A Few Good Shows: 6/29/12
June 29, 2012
As a TNTRC volunteer and long-time supporter of YEAH (Youth Empowerment through Arts & Humanities) I must first plug this Saturday’s Tennessee Teens Rock & Roll Camp showcase at Marathon Music Works. Doors are at 2:30pm and show starts at 3. We have 16 bands this year, and unlike past years where campers could choose between doing a cover song or writing their own, this year all bands wrote their own songs together. It was a big step but it has paid off, and believe me when I say there are some good songs this year! There will also be a raffle with tons of goodies! Being involved with this organization is one of the best things I’ve ever done and they need your support so please come out- the door and raffle money all goes right back into supporting the mission. Now for the rest of the listings:
FRIDAY:
The Mynabirds, with Sean Bones and Matrimony @ The High Watt. $10 9pm
Bitchfest Night 1 ft. Fancytramp, Slutever, Dirty Dee & The Sweaty Meat, and How Cozy! @ The End. 9pm $5
SATURDAY:
Nikki Lane, Jasmin Kaset, and Jimmy Stewart @ The 5 Spot. 9pm $5 21+
Bitchfest Night 2 ft. Birdcloud, Thelma & the Sleaze, Hot Cha Cha, and White Mystery @ Exit/In. 9pm $7
SUNDAY:
Bitchfest Night 3 ft. Crybaby, I am Sabot, and Lurancy Vennum @ Springwater. 9pm $5 21+
The debut of Sunday School, a new free weekly series alternating between Exit/In and The End. This Sunday features The Paperhead, Denny & The Jets, and Prince Coyote & the Dogmen. $FREE and it STARTS AT 6PM. DRINK SPECIALS AND DAY DRINKIN’ Y’ALL.
Have a great weekend and stay cool!
These are both Mars-related stories that popped up across the blogosphere over the past week:
The first bit of news is that NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission is getting ever closer to its destination, and the dreaded “Seven Minutes of Terror” entry and landing sequence. They recently produced a video that does a pretty good job of conveying just how hard it is to land anything on Mars, and especially how insane this particular landing sequence is. It’s CRAZY HARD to do what they’re attempting to do. I’ve seen many other animations of this many times over, and it STILL blows my mind just how tedious and difficult this is from a scientific and engineering perspective. Seeing the video is essential, so here it is. Just watch:
The second bit of Mars-related news is a little crazier and far-fetched. A group of private investors are pooling their resources and claim that we can have humans on Mars by 2023. This project is called Mars One, and I have to be honest… the whole thing sounds utterly insane. They want to create such a huge media spectacle that the public interest and avenues for profit are such that they can raise the massive amount of cash it’ll take to make this happen. The craziest part of the whole thing is that it will be a one-way mission for the people who actually go to Mars. I think the ethics of such a thing are mostly subjective- I have no problem with a one-way mission if the people going are truly, honestly 100% dedicated to it. I think it’s honorable, and who am I to judge them for making such a profound decision. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and the rest of the Apollo astronauts all knew the extremely high risks involved with what they were doing. They accepted it and went on to accomplish arguably the greatest feat in the history of mankind thus far- walk on the moon. I hope they pull it off, I really do, and without all the oversight and red tape of a government agency like NASA, the likelihood of this happening so soon is greater. But still. 2023 is REALLY REALLY soon to put humans on Mars. Here’s their promo video:
Crazy? Or just crazy enough to make it happen?
A Few Good Shows: 6/22/12 (and some hipster astronauts)
June 22, 2012
Since everyone’s up in arms about the NY Times article using the word hipster so much to describe Nashville, I thought I’d post a photo of some hipster astronauts, eating food in space. 🙂
Whoa. This weekend is jam-packed with good shit to go see, both local and non. Get your hipster ass out and see some hipster ass music!
FRIDAY:
Yeasayer w/ Delicate Steve @ Cannery Ballroom. 8pm $20 adv/$23 DoS
Official Yeasayer afterparty ft. Brandon Jazz & His Armed Forces, Five Knives, and a DJ set from Chris Keating of Yeasayer @ the High Watt. $5 Doors 10pm.
The Protomen’s A Night of Queen album release (aka The Protomen covering Queen) w/ The Non-Commissioned Officers covering Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life and The Remones @ Exit/In. 8pm $14
SATURDAY:
Dan Sartain w/ Phil Hummer & the White Falcons @ The End. 9pm $8 adv/$10 DoS
Lost In the Trees w/ Daytona @ 12th & Porter. 830pm $10
Kidsmeal Revue Ft. Peripheral, Sam Shacklock, Gates, and Passalacqua @ Exit/In. 9pm $FREE
SUNDAY:
Weird Weeds, Cherry Blossoms, and Deluxin’ @ Brick Factory (Inside Cummins Station
Suite 126 by Elevator B (middle of building, bottom floor). 8pm $6-10 suggested donation.
Have a great weekend!
Exoplanets: xkcd scores a home run
June 21, 2012
I’ve written a lot about exoplanets, planet-hunting missions such as Kepler, and various other topics related to the search for other worlds in the universe. Never have I seen any one image that could really sum up my feelings about it. But that time has come, and the brilliant Randall Munroe who does the well-known nerdy web comic xkcd is the man who did it. I can’t really say any more- just look and read for yourself. Be sure to click through to enlarge it enough to read the small text.
A Few Good Shows: 6/15/12
June 15, 2012
A lot of good shows, both local and non-local, are happening this weekend in Nashville. Here are a few that stick out to me.
FRIDAY:
Gospel Music, Bows and Arrows, Mom & Dad, The Dead Towns @ The End. 9pm $6
Queer Dance Party @ the 5 Spot. 10pm $1 21+
Reid Magette & the 1020s, Ri¢hie, and New Pleasure (Reid Magette’s album release show) @ Zombie Shop. 8pm $5
SATURDAY:
Hey Champ w/ Future Unlimited @ The High Watt. 9pm $10 adv/$12 dos
Chris Crofton, Faux Ferocious, The Fastboys @ The Basement. 9pm $5 21+
Umbrella Tree, O Don Piano, Eyes of the Elders @ The 5 Spot. 9pm $5 21+
SUNDAY:
The Weeks, Kingston Springs, and Asherel w/ special guests Shivery Shakes and Bobby Jealousy @ The High Watt. 9pm $7
Have a great weekend!
I didn’t fall of the face of the earth, I just totally forgot to post a disclaimer here that I would be out of pocket for a while taking photos at Bonnaroo. This was my 5th year there and we had amazing weather. It actually felt a bit chilly some nights! Anyway, please do check out the Nashville Cream for comprehensive coverage and lots of photos from me and Michael Bunch. Back soon y’all!
I’m sure by now you’ve heard about our planetary next door neighbor Venus transiting the sun tomorrow.
- What does this mean?
It means that from Earth’s perspective, Venus will appear as a small black dot moving across in front of the sun. It will be visible with out magnification, HOWEVER YOU MUST USE SPECIALLY DESIGNED EYE PROTECTION TO LOOK AT THE SUN. Seriously, you should never, EVER look directly at the sun- it could permanently damage your eyes! Here’s NASA’s page dedicated to safe sun viewing. Go read and learn how to do this safely! The transit will begin a little after 5pm Central Daylight Time and still be in progress when the sun sets on the western horizon. There are also tons of websites which will be streaming a live image of the sun, so you can watch it online quite easily. The best place is probably NASA’s website dedicated to this transit, but there’s also Bad Astronomy. Also of interest: 5 Weird Facts about Venus, and this guy who seems confident the space tourism industry will become cheap enough during most of our lifetimes that average middle class people will be able to afford a ride to a spot in space where we can see another transit, along with many other interesting things. I sure hope so! I think he might be a bit too optimistic, however… - Why should you care?
Well, you should care because you probably won’t be alive the next time it happens (from Earth’s view at least, 105 years from now). The reason it’s so rare is that despite what a lot of 2-D diagrams would have you believe, the planets in our solar system aren’t all exactly on the same plane, and none have a perfectly circular orbit. The orbits range from slightly elliptical to very elliptical, and all are at some degree of angle compared to the plane of Earth’s orbit. Therefore, the angle of Venus’ orbit causes it to only pass directly between the sun and Earth very rarely. The transits occur in pairs about 8 years apart, and those pairs only occur every 105 or 121 years.
So at the very least watch it happen online if you don’t have access to a telescope with a sun filter or sun safety glasses. It won’t be as spectacular as a comet in the night sky, or a solar or lunar eclipse, but it’s still a very rare event and worth seeing.
A Few Good Shows: 6/1/12
June 1, 2012
Good shows abound this weekend in Nashville! Seriously, you have no excuse to sit around on your bum. Here’s what sounds good to me-
FRIDAY:
What Up, English?, Fox Fun, and Calicocat @ the High Watt. 9pm $5
Miller Made Music Showcase ft. The Gills, Easter Block, The Future, and Josh Foster @ Mercy Lounge. 9pm $FREE
SATURDAY:
Brick Factory presents the After Crawl ft. Scale Model and By Lightning. Art opening at 7pm, bands start at 9:45pm. Free admission, free wine, free beer. (Shameless self-promotion here, but seriously, how can you say no to that much FREE? That’s right, you can’t.) FYI Brick Factory is in Cummins Station and at night the best way to get in is the side entrance by the loading dock that faces the Mercy Lounge/Cannery building.
Green Wagon Summer Block Party ft. Oh Dang Lo Mein, Denny & The Jets, Blackfoot Gypsies, Kat Smo, The Future, Two Bit Charlie and more. Noo-10pm, FREE. 1100 Forrest Ave.
Epic Ditch, Hurts To Laugh, and Cooler Kings @ Zombie Shop. 9pm $5
Paper Bird w/ T. Rust @ The High Watt. (Early show! Doors at 7:30pm/show 8pm) $5
FOLLOWED BY:
Y2K ft. my boy Fan Fiction (of Nashville Nights fame), along with residents Coach, Hands off Sam, and Revenant @ the High Watt. $FREE 11pm.
SUNDAY:
Corrosion of Conformity w/ Torche, Black Cobra, and Gaza @ Exit/In. 8pm $15
That’s all I’ve got. Have a great weekend!
steve cross loves music and science 