid, there wasn’t really anyone that was riding momentum.

The momentum in Columbus exists within music: people oppose sexism, racism, and homophobia, and want to go outside.

Social justice still exists as the binding element within Columbus music….

That and a desire to leave our homes.

Once arriving I heard some dude rapping.

His rap name was Q something…

I laughed and walked around to find vegan food vendors.

I reminded myself:  I should skip writing about hip hop + Q-anon within this review.

I figured I would find food and enjoy Comfest within the entire organism.

I had an evolutionary moment where I didn’t feel like drinking last weekend aside from the Espolon and sprite earlier at bar earlier.

Instead of drinking, I walked around looking for vegan food.

There were thousands of humans in attendance. I navigated around a diverse assortment of people who wanted to drink outside and eat food.

They were shirtless women of all body builds.

Families with their children who I assumed explained boobs within breastfeeding.

There were hipsters looking as if they understood matching your clothes, and composing an image was something people did while shopping and dressing themselves.

Old hippies who looked as if their Watergate stories would be interesting if drugs hadn’t rendered incoherent thought a societal inconvenience.

There were old hippies who looked as if they understood the day to stop using drugs and were kinda polite to drug casualties. A habit I assumed was probably 50 years in refining.

You had normal adults who were familiar with the 70s from either growing up, their families or church.

Teenagers riding bikes, or scooters who had to look at their telephones to figure why their parents said they were attending a hippie festival.

Pop-punks, mall goths, and people who think anime should be perceived as an identify.

People used to complain about juggalos at Comfest but I feel like that subculture either only allows fans to attend Gatherings or morphed into something else.

I would mention each race specifically but the only difference from white people and everyone else seemed the desire to wear face paint and/or walk around in their underwear or a weird costume.

All of god’s children were walking under the trees and heavens.

Or Comfest was filled with homo sapiens who need food, companionship, and libation with vibrations from performers anchored the event.

I overheard a spoken word poet saying “somewhere experienced the sun’s wrath.”

I found an African food truck which had the words vegan next to an item. After looking at everything from the food truck’s sign, I developed a hunch regarding which were vegan foods.

A reggae band was playing from the stage.

I found the line for the African food truck while watching the reggae band.

The reggae band yelled some words which I recognized from a website’s message board which was attached to a blog where I wrote.

They were names of some who weren’t my friends and didn’t have anything to with me.

I could elaborate but I won’t.

I recognized the internet handles….

I wondered if my name was next.

Yup.

Then the reggae band sung “ANON, ANON. ANON.”

It occurred to me it was possible the Comfest community was making me feel welcome because I exist within this community as someone who writes for our Columbus Free Press.

I sat next to the Comfest museum and ate my food.

I mused reggae, punk, jazz and hip hop interpreting freedom, justice, and equality.

A binding element within organisms:

Human beings need oxygen, and sun.

Regardless of race, gender, sexual preference, education, sense of humor, clothing tastes, or political views…

Everyone needs a reason to venture outside.