614 Interview With Paul Nini

Paul Nini of Log (and Househearts, among others) is not only a musician, but also a professor of design at OSU. In this 2018 interview with 614, he talks about creating The People's Flag of Columbus:

Nini was inspired by Roman Mars, Newark native and host of the prolific design-focused podcast 99% Invisible. Mars also happened to be the keynote speaker at an industry conference Nini attended in 2015 and the idea stuck. 

“I tried to follow the basic rules of what makes a great flag. The design should be simple and memorable and have meaning behind the forms,” he explained. “It has negative white spaces that come through the center representing Broad and High, with the star as a symbol that we’re the state capital. The fields of blue and green with a semicircle represent the Scioto River and the Franklinton peninsula, the heart of the city, the original area of downtown. Anything more complicated gets tricky.” 

For those who may not know, the current city flag is only the latest incarnation, with several since its inception. Over time, it’s come to incorporate images of the statehouse, Buckeye leaves, and the Santa Maria, along with the typical eagle, stars, and other stuff shared by nearly every flag of the era. But it’s all so cluttered and compressed, you have to squint to even make any of it out.

614: Long Playing - Inside Musicol

Over at 614 Magazine in July 2018, Mike O'Shaughnessy explores the local gem that is Musicol:

Digital media has become the throwaway pile, whereas your vinyl collection has been restored as the musical collection with which to impress your friends. 

Which is why it’s worth celebrating that of the few one-stop factories left in the country, one shares a zip code with Rod’s Western Palace. 

House Engineer Keith Hanlon has been behind the mixing board in Studio A since 2013, filling Smith’s boots when he left for Texas. A few things drew him to concentrate his energies at Musicol, but among them was the prospect of getting to spend every day at work amongst his own personal utopia of classic sound engineering. When he attended Ohio University, his class was the last to work with tape before ditching analog for the impending condensing. 

“It is the oldest studio in Columbus [1968]. The studio’s history drew me in, but the kicker is the collection of vintage gear there. I’m able to work in both the digital and analog realms. We still have multitrack tape machines there, and plenty of musicians want the opportunity to record to tape,” he said. “I love the workflow of an analog session, because everybody knows they have to nail the performance. Editing a performance is much more time-consuming and difficult.” Hanlon’s presence completes the circle of quality that comes with a session at Musicol: the studio thrives because of the caliber of the gear and of the staff controlling the machines.

614 Magazine: Where Did the Punk Rockers Go?

Interesting question posed by Chris Gaitten of 614 Magazine back in 2015:

In 2008, CDR released the first of the unheard stash, Tommy Jay’s Tall Tales of Trauma, from Tommy Jay, a member of the Quotas. Jay and Rep hailed from a tiny hamlet just south of Grove City called Harrisburg, where Jay had created a practice space and studio in his home. For decades, a rotating cast of musicians known as The Harrisburg Players rehearsed and recorded there, influencing and often comprising Columbus’s underground bands. 

CDR hit overdrive in 2009, starting a singles club in addition to the new releases, reissues, and previously unheard music. They distributed 16 records that year, often at the expense of relationships and showering, Smith said. Over time, they put out releases from lo-fi luminaries like Cheater Slicks, as well as the next generation of bands like Psychedelic Horseshit 

Their production levels decreased in subsequent years, as bands like Bassholes and Cheater Slicks only recorded new music every so often, and the unreleased Harrisburg stash was eventually tapped. Koe-Krompecher had revived Anyway, and other local labels like Superdreamer Records had begun popping up.

614 Magazine: The Ultimate Columbus Mixtape

Back in 2014, Kevin Elliott of 614 Magazine spoke with a bunch of Columbus musicians such as Pat Dull, Paul Nini of Log and Elizabeth Murphy of Times New Viking to put together a mixtape that covers the last few decades of Columbus music. Here's a sample:

“Refried Dreams” – Cheater Slicks (1999) 

One of best things about living in this town is having the opportunity to go see one of the best punk bands on this or any other planet play in a bar about the size of your living room twice a month.  They’ve put out almost a dozen stellar records since defecting to Columbus from Boston in the mid-90’s, but if I had to pick a track to include on the next Voyager launch, it’d be the title track from 1999’s Refried Dreams.  I’ve broken my glasses twice whilst losing my shit during live performances of this song. 

— BJ Holesapple (member of Necropolis and Vile Gash as well as founder of Columbus Discount Records)