First of all, I was very happy to hear that Nashville’s own Arnold Myint, head chef and owner of P.M., Cha Cha, and Suzy Wong’s House of Yum, has made it to the next season of Top Chef, which will begin airing on Bravo on June 16th. More info on that at the Tennessean. (Via Nashvillest twitter)
Now for what to do this weekend:
Friday there’s a helluva one-two punch at the Cannery/Mercy Lounge. Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings will be soulin’ it up downstairs while My So-Called Band will be igniting your 90’s nostalgia upstairs. I’ll be shooting the Sharon Jones show, then DJing some 90’s jock jams after MSCB. So please do head over to Mercy and keep on dancin’ after the show.
Saturday is all about the rockabilly as Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, Pine Hill Haints, and The Clutters invade Mercy Lounge.
This Nashvillest post also has several flood benefits going on this weekend. Be sure to check one of those out.
I’ll go ahead and mention that this coming Monday is the final installment of the Road to Bonnaroo series, featuring Space Capone, My Tyger, Heartbeater, Deep Fried Five, And The Relatives, Delta Saints, Pico Vs. Island Trees, and Cheer Up Charlie Daniels. This one should be interesting.
Also worthy of mention, the Nashville’s Dead kids did a pretty cool video interview segment with Pujol and friends, complete with guitar amps in the middle of the road… and lots of luv. Check it below:
Many congrats to Ms. Caitlin Rose on her victory at last night’s Road to Bonnaroo: part 3 at Mercy Lounge. She will join the Non-Commissioned Officers, How I Became the Bomb, and the winner of round 4 at Bonnaroo this summer. I was honestly a little bit surprised by the outcome, because anyone who’s attended these events before knows that flashy stage shows and crazy outfits often win the night, and both Dozen Dimes and Majestico had their fair share of stage flair. Mikky Ekko had some face paint but I call bullshit on that one- because it looks almost exactly like that of Man Man. However, Caitlin’s sheer talent and musicianship carried her to the top. Even more surprising was that she won the crowd vote, but came in 2nd in the judge vote. Usually the crowd is more easily swayed by the stage flair. It just goes to show the virtue of pure talent and musicianship. My pics from the event are on the Nashville Cream.
The main music tidbit today comes from De Novo Dahl. They spontaneously have decided to offer their new album Tigerlion for free download on their bandcamp today only. Get it while it’s hot!
Non-Comms win Road to Bonnaroo/WRATH OF THE HIPPIES soon to come
February 23, 2010
The Non-Commissioned Officers will be playing at Bonnaroo this summer as they are the winners of the first Road to Bonnaroo series. The twitter-verse was abuzz this morning with retweets galore about the news. Look for my photos on the Nashville Cream later this morning. I have to say I had a hard time choosing between the Non-Comms and The Privates, and my ballot choice shall remain a mystery.
It must be pointed out that Nashville’s own jam-band superstars Moon Taxi were on this bill. It must also be pointed out that they probably put more effort into preparing for this show than any other band on the bill. They had their own special moving lights, as well as some really cool glowstick outfits. While that kind of effort and showmanship is great, it has to be backed up by GOOD SONGS. There has never been a jam-band that could write good songs. There will never be a jam-band that can write good songs because that’s part of what makes them a jam-band. Their songs all sound the fucking same because they pointlessly noodle around on guitar solos for hours on end. Ultimately that’s why the judges vote counts 50% of the score at this event- because the judges can see through the flashy lights and understand that there’s a major core component that’s missing in Moon Taxi’s music- the SONG. I heard someone say “well, they’re the perfect band to play Bonnaroo…” NO THEY’RE NOT. THERE ARE ENOUGH FUCKING JAM-BANDS AT BONNAROO ALREADY.
It was quite clear that they did the best job of crowd-recruiting, however, and I’m fairly sure they won the crowd vote for that reason. (That’s also another reason judges count for 50% of the vote.) It was evident that they have an army of hippies ready and willing to execute their every command, and for that reason I recommend that the Scene and Mercy Lounge hire round-the-clock security, because the WRATH OF THE HIPPIES is soon to come. Specifically be on the lookout for patchouli smoke grenades and dreadlock-wax napalm.
Oh, and Born Empty probably still thinks Incubus is cool.
Road to Bonnaroo tonight/new New Porn
February 22, 2010
Tonight is the first Road to Bonnaroo 8 off 8th at Mercy Lounge. It’s the first of 4, and the competition is already hot. The lineup is as follows:
Born Empty
Kyle Andrews
Moon Taxi
Mona
The Non-Commissioned Officers
Parachute Musical
Ponderosa
The Privates
One of these bands will be going to Bonnaroo, and you can help decide by showing up and casting your vote. I can attest to the fact that these bands go ALL OUT for this, so even if you’ve seen one of these bands recently, come on out because they’ll pull out every last trick and gimmick they can think of to give them that extra edge. I also urge you to keep an open mind, and don’t come into it already “knowing” which band you’re gonna vote for. For more info, including song samples and videos from each band, visit the Mercy Lounge calendar.
I’m always surprised at how busy the New Pornographers can stay, given that most of their members already have fairly big solo careers. But amazingly, they have another studio album called Together due out on Matador on May 4th. Head over to You Ain’t No Picasso to grab the first free track, called “Your Hands (Together).” I enjoyed the track more than anything from their last album, so I’m hoping the rest of Together is along the same lines. I don’t know if they’ll ever top Twin Cinema, however. That record will probably always stay the top of the NP catalog in my humble opinion.
We Own This Town did a fun little interview with Jessi Darlin, of Those Darlins. She talks about how insanely busy they’ve been, and shares a few road stories. Check it out.
Surfer Blood/some tidbits/weekend
February 19, 2010
As I’ve said before, I’m often skeptical of “blog buzz” bands that get over-hyped and often fall far short of the expectations bestowed upon them. But sometimes my tastes and interest phases perfectly with one of those bands. Last year the best example of that was The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Phenomenal band, amazing record, good live, etc… and they completely deserved all the media love. I honestly think they’ll be back on the radar soon with a new album that’s every bit as good as their debut. This year I’m joining the chorus of bloggers who are hyping Floridians Surfer Blood. I recently picked up their debut Astro Coast and loved almost every minute of it. It’s filled with some fine guitar work backed by great songwriting. It’s well-produced and I highly recommend not only getting the album, but also coming to see them this Saturday night at The End, along with Turbo Fruits, CY, and Holiday Shores. If you don’t feel like paying and/or staying up late, you can also catch them at an in-store at Grimey’s earlier in the day. But I’d get there early because this one will probably fill up fast. I’ll be at the End photographing, and possibly at the Grimey’s show too. For a much more adroit write-up, read Matt Sullivan’s Critic’s Pick for the Scene. He’s, you know, a real writer.
Some other goodness happening this weekend:
Local Honey overstock sale tonight 6-9pm. Come snatch up some new threads as Shea gets rid of some overstock to make room for new spring stuff. There will also be free spiked punch.
Also tonight- Hammertorch, Heartbeater, and the Gills at the 5 Spot.
Saturday- If Surfer Blood isn’t your thing, and beards are, then check out the official FINAL Whiskerino throwdown at Mercy Lounge. I really wish this hadn’t clashed with Surfer Blood, because this will be a sight to behold. Playing: Codaphonic, Roy Ira, and Kidstatic.
I should also mention that Monday is the 1st installment of Mercy Lounge’s Road to Bonnarroo series. This one features Born Empty, Mona, Ponderosa, Moon Taxi, The Private, The Non-Commissioned Officers, Kyle Andrews, and Parachute Musical. The competition is fierce!
A couple of newsy tidbits:
This is old news now, but worth a mention nonetheless: My So-Called Band officially launched their website… on Angelfire. Complete with animated GIFs, auto-play MIDI version of “Dreams” by the Cranberries, and hit counter.
Makeup & Vanity Set started a Facebook fan page. Become a fan if you love him. If you don’t, then you should. Oh, and he has a new record coming out in March. Look for an interview with him to be posted here soon.
Caitlin Rose got a nice blurb in Grazia Daily in the UK. Check it out at Aaron Hartley’s tumblr.
Have a great weekend!
Bonnaroo rant/BISB/Morning Benders
February 11, 2010
After some thinking, I have this to say about the Bonnaroo 2010 lineup: 1/2 good, 1/2 FAIL. Part of it is just my personal taste, but part of it is just plain WTF?
First the bad part: the headliners. The combination of Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, Kings of Leon, and Dave Matthews Band (the 1st 4 listed in the lineup, thus assumed to be headliners) is pretty weak compared to Phish/Springsteen, or Metallica/Pearl Jam, or The Police/Tool. As much as I hate Phish, they were a HUGE score for the festival last year, and IMO, they needed someone like the widely-rumored Paul Simon or Paul McCartney to really stand up the last few years. I don’t think Jay-Z, despite his legendary status in the hip hop world, can quite fill the shoes of past headliners. Stevie Wonder is awesome and I’m glad he’s playing but somehow I just don’t see him as quite headliner material. DMB has played Bonnaroo before, and of course will please the hippie crowd, but will also draw a considerable number of collar-poppin’ fratastic douchebags.
Now for the good part: the tent-playing (or maybe Which Stage-playing) mid-level indie acts. I’m more than elated to see She & Him, LCD Soundsystem, Phoenix, Flaming Lips, Miike Snow, They Might Be Giants, OK Go, The Melvins, Neon Indian, and many more of the “indie rock” acts on the bill. Let’s just say that if I go to cover it for the Scene again this year, I will no doubt be spending most of my time in the tents.
In other lineup news, Vanderbilt’s Rites of Spring lineup came right on the heels of the Bonnaroo announcements, and the list is not surprising, though Phoenix and Passion Pit together make the lineup a tad bit stronger than past years, IMO. Headliners Ben Harper & the Relentless 7 and Drake fit right into the typical RoS formula of putting an up-and-coming rap star on one night, and a frat-pleasing, jam-ish act on the other. But this broad, please-all formula has worked well for the festival in the past, so I can’t blame them for doing what works. This ain’t no Pitchfork afterall.
As most Nasvhillians who pay any amount of attention to the local electronic/DJ scene already know, Justin Kase has been on the road for several months as a the DJ in Ke$ha’s backing band. He also ran a pretty cool, though sparingly updated blog called Blogging Is Serious Business. Sadly, though, he’s putting that blog on indefinite hiatus:
Touring kept me from updating recently, but now i just don’t have any interest to continue this blog. Never say never, but don’t expect anything new for some time to come.
What’s utterly flattering, though, is that he mentioned my blog, along with the obvious Nashville Nights, as an alternative for “your Nashville dancing fix…” Therefore, expect me to attempt to live up to that plug by bringing in a little more coverage of the DJ/electronic/dance scene beside my usual plugs for gigs at which I’m DJing. Don’t expect many mp3’s though, because A) Joseph at Nashville Nights has that very well-covered, and B) I don’t have the time or energy to devote to climbing the HypeMachine charts and getting labels/producers to send me shit to post. I will however, post a link to my last mix, just in case you missed it back in Dec. (Spring 2010 Mixxxx is currently in production for release next month.)
Finally, I was excited to this nicely-done video of the Morning Benders performing/recording the track “Excuses” for Yours Truly with about 50 of their best musician friends crammed into the studio, Phil Spector-style. In fact, as the singer Chris Chu talks about in the interview segment, the song is a bit of a tribute to Spector and his “Wall of Sound” recording method. They even wrote a cute little letter to him which you can read at Yours Truly. Here’s the video. (All of this via Gorilla vs. Bear and Pitchfork)
Some cool/cute videos
February 9, 2010
You’re no doubt going to be spending a lot of your internet time today following the “great unveiling” of the Bonnaroo 2010 lineup, and I have little interest in competing with that. Furthermore, I don’t have time to cover such a long, drawn-out process in the first place because this blog happens during small breaks, luls, and at lunch during my “real” job. According to the main Bonnaroo website, the place to keep up with the lineup unveiling (which is entirely up to the artists themselves this year) is Bonnaroo’s myspace page. They will start keeping tabs of the announcements at noon EST today. As of 10am the only artists I’ve seen are Weezer, Flaming Lips, Phoenix (weird because Bonnaroo doesn’t normally book acts 2 years in a row), John Fogerty, Jeff Beck, and Blues Traveler. That last one gave me a major flashback to watching Woodstock ’94 coverage when I was 13….
So, instead of focusing on the Bonnaroo craziness, I will simply post some interesting cute videos thanks to Yewknee’d:
Very cool time-lapse video of the snowfall in Washington, D.C. this past weekend:
A dog reacting to the Law & Order theme song: (Many many more here.)
Lineup announcements
January 19, 2010
Today is a day of announcements.
If you’re a Nashvillian surely you know that Mercy Lounge is hosting a series of free shows this week featuring the best of Nashville’s local rock. It’s their 7-year anniversary bash. You may have seen that they had two “special secret guests” in addition to Friday’s already awesome lineup of the Non-Commissioned Officers, How I Became the Bomb, De Novo Dahl, and the Ettes. Today they announced the 1st of those two special guests: The Features. Apparently you’ll have to wait until friday to see the other one. I smell another Kings of Leon rumor mill/controversy on the horizon… keep checking their calendar for updates, or follow them on Twitter.
Rumors abound about possible Bonnaroo lineups/headliners. Here’s one blog that attempts to predict some of the artists. (Via Nashville Cream)
And of course, today was the official announcement of the 2010 Coachella lineup. This should allow you to hone your Bonnaroo predictions a bit, if you’re into that sort of thing. Here’s the lineup:
Bonnaroo slideshows/Monsters of folk/etc…
June 16, 2009
Photo by Steve Cross
I’m slowly getting back enough will power to blog again. I was so drained by Bonnaroo that I just didn’t feel like posting yesterday. You can see all of my photo slideshows at the Scene’s website. There are a ton of them, so plan out some time if you want to actually see them all. I guess the best parts of it for me were getting approved to photograph Springsteen (only 20 photogs out of the 100 or so got approved), and also getting to photograph the last Nine Inch Nails show in the U.S. Ever.
Honestly though, I must say the biggest surprise for me came from Raphael Saadiq. The former member of Tony! Toni! Tone! released a solo album late last year called The Way I See It and you can bet that I’ll be grabbing it a soon as possible. His music is nothing like the early 90’s jock-jams that TTT was known for. This is a throwback to the R&B sounds of the 60’s. I haven’t heard the full album yet, but as my friend and fellow Scene freelancer Sean Maloney put it during our drive back, “…it sounds like it could’ve come straight outta Detroit in 1967.” Their cover of the Stooges’ Search & Destroy officially blew my mind.
On to some non-Bonnaroo stuff:
Conor Oberst, Jim James, and M. Ward have finally released details of their collaborative album called Monsters of Folk. Yea, the named is kinda weird, but let’s hope the actual songs are better. It would be hard to go wrong with such a powerful combination of musicians, but it wouldn’t be the first time a “supergroup” failed to even equal the sum of its parts. Via A.V. Club
Apparently Steven Spielberg is taking his love of aliens to the networks. I read in this io9 article that he’s currently working on the new unnamed T.V. series and has tapped ER’s Noah Wyle for the star role. Check the article for more deets.
Ironic Sans isn’t updated very often, but when it is, it’s almost always something clever and intriguing. His latest post details an idea for solving the problem of that pesky mess of cables behind your T.V./entertainment center. Answer- make the whole wall out of outlets.
This is old news, but NASA delayed the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour on Saturday due to a Hydrogen leak. They’ve rescheduled the launch for tomorrow at 5:40am EDT. UGH. That’s 4:40am my time. If you’re crazy and want to get up early enough to watch the coverage, you can do so at NASA TV.
The fine folks over at Nashvillest have attempted to top their famous reader-submitted “CMA Bingo” game this year by having a submission contest for this year’s. By the time you read this the contest will have closed, but look on Nashvillest.com tomorrow to see the winner. I don’t know if anyone can top last year’s though:
Some quick science tidbits before I get into my “rant”….
The Japanese Kayuga probe has been orbiting/studying the moon since 2007 and will make a controlled impact on the lunar surface today. No, it’s not landing, it’s actually going to crash into the surface at full orbital velocity. In other words, it’s going to make a crater. It’s done its duty, so might as well go out with a bang eh?
Remember when I told you about project VORTEX 2? A quick refresher- it’s a huge team of scientists that are currently chasing tornadoes out in the plains to gather data and improve on warning systems/prediction. Actually I think it ended today. But they did capture one piece of truly phenomenal footage when a twister they were filming turned/roped sideways and gave their videographer a view straight down the throat of the funnel. Check it out here. Absolutely amazing! Via Live Science.
Fair warning: I’m about to rant on something. But it’s very much worth ranting on.
As you know if you’ve read this blog before, I’m a photographer for the Nashville Scene. Last year I covered Bonnaroo for them and this year I’m doing it again, only this time my photos will be used across most of the blogs and papers owned by Village Voice Media. Photo contracts are quite commonplace at concerts involving big-name artists/bands. Bonnaroo, being the biggest festival in the country, is obviously no exception. They have a blanket contract that photographers have to sign in order to cover the festival at all. Last year its was a pretty basic contract just limiting the usage of your photos to whatever specific publication or wire service the photographer was shooting for. Without any kind of contract, legally a photographer can sell his/her images of a band or artist’s performance to any agency or news publication without a model release from the people in the photos because that is considered editorial usage, which is different from commercial usage (which requires a model release from anyone in the photo). In recent years, as the music industry has crumbled due to its unwillingness to adapt to technology, labels and artist management firms have introduced what are known as “rights-grabbing” contracts that get shoved in a photographer’s face right before they go in to photograph a show. These contracts have gotten more and more outrageous in the last few years, and this year I got my first taste of a full copyright-grabbing contract. I won’t say which artist/s I’m referring to, but suffice it to say that there are a few specific artists every year at Bonnaroo that have a separate contract than the overall festival photo contract, and they also have a restricted list of photographers who will be allowed to photograph them. This year there were 4 that did this. (So far I’ve been approved for 3 of them.) This particular artist’s contract stated that I would have to turnover the full image rights to the label, and that the images could be used only once for the specific publication I was shooting for. After that, the label would then own the images and wouldn’t have to pay me a dime for them. Furthermore, this meant that the label could then use my images in merch, promotional items, or whatever they please, and I wouldn’t get a penny of royalties or any other compensation. If I don’t sign it then I won’t be allowed to photograph the artist. Let it be known that I will certainly NOT be signing such an outrageous contract and that thankfully VV is backing me up on it. They agreed that the terms of the contract were completely unreasonable and didn’t expect me to sign it, and were fine doing without photos of said artist. It’s really pathetic that these record labels are not only screwing their artists out of money, they’re now trying to screw the photographers who cover their artists’ concerts. These people literally must have no shame or dignity. What these contracts do is essentially steal and then exploit. If you’re a music photographer, please read these contracts before you sign them. If an artist insists on such a ridiculous contract, then they are NOT WORTH YOUR TIME IN THE FIRST PLACE! And if the publication for which you’re shooting does not back you up on this, then you are working for the wrong publication, and they are not worth your time either!
Thank you and good night.
P.S. Don’t expect to see many posts on there over the next few days. I have no idea if I’ll have time to blog at all, and if I do it’ll be a very quick blurb about something crazy I witnessed.
steve cross loves music and science 