Ben & Zooey married/Next Big Nashville stuff
September 23, 2009
I wish I could post more often, but I just don’t have as much time now that work is really busy again, both at Vandy and the photography stuff. Sorry kids. Posting is going to be more like every-other day or every two days for a while.
Next Big Nashville got a little shout-out on Pitchfork today, as Nashville Cream points out. Kudos! I, along with Johnny Kingsbury and probably some others, have once again been hired by Jason and Co. to photographically cover the festival, so expect to see me running my ass off and loving every minute of it again this year.
Image via Nashville Cream
Also NBN-related is the Nashville Music Awards, which is being re-instated this year after last happening in 2000. It’s poll run by the Scene, and though I have no idea how they came up with the nominations, the voting is very simple: whomever gets the most votes wins. There were obviously some categories which I knew very little to nothing about, but the rules say that you must fill out each category for your ballot to be counted. So, go forth and vote! The awards will be presented on Wed. Oct. 7th at the Cannery Ballroom, as part of NBN. And if haven’t gotten your NBN tickets yet, you’re crazy. Go fix that right now.
So Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel got hitched this past weekend. All you cutesytweeindie people can go cry for a while because the celebrity love of your life is now firmly wed.
Now enjoy this:
Via Clusterflock
Janet Timmons’ bday show at 5 Spot tonight
September 18, 2009
So tonight is Janet Timmons’ birthday bash at the 5 Spot. Not only is there a cool lineup, but it’s also FREE, and I’m spinning hot jamz (as Burgers) before and between bands. Let it be known that My So-Called Band is a 90’s pop cover band made up of Dave Paulson (the Privates, ex-Pink Spiders), Keith Lowen (the Privates, Comfies, De Novo Dahl, lots of other good bands), and Sam Smith (current Ben Folds drummer, also from the Comfies). With that awesome lineup of awesomely talented musicians, this is going to be totally awesomely awesome. Did I mention it will be awesome? Oh and if you don’t know who Janet is, you should, because she hosts a great radio show on 91.1 WRVU called Out The Other. She’s also been appropriately dubbed “Nashville’s official local rock cheerleader.”
There are lots of good things going down this weekend, but I’m kinda tired and don’t have much time right now, so for a good list of shit to do, go check out the Nashville Cream’s weekend round-up post.
I hope to see you tonight, and have a great weekend!
Rocky exoplanet confirmed/nerd Venn diagram
September 17, 2009
Image Via Space.com
A European satellite observatory recently discovered a very small exoplanet that is said to be the first with a proven density similar to Earth’s. Follow-up observations were done at a telescope in Chile to determine the planet’s mass, which was then combined with its radius to calculate its density. The planet has about 5 times Earth’s mass. But don’t get too excited just yet- the planet is far from habitable. It orbits VERY close to its parent star (23 times closer than Mercury is to our Sun), which not only means it’s really effin’ hot, but it also is probably tidally locked, which means the same side of the planet is always facing the star. So one side is literally boiling with molten rock, and the other side is extremely cold. There’s no way it could have any atmosphere, either. BUT this is still an important step toward finding an Earth-twin. No we know that we can find planets similar in size and density to our own. It’s just a matter of time until Kepler or CoRoT finds one orbiting in its star’s habitable zone. (Via Space.com)
Ever wondered about the difference between a nerd, a geek, a dweeb, and dork? Look no further. This pretty much nails it down perfectly. (Via Clusterflock)
New Rocksellout/Pavement Reunion/Caitlin Rose video
September 16, 2009
I’ve known Brock Sharp for quite a while now, ever since he was involved with Vacant Cage Records back in the mid 2000’s. They folded back in ’07 and since then he’s been doing all sorts of random music-related things, including starting the Dig For Fire Agency with me. Just last week he was offered the opportunity to take over the music blog Rock Sellout. He agreed, and now it’s up and running again under his command. So go check it out. I may even end up contributing to it some in the future.
Tonight Those Darlins will be joining the Dexateens, the Rustlanders, and Band of Heathens at Mercy Lounge for an Americana Music Awards showcase. They’ll also be joined by a super-secret special guest, and based on the Nashville Cream’s hints and the AMA website, I’m pretty sure it’ll be John Fogerty.
In case you’ve been under a rock the past few days, the long-rumored Pavement reunion is definitely, absolutely, 100% happening. I knew there was something to that 5 Spot almost-reunion-show for Bob N.’s wedding. Maybe they’ll either A) play in Nashville, or B) play at SXSW next year. Or both?
It should be no secret that I’m the world’s biggest Mythbusters fan. That’s why I’m very excited about some of the topics covered in the upcoming season, which debuts October 7th. Can you build a sailboat out of duct tape? Or a cannon? Does a muddy car really get better gas mileage than a clean one? (WTF?) And the one I’m most interested in: does having multiple drinks with various liquors give you a worse hangover than sticking to one liquor all night? If the episode tackling that one is half as funny as the one testing other alcohol/sobriety rumors, then it’s gonna probably end up being one of my fav episodes of all time. CAN’T. WAIT. (Via Gizmodo)
I’ll leave you today with this video containing various drunken antics and a few performance clips from Caitlin Rose’s trip to the Monolith Festival at Red Rocks, CO. Wish I could’ve gone!
Pet Sounds a capella/BFF TONIGHT!
September 11, 2009
This one of the most interesting ideas I’ve ever seen. The guy took out all the instrumental parts from the Beach Boys’ epic masterpiece Pet Sounds, leaving only the lead vocals and vocal harmonies (basically an a capella version of the album). The result is fascinating. This is one of my favorite albums of all time and this sheds a whole new light on the vocal parts. It exposes some of the intricacies that get lost in the layers and layers of instrumental parts present on the album. Here’s the classic hit Wouldn’t It Be Nice: (Via SnarkMarket)
Carles of Hipster Runoff shares his opinions about the Beatles Guitar Hero game and Pitchfork’s review of the re-issues that came out this week. Seriously Pitchfork… why the hell did you review the Beatles’ re-issues? It seems utterly pointless. There is absolutely no question about the quality and relevance of these albums. They’re the most influential band in the history of popular music. End of story. No need for reviews. Enough has been written about them already.
Finally, I must include one more plug for my DJ event tonight. You will come. You will have a good time. You will dance & drink the night away. You will thank us for putting on such an awesome event. FYI- park up and down Woodland.
NASA can’t get out of LEO with current budget/Levitating Mice
September 10, 2009
Bad news for NASA from the Augustine Commission. Under the current budget through 2015, we can’t even get out of Low-Earth Orbit. What that means is we can only go to the ISS. We can’t even get back to the moon, let alone send people to Mars or beyond. The commission’s recommendations are best summarized in a cool graphic that I found on Universe Today yesterday. See below.
Image via Universe Today
Obviously Obama has to allocate more money to NASA if we are to even think about achieving the current set of goals. (Those being: retiring the space shuttle, developing the new Ares rockets, Orion Crew Module, and Antares Moon Lander, and getting back to the Moon around 2020.) In these times that will be tough, and sadly NASA could get put on the backburner for a few years until we have more economic stability. Let’s hope for the best, though.
In some much better NASA news, the newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope is working like a charm and is taking better pictures than ever before. Check out some of the gorgeous new images at NASA’s website. You can even download super hi-res versions. Eye. Gasm.
Who knew that we’d be able to build an actual, real-life antigravity device so soon? Scientists have found a way to levitate small creatures as big as mice. We’ve all seen the classroom science experiment where they use a superconductor in liquid nitrogen to levitate a tiny disc. But you can actually do that with almost anything. They key is getting the magnetic field to the right strength. AND there’s a practical goal of this research other than “Holy Shit! We made a mouse float in mid-air! Cool!” The practical goal is to study long-term effects of microgravity on the mice’s bodies, the results of which can be applied to astronauts in space and help NASA plan for missions to Mars and beyond. (Via LiveScience)
Here’s one of those awesome Hubble images:
Image via NASA
New WOTT mix/POBAH/BFF update
September 9, 2009
Wow. Waaay too many abbrevs in that title.
Ok so there aren’t really any updates for BFF, I’m just shamelessly plugging it. And also pointing you over to Fan Fiction’s blog where he plugged it as well. Be sure to check out the mix he did for Justin Kase’s blog Blogging Is Serious Business. That’s just a taste of the goodness he has to offer for your dancing pleasure this Friday night. Also check out my (DJ Burgers) latest mix SUMMERMIXXXX09. It starts off a little more pop/rock-oriented than anything I’ll spin Friday, but the latter 1/2 should give you a good idea of what I have to offer. Remember- it’s totally FREE, 18+ and at Mad Donna’s (1313 Woodland St.) upstairs lounge. We promise to love you long time.
We Own This Town has just posted a new mix for your downloading/listening pleasure. Go grab it now. It features some great new tracks from the likes of Turbo Fruits, Kindergarten Circus, and The Nobility, plus many more.
Speaking of great local bands, The Protomen officially released their long-awaited new album Act II: The Father of Death on Amazon MP3 and iTunes yesterday. It’s been doing AMAZINGLY well on both. But it peaked at fucking #8 on the Amazon download charts, competing with the likes of Phish, Kings of Leon, etc… Mind. Blown. Be sure to come out to their official album release party on Sept. 25th at Mercy Lounge. It will likely be the most epic thing ever to happen at Mercy Lounge. We’re talking the band plus a full string section and choir, playing both their first album and Act II: The Father of Death, in their entirety. Not to be missed. Then head over to Little Hamilton afterwards to this other party I’m DJing with Kid Chicago. More on that when it gets closer.
They Might Be Giants have released DVD children’s album called Here Comes the Science. Naturally I’m quite happy about this since it involves the two things this very blog is about. i09 posted several videos of songs from the album and it’s absolutely delightful. These guys have a long-proven record of being absolutely masterful songwriters, and to combine that kind of skill with the mission of educating our children about reality just makes me ecstatic. If I ever have kids, their first gift will be a boxed-set of all the TMBG children’s albums. John and John, you are my HEROES!!!! Check out Science is Real below, and check out the i09 post for even more.
Google UFO explained/Shuttle photos/EEstor
September 8, 2009
Image via Universe Today
Whew. That was quite an eye-gasm wasn’t it? That was taken on the current space shuttle mission (STS-128) to the International Space Station. The mission is about to come to an end, with a scheduled landing on Thursday. (Via Universe Today)
I also found on UT the final explanation of the Google UFO logo that caused quite a stir yesterday all over the interwebz. The Google tech-nerds were simply showing some love for the Japanese video game Zero Wing, the one with the famous quote “All your base are belong to us” at the beginning. Google also tweeted a mysterious set of numbers. It turns out if you insert the corresponding letters of the alphabet, you get “All your O are belong to us.” No, Google doesn’t know something we don’t. No, it wasn’t a hint that we’ll soon be visited by aliens, or that the government will finally come clean on a huge conspiracy theory. Sorry, Fox Mulder.
Until this morning I’d never heard of EEStor, but this new technology could revolutionize…. everything. But apparently it’s been met with quite a bit of skepticism. Basically it’s a new way of storing electricity, much more efficient than a lithium ion battery, and it would make storage of power generated by wind turbines and solar cell arrays much easier. The problem with power from the wind and sun is that it isn’t constant, therefore you need a way to store that power so that it can be used at all times, even when it’s dark or there’s no wind. That storage has been a big hurdle for the progress of these types of energy. Basically what they’ve done is invent a capacitor capable of storing much more energy than any capacitor before. It was once thought that basic problems with the very laws of physics prevented the development of capacitors with this much storage potential. But apparently this company has managed to convince the Zenn motor company, along with several investors with deep pockets, that they have found a way around those problems. If they’re really on to something it could make 100% green, sustainable power much closer to reality. If you’re a total electronics nerd and want to read the nitty-gritty on this, check out this article. (Via EcoGeek)
BFF to hit east Nashville/Support Ben Harper
September 3, 2009
It’s a little last-minute, but that’s how everything’s been going these past few weeks…
I’m proud to announce a new indie/electro dance night in east Nashville. It’s called “BFF” and features DJ’s Burgers (me) and Fan Fiction (aka Joseph Howard who runs the awesome NashvilleNights blog). It’s gonna be at Mad Donna’s (1313 Woodland St.) on Friday Sept. 11th. There’s NO COVER and it’s 18+. East Nashville hasn’t had any dance nights of this genre to my knowledge, so FF and I put our heads together to create our own. We want to make it a monthly or maybe bi-weekly gig, but this is the first one so we’ll see how it goes. Please do come check it out. All the credit for the catchy name and flyer design goes to Joseph. We’re gonna dance to bloghouse like it’s 2k7, y’all…
I’m sad to report that Benjamin A. Harper (the one from Feable Weiner, The Comfies, and The Nobility) had his house broken into and all of his music gear stolen yesterday. As a musician I really sympathize with him on this and it hurts to see such a good person have to loose so much. Unfortunately he wasn’t insured and replacing that equipment would be virtually impossible. But you can help him out through a wonderful service called Fundable. Go here to donate some cash to his fund, and only if he reaches the magic $2500 mark will your credit card/paypal be charged. Please help this man out! He deserves it!
Oh, and apparently Jack White and Keith Richards are working together in the studio. WTF?
Yellowstone photos/creepy apple video
September 1, 2009
Grand Geyser
After way too long, I’ve finally gotten the photos from our trip to Yellowstone National Park on my flickr. We had a great time and I will never, ever tire of seeing that place. It is literally one of the most fascinating places on earth and everyone should go see it. It had been 9 years since I last saw it, and while reading some of the information plaques I realized that some major geologic changes had taken place just since the last time I was there. The place is just teeming with hydrothermal activity and is always changing. Not to mention that the scenery is absolutely gorgeous. So please go take a look at the photos. We also visited Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands, Grand Teton Park, and came back by driving through Colorado and New Mexico, making a quick stop at Philmont. Not only was the land beautiful, but we also got to see a pretty nice light show in the sky almost every night we were in Yellowstone. The Perseid meteor shower peaked while we were there, and with the absence of light pollution from cities, we could see them quite well. (That is, until the gibbous Moon rose around 11pm…) Literally, we could look up at any given time between sunset and Moonrise and see a meteor within a minute.
Some other random scientific tidbits:
A team of Swedish scientists, with the help of some other Chinese researchers, have discovered a very exact location and date for the birthplace of dogs. Apparently dogs originated from a group of tamed wolves about 16,000 years ago in an area of China south of the Yangtze River. Sadly, it’s also thought that those dogs met their fate in the stomachs of humans. (Via EurekAlert)
By now I’m sure you’ve heard of Apple’s new OS Snow Leopard. It’s not a total upgrade, since the last major update was called Leopard, but it is a significant advance in how the computer utilizes those multiple-core processors that have become standard over the past few years. It all boils down to the OS providing a way for applications to run multiple processes in parallel, or at the same time. Gizmodo has an article that explains it quite well, and I suggest reading it. I’ll probably be upgrading to Snow Leopard pretty soon.
And now I’m simply going to leave you with this incredibly creepy video using time-lapse footage of a rotting apple. No pun on the previous paragraph intended. (Via Kottke)
steve cross loves music and science 