A Few Good Shows: 10/14/11
October 14, 2011
I apologize for the lack of posts this week, I’ve been working, finding a new place to live, and generally sorting out major life things. But I found a great new place to live that’s affordable and literally two blocks from 5 points, so I’m happy.
This weekend is looking pretty busy with lots of good shows going down:
FRIDAY:
Vitalic Noise presents CRAVE at the Wine Loft. I will be once again guest DJing at this FREE weekly dance party. We have good drink deals and sexy people, so come on down to the Gulch tonight! 10pm-3am, 21+ Dress code: No ballcaps, no shorts
Kindercastle, Codaphonic, Shaboi @ The 5 Spot. 9pm $5 21+
SATURDAY:
PUJOL EP release party w/ Turbo Fruits, D.Watusi, Fox Fun, and King Arthur @ The End. 9pm $5
Liam Finn, Marques Toliver @ Exit/In. 9pm $12
Sextide, Rubrics, How Cozy!, Nut Collector @ Little Hamilton Collective. $???
SUNDAY:
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart w/ Twin Sister @ Mercy Lounge. 9pm $12
That’s it, have a great weekend!
A Few Good Shows: 10/7/11
October 7, 2011
Remember that delightful promo video for Glossary’s new album? The one that featured Bingham Barnes bustin’ a move on the Murfreesboro square? Well now we have the follow-up, and it’s an outright showdown:
That transitions nicely into this week’s show listings because TONIGHT is Glossary’s album release show at 5 Spot! Here’s the full rundown:
FRIDAY:
Glossary Long Live All of Us album release show, with Ri¢hie at the 5 Spot. 9pm 21+ $5
Bobby Bare Jr., Tristen, and Ponychase @ Mercy Lounge. 9pm $10
Girls & Boys Nashville ft. The Four Horsemen, Kidsmeal, Wick-it the Instigator, Coach, Hands off Sam, Kevin Perryman, Sam & Tre, and Creative Control @ Cannery Ballroom. Girls Free till 11, $5/$20 VIP
Vitalic Noise presents CRAVE @ the Wine Loft. 10pm-3am, FREE. DJs Losici, Dali Drama, and special guests every week.
SATURDAY:
Frontier Ruckus w/ Birdcloud at The End. 9pm $8 (I’m sure there is a least one other opener but I can’t seem track that info down.)
J Roddy Walston & The Business, The Bohannons, The Sex Bombs @ 12th & Porter. 8:30pm $10
SUNDAY:
Infinity Cat showcase ft. Mom & Dad and King Karl + DJs @ The Basement. 9pm $3 21+
Have a great weekend!
Back in May I formed a Weezer cover band to play at a benefit show for the Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp. Mikey Owen, Jesse Baker, Laura Taylor and I had so much fun doing it that we decided to keep doing it. Thus, we decided to call it Cio Cio San & The Half-Japanese Girls, and we have our first show since the SGRRC benefit tonight at Melrose Billiards. We’ve expanded our setlist to include 11 Weezer classics from the Blue Album, Pinkerton, and a few B-sides & rarities from that era. Let’s just face it- very little that Weezer has done since 1997 is worth a shit, so we don’t even bother with it. Our friend Clint Wilson (of Frank the Fuck Out) has a new band called Dead Legs, and they’ll be opening for us. Jesse mentioned a third band that will be playing after us, but their name escapes me. (Sorry other band, if you’re reading this.)
So come out tonight and enjoy some nostalgia. Starts at 9:30pm, it’s FREE to get in, and you gotta be 21.
Closet Case Vintage fall/winter 2011 lookbook
October 4, 2011
Take a gander at yet another impressive video/photo lookbook put together by Seth Graves (video) and Bradley Spitzer (photo) for my friend Carmen who runs Closet Case Vintage here in Nashville:
The whole deal with photos and all can be seen on the CCV blog. Among the models involved is the lovely Nikki Lane, who I just photographed performing at the Basement last friday for the Scene. I haven’t had a chance to check out her album yet, but her live show was quite impressive. She has a good “neo-classic” (to steal a phrase from the Spin review) country voice and a cast of Nashville indie/Americana staple players backing her up. Keep an eye and an ear on this one.
A Few Good Shows: 9/30/11, Glossary has a new record
September 30, 2011
If this promo video for Glossary‘s new album Long Live All Of Us featuring bassist Bingham Barnes bustin’ a move on the Murfreesboro square doesn’t make your day at least 100 times better, then you must not have a pulse. I feel that one might need to actually know Bingham to really grasp the hilarity of this, but if you don’t, it should still improve your life to some degree.
That being said, Glossary made a new record and it’s hitting shelves this coming Tuesday, October 4th. If you’re a local, mark your calendar for their release show October 7th at the 5 Spot.
Here’s what’s going down this weekend show-wise-
FRIDAY:
Nikki Lane album release show w/ Denny & The Jets and the Alabama Shakes @ The Basement. 9pm 21+ $7
tUnE-yArDs w/ Pat Jordache @ Exit/In. 9pm $12
Vitalic Noise presents a special edition of CRAVE/VITAL at the Wine Loft, ft. Lightsover LA, Sam & Tre, Donny West, Dark Sister, and a very special guest. 10pm, $5 cover (this is a joint Vital/Crave so the show isn’t free as usual Fridays are).
SATURDAY:
Wanda Jackson is doing an in-store signing and meet & greet at Grimey’s. 5pm
Wilco w/ Nick Lowe @ the Ryman (sold out, night 1 of 2)
Have a great weekend!
Neutrinos faster than light? Let’s be realistic.
September 26, 2011
Of course the big news about the “faster than light” neutrinos would have to break right in the middle of Soundland, when I was insanely busy running around taking literally thousands of photos for 4 days straight… but the above image pretty much sums up how I feel about it. There’s an old saying in science- extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. However, in this case we’re not dealing with crackpot fringe scientists, we’re dealing with CERN scientists. In other words these people are very disciplined and have ruled out just about every other statistical anomaly, measurement inaccuracy, or other explanation for their results. So the fact that they measured neutrinos that appear to have traveled faster than light is not in question. The key word there is appear. And this is such a massively important discovery that the scientists involved are asking for comparison from the rest of the worldwide scientific community. They want others to repeat their experiments and see if they get the same result. When you’re questioning one of the most iron-clad, thoroughly proven theories of science such as General Relativity, you’d better have rock-solid, repeatable evidence to support your claim. No matter what the outcome of this, it will fascinating to sit back and watch as it unfolds. Here are a few links to interesting articles I’ve found relating to this news:
Diarrhea Planet’s Loose Jewels out/Soundland starts today
September 21, 2011
I failed miserably yesterday in that I forgot to mention that Nashville’s own laxative enthusiasts Diarrhea Planet finally released their long-overdue debut album Loose Jewels via Infinity Cat. And they did an in-store at Grimey’s, followed by a full-blown album release party last night at the End. As I was talking to the dudes they were mentioning beer spray guns and confetti. I remember Jordan saying something like, “we basically wanna tar & feather the audience, except with beer and confetti.” A very fitting theatrical addition to their show, I must say. Sadly I’m a crotchety old man with an early-ass day job so I only saw the in-store, but it was fun! I also got the record and it’s exactly what a Diarrhea Planet album should be- balls to the wall party punk anthems with massive guitarmonies and shredding all over the place. So get yourself a copy of the album and thank me later. Also, for a much more professional review of the record check out Lance Conzett’s review for the Scene. I will echo his sentiment that if you can’t get past the “ickiness” of their name not only is there no hope for you, but you’re also missing the point and you need to get laid.
Today marks the beginning of Soundland 2011– the new music festival/conference under the Next Big Nashville umbrella. If you haven’t gotten a wristband yet it’s not too late, but you’ll have to pay the $75 walk-up price. (Unless you buy online, where there’s a limited time extension of the $65 price level.) There are also individual show tickets. Check out their ticket info page for details. I’m once again working for the festival as a photographer, so I’ll be completely swamped with that for the next few days. There will be no “A Few Good Shows” this week, because it would all be Soundland stuff anyway. Till next week!
Burgers Fall 2011 Mixxxx is here
September 20, 2011
My Fall 2011 mixtape has arrived. This one’s a little longer than the last few but I had a lot of great new tracks, as well as some older gems that I recently dug up, to throw in there. I couldn’t resist the urge to kick it off with the new Sammy “Saxy” Bananas’ saxtastic remix of Chromeo’s hit “When The Night Falls.” Clearly the artwork reflects that. 😉 And dammit, just when I think I’m gonna be able to squeeze out a mixtape that doesn’t include Bit Funk, he goes and releases a masterpiece like “Rap Music.” I give up. The man can do no wrong. Also included is Viceroy’s brand-spankin’ new disco house banger “No Ending.” Enjoy:
Tracklist:
Chromeo-When The Night Falls (Sammy Saxy Bananas RMX)
Kimbra-Cameo Lover (GLOVES RMX)
Stephanie Mills-Put Your Body In It (Gigamesh RMX)
Chic-Le Freak (Le Principle Brooklyn Fire RMX)
Mustang-Shooting Love (FAT Club Mix)
Midnight Star-No Parking On The Dancefloor
Bastille-Wide Open
Makeup & Vanity Set-Charles Park (Disco Version)
Bag Raiders-Sunlight (GLOVES RMX)
Together Robots-Heaven (Death In Paris 1983 RMX)
Bit Funk-Rap Music
Viceroy-No Ending
Craze-Dance Alone (Ft. Wreckonize)
Flight Facilities-Foreign Language (Extended Mix)
A Few Good Shows: 9/16/11
September 16, 2011
Behold: the world’s largest afro.
Now for what’s going down in Nashville this weekend.
FRIDAY:
Girls, Nobunny, and Papa @ Mercy Lounge. $13 9pm (Girls are also doing an in-store show at Grimey’s at 5pm.)
Vitalic Noise presents CRAVE at the Wine Loft every Friday from 10pm-last call. FREE entry, 21+, ft. DJs Losici, Dali Drama, and a rotating cast of special guests.
SATURDAY:
Local Honey end of summer sale ft. live performances from Tristen, Action!, and Dogs of Oz. Free, Sale 11am-6pm, music at 2PM.
Earth, w/ Mount Eerie @ The End. $12 8pm.
SUNDAY:
Local Honey fall fashion rollout with runway show and music from DJ Patrick Kearney. Rollout is 12-4pm, runway show starts at 8pm.
Artist's concept of NASA's new SLS
Today NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and members of Congress announced an agreement to build the most powerful rocket in US history. The launch system (or SLS for space launch system) is intended to take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit, including asteroids and Mars. The SLS is a derivative of the space shuttle in that it uses 5 space shuttle engines and a fuel tank based on the design of the shuttle’s external fuel tank. There will also be two solid rocket boosters on either side of the main stack. The key difference is that the multi-purpose crew vehicle (MPCV), which is already under construction, will sit atop the entire stack, and will have an escape rocket system that will enable the crew to safely escape almost any type of failure or explosion at any stage during ascent. In many ways this new system is a hybrid of the Apollo-era Saturn V system and the space shuttle. For more info check out the official story on NASA’s website.
This is an exciting announcement, and it’s good to know that many aspects of this new SLS are based on or directly utilize existing technology. This means that the overall cost should be significantly lower than if we’d tried to build something entirely new. I’m glad there was bipartisan agreement that led to this decision being made relatively quickly. The target date for the initial launch of this new SLS is 2017. That seems realistic and I certainly hope it is. Humanity is long overdue to reach beyond low-Earth orbit and explore deep space.
steve cross loves music and science 