Wednesday, January 29th, 11:00 AM
Local faith leaders and Sanctuary supporters will gather in front of Senator Brown’s office, Federal Building, 200 N. High Street. Come support Columbus' Edith Epsinal and Miriam Vargas -- and all of the others in our country who are living in Sanctuary.

When people think of artists from Columbus, Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, Emerson Burkhart, and George Bellows are among the first names that pop up in the Columbus art history books. Recently, Smoky Brown has been getting some local attention, with two art shows over the last three months, over 14 years after his death.

The Eastside Canon: Smoky Brown & Friends was the first Art Show of 2020 at the Streetlight Guild, curated by Richard Duarte Brown. Brown was the artist of the inaugural exhibit “Searching for Family: Richard Duarte Brown” at their current space from June through August 2019.

The Streetlight Guild is a not-for-profit performing arts organization, founded by award-winning writer and poet Scott Woods. The Streetlight Guild “curates events across disciplines with an emphasis on Columbus-based, original, and underrepresented voices,” reads the Guild’s website.

Fifty-two years after young people changed history with the New Hampshire primary election, a new generation is ready to do it again -- this time by mobilizing behind Bernie Sanders.

During early 1968, thousands of young people volunteered in New Hampshire to help the insurgent presidential campaign of Democratic Sen. Eugene McCarthy -- who went on to stun the party establishment by winning 42 percent of the state’s primary vote against President Lyndon Johnson’s 49 percent. Three weeks later, Johnson announced that he would not run for re-election.

What propelled McCarthy and his young supporters into the snows of New Hampshire was their opposition to the war in Vietnam. Five decades later, in effect, what’s propelling Bernie Sanders and his young supporters is the grim reality of class war in America.

To commemorate and celebrate the auspicious 50th anniversary of the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble’s founding, this venerable mainstay of L.A.’s live stage scene is presenting the “Circa ’69” season, with revivals “of significant and adventurous plays that premiered around the time of the Odyssey’s 1969 inception,” according to a press release. A Sam Shepard double-header is being mounted as part of this ambitious program.

First up is a sort of hors d’oeuvre, the 15 minute or so Killer’s Head, before the main dish, The Unseen Hand, is served. Alas, Killer’s isn’t killer drama and to be honest is quite an unappetizing appetizer. I was bored by the monologue in this one-man show. It wasn’t the actor’s fault - Steve Howey fully inhabited the part of Mazon and did a good job, considering the material he has to work with. (Howey is the first of eight actors scheduled to play Mazon, including Shepard veteran Dermot Mulroney who tackles the role Feb. 7-9 and Feb. 14-16). I just found the lines written for the character to be uninteresting and this reminded me that what may have seemed innovative in 1969 isn’t necessarily so half a century later.