Listen to that voice! Just listen to Nancy Wilson sing “I’m Beginning To See The Light”. I almost don’t want to write anything, so it doesn’t distract you from this lady singing.
Miss Nancy Wilson was born in Chillicothe and educated in Columbus, Ohio, where she worked the clubs. She would later go on to sing at clubs in New York, and release a ton of albums and hit singles. She’s won more awards than I can count, including 3 Grammy’s for her music and an Emmy for her own TV show.
Miss Wilson is currently 73 and still booking shows, including 2 later this month. I am nothing short of awe-struck. Here she is sounding like a million bucks, just 3 years ago.
Stop what you’re doing and kick a few bucks to Columbus’ own Earwig, so you can download a copy of their new album.
It sounds fucking huge, but don’t take my word for it, give it a listen now.
They’re no flash in the pan either. ”Used Kids”, a song about the legendary Columbus music store, used to get a lot of radio play.
Captain Eddie Rickenbacker US WW1 Ace of Aces Speaks
Eddie Rickenbacker was born in Columbus, Ohio. You’ve probably already heard of him, so we’ll just focus on a few of the highlights.
“Fast Eddie” was a well-known driver who raced in the Indianapolis 500 four times, before becoming the quintessential fighter ace. During World War I, he earned a record 300 combat hours and 26 victories over formidable German opponents.
Clearly, he already has a position in the Badass Hall of Fame, but did you hear about the seagull?
In 1942, he was sent to personally deliver a secret message to General Douglas MacArthur, when the plane he was on crashed in the Pacific. For 24 days, Rickenbacker and crew were lost at sea. On the eighth day, five days after their food supplies ran out, he caught a seagull that landed on his head and used it as bait to help them survive until they were, ultimately, rescued and his message could be delivered.
Little known fact: Eddie Rickenbacker scripted a comic strip.
Jim Lovel was born in Cleveland.
He flew to the Moon… twice.
The second time, there were some problems and he had to manually control the thrusters and engines, using a watch to time everything perfectly. It was very dramatic. He wrote a book about the experience and some folks based a movie on it.
He’s also been a test pilot, won countless awards, set records, opened a restaurant, and got a Federal Health Care Center named after him.
Like many early astronauts, Columbusonian (or is it Columbuser?), Donn F. Eisele was a test pilot for the U.S. Air Force. That alone should get him immediate entry into the Badass Hall of Fame, but consider his 11 days piloting Apollo VII.
He was part of the backup crew for Apollo I the previous year, when a cabin fire killed all three astronauts inside. Apollo VII was the first manned space flight after that, but Eisele stayed on to pilot. Just think about that. It’s the first manned Apollo mission. The crew who should have been first were killed and he still stayed on!
The mission was a success and he went on to retired and become the director of the U.S. Peace Corps in Thailand, before entering the private sector.
This handsome gentleman was Dr. Karl Henize. Like many astronauts, he was from Ohio.
After joining NASA, in 1967, he logged 2,300 hours flying jets and 188 hours in space, working on projects like Spacelab-2 (the one with New Coke). That’s not too shabby, for a Cincinnati boy.
Dr. Henize taught Astronomy at Northwestern University, enjoyed personal computers, before everyone else had one, and stamp collecting, but don’t love him just for his big ol’ brain. He was extremely active and pursued everything from baseball to skin diving to mountain climbing.
Not content to rest on his laurels as a brilliant scientist and astronaut, he died while attempting to climb Mount Everest, at the age of 67. We’ll always mourn the loss, but applaud that kind of lifelong gusto.
Columbus’ Times New Viking puts on a great show and plays noisy lo-fi you can sing along to.
File Under: We Liked Them From The Start, Shoegaze, Lo-Fi
What can we say about Sarah Jessica Parker?
She was born in Nelsonville, Ohio, had a supporting role in Flight of the Navigator, married Ferris Bueller, starred in some popular cable series about having sex in New York, and talked about having a mole removed with David Letterman.
Cincinnatian Bootsy Collins played bass for James Brown, Parliament, and his own bad self. Now, not content to just stay at home and lend his name to a line of star-shaped bass guitars and hang out on Twitter, he’s started his own online “University of Funk”.
The Nelsonville Music Festival starts today!
Look at who’s playing and just try to resist buying a ticket.
Ohio State - Michigan ESPN commercials.
I never intended to say a word about OSU football, here at Fuck Yeah Ohio. It was partly because I’m not a big sports fan and, as much as I love Ohio State University*, I don’t dream about dotting the i. Other folks have already dedicated themselves to talking about OSU sports and they don’t need FYO competing with them. This commercial, I just have to share, though. What can I say? It made me laugh.
Ohio State and Michigan have a long-standing, and frequently hilarious, rivalry. Great rivalries like that don’t come along every day.
*Seriously, have you been to the Wexner Center for the Arts? It’s fucking amazing. I got into an argument with a famous cartoonist there, once. Good times.
Oh, sure, we’ve already talked about the Etch-A-Sketch, but just look at this ad from the golden era of children’s toys, before video games. It’s overflowing with style. (via nevver)
Back in the late-80s to mid-90s, it seems like everyone was in a funk-rock band. Happy Chichester was no exception. The difference is that The Royal Crescent Mob were good! They played shows all over to large enthusiastic crowds. People still talk about their legendary New Year’s Eve shows.
Click the photo above to see Happy rocking the bass and the vest-without-a-shirt look in the video for their song “Time Bomb”. I can’t help but think the kids in MGMT and Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head would love this video. It’s just that fun and over the top absurd.
The Internet again betrays me with a lack of readily embeddable music, so you’re going to have to check out clips from 1994’s “Good Lucky Killer” on your own.
“A Man Needs an Airplane” by Happy Chichester
After dissolving Howlin’ Maggie, Happy Chichester went solo.
The bad news: I’ve scoured the Internets for a high-quality video of Happy playing ”If I Could Murder the Right Man” and I’m just not finding one.
The good news: You can get a copy on one of his live albums or Howlin’ Maggie’s “Hyde”.
The even better news: Happy Chichester still tours, most recently with Busdriver and RJD2, so you can catch him live yourself. If you get a chance, do so.
Just so we can show off his piano skills, here he is with “Sexy Girls”.
