Columbus Jazz and Ribs 2009

Casey and I made it to the Jazz and Ribs festival this weekend. You might ask yourself, why would two gay white vegetarians choose to go to a Jazz and Ribs festival. The answer lies in the jazz more than the ribs. Casey is a jazz enthusiast, and we even found a band playing more complex stuff than the regular jam band that is the Columbus norm. The ribs part of the festival only reinforced my vegetarianism. The belches of smoke billowing from the pork covered grills made me ill, but I must admit, I probably would have bought a barbecue covered tofu steak :)

The cool thing for me at the jazz fest was seeing the diverse groups intermingle in leisure. There were many working class people (from places like my home town) mixing with inner city professionals and poor people. Every minority group was found there too. It wouldn't have been Columbus if someone hadn't yelled "fags!" at us, but other than that there seemed to be harmony. Of course, few people were actually intermingling with people different themselves, but at least they were enjoying music together in the same space.

The space itself was interesting. I had only been to the westernmost part of the Arena district once for Red, White, and Boom. It's sort of a liminal space that is flanked by undeveloped land and downtown. It is aesthetically pleasing, but as a new development, it feels fabricated and mall-like. Perhaps in ten years it will feel more authentic, but as a business improvement district, it will likely remain sterile.