Dirt is good for you/Metallica at SXSW?
January 29, 2009
Well, they played in Nashville at the Basement for their fan club, so why shouldn’t Metallica play another small show at Stubbs BBQ during SXSW? Rumor has it they will. I can’t imagine how painfully crowded that place will be. I’ve never been there, but it holds about 1500. So far my plans to go with Seth this year are holding up. We’ll probably never have a chance of getting into the Metallica show though, if it even happens.
The NY Times is reporting that dirt may actually be good for babies and children. I’ve been saying this for a long time now. Obsessive mothers who keep their babies and everything around them spotless and ultra-sanitized are actually making the child’s immune system weaker, and making him/her more prone to allergies. It’s a little hard to swallow the part about worms being healthy, but I totally believe it. As with everything, common sense rules here. If your toddler boy has been playing with dog turds… yes, I’d say wash his hands before he eats! But if he was just making mudpies, who cares? Via kottke.org.
This is scary to think about, but global warming may be irreversible. According to this Universe Today article, scientists have found that while methane, nitrous oxide, and other pollutants may go away in a few decades, the extra CO2 we’ve expelled into the atmosphere may stick around for a thousand years or more. Unfortunately CO2 is the biggest contributor to the greenhouse effect. I think this simply means that we have to find a way to make gigantic CO2 scrubbers that can actually remove some of the CO2 from the atmosphere. They already have them on the space station and space shuttles. I know- the costs of expanding that technology to a scale that would even make a dent in the overall CO2 levels of the atmosphere are probably unimaginable, but I say it’s worth it. The alternative could be mass famine and major world wars. Another possibility it just planting a shit-ton more trees, and greatly decrease logging to the point that we’re generating more forest than we’re destroying. Trees are the cheapest CO2 scrubbers around. Good luck with that idea though….
So for all you snow lovers out there, this coming monday/tuesday might be Nashville’s best chance at getting a significant snowfall. As always, it’s too early to say anything for sure, but the models are showing a low pressure system forming over LA/MS and tracking east-northeastward across GA, and then up the east coast, turning into a nor’easter. At the same time this low forms, an arctic airmass will be sliding southeastward from Canada. If the low tracks just right, strengthens and becomes “cutoff,” and if the arctic air slides down at the exact same time the moisture is being pulled around the northwest sector of the low, we’ll get a pretty significant snowfall. If the low tracks further north, then the warm gulf air will win-out and we’ll have mostly rain, and a little snow at the tail-end of the system, much like what happened yesterday. If the low stays further south, the moisture will stay south along with it, and we won’t get much precip at all. Stay tuned, this will be an interesting one to watch as the models get more accurate. Below is a graphic of the GFS model run showing precipitation, pressure (where the lows and highs are), and 850 Mb level temps. (That means temps at a few thousand feet up.) Temps are shown in Celsius here, and the key is that blue line that says “0,” meaning freezing line.
And now for a time-lapse video of a baby playing with his toys over 4 hours, condensed down to 2 minutes.
Black Lips escape India/Annular eclipse photos
January 27, 2009
Credit: M.R. Taufik
Yesterday a relatively rare phenomenon occurred over parts of the Pacific Ocean, southeast Asia and Australia- an annular solar eclipse. Solar eclipses aren’t that common to begin with, but what makes it an annular solar eclipse is the fact that the moon’s occultation of the sun coincided with its furthest point from earth in its orbit. In other words, the moon’s orbit is elliptical, so it’s not always the same distance from earth. IF the point at which the moon is farthest from earth in said elliptical orbit happens to coincide with a solar eclipse, the moon’s disc doesn’t fully cover the sun, and it results in a ring of light showing around the black disc of the moon. Pretty cool, and definitely something I’d like to see before I die. For now though, we can just enjoy the photos linked to on the Universe Today post about it.
So I read the stories yesterday about everyone’s favorite Atlanta troublemakers Black Lips getting chased around India on their tour, but I decided to wait until the full story surfaced to post about it. Pitchfork is totally gay for them so I knew they’d post an update the very minute they heard anything. I was right. But the full story can be found on their label Vice’s blog. It’s an interview with the drummer… and it turns out they weren’t actually chased by the cops, and the only people really after them were their tour manager and his production company. Now they’re in Germany hanging out with King Khan, who I can’t wait to see with the Shrines at the Exit/In in March.
Speaking of rock n roll, thanks so much to everyone who came out to my 8 off 8th last night. Unfortunately my band Tigers Con Queso couldn’t play because Seth came down with a serious case of the flu earlier in the day, so it was a 7 off 8th, but it was awesome nonetheless, and people seemed to really enjoy it. Everything was on time and the last band didn’t end up getting screwed & having to play at 1am on a monday. The official door count was 157 people. I also wore this insane sweater that my mom got for my dad back in the 70’s, and apparently it’s the most amazing thing anyone has ever seen, because people were flipping out over it all night. Thanks mom! (You just have to see it to understand.)
The Nashville Cream reported yesterday that guitarist Denis Deck will be leaving How I Became the Bomb soon. The split was amicable, and Deck will continue to play with them until temporary replacement Russell Hanberry from Stories That Live can take over.
Turns out even babies know how to rock out. My mom always said she knew I’d be a drummer even before I was born because I apparently pounded the inner walls of her uterus incessantly.
My 8 off 8th tonight/Deli Party pics
January 26, 2009
Number one priority for your Monday: coming to my 8 off 8th tonight at Mercy Lounge. It’s free, and it’s a great lineup, so you have no excuse. I’m not telling you the order so that you’ll come early because you don’t know if your favorite band (out of the lineup) will be first or last or somewhere in between. The Nashville Cream was kind enough to post a blog entry about it. Also, Courtney from Left Can Dance will be DJing between bands. Click the image to make it bigger.
The Deli Party was a huge success. Home Keys got things off to a great start, I DJed for a while, then Makeup & Vanity Set and Jensen Sportag did a tag-team setlist, trading off songs, which resulted in total awesomeness. The only minor buzz-kill was that it was so hot and steamy in the basement that the speakers kept overheating (and thus cutting themselves off). Thankfully that didn’t happen during my 2 hour DJ set after MAVS & JS finished. I had a total blast, and so did the crowd. Everyone was dancing, and it got pretty full for a while, then it thinned out a little around 2:15am, and I thought it was gonna wind down from there, but then suddenly everyone came back, and it got hot & heavy again at around 2:45! People were still going strong right up to the end when I had to call it quits around 3:20. My last two songs were for fellow photographer Johnny Kingsbury, who was celebrating his birthday that night. His sister let me in on the secret that one of his favorite party songs was You Get What You Give by the 90’s one-hit-wonder New Radicals. They all went crazy. I’m DJ Burgers, and this party should be very good reason for you book me at your next throwdown. For some great photos from the party, checkout Courtney Wilder’s photoset.
Speaking of photography, photographer David Bergman made 1,474 megapixel panoramic image of Obama’s Inauguration. Seriously, click that link! It’s amazing how much you can zoom in on that image and see the details. It was done using a Gigapan imager.
Some science links for the nerds:
We’re one step closer to teleportation. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to actually teleport a human being from one place to another, but instantaneous transfer of information could eventually be possible if we’re able to build upon this discovery/breakthrough. That could be very useful when we eventually send humans to Mars, and even farther. Not having to wait for a radio signal to travel all the way back to earth would be very handy when Val Kilmer lands on Mars and says, “Holy shit! There’s all kinds of glowing algae stuff everywhere, and it suddenly made the atmosphere breathable!”
Earth is being stalked by and asteroid. It’s ok though, it won’t actually hit us. It just follows us around everywhere we go, and calls us to leave cryptic messages, and….
English-Only=FAIL…. Cellos in the cold=FAIL
January 23, 2009
I’m really proud of Nashville for voting NO on the ridiculous English-only amendment. Way to go Nashville!
Cellist Yo Yo Ma and the group of musicians who play Obama’s inauguration pulled a Milli Vanilli on us. They pretended to play the original composition by John Williams, but what you heard was a taped recording. We have to forgive them, though, because it was physically impossible for their instruments to stay in tune due the cold. Apparently they really wanted to play it live, and waited until the very last minute to make the decision.
David Berman is officially putting Silver Jews to rest. He wants to devote his time to other endeavors. If he continues to record he “might accidentally write the answer song to Shiny Happy People.” Ha. Hahaha. Via Stereogum.
We’re All Gonna Die is an amazing 100 meter-wide photograph created by Simon Hoegsberg in Germany. Do yourself a big favor and go scroll through the whole thing. Thank me later. Via Yewknee yesterday and Kottke.org today.
And now for some photo-nerd-gasm: A Nikon D3 rig cut perfectly in half. (Click image to see more.)
Awesome tshirts, and the resoultion of reality
January 22, 2009
Want to really bend your brain? Read this article on the Daily Galaxy about the resolution of reality. Are we real or are we just holograms caused by the quantum interactions at the edges of the universe? This will be fun to read, even if you aren’t that much of a science nerd, because this particular writer (Luke McKinney) has a humorous and witty way of explaining things.
REUTERS/Jason Reed
I link to this website way too often, but this one really deserves it- the Boston Globe’s Big Picture website has some fantastic imagery from Obama’s inauguration.
I tried to like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! back when every blog on the internet was drooling over them, but I just couldn’t do it. I don’t really know why everyone liked them so much… in my opinion they were just another one of those incredibly over-hyped Pitchfork bands, just like TV on the Radio, Deerhunter, and Vampire Weekend. Well, according to Stereogum, there was a rumor they were breaking up, but they’re not afterall. Just taking a hiatus while the members work on their respective side projects. I don’t really give a shit what happens to them.
The coolest shirt ever. Well maybe not EVER, but it’s right up there with my LED belt buckle. If you’ve never seen my LED belt buckle, come to the Deli party I’m DJing this sat. at 3609 Pilcher Ave. It will be in full action.
O. The President…. and Star Wars yoga
January 21, 2009
Get the destop background here.
Even the Wikipedia page has been updated. I’m still in awe of the idea of liking my president. I just have this refreshing feeling… like I’ve been working underground in a hot coal mine, getting utterly filthy for the last 8 years, and now I’ve just taken a nice cool shower and come out totally clean, rested, and refreshed. Ok, maybe that was a cheesy analogy but I don’t care. Part of that feeling is pride… which is something I haven’t felt about my country in a looooong time. A year ago, if I were to go to a foreign country I would’ve been embarassed about my country, ashamed of what we’ve done for the last 8 years. But now I think if I were to go abroad, I would definitely not feel ashamed, and I would probably even brag about how our nation came to its senses and got its head out of its ass. Keep your optimism in check, however. He’s only one man. He’s now a very powerful man, but he’s still only one man. It remains to be seen just how much good he can do. We can’t expect him to perform miracles every day. He’s probably got the hardest job in the history of this nation. Good luck, Mr. President.
Here’s the image of the inauguration captured by the GeoEye-1 satellite: (click image to make it bigger) Via Universe Today.
TN’s own Those Darlins got blogged about AGAIN by Brooklynvegan. They must be doing something right…. or they’re just too darned cute…
Darlins get loved/Mars farts
January 19, 2009
Credit: Nathan Miller
Murfreesboro’s own Those Darlins are really starting to get some recognition, and are getting on some awesome gigs, many of which are in NYC. The photo links to a recent Brooklynvegan post about their show at Bowery Ballroom in NY with Langhorne Slim. I recommend scrolling down and reading the comments. Seems a few people are in love with lil’ Jessi darlin. Way to go darlins! TN is proud of you!
We Own This Town has been picking up again lately. Started by Doug Lehmann (of the Clutters), it started out in the wake of the demise of Nashville Zine, though Dough says he never intended it to replace the ‘Zine. Now Michael Eades (aka Yewknee) has all but taken it over, and added the help of Joe Baine Colvert, known for his work at Lake Fever Productions and for the Indie Ghetto, and Andrew J. Smithson, who I posted about recently regarding his new blog, indieocrity. Joe and Andrew are joining forces on WRVU 91.1 to start a new radio show which will complement the content of the website, much like Janet Timmons’ Out the Other. I look forward to seeing these guys bring this website back to life, as well as what they do with the radio show.
I found this really good footage of the US Airways plane crash in the Hudson river on Youtube. That pilot really does deserve the recognition he’s been given, because an engine-less jet airliner is basically like a tank with wings. Having always been interested in aviation (I WILL get my private pilot’s license one of these days), and also being the owner of a very realistic flight simulator on my computer (which allows you simulate a few different airliners and engine failures), I know how hard it is to glide one of these things into a safe landing without power.
Now for a little science. Lately there have been some news headlines claiming that we’ve found evidence of life on mars- methane in the atmosphere. In other words, mars farted and dumb newspapers got really excited about it. Those headlines are DEAD WRONG. At least about the life part… Yes we’ve been detecting methane in mars’ atmosphere since 2004. We also know that methane is quickly destroyed by UV radiation, and since there’s no comfy ozone layer in mars’ atmosphere to block it out, any methane on mars would be destroyed very soon after it was released from the surface. So, if we detect it, there must be constant source re-supplying it into the atmosphere. The source of the headlines is a press release saying that the source could be chemical, geological, or biological (life). Of course many news agencies jumped on that last one and made a really big to-do about it. It’s theoretically possible that current life could be the cause of the methane, but it’s only one of many. We still don’t have any conclusive evidence of life on mars. My personal opinion is that there is no life currently on mars, thus I don’t think that the methane is a result of such. I think it’s more likely that it’s coming from the polar regions- we’ve noticed that mars has little global warming of it’s own going on, and that warming is allowing methane trapped in the polar regions under layers of frozen CO2 to be released, much as the global warming occurring on earth has allowed methane under the shrinking permafrost to be released. My opinion is based on this blog post, btw. If it’s not that, I’d say the second best explanation would be some sort unseen geothermal activity. The Bad Astronomer does a really good job of explaining the facts related to this story, as always. Go check out his post if you want more details.
And finally… a serious dose of WTF?!?!?!?….. Joaquin Phoenix is becoming a rapper. Um… ok…
Eye-gasms and frozen tongues
January 16, 2009
Total eye-gasm. In fact… multiple eye-gasms. The Boston Globe’s “Big Picture” comes through as always with another set of amazing imagery. This is a collection of images from satellites. Click the image to get to the site.
Anamalia: Mikel Uribetxeberria. Not sure what country this guy is from, but his images are amazing. These images of different animals in completely odd places make me very happy and yet uneasy at the same time… and I’m not really sure how this was pulled off technically.
In music news, Devo is playing this year’s SXSW, and Pavement is heavliy rumored to be re-uniting to play ATP NY. I’m contemplating joining my friend and bandmate Seth on an adventure to SXSW this year. I’ve been talking about it for a few years now, and now it’s time to just DO IT.
Nashvillians are stupid sometimes. Metro schools are closed today because of the cold. Come on people, because of the cold? Seriously? Apparently a lot of kids walk to school… but why can’t you just bundle the hell up? Layers, people, it’s all about layers! You people are bunch of of pansies! Via Nashvillest.
Remember that scene in A Christmas Story where the kid is dared to put his tongue on a metal lightpost and ends up with his tongue frozen to it? Well, I guess kids still actually do that.
A tutorial video from a xhardcorex kid on how to do a xone-stepx and xtwo-stepx xwall flipx. That’s sooo xhardcorex dude.
A US Airways plane taking off from LaGuardia airport in NYC had to abort and land in the Hudson river yesterday, which I’m sure you’ve seen in the news by now. Apparently it was caused by a bird flying into one of the engines. Thankfully no one was hurt. A quick youtube search for water plane landings yielded this terrifying video of a plane barely missing some buildings near a beach, then landing in the water.
Photo cliches/new Neko Case song
January 15, 2009
Photo cliches: a collection of the most common cliches in tourist photos. Included- the fake phallus, statue groping, the Lynndie England thumbs-up, snorting Coca Cola.
While we’re on the subject the phallus… might as well post a link to the Head O State Obama sex toy. You really have to read the “testimonials,” especially the one from Sarah Palin.
Ok, enough giggly sexual innuendo.
A new environmentally-minded general store is opening in the Sylvan Park neighborhood of west Nashville. That’s just around the corner from me, so I’ll probably be hitting it up pretty soon. Read all about it in that Nashvillest post. I’ll bet if it’s successful she’ll open another one in east Nashville. Those two communities seem to be the most likely locations for such a store.
Neko Case has released her newest single via free download at Brooklynvegan. For every blog that reposts this song, Neko and ANTIlabel will make a cash donation to the Best Friends Animal Society. So download it, and if you have a blog, REPOST!
Neko Case-People Got A Lotta Nerve.mp3
Here’s a really cool collection of How-To graphics and illustrations. Fun to just peruse through… if that sort of thing interests you.
And for a little science: Wired talks about the top 5 best bets for extraterrestrial life in our own solar system. The top choice might surprise you, depending on how closely you follow the latest astronomy news.
I have a theory about Microsoft’s Songsmith software. If you haven’t read this blog in a while, read the last couple of posts, which mention this new software and how awful it is. Click the links, watch the ad, hear the David Lee Roth’s Runnin’ with the Devil run through it, then come back. Ok… I think that Microsoft intentionally made the software sound so cheesy, and the ad so ridiculous and un-ironic, that people like me (and most real musicians) would want to take their dry vocal tracks and run them through it as a joke, just to see how ridiculous it would sound. Just go read the comments in the Nashville Cream post about it. See how everyone is saying, “hey run this song through it!!!” ??? You know I’m right….. Just wait. In a few months some band will re-release a whole album “Songsmith’d.” I can see it now… Metallica’s Master of Puppets… SONGSMITH’D!
Credit: USAF
Obama has asked retired USAF Maj. Gen. Scott Gration to be the new NASA administrator. As mentioned a few posts back, current administrator Michael Griffin will be stepping down on Jan. 20th, as will the rest of the Bush-appointed NASA positions. I learned this from a Space.com post today, and the info contained in that article is all I know about the guy. He’s a decorated fighter pilot, and does have some experience working with NASA, but he’s mostly an outsider. Apparently many former NASA administrators have been outsiders, though, so this is really nothing new. What NASA needs is someone with good leadership skills and who can manage an organization that large and important. He also needs to be very good at managing budgets, as NASA will likely see further budget cuts due to the economic crisis and monstrous national debt.
steve cross loves music and science 