Headed to Portland, OR!
October 16, 2009
Hey kids, the GF and I are headed to Portland, OR today to visit our good friend Chris Freeman and just see the city we’ve heard everyone rave about so much. We’ll be back Monday afternoon. So this will be the last post till at least Tuesday. That being said, here are some tasty tidbits for your browsing pleasure:
Be sure to check out the results of this year’s Best Of Nashville reader’s poll in the Scene. I’m just happy The Features won best local band. Over Kings of Leon. Not that I have anything against KOL, it’s just cool that the readers appreciate all The Features’ hard work for the past ~15 years.
The official Next Big Nashville photogallery is up. It includes photos by me, Jonathan Kingsbury, Dylan Reyes, Jordan Jaquess, and Bradley Butcher. You can see the full galleries for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, or you can view a more selective culling on the official NBN flickr photostream.
This may be old news to some, but Beck has started a pretty awesome new project on his website called Record Club. He’s bringing in various musicians from other bands to contribute to the recording of a full album in one day. They’re all cover albums and the musicians do not get a chance to rehearse together before the session. He also videotapes the whole thing and uploads one song per week to his website. The one currently up is Leonard Cohen’s Songs of Leonard Cohen featuring Devendra Banhart, members of MGMT, and many more. I think our own hometown hero Matt Mahaffey appears in at least 1 or 2 of the previous session videos, in which they covered The Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground & Nico. (Via Brooklyn Vegan)
Speaking of Matt Mahaffey, Rock Sellout did a cool interview with him last week.
Be sure to make it down to the Exit/In for Monotonix/Turbo Fruits/JEFF the Brotherhood tomorrow. Or if that’s not your thing, Drummer (side project of Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney) is playing at Mercy Lounge, along with the Royal Bangs.
But as I said we’ll be in Portland attending the Scion GarageFest, where 2 Nashville acts just happen to be playing: Cheap Time and Those Darlins.
That’s it for now folks. See you next week.
New JEFF album/next BFF/Cuddle Parties
October 13, 2009
JEFF the Brotherhood has a new album coming out today called Heavy Days. I’m gonna go buy it. You should too.
I couldn’t help but both laugh and be totally freaked out when I read about Cuddle Parties yesterday on the Tennessean website. This is simultaneously hilarious and terrifying… Adult people gathering with a group of total strangers, changing into pajamas, and laying in a big pile spooning, cuddling and massaging each other’s feet? I don’t even know what to say…. (Via Nashvillest)
The next official BFF will be going down next friday, Oct. 23rd, at Mad Donna’s again. My cohort Joseph (Fan Fiction) will unfortunately have to sit this one out because of prior birthday engagements, but I’ve recruited the help of DJ’s Potamus and Fats. Potamus has been making a name for himself opening for the likes of MSTRKRFT recently at Limelight, and Fats can be found over at the weekly Foobar event Totally DJ’s. This time around we’re instituting a miniscule $3 cover for those aged 18-20, but it’s still free for those 21+, so come out and dance next weekend! If you haven’t done so yet, please go grab my October mix for Justin Kase’s blog, Blogging Is Serious Business.
Science-y tibits 10/13/09
October 13, 2009
I haven’t posted any science-related stuff on here in waaaay too long. Part if it has been Next Big Nashville, which I’m still recovering from, along with other general business. That being said, here are some goodies for you:
NASA has a renewed focus on the moon, especially to determine how much, if any, water is there. One of the ways they decided to do that was to smash the rocket stage of the current satellite into the surface and analyze the result plume of dust and debris. Sunday they did just that, and the results are still coming in, but it was definitely a successful impact. Check out more about the LCROSS mission here.
I’ve mentioned the 2012 doomsday myth on here before and linked to various website that thoroughly debunk it, but today one article caught my eye. I’d never even thought to research what the Mayan descendants have to say about this issue. Turns out they are pretty smart and fully understand that the world won’t end just because their Long Count calendar ends. The whole steaming pile of bullshit that is the 12/21/2012 doomsday myth is entirely a creation of modern Western culture that’s been imposed on the Mayan culture and one of their many calendars. The point to drive home here is that THE VERY PEOPLE WHO INVENTED THE CALENDAR DON’T EVEN BELIEVE THE HYPE BECAUSE IT’S BULLSHIT! They simply take it for what it is: an anniversary of sorts, a time when the Long Count calendar starts over again. Read the article at Discovery News.
Remember when Stephen Colbert lead a huge campaign to get the newest node for the Space Station named after him? While he did win the popular vote, NASA had the final say and didn’t name it after him, but they did come up with a ridiculous name for the new treadmill for the ISS that, when abbreviated, spells C.O.L.B.E.R.T. and the astronauts just completed its assembly. Here’s a pic of them using it for the first time:
Via Space.com
My BISB Oct. mix is up!
October 9, 2009
No time for anything elaborate today, but I must take a second to mention that my (Burgers) October mix for Justin Kase’s blog Blogging Is Serious Business is now up! Go grab it right now. It’s definitely the best mix I’ve released so far. It’s got some smooth grooves along with some heavier, darker tracks, which makes it perfect for a Halloween dance party. Big thanks to Justin for the invite!
NBN starts TOMORROW!
October 6, 2009
This year’s Next Big Nashville has really crept up on me. But it starts tomorrow and I’ll be one busy dude for the next 5 or so days. I’m shooting pics for the festival, and here’s where I’ll be found: Wed- Cannery for Nashville Music Awards/Ten Out of Tenn. Thur- Mercy Lounge/Cannery. Fri- Exit/In and The End. Sat- Exit/In and The End. I’ll probably also be at the Yazoo day party/sale on Sat. It’s gonna be a crazy weekend. If you’re totally LAME and don’t have a wristband or badge yet, your absolute last chance to score some freebies will be tonight at Rock N Roll Trivia at Mercy Lounge. Winning team gets 6, yes SIX, wristbands, plus a $100 bar tab at Mercy. Read more about that at Nashville Cream. I unfortunately MUST take tonight off to just chill at home and work on the DJ Burgers fall mix, which will be featured on Justin Kase’s blog, Blogging Is Serious Business. More on that later…
In other news, Vampire Weekend released the first track from the new album for free, and it’s effing everywhere on the interwebz today. YAWN.
I took some photos of Them Crooked Vultures at War Memorial for the Scene last night. I saw about the 1st 4 or 5 songs and it was pretty cool actually… I’ll have to check out their first release whenever it comes out for sure…
Big props to my friend and BFF co-conspirator Fan Fiction for getting tapped to DJ the final NBN afterparty Sat. night at Mercy Lounge.
I have no idea if I’ll even have time to post anything over the next 4 to 5 days, so don’t expect much. Besides, you should be out enjoying NBN, not at home on your computer!
Creed tix drop to 7.79/Next Big Nashville/weekend stuff
October 2, 2009
I find it absolutely hilarious to learn that tickets for the upcoming Creed concert at Sommet Center have dropped to $7.79. I can’t see how this show could go on with ticket prices that low… with the production costs in a venue that big, there’s no way this show could happen without the promoters or someone losing a lot of money. As one Cream commenter said, “these are cheap enough to buy [for] someone as a practical joke..” I hope Stapp & co. get the message here: Your band sucks. Your band is an embarrassment to humanity. Stop now. No one likes you. In fact, even Jesus hates you.
Every once in a while Oddee.com comes out with a truly interesting/ridiculous list of bizarre (insert phrase here). This list of “accidental deaths you won’t believe” is quite possibly one of the most hilarious/terrifying/depressing things they’ve published yet. A stripper suffocating inside a birthday cake? Falling into a vat of scalding chocolate? Being crushed to death by a woman committing suicide? You couldn’t make this shit up…
Next Big Nashville is only a week away! You can still get wristbands and VIP badges here. Don’t think you can just walk up to a venue and be able to pay a cover to get in… that may work in some cases, but I’d say there will be at least a few of these shows that will fill up to capacity with badges and wristbands, and walk-ups won’t be able to get in.
As for stuff to do this weekend, you probably won’t find us out quite as much as usual. As far as I know, I’m not shooting any shows until Them Crooked Vultures on Monday… so the main thing we’re doing is the art crawl saturday night. If you’ve never been, just head down to the Aracade on 5th Ave tomorrow night around 6-7pm. All the art galleries are free and open, and most have free wine and snacks. It’s a great way to hang out, look at some awesome art, and get drunk for free. There’s even a free shuttle to haul your drunk ass around to the other galleries that aren’t within walking distance. I actually have to work Sunday morning so I can’t stay out late Sat. night, but if you’ve ever been to the End, please do head over there for a benefit show to celebrate the life of Stacy Fleeman, the former doorman who passed away last month. Playing are Dharmakaya, Silent Friction, Creeping Cruds, The Billy Goats, Jah’s Addiction, The Destructions, Lovebucket, and Fire Walk With Me. These are all bands that Stacy had some sort of connection with and/or loved. The show will start at 3pm and go late into the night.
One last note: I’m really REALLY stoked for the series premier of Stargate Universe tonight on SyFy. I’ve been looking forward to this show for a good 6 months now, ever since the final episode of Stargate Atlantis. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of the whole Stargate franchise, but I’m still cautiously optimistic about the new direction this show is taking. We’ll see how it goes.
Locals get blog love/Predators/Hoptober
September 29, 2009
Today will be short and sweet. I mainly just wanted to point out a couple of Nashville bands/artists who got some major blog love today:
First up, You Ain’t No Picasso posted a demo of a new song by Caitlin Rose along with a short account of their interactions at Monolith. The track is “Song for Rabbits” and I suggest you nab it while you’re there. It’s a great song in 6/8 that has very little of the country twang present in most of her songs released thus far, and shows her ability to adapt her voice to just about any style and feel.
Secondly, our own Turbo Fruits got a mention and track posted over at RCRD LBL. Too bad that I’ll be in Portland, OR the weekend they come through Nashville on tour with Monotonix at Exit/In. I’m also looking forward to hearing the rest of the album. Two more free tracks can be found at their bandcamp.
I love beer. In the past 3 years or so I’ve also developed a much more discerning taste in beers as well. That’s why I’ve started brewing it myself. Rarely do I come across a beer that I really just want to tell the whole world about. But this past Saturday Megan and I hopped over to 12th South Taproom for some brews, and I decided to try New Belgium’s seasonal Hoptober. I was smitten. Since New Belgium has just recently started shipping their beer to this area I haven’t tried many of their styles, but that’s going to change. I absolutely love this beer! It’s not near as caramel-y as a normal Marzen/Oktoberfest but the malts are still very present and give it a medium body. The story here, though, is the quintuplet of hops used. Despite being a definite “hoppy” beer, Hoptoberfest only has an IBU of 40, so most would not classify it as an extremely “bitter” beer such as an IPA or Imperial Stout. The bitterness is very pleasant and sits lightly on your tongue while the aroma hops really shine through. Go grab a 6-pack- they’re at most grocery stores. But the best experience is on tap, in opinion. The smell and taste of this beer combine to basically give you a mouthgasm.
On completely different note, I’m glad to see that the Predator franchise has a new film coming down the pipe next year. Robert Rodriguez did a script for a sequel to the original Predator movie that never was used and now 15 years later, with some minor revisions, it’s finally being used. The film will be directed by Nimrod Antal. Of all the creatures/monsters I’ve seen, none will ever top The Predator. This thing has the ugliest, most terrifying face I’ve ever seen and I fucking love it. BAD. ASS. It’s pure mindless, testosterone-driven entertainment. Total guilty pleasure. And according to i09, this is just “the ‘shoot ’em up, chase and fight’ movie that belongs in the Predator franchise.” YES. I mean, just look at this thing:
Adorable, isn’t it?
Water on the moon/Stargate Universe/We are all made of germs
September 28, 2009
Image via Stargate Universe blog
Ok first of all I have to get out my excitement about Stargate Universe, the third show in the Stargate TV franchise. The 2-hour series debut will hit your screen this Friday at 9pm (8pm Central) on SyFy. io9 posted a fairly revealing clip from it today. Don’t get me wrong, no real spoilers there, just a good idea of the vibe and overall tone of the show. This series will be a much more serious take on the Stargate saga. I’m thinking it’s going to end up taking on a similar mood to Battlestar Galactica.
Ok now that’s out of my system….
I’m sure you’ve seen the headlines about how water was discovered on the moon recently by NASA’s mineral mapper instrument aboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 probe launched in 2008. First of all, this does NOT mean that water is swirling around on the surface of the moon. The moon has no atmosphere and therefore water can’t even exist in a liquid state at all. What’s happening is that the incoming solar rays are reacting with the material on the surface to create a thin layer of hydroxyl (OH) and normal water (H2O) in the very top milimeter or so of regolith. This layer is so thin that it would amount to 1 liter of water per ton of surface soil. That’s a VERY small amount, but it’s a lot more than we ever thought would be there. What does this all mean for the future of human exploration on the moon? Read this Universe Today article to find out.
Here is a great Daily Galaxy article about something that I had honestly never even heard or known before. I hadn’t the slightest clue that there are more bacteria/microbes in our bodies than there are actual human cells. That’s to say that if you counted the number of human cells and the number of microbial/bacterial cells in your body, there would be more bacteria/microbes. In fact it’s utterly awe-inspiring (and slightly terrifying) to think that some of the species if bacteria actually don’t exist anywhere else outside our bodies, and that we could NOT survive without them. Essentially they’re as important as any organ. We’re literally more germ than we are human, and it couldn’t exist any other way. Of course, we look more like us because human cells are MUCH bigger than bacteria cells. The crazy thing, as the article points out, is that doctors still don’t know anything about most of these bugs that live inside us. But they’re trying to change that.
Black Lips get in fight/Those Darlins on YANP/Carl Sagan autotuned
September 28, 2009
You Ain’t No Picasso does a series of interviews called “My First Time With… (insert band name here).” His latest is with Murfreesboro/Nashville’s own Those Darlins. Check it out here. I was rather surprised to know that The Bang Up was Linwood’s first band… or that the first song he wrote was “Shoot that Girl”…. which was one of the best songs from his band the Turncoats. Actually there’s no way that’s the first song he wrote. Linwood, I’m callin’ bullshit on that one buddy. You don’t write a song that good your first time around. Besides, it’s not like this interview’s serious or anything….
Surprise surprise: The Black Lips got into a fight with WAVVES in Brooklyn. To be more specific, Jared Swilley was the one who actually got into it, but he denies the dude (Nathan) from WAVVES was even involved. I don’t understand why, but I’m eternally fascinated by the ridiculous situations those crazy Atlantans get themselves into…
For all the nerds out there, please check out this video of autotuned Carl Sagan clips/Stephen Hawking robot voices. I’m not sure if this is meant to be serious or not…
Protomen/Pansy Dance/beer
September 25, 2009
So tonight is the epic CD release show for The Protomen’s Act II: The Father of Death. Epic is an understatement, actually. We’re talking a full choir, and a full string section. Not to mention the 10-15 people already in the band. The super-dedicated fanbase of this band never ceases to amaze me. They are flying in from all over the country for this show. Oh, and it’s sold out… so if you don’t have a ticket you’re SOL.
HOWEVER, if you’re still itching for something to do, and don’t have a ticket, there is something else for you to do, and it happens to be pretty close by. Little Hamilton is hosting the 2nd official “Pansy Dance” party, featuring DJ’s Kid Chicago and me (Burgers). I’ll be scooting over there right after the Protomen show’s over (around 1-ish) to DJ till the wee hours. So if you don’t have a Protomen ticket, just come, and if you do have a ticket, come over afterwards and dance the night away!
Some other random music tidbits:
Wayne Coyne is pretty crazy. And he likes to call people in other bands dicks. And he also likes naked people on bikes. So maybe he just likes the word “dick” in various usages. I saw their movie Christmas On Mars this past weekend, but I wasn’t on any kind of drugs so that must why I thought it was kinda pointless and needlessly weird. I still like the Flaming Lips though.
Jimmy Page, Jack White, and The Edge were all in a movie about guitars called It Might Get Loud. It’s playing at the Belcourt Sept. 25th through Oct. 1st. Read the Scene’s Patrick Rodgers’ take on it here.
My first batch of home-brewed beer turned out pretty decent, in case you hadn’t seen my twitter and facebook posts about it. I’ve actually given a good chunk of it away already, but I have about 20 bottles left. It’s a pale ale, and while it’s not exactly wonderful, it’s not bad for a first batch. The hoppiness is a little off- rather than a pleasant, crisp, refreshing bitterness it has a slightly unpleasant bitterness that sort of wears out your palate by the time you finish the beer. But I’ve discovered that drinking it with a meal greatly diminishes that effect and creates an overall pleasant beer experience. I’ve got a batch of cream ale in the fermenter as we speak, and it should be ready in a few weeks. It should be a much better batch because I used filtered water to make everything.
Also, Caitlin Rose officially approves of “Steve Cross’s attempted pale ale.” I’m thinking she should be the official spokeswoman. Just watch this video on facebook. (You’ll have to login to watch it…)
steve cross loves music and science 