2023 allows all to decide the future. We defeated Covid, inflation, and attempts at inducing fascism from inflation.

I'm still amazed at the year Columbus, Ohio ended up with, while turbulence existed after our nation decided a higher existence should come from evolving past these things.

2022 Columbus reminded itself of importance as an incubator of things everyone loves…

For example:

2022 year ended with the biggest concert I’ve ever witnessed in Columbus, Ohio.

Joe Walsh’s 6th Annual Vets Aide Concert sold-out Nationwide Arena November 13, 2022. Vets Aide featured an All-Ohio Line-Up.

I saw Walsh reunite the James Gang with special guest Dave Grohl, Nine Inch Nails, The Black Keys, The Breeders and the OSU Marching Band - “The Best Damn Band in the Land.”

VetsAid divided proceeds from the 2022 concert event into various sized grants and all recipients were chosen by Walsh and the board of VetsAid with the advice and counsel of the Combined Arms Institute.

Joe Walsh's national non-profit, announced the disbursement of $650,000 in grants to veterans services organizations based in Ohio.

Grant recipients were selected and announced just before the concert event last November. VetsAid disbursements are as follows:

$75,000 – Paralyzed Veterans of America, Buckeye Chapter – Home modification projects for Ohio veterans in need of improved home accessibility.

$75,000 – Semper Fi & America’s Fund – Financial assistance and life support for wounded, ill and injured Ohio veterans.

$75,000 – Travis Manion Foundation – Building out and increasing aid capacity of Columbus, OH chapter and Ohio programming at large. Includes youth development and mentorship programs, community gardening and food support.

$75,000 – Save a Warrior – Providing essential 72-hour intensive integrative intervention services as well as follow-up care for Ohio veterans struggling with thoughts of suicide triggered by mental health and other health concerns.

$75,000 – QL+ Foundation – Supporting practical scientific research projects at the Universities of Cincinnati and Dayton and Ohio University that will directly improve the quality of life of handicapped veterans and first responders in Ohio and across the country. Projects currently include: a Trail Accessibility App, a Wheelchair Protection Device, a Recumbent Headrest, a Modified Ski Boot and Wheelchair Skis.

$75,000 – Hire Heroes USA – Directly assisting Ohio veterans find jobs and succeed in the civilian workforce with salaries above $60K/annum through training and career coaching.

$75,000 – National Veterans Memorial & Museum - Improving accessibility to museum experiences, exhibits, programming and support services for Ohio veterans and military families.

$58,000 – Combined Arms – Streamlining the connection between Ohio veterans and their families from all branches of the military with the organizations and resources that best serve them.

$15,000 – Canine Companions – Connecting Ohio veterans with service animals at no cost to them.

$12,000 – VFW Post 9857, Columbus, OH – Refurbishing the floor of their facility so that they may continue to provide a 24 hour space for local veterans and their families to come together, enjoy free meals and connect with other veterans.

$5,000 – Stockhands Horses for Healing – Facilitating vital human and animal relationships through equine therapy and fellowship to Ohio veterans and first responders in need.

$5,000 – Resurrecting Lives Foundation – Coordinating mental health care, employment and training for transitioning Ohio veterans suffering from TBIs and thoughts of suicide.

$5,000 – Back the Heroes Rumble – Providing moral and financial support to the families of fallen military, police and firefighters throughout Ohio.

$5,000 – Task Force 20 – Facilitating physical fitness activities and general wellness for Ohio veterans dealing with PTSD and depression.

$5,000 – Pegasus Farm – Military Family Center – Supporting and empowering Ohio veterans with diverse needs through equine therapy, vocational services and recreational and social activities.

$5,000 – Rickenbacker Military Families – Supporting family programs and readiness at Rickenbacker Air National Guard base.

Providing support to organizations that care for America’s veterans as well as their families is personal for Walsh, himself a Gold Star survivor whose father died while on active duty in Okinawa when Walsh was just 20 months old. Walsh was raised for a time in Columbus as a child and made a point to bring the festival to his hometown and give back to the state where he first picked up a guitar and found success with the Cleveland-area James Gang.

In the days leading up to the concert event, Walsh held the James Gang’s first in-store appearance in 50+ years at a local record store, gave keynote speeches at the Veterans Day parade and the National Veterans Memorial & Museum and was celebrated with a street named in his honor in front of Nationwide Arena.

“VetsAid 2022 in Columbus will be a memory that my family and I will cherish forever and I am grateful to the bands that participated, Nationwide Arena and our friends at Ohio State. Ohio…will always be my home that I hope I can continue to make proud.” Walsh explains.

Columbus, Ohio spent a month basking in the fact that all these rockstars care about veterans, and Columbus, Ohio.

I don’t think any state hosted such an example of local talent as Columbus in 2022.

Rockstars weren’t the only examples of our region’s special sauce…

iO Reunion…

Writers from all over North America convened in Dayton, Ohio for the io graffiti crew reunion. I founded io.

I live in Columbus, Ohio.

I hadn’t rocked a graffiti burner since 2017.

If a picture is worth 1,000 words….then I am certain our flicks will make you appreciate Soy Not Oi, and several other dishes which are nutritious in vitamins, decadent in pleasure, and contain intricate processes.

Soy Not Oi recommends music with recipes.

I bumped music from my headphones, while painting in Dayton, riding the bus and attending shows.

Music I heard from my beats headphones:

Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Moral and the Big Steppers

I saw Kendrick rap at Schottenstien 5 minutes from where Joyce Beatty presented Rosa Parks at the Fawcett Center later in the year.

Kendrick's show combined Tupac Shakur with contemporary artist Kara Walker.

I realized Kendrick winning a Pulitzer Prize and releasing the last album of Lamar's TDE contract allowed an ambitious artistic release which wasn't reliant of commercial success.

Kendrick knew his artistic portfolio would build equity for his next release.

Black Thought and Danger Mouse - Cheat Codes

Danger Mouse in Ohio is like a relative because my DJ Przm/Daymon Dodson/Camu Columbus Rap fans knew of the Georgia beatmaker because Dangermouse performed with our artistic peers as a rap producer during the Definitive Jux Epoch which our city was an epicenter.

Later we found Danger Mouse could produce rock music.

Danger Mouse won Grammys with Ohio’s Black Keys who have heard rap music.

Black Thought and Danger Mouse’s album sounded like El-P reissued a Definitive Jux/Fat Possum album we’ve never heard before.

French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard died while I played Cheat Codes from a technic 1200 from my home within a 10 minute walk from where I later saw Beatty's Rosa Parks Tribute.

While perusing Cheat Codes, I watched a Godard movie with Danger Mouse rap song from the Jux era.

I didn't know our Hip Hop communities' proximity from a Godard creation.

After finding out Danger Mouse worked with Godard, I realized Cheat Codes coincided with a radio performance piece, I did where I played the French New Wave director’s audio clips in a manner which collaged extremism in American politics with NACC music.

This made contemplate Black Thought and Danger Mouse as Banksy-Hop. Dangermouse worked with Bansky before.

Black Thought and Danger Mouse are considered important in music.

I didn’t forget his feeling in a week.

Later, I attended Pusha T’s Columbus show within a bus ride of my building during the week Godard died from the number 1 line.

I thought Godard filmmaking inclusion of political extremes, beautiful women and style in a collage form found a kindred spirit in rap aesthetics.

Pusha’s verbal skills provided an interesting layer in regard of his proximities.

2022 Flex Beats Rotation

Kendrick Lamar - The Big Steppers and Mr. Moral

Earl Sweatshirt - Tabula Rasa

Denzel Curry w Saul Williams - Angels

Blackthought + Danger Mouse - Cheat Codes

Black Keys - Dropout Boogie

Pusha T - Brambleton

Flying Lotus - You Don’t Know

Turnstile - Mystery

Turnstile sold out the Express Live. Franz Lyons from Turnstile exists in part because of Columbus' punk rock, skateboard, and rap scene. I thought it was fitting Turnstile, and Danger Mouse have overlapping Ohio hip hop, and rock communities.

Ohio’s biggest show of the year in Columbus featured one of these overlaps....

The Black Keys - Dropout Boogie

The Black Keys, Nine Inch Nails, the Breeders, Dave Grohl and The James Gang enthralled a Vet’s Benefit concert at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

The Black Keys entered with GZA’s Liquid Swords then sequenced hits with new songs from The Black Key’s newest album, Drop Out Boogie.

While the Keys played a Gangstarr influenced song, Ex Girl, and Dropout Boogie's hit song: Wild Child....

.....I pondered Dropout Boogie from its Captain Beefheart title and a study of classic rock within rap spray process perspective.

 I find a similar understanding of Godard’s influence on Danger Mouse, and Pusha T.

The Black Key’s Dropout Boogie which found the bridge between Captain Beefheart, and ZZ Top in a creative release.

…From a hip hop writer standpoint.

I am trained that rap spray songs are something you feel in and utilize as a learning tool.

I can’t confirm or deny the song Wild Child is informed by the high of the movie Wild Style’s portrait of youth as an artist involved with creative communities.

I can say the Black Keys show with rock legends James Gang in Columbus made a sound argument for the culture Rock N Roll which I internalized as someone whose Hip Hop writer lifestyle’s identity contingency built from the imperative Krs-One once said “Rap is something you do, Hip Hop is something you live.”

Kendrick Lamar, Earl Sweatshirt, Black Starr, KRS-1 and others spent 2022 coming out of Covid isolation with statements for Hip Hop as a genre.

Black Keys advocated Rock N Roll as a cultural continuum with Dropout Boogie.

While the Keys weren't political, The Black Keys showed an informed understanding of Rock N Roll….

The healing of our country will need people who make valid forms of music which find understanding within the genre, and make people respond with physics.

2022 Music reinstated music’s histories significance in contemporary culture after a plague.

While all these shows were tremendous, this wasn't the conclusion of an intense live music year.

Body Farm, Slut Bomb and friends performed at Dirty Dungarees December 2, 2022.

I hadn’t washed my clothes during a show at Dirty Dungarees until December 2, 2022. Laundry worked with this show because culture includes art, food, clothing and shelter. It felt live-affirming Kendrick Lamar, Vets Aide Rockstars, Pusha T and Tyler, the Creator weren't the only humans whose art survived various apocalypses. 

Ohio Punx destroyed colonialization, patriarchy and boredom while my vegan Trader Joe’s Liquid Free and Clear Laundry Soap felt like spring cleaning before Christmas.

Adbusters said 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit.