Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way 1st… Camera Obscura was amazing last night, and we got to chat with TracyAnne for a minute. She seemed to like Nashville and I told her to be sure to come back on their next tour. Let’s hope they do. Oh, and the sound was exceptional too. Mercy has good sound for the most part, but this mix was especially good. Perfect night.
The Green Wagon is an awesome little store that only opened 6 months ago on Murphy Road in the Sylvan Park area, and just as I expected, the girl who runs it is opening another location on the east side. I must say it’s much sooner than I expected, though! She’s also opening a vegetarian cafe along with it. I’ve been to the current store a few times and it’s pretty awesome. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do. And if you’re on the east side you’ll no longer have an excuse not to go. Via Nashvillest. Also, thanks to Morgan for pointing out my error regarding the age limit of the Opryland’s Poolapalooza events on yesterday’s post. They are actually all-ages this year.
Some cool sciene-y tidbits today:
The next mission to Mars will be called “Curiosity” thanks to a 6th grader name Clara Ma who won NASA’s essay contest to name the rover. Up until now it’s been called “Mars Science Laboratory.” This next rover will be by far the biggest we’ve sent to the red planet- about the size of a small sedan. Via Bad Astronomy.
Just when you thought Blu-Ray had totally killed the DVD, some scientists in at Swinburne University in Australia have come up with a new 5-dimensional storage technology that may put the DVD back in 1st place. Their idea is to use sophisticated multi-surface gold nanoparticles in the disc. It will not only use the different layers of the disc (as DVD’s currently do), it will also use polarization and the color of the laser light to encode information. The end result will be a DVD that can potentially hold about 7 TERAbytes of data. TERA-bytes. More at the Daily Galaxy.
Remember those crazy devices on Star Trek that doctors could just wave over a patient and tell what was wrong with them? Well, that technology is slowly becoming reality with the invention of a new portable device that identify pathogens in about 5 minutes. The Ostendum corporation has developed a prototype and is currently testing it. Although you still have to take blood or other fluid samples from a patient to use this thing, it’s still pretty damn cool, and will be a HUGE advantage in the battle against pandemics such as the H1N1 (Swine) flu. Via Science Daily.
I came across this intriguing blog called Movies in Frames via Kottke.org today. It has a plethora of various movies that the contributors have summed up (or at least attempted to sum up) in 4 frames. Some are not very effective, but some are. More visually-oriented films such as Heima, Little Miss Sunshine, and Darjeeling Limited work well. The one you see above is Stand By Me, which reminds me that I need to see this movie agian.
Tonight is the night! The Camera Obscura show is finally happening. To my knowledge, they’ve never played Nashville before, and it’s LOOOONG overdue. I can’t wait. If you like melancholy yet catchy twee pop… or if you like Scottish accents… by all means come to this show! You won’t regret it. Their show a couple years ago at the 40 Watt in Athens was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Mercy is no 40 Watt (sorry Drew/Bruton), but this is probably the best venue for them to play in town. They’ve also been tweeting about Nashville since they arrived yesterday. Follow them.
The Opryland Hotel started a new summer weekly event last year Friday nights called “Poolapalooza” featuring local bands, the Cascades pool, and a good bar. It went over pretty well from what I’ve heard (I never attended one), and I certainly hope Megan & I can make it out to one this summer. Check Nashvillest or the Gaylord Website for the full lineup/dates. Each event is free, 21+ all-ages (thx to Morgan for catching my error), and starts at 7pm. That means you can get wet, drink some margaritas, hear some rock, and be done in time to hit up another show later in the evening!
Nashville Cream reports that 3 local fashion designers are finalists to be on the show Project Runway. As with most posts on there, there’s plenty of bickering in the comments. But it just wouldn’t be the Cream without them. I know Shea and Amanda, but I don’t know Shannon at all. What I do know is that everyone I’ve met involved with Local Honey and the local fashion scene is super-nice and very down-to-earth. I sincerely hope to see one of them on the show soon!
Oh yeah… Meg White married Jackson Smith and “little” Jack Lawrence married Jo McCaughey in a double-wedding in Jack White’s backyard on Friday. Obviously Jack & Jo didn’t immediately embark on their honeymoon because we saw him at Fido on Monday.
My only science-y bit today is to tell you to go sign the petition on the website for Space Exploration Day. This is an attempt to get the government to recognize July 20th as National Space Exploration Day. This July 20th will mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. I whole-heartedly agree that this should be an officially-recognized holiday. Supposedly it will be on same level as Flag Day.
Today I leave you with this hilarious little cartoon found at dontstaylong’s tumblr.
Obviously the most important thing for me to do today is promote my band’s show tonight at the 5 Spot. TCQ is playing with Mean Tambourines and Dixie Whiskey, and it’s guaranteed to be the best way to start off your Memorial Day weekend! Please do come out for the show around 930… and don’t be alarmed if there’s some other band you’ve never seen playing, because there’s an earlier separate show that will be ending around 9 or 930.
JEFF the Brotherhood got another good mention on Brooklyn Vegan yesterday, as they’re heading back to NYC for another round of shows this weekend along with Turbo Fruits. I also learned in that blog that Turbo Fruits have signed with Fat Possum Records, also home to Andrew Bird, Crocodiles, and WAVVES. Pretty damn cool! I forsee them opening for WAVVES in the near future.
This Nashville Cream post really makes me feel old. It’s crazy to think that some of the shows mentioned on there happened 5 years ago. Of Montreal at the End (both times) were amazing.
We’ll obviously be at the 5 Spot tonight, but as far as other weekend activities, I’ll be shooting the Alcohol Stuntband show Saturday at the Basement, and I have no idea what we’re doing Sunday & Monday. Anyone having a pool party? I really just want to hang out by a pool and have a margarita.
RunPee.com tells you the best times during recent movies to run to the bathroom, and what you missed. They even scramble the part that tells what you missed, in case you’re just checking out the site, but don’t want any spoilers. Hilarious. Be sure to stay there long enough to watch the animation of the type-graphic at the top of the page. Via Kottke.org.
The Atlantis astronauts get an extra day to hang out in space due to bad weather in Florida. They were originally scheduled to land today at 10am, but it’s now been delayed to tomorrow. If I were an astronaut that would be music to my ears. I’d want to spend as much time up there as possible. Speaking of space, I found another awesome image from the mission:
Click to enlarge. Credit: NASA
Have a great extended weekend!
Two good updates from space via Space.com:
Ever since last November, astronauts on the International Space Station have been working out glitches in their new urine/wastewater recycling system. Yesterday they finally were able to successfully test it and drink water made from their own urine. It’s a bit uncomfortable to think about drinking the water from your own urine, but it may eventually be necessary for people even here on Earth if the population keeps expanding exponentially. The problem isn’t that water itself is in short supply, it’s that the vast majority of it is either undrinkably saline (the oceans) or located too far away from the people who need it. So far there’s not an energy-efficient or cost-effective method of desalinization of ocean water.
The astronauts onboard Space Shuttle Atlantis are scheduled to land tomorrow at Kennedy Space Center at 10:01 AM EDT. They’ve been given the all-clear on the heat shield inspection and are currently getting the shuttle ready for re-entry. As always, nasa.gov will have live coverage and video of the landing.
In other space-related news, former astronaut Scott Parazynski finally reached the summit of Mount Everest yesterday. He’s been at it for a few years now, and last year an injury forced him to delay his climb. This time he made it, and brought along some “moon rocks and remembrances of fallen astronauts.” He was also doing research and collecting samples for various other scientific endeavors. Read more at this Universe Today article.
Turbo Fruits: NBN showcase at SXSW 2009.
The Next Big Nashville website is still the 2008 version, but according to this post on Nashville Cream (which is about sonicbids, not NBN), NBN 2009 will feature a Friday evening of events that will take over the honky-tonks on lower Broadway, as well as an outdoor event on Saturday. This is all good news because those bars are all conveniently located close to each other, much like the bars/venues in Austin for SXSW. It makes it much easier to hop between shows, especially if bands you want to see are playing at nearly the same time, but different venues. I would hope the outdoor event on Saturday is the grand finale throwdown, like the one at Cannery last year.
Please do yourself a favor and go browse through Photos that Changed the World. These are truly magnificent images. Some are very graphic and difficult to look at, but everyone needs to see these photographs. Via Kottke.org.
Before you do anything else, watch this amazing time lapse video from a star party in Texas. It was taken over a whole night and shows the Milky Way rising. Nerd-gasm! Sorry, I still haven’t found a way to embed Vimeo videos on WordPress.
Now that you’ve gotten your fill of star-porn, some great news from the U.K…. Blur may be hitting the U.S. on some dates in and around their string of U.K. festivals. Yes, please. Though the chances of them actually coming to Nashville are pretty small, I’d go to Atlanta to see them easily.
Credit: NASA
The Atlantis astronauts took an IMAX 3D camera with them on their mission to service Hubble, and the footage will be turned into an IMAX movie set for release next spring. I can’t effin’ wait to see it. Wow, this is turning into a really geeky post… sorry.
I tweeted earlier today about the iPhone coming to Verizon, which would make me jump for joy. Unfortunately further research has revealed it’s still just in the negotiation phase, and nothing’s confirmed. But from what I can tell from this article on USA Today, the prospect is looking fairly good. I refuse to switch to AT&T because their service coverage SUCKS. I’ve been in many buildings (including my own) where AT&T users can’t even get a signal, and I cannot recall ONE SINGLE TIME that I’ve experience coverage issues with Verizon. About a year or two ago there was some bizarre hiccup with their Nashville service, but that lasted only a few hours and wasn’t a coverage issue. If Verizon gets most of their network upgraded to the 4th generation (4G) LTE system by next year, I don’t see why Apple wouldn’t go for the deal since their 5-year contract with AT&T will be up. I’ve already been pissed at AT&T for even having exclusivity with the iPhone in the first place, and if they manage to sucker Apple into extending it, they can kiss my sweet ass.
Some bizarre links for your enjoyment today:
Oddee spotlights 8 strange subcultures.
io9 has a clip from 2000’s What Planet Are You From? in which Ben Kingsley’s character teaches his race of alien men how to achieve penis insertion with human females. It’s not as NSFW as it sounds, trust me.
Tonight I can be found at Foobar checking out Totally DJs, a new Wednesday night DJ gig started by my friend Spice-J. He’s already had some pretty awesome guests, including Pimpdaddy Supreme and Makeup & Vanity Set. I should be making an appearance there in the next few weeks as DJ Burgers. I’ll keep you posted.
Hope you didn’t miss me yesterday. I just didn’t really have anything to blog about. But today I bring you this:
Credit: NASA/Thierry Legault
Yes, that is space shuttle Atlantis, and the tiny dot just below it is Hubble, just before the shuttle’s robotic arm grappled it yesterday. This is the first time the space shuttle AND Hubble have been photographed transiting the sun. It’s really an awesome achievement. Yesterday the astronauts successfully installed a new camera into Hubble, and today they will tackle the task of replacing all 6 of Hubble’s gyroscopes and installing new batteries. While we’re talking about astronauts and space and whatnot, I might as well show you this TOTALLY AWESOME airstream astrovan in which they ride to the launch pad to board the shuttle. How cool is that? They get to ride in a vintage airstream!
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
In other NASA news, Obama is expected to appoint former astronaut Charles Bolden as the new NASA chief administrator on Monday. FINALLY. I agree with Phil Plait (of Bad Astronomy) that he took way too long to make this decision. But with the economic issues, the war issues, and having to fight the GOP tooth & nail to achieve any of his goals, I can understand how this kinda got put on the back-burner.
The Boston Globe’s Big Picture has posted a collection of stunningly beautiful aerial photographs by photographer Jason Hawkes. Go have yourself an eye-gasm.
We still don’t have any concrete plans for this weekend, but I’m hoping to include Shoot The Mountain’s EP release show at the Basement Saturday. I highly recommend it, as the Protomen and Totally Snake are also on the bill. This will indeed be one EPIC show. Then there’s also Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele with Kindercastle and the Winter Sounds tonight at Mercy Lounge.
One more quick link- Pitchfork did an interview with Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell. Only 12 more days till their Mercy Lounge show!
Have a great weekend!
Flier by Monkey Ink Design
Obviously the most important thing to blog about today is my 8 off 8th tonight. This is the flier (done by Monkey Ink Design). I really hope you’ll come out and check out at least a few of these amazing bands I’ve picked. It will kick of PROMPTLY at 9pm, and I promise to keep things moving along swiftly so that the last band goes on no later than 12am, which means the show will be over by 12:20. Here are the last 2 mp3s:
First off is “Home Run Derby” by the Carter Administration. These guys have been around approximately 10 years now. They’ve crafted an interesting blend of simplicity and syncopation that never grows old for me. This track is part of a brand new digital-only EP called Victory Girls/Bitchery and Abomination.
Carter Administration- Bitchery and Abomination
The next track is by a relatively new Murfreesboro-based band called the Only Sons. They used to be known as Ribbon Pigeon but recently changed their name. It had been a while since I’d seen them, and then I heard their new record Steel Hearts. (It can be downloaded for free at their website.) It was done at Grand Palace Studios and shows some real promise. I look forward to seeing these guys continue to develop their sound and style, as I feel like in another year or so they could almost be the next Glossary.
The Only Sons- Hadn’t Been That Long
The other big news today is that Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled for liftoff today at 2:01pm, Eastern Daylight Time. As of this morning, the lauch is a go. You can watch detailed video coverage at NASA TV. This mission will not go to the International Space Station, as the rest of the recent shuttle missions have. It’s the final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Because of this, Space Shuttle Endeavour is ready to go on the second launch pad, just in case Atlantis is severely damaged and needs a rescue mission. Normally they could use the ISS as a lifeboat, but since they’re going to Hubble instead, they don’t have that luxury in the event of a major problem. Let’s hope they launch on time and successfully.
Megan and I adopted 2 new kittens yesterday. Somehow I managed to leave my guitar at Springwater Sat. night. (Yes, I’m a dumbass…) and when we went back to get it yesterday (thankfully it was still there) a couple had these two kittens to give away. Since it had been a couple months since the death of Sherman, I figured why not… we ended up getting both of them because they were brother and sister, and had a very strong bond. They freaked out if they were away from each other for too long. Megan had the clever idea to name them Belle and Sebastian. So they’re now officially “indie rock kittens.” Here’s a pic:
I should have mentioned this in yesterday’s post but I forgot. That DJ gig at La Paz that was supposed to go down tonight got canceled. It’s probably better anyway because I have to work at the butt crack of dawn tomorrow. (A rare occurence, thankfully.)
I really don’t have time to post much today, so here are a few quick tidbits and 2 totally amazing videos.
The initial Bonnaroo schedule has been released. There will probably be many changes, so don’t be totally upset yet if 2 of your favorite bands are playing at the same time.
I just realized that I don’t actually have mp3s from a few of the bands on my 8 off 8th, I’ve just seen them live a few times and/or played with them. Weird huh? Well, instead of an mp3, just go check out Mean Tambourines’ myspace page, where they have a few new tracks streaming. Also check out Cuttlefish’s myspace for a sample of their tunes. Coming on Monday- mp3s from Carter Administration and The Only Sons.
My band Tigers Con Queso is playing at Springwater this Saturday night. We will be joined by J.A.W. and Teenage FBI. It’s the grand opening of Taco Party, the new taco bar on the back patio of Springwater. Come out, drink some beer, rock out, and eat tacos. Starts around 10pm. Here’s the flier. Click to enlarge.
Ok, here are the totally amazing videos. Seriously, you need to watch these all the way through. They will both blow your mind.
I noticed this post on Largehearted Boy today. It contains an mp3 from the Features’ latest album Some Kind of Salvation. What’s odd is it says the album is being released June 9, 2009. It also links to this Amazon.com page which says the same thing about the release. I’m confused. This album came out last fall… Did it get picked up by a label for a larger re-release? Anyone?
Here are a couple more mp3s from bands on my 8 off 8th this coming Monday. First up is The Nobility. I’ve loved this band ever since they started out as Jetpack, and they’ve evolved quite a bit since then. The Mezzanine, their debut album under the new name “The Nobility,” is my favorite of their’s to date. The songwriting and production is impeccable and lands somewhere between Elvis Costello and The Kinks. Here’s the title track from that album.
Here’s a track by Kelly Kerr & the Distractions. Kelly is an old friend and has been playing around Murfreesboro for at least 5 years now. He played in a Cure tribute band called the Lovecats… and used to have a band called Ghostflower. Then he played some solo shows as Kinky Briefcase… then it becamer Kerrific, and now it’s Kelly Kerr & the Distractions. The latest incarnation just released Whimsical In Reverse, a somewhat lo-fi approach to his quirky and intelligent songs. Here’s a fun track called “Alone (On the Makeout Couch).”
Kelly Kerr & the Distractions- Alone (On the Makeout Couch)
Not much else today, except that in his relentless effort to get his name permanently etched into history, Stephen Colbert has somehow gotten a new beetle named after him. Agaporomorphus colberti was named by Quentin Wheeler at Arizona State University and Kelly Miller at the University of New Mexico. These are the same people responsible for naming other beetles after Darth Vader and Roy Orbison. I’ll try to forget about the fact that they also named beetles after George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld. Via Science Daily.
Image: Arizona State University
Brooklyn Vegan reports that a Woodstock 40th anniversary show will go down at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in upstate New York, which is where the original Woodstock festival was held. Among the performers are Woodstock vets Levon Helm and Country Joe McDonald.
As promised here are a couple of mp3s from bands that are playing my 8 off 8th this coming monday. First up is Paper Navy, a relatively new band with my friend Simon Lynn (formerly in The Whole Fantastic World) on drums, and a few other Murfreesboro music veterans. The standout track from their EP “All Grown Up” is the title track. The EP can be downloaded for free at their website.
Second comes a track by Codaphonic. This band will not feature its original lineup, but frontman Cody Newman decided to keep the Codaphonic title for whatever he does musically. From what I understand he’s got a lot of new material, but it’s along the same vein as the older material. Here’s “The Most Important Thing” from the Codaphonic album The Ballad of Codaphonic.
Codaphonic- The Most Important Thing
Google will soon be introducing a very useful new service/product called PowerMeter. It will allow you to use Google to monitor your home’s power consumption and see what’s using the most energy and why. Their description says it perfectly:
Google PowerMeter, now in prototype, will receive information from utility smart meters and energy management devices and provide anyone who signs up access to her home electricity consumption right on her iGoogle homepage.
Sign me up! Via Kottke.org.
Finally some encouraging news is coming down the pipe about the state of NASA and its hotly contested Constellation program. In case you’ve been under a rock, the Constellation program is the over-arching name for a system of rockets and modules (Ares I, Ares V, and Orion Crew Vehicle) that will replace the space shuttle as NASA’s means of taking astronauts into space and eventually back to the moon. Since Obama took office, NASA’s lost its administrator and suffered from a “sense of drift.” This article in the Orlando Sentinel reports on a new study by the Obama Administration to see if Constellation is really the right choice to replace the space shuttle. In short, they want to address the engineering problems and budget overruns that the Ares I rocket and Orion Crew Vehicle have experienced. Some studies were done into alternatives to Constellation, but a 2005 study found that Constellation was the best choice. Unfortunately many contractors and rocket companies expressed dissent regarding that study and claimed that it didn’t consult enough of them to have a balanced perspective. I really look forward to seeing the result of this, and I really hope Obama picks a new Chief Administrator for NASA soon. I don’t really care what the results are, just that we’re going in the right direction with this, and that our money isn’t being wasted on lame duck projects. Via Universe Today.
On a completely different and random note, I had a bizarre dream last night that I was in someone’s house and caught a rattlesnake. Then we put it in a bag… I think it was made of cloth. For some reason I then decided that the snake would be scared in the bag, so I dumped it back out, caught it again, and held it behind its head for a really long time. Then the dream ended. WTF?!? At least no one got bitten?
steve cross loves music and science 