A Few Good Shows: 4/20/12
April 20, 2012
Hey it’s 4/20! As I mentioned yesterday, this Saturday’s big deal is Record Store Day and the associated festivities. But if that’s just a slice of the action this weekend. Here are a few other things worth checking out:
FRIDAY:
Ranch Ghost, Dirty Dreams, T.Rust, Denny & The Jets @ The High Watt stage in Mercy Lounge. A benefit for Rob Wood and Paul Turek. $5 min. donation. 9pm
KDSML Review Vol. 5 featuring Sam & Tre, Peripheral, Ziggurat, Audeon, and Creative Control @ Exit/In. 9pm $5
Rwake, Look What I Did, Stallion, and Rintrah @ The End. 9pm $10 adv./$12 dos.
SATURDAY:
Anchor Thieves, Scale Model, Century Club, The GoldRoom @ The End. 9pm $5 Free RSD iPhone 4 cases and CD singles from Anchor Thieves.
Space Capone w/ special guest Alyssa Bonagura @ Mercy Lounge. 9pm $10 adv./$12 dos.
Queer Dance Party @ the 5 Spot. $5 (I think…) 21+
Bear In Heaven, Blouse, and Doldrums @ Exit/In. 9pm $10
That about does it. Have a great weekend and buy some records!
As you should know, this Satuday is National Record Store Day. Record stores (you know, the places you can actually walk into and touch a real album and buy it… imagine that) across the nation will be having huge special sales, and labels and artists across the nation have pressed limited edition vinyl releases, usually 45s, that will only be available at a record store, on Record Store Day. There are tons of awesome happenings here in Nashville, the biggest being Grimey’s “big ass outdoor sale.” They have a killer lineup of live music slated for the parking lot, and they always have tons of used records and CDs on sale for super cheap. Check out grimeys.com for the full lineup and schedule. East Nashville’s The Groove also has a killer lineup of bands playing on their backyard stage, and you can get most if not all of the official RSD exclusive releases there as well. Check their website for the full lineup and schedule. Those are the only two doing performances that I know of, but The Great Escape might be doing some sort of sale. There’s no mention of it on their website, however. Third Man Records will of course have lots going on in the way of sales and limited releases, etc… however they do not have live performances this year. (How can they possibly top Jerry Lee Lewis last year?)
Secondly, the flyer above is for a show that includes my band, thus a bit of shameless self promotion:
Come see Scale Model, Anchor Thieves, Century Club, and The Goldroom at The End Saturday night after all your RSD shopping/festivities! Anchor Thieves are releasing a free CD single, and Nashville’s own Griffin Technology will be giving away free RSD themed iPhone 4 cases. Find out more about Scale Model, the Goldroom, and Century Club (ex-Carter Administration) at their respective bandcamp pages. RSVP on Facebook here. Cover is only $5, show starts at 9:30pm, and the beer is cheap. Come party with us!
Absurdly awesome videos
April 19, 2012
Two videos which share a common theme of absurdity and awesomeness. Absurdly awesome? Awesomely absurd? You decide.
Exhibit A: Ridiculous/dumb/terrible things happening in super slo-mo. As in, 2500 frames per second slo-mo. It never ceases to amaze me how super slow motion can turn just about anything, no matter how gross or messy, into a captivating and beautiful spectacle. My favorite is the rocket-powered clothes drying rack. Why didn’t I ever think of that? Seriously though, this is one that simply MUST be seen in full HD, so set that shit on 1080p, pop it on fullscreen, and sit back. (Via Devour)
Exhibit B: The new video for Diarrhea Planet’s “Warm Ridin’.” This is a band that is not afraid of over-the-top absurdity or awesomeness, and this video is all of the above. Complete with rooftops, bare chests, flaming guitars, American flags, and jumping jacks. These dudes know how to party. If you haven’t checked out their debut album on Infinity Cat yet, go fix that right now. And if you can’t get around the name, you’re just missing the point altogether.
Burgers Spring 2012 Mixxxx
April 16, 2012
All I can say is- better late than never. I normally get my seasonal mixes out pretty close to the beginning of each season. My life has been pretty busy this spring and this is mostly a hobby for me, so things are running a little behind. I’ve been pretty obsessed with everything Gigamesh has touched lately, so of course he makes an appearance… I also was feeling a bit more housey than usual, so you’ll notice a few distinctly house-influenced tracks in there. And how could I not include Viceroy’s sun-drenched, poolside-ready remix of Mark Morrison’s 90s hit “Return of the Mack” ??? Enjoy/download:
A Few Good Shows: 4/13/12
April 13, 2012
This fine Friday the 13th weekend is shaping to be a good one for shows in Nashville. Take a gander at my picks:
FRIDAY:
Colour Revolt and Sleeping Bulls @ The 5 Spot. $8 9pm 21+
Diarrhea Planet, Couched, Guntherdoug, Linear Downfall @ The End. 9pm $5
RR Release party ft. D. Striker, Little Bandit, The Tendoor, and Roy Ira @ The Basement. 9pm $5 21+
SATURDAY:
Night Beats, D. Watusi, and Ranch Ghost @ The End. 9pm $5
Sparkle City DJs at the 5 Spot. 9pm $5 (Ft. Jonas Stein, David Bermudez, and some others… I think…)
Tour De Fun, Murfreesboro. This thing was totally kick ass last year, so I hear. Kinda wish I could go this year but I’m an old man. You ride your bike around Murfreesboro going from house show to house show, seeing a bunch of bands and drinking a lot of beer. Pretty cool idea! Bikes! Bands! Houses! Beer! FUN! Check out Lance Conzett’s critic’s pick on it in the Scene.
Image credit: Dr. Phil Plait/Bad Astronomy Blog
Rant warning: I’m about to go on a major rant. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
There’s simply no way else to put it, science classrooms in Tennessee’s public schools are fucked. It’s clear that our Republican Governor Bill Haslam didn’t actually like the so-called “monkey bill” that will allow teachers in TN public schools to teach creationism and climate change denialism under the guise of “scientific weaknesses,” but unfortunately he proved to be a coward by finding the political equivalent of “having your cake and eating it too”- allowing it to pass without his signature. The bill is nothing more than Bible-thumping socially conservative legislators trying to create a seemingly politically correct path for religious-based ideas to be taught alongside thoroughly proven scientific principles in our public schools. Honestly the state Board of Education is who should be making decisions like this, not state lawmakers. The separation of church and state is made crystal clear by the US Constitution, and teaching pseudoscience that is solely based on religion- creationism and intelligent design- should never EVER be allowed in public schools. Climate change denialism, while not religiously motivated per se, is very politically motivated and not supported by scientific evidence. Both evolution and climate change are overwhelmingly supported by rock-solid scientific evidence. Both are large and complex topics, the minor details of which are constantly going to be debated/improved/clarified, but the overall facts of both are very certain. They are not “scientifically controversial,” they are only politically controversial. It’s times like these that I’m quite ashamed of my home state. Dr. Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy Blog has much better and more professional commentary on this than I, so I suggest reading his blog post about it.
However, things like this Elon Musk interview from last night’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart bring me right back up when I’m down. Watch part 1 here and part 2 here, because you can’t embed Comedy Central videos on a wordpress hosted blog. 😦 It’s awesome and inspirational to see people like him be successful. People who have both the money and the vision to do great things and push the boundaries of mankind’s knowledge and capabilities. Elon Musk is one of many who are pushing the human race forward. The religious right pandering morons in the TN legislature and our coward of a Governor are among those pulling the human race backward.
End of rant.
Formed by former members of We Were The States, Echo Group is a new band poised to take Nashville’s music scene by storm. I’ve listened to their free EP Chalktalk Record Collection several times and simply can’t get enough of it. (If you haven’t already, hit play on the player above. Go ahead- DO IT. Then download it for FREE at their website.) It’s perfectly produced with just the right percussive touches and liberal yet tasteful use of reverb to give everything a Spector-esque 60’s-throwback tinge. I simply can’t get enough of the triumphant horns on “Supra” and the sexy sax on “Don’t Don’t Don’t.” They’re also releasing a split 7″ via Right Nice Records with local noise rockers Mom & Dad which features the track “Work It.” Mom & Dad are already creating some good buzz around town, though I’ve yet to see them live. While I can appreciate the intent of the noised-out/heavily distorted production value of their recordings, it’s honestly a little too noisy and distorted for my taste. I’m quite positive I’m going to love these guys live, however, because they have some seriously awesome songs under all that fuzz.
They are celebrating the release of said split 7″ this Thursday at the brand new High Watt stage in Mercy Lounge. My band Scale Model opens the show, so of course I STRONGLY urge you to come and come early! The show will start promptly at 9pm and is only $5 to attend. We all have short sets and promise to get you home in time for bed on a weeknight. 🙂
RSVP here on Facebook.
This is so cool I had to share- OMG Space. I just love things that really put the vastness of space and the unfathomable sizes of objects like the sun (which is literally a tiny spec compared to some stars) into a perspective/scale that our feeble human brains can comprehend. OMG Space does just that. Start at the top and just scroll. And scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll until you get to Mercury. Then you realize “holy shit, I’m only at the first planet!” Then keep doing that. Resist the urge to just click on the planet at the bottom. The point isn’t getting to each planet, it’s the vast space between. If you’re not utterly amazed by that sense of scale and size, then you must not have a pulse. Seriously.
(Via Yewknee)
A Few Good Shows: 4/6/12
April 6, 2012
A pretty impressive few days of music have shaped up this weekend in Nashville. Here’s what I think is worth checking out:
FRIDAY:
Memetic Society Showcase ft. Fly Golden Eagle, Faux Ferocious, Majestico, and Justin & The Cosmics @ The Basement. 9pm $5 21+
Evan P. Donohue, The Weeks, What Up, English?, and Orbit Funeral @ Exit/In. 9pm $7
Pontiak, Luke Roberts, Ascent of Everest @ The End. 9pm $10
Kansas Bible Company, Magnolia Sons, The Lonely H, and Peter Terry & the City Profits @ 12th & Porter. 9pm $5
SATURDAY:
The Ettes, Diarrhea Planet, Guntherdoug, and Couched @ Zombie Shop. 8pm $7
The Coathangers, White Mystery, Thelma & The Sleaze @ The End. 9pm $7
SUNDAY:
White Denim w/ Hundred Visions @ Mercy Lounge. 9pm $10 adv/$12 dos
That’s it- have a great weekend!
Some fantastic news from NASA today: The astoundingly successful and productive Kepler Mission has been extended through 2016! This is a huge relief for space nerds like me who eagerly watch science news blogs for the next big news item from missions such as Kepler. As you may know, Kepler is a space telescope which looks for planets in other star systems. Most specifically, the mission is looking for earth-like planets in other star systems. The mission has already racked up over 1,000 potential planets, and I have absolutely no doubt that it will find and confirm the first true earth-twin in these next 4 years. There was a lot of concern over the future of the mission due to recent NASA budget cuts- many thought the mission might not get funding to extend it even till 2014, so getting funding till 2016 was actually a pleasant surprise. The funding will, however, be up for review again in 2014. Still, this is a huge relief because Kepler has already seen what could be earth-twins, we just have to wait for a second transit to occur to confirm the initial observation. Since these are truly earth-like planets, it takes them roughly one earth year to orbit their parent star. The major worry was the mission would be ended before a second transit could be observed to confirm the planets’ existence. Thankfully we no longer have to worry about that, and it’s only a matter of time before the holy grail of planet-hunting is found.
(Via Universe Today and Bad Astronomy)
steve cross loves music and science 