Photos: Mr. Brown's Descent

Here is a collection of photos of Mr. Brown's Descent (later known just as Mr. Brown's) from across the web, a 70s/80s venue that hosted a variety of bands and artists:

https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p267401coll32/id/27272

https://ohiopix.org/record-display/p267401coll32/27312

Below is a collection of concert posters from the archives of Tim Anstaett (The Offense zine).

Nowhere 2019 Is Happening Tonight!

From the Nowhere 2019 Facebook Event Page:

NOWHERE was created out of necessity by MICHAEL RAVAGE of Columbus punk founding fathers SCREAMING URGE in 1978 as NOWHERE would have this new fangled “punk” sound in their venue. So he rented out a space and put on the show himself. 

NOWHERE miraculously survived 18 outings, giving artists and bands such as SCREAMING URGE, THE TRUE BELIEVERS, NAKED SKINNIES, THE JETS, JIM SHEPARD, DON HOWLAND, NEW BOMB TURKS, SCRAWL and more a place to play to great effect and acclaim! The last NOWHERE was in 1996. 

Now, over 20 years later, a small sect of new, young art and punk rockers have fallen in love with the NOWHERE ideal through coverage in THE OFFENSE book of books. Ian Graham reaches out to MICHAEL RAVAGE to bring NOWHERE back for its 19th edition in 2019. 

TWO STAGES! INCREDIBLE ACTS FROM THE PAST AND FUTURE!  

Friday, March 15th at Cafe Bourbon St./The Summit- ONLY $10! 

NOWHERE 2019:
CHEATER SLICKS
BABY LINDY AND THE DRUG MOTHERS
TWISTED SHOUTS
ERIK NERVOUS
OUIJA BOYS
DANA
BIG HOG
BURNING ITCH
MESSRS

Donewaiting on Mark Eitzel (2012)

There aren't many write-ups specifically about the Naked Skinnies, probably due to the fact the band last just over a year and managed just one seven inch single, and Mark Eitzel (as mentioned in more than one article) isn't particularly interested in talking about it. Still, whenever he puts out new material, it occasionally gets mentioned, like this 2012 entry at Donewaiting.com:

Mark Eitzel and Columbus go way back. At one time Eitzel wrote for Tim Anstaett’s The Offence, and his early, Joy Division-esque band Naked Skinnies began here. They were the “hero band” of Ron House, who played lots of shows with Naked Skinnies and helped put out the band’s first 7-inch, “All My Life,” on “Naked House Records” in 1981. Eitzel formed the Skinnies, his precursor to American Music Club, with Greg Bonnell (AMC, Moviola), John Hricko and Nancy Kangas before heading out to San Francisco. Though Eitzel doesn’t recall the period with particular fondness and has yet to permit digital dissemination of the aforementioned 7-inch, it’s better than he remembers it to be and a fascinating look into how Eitzel started out.

YouTube: Cocteau Twins Fever on WBNS

If you're at all familiar with the history of Columbus music, this video should not come as a shock. In 1985, the Cocteau Twins came to Columbus on their first, short tour of the US thanks to the efforts of Tim Anstaett of The Offense Zine and Kurt Scheiber of No Other Records. You can read more about it here at this Dangerous Minds post.

Alive: Main Offender

Back in 2009 the Columbus Alive ran a two-part piece on Tim Anstaett, former concert promoter and publisher of fanzine The Offense. Here's a bit:

In 1980, Anstaett helped ignite the local punk and new wave scene by booking bands like The Cowboys at South Campus bar Mr. Brown’s. 

After a few months, he grew tired of concert promotion and started a fanzine instead. The first issue of TKA Offense debuted on April 11, 1980, fully handwritten and printed in the basement of the insurance office where Anstaett worked by day. 

“I just slapped one together,” he said. “And then I thought, well, let’s slap another one together.” 

Soon the zines - semi-regular collections of reviews, interviews, quizzes and local scene reports from around the Midwest - became a hit. Despite (or perhaps because of) their homemade look and feel, the books gained distribution of about 1,000 copies in record shops around the country and even spread to England.