Study a picture of Jesse Hughes, my fellow old-timers. The lead singer and funny man of Eagles of Death Metal reminds you of who?

To this loving son of the '70s, I see in him:

--first and foremost, one or two members of Foghat, the quaalude boogie band spin-off of England's venerable blues-jazz band, Savoy Brown. A little bit 'Lonesome Dave' Peverett and a whole lot of Tone Earl, drummer. Unreconstructed long-hairs who couldn't hide their musicianly machismo if they tried, while at the same time being, you know, being skinny, unaggressive musicians.

--Diamond Jim Dandy of Black Oak Arkansas, the first of the flamboyant talent-less southern American home-grown boogie bone-heads. More on that in a bit.

--'Diamond' David Lee Roth, the king of such entities, and the greatest of the ass-less chaps set. Without peer. And yet a true original.

In concert at the Newport May 28, the EODM with the third great 'Diamond,' namely Hughes, put on a show of insouciant '70s-esque cock-rock the likes of which makes you realize the cliche 'everything old is new again' is an evergreen phrase of eternal usefulness.

“Why do we come to this place, to Hiroshima? We come to ponder a terrible force unleashed in a not-so-distant past. We come to mourn the dead, including over 100,000 Japanese men, women and children, thousands of Koreans, a dozen Americans held prisoner.” – President Obama at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, May 27, 2016

Just hours before the Nehemiah Action meeting on May 9, organizers of the interfaith social justice coalition BREAD didn’t know whether Mayor Andrew J. Ginther would make an appearance at the Celeste Center for the annual event. They had invited Ginther to weigh in on an economic initiative that would benefit residents of Linden, the Hilltop, and other marginalized neighborhoods. They had two different programs printed up for the evening: one in case the mayor would show up, and another in case he wouldn’t.

He didn’t.

Nevertheless, central Ohio faith leaders made their case at the meeting. “Early practices of deed restrictions, discriminatory lending, and highway construction have created a tale of two cities,” said Clyde Sales, senior minster at the Genessee Avenue Church of Christ. “There are the privileged neighborhoods and the throwaway neighborhoods, with clear boundaries separating neighborhoods like Linden.”

In last month’s article, I made the statement that the Electric Guitar is one of only two true American instruments, the other being the Sousaphone. Of all of the dumb things that I have said in print over the years, this one may have generated the most outrage. I was inundated with messages proposing (at times aggressively) other instrument candidates for Americanesedness. So to preserve my hard-won reputation for keeping an open mind, I have determined to explore the suggested candidates and rate them on a scale of 1-5 Bald Eagles.

To define American instruments, we must first define what “American” means.  Primarily to save space, I have decided to use the Drunk Republican Uncle on the Fourth of July definition: the original 13 states after George III got the heave-ho and the other states upon their admission to the Unionas states. That is, if Wyatt Earp invented a new type of trombone while U.S. Marshall for New Mexico Territory in 1878 he's out of luck.  

Without further ado, the candidates (in no particular order):

After a five-year long struggle, the grassroots effort to give a voice to more Columbus residents will finally come to a public vote at a special election on August 2 this year. The charter amendment would expand Columbus City Council from seven to 13 members and include representatives from city ward districts. This would break the all-at-large, one-party Council system and make Columbus’ city governance comparable to other U.S. cities its size.

Grassroots groups had tried twice since 2011 to get the amendment on the ballot, but were stymied by what appeared to be politically-motivated maneuverings by the current powers at City Hall.

Represent Columbus is a coalition of Democratic, Republican, Green and Independent grassroots leaders. Building upon previous work by the Columbus Coalition for Responsive Government, Represent Columbus submitted 39,308 petition signatures to the Columbus City Clerk on May 3. The Franklin County Board of Elections determined that 19,035 of those were valid – 1,200 more valid signatures than the 17,780 required. City Attorney Rick Pfeiffer found the petitions to be “legally sufficient.”