Fund this project via Kickstarter- Ms. Rhythm and Blues: A Rock & Roll Novel by Catie Cameron
April 2, 2013
Catie Cameron has been one of my best friends for many years. She’s a talented, smart gal and also a great writer. For the past few years she has been working on achieving one of her childhood dreams- to write and publish a novel. Today I’m happy to share with you her Kickstarter campaign, which will raise the funds needed for her to self-publish Ms. Rhythm and Blues: A Rock & Roll Novel. It’s about a girl named Maggie who grows up in Nashville, TN in the 90s and immerses herself in the rock scene, and eventually opens her own rock club. I won’t say much more because you really should just go to her Kickstarter page and check it out for yourself! Here’s the promo video:
Mars rover Curiosity updates
February 14, 2013
It’s been a hot minute since I mentioned the Mars rover Curiosity. She’s been slowly but surely working her way across Gale Crater, stopping to take photos along the way and investigate anything interesting she comes across. Recently she came across this bizarre-looking rock protrusion that looks a bit like a shiny door handle or knob:
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
It was a pretty interesting and puzzling find, but NASA scientists think they have an explanation. Indeed, it’s not a knob or hood ornament, nor is it made by aliens. A much more logical explanation is uneven weathering and erosion. For the full details head over to Universe Today. But in short, Ronald Sletten from the Mars Science Laboratory team at NASA/JPL explained in a press release that the object is a small part of the rock that is different in composition from the rest. The shiny part is made up of a harder type of rock than its surroundings. Since the surface of Mars is home to lots of dust/wind storms, there is quite a bit of wind erosion, and the softer surrounding rock erodes aways much faster than the harder rock. The shininess is also a by-product of erosion- certain types of rocks have a tendency to become smooth and shiny from erosion rather that just being blown away. NASA also posted a PDF with some good photos comparing the Mars image to similar phenomena on Earth. What I’m wondering is- what is that harder part of the rock made of? Why is there? Are there any other formations like it nearby? I know that on earth some volcanic rocks have a smooth & shiny appearance, so could this be a chunk of volcanic rock that was flung from an eruption and landed in water, then moved to its current location by fast-moving water and deposited in a muddy area that subsequently hardened into sedimentary rock? Maybe more theories will come out soon.
In other Curiosity news, the final instrument yet to be used/tested was the percussive rock drill. The drill was successfully tested and then used on Feb. 8th to drill the hole seen on the left in this image:
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
The rover has now successfully tested all of her science instruments and everything is working perfectly. A sample of the pulverized rock was taken, and will be analyzed in the days to come. This rock is suspected of having been altered or eroded by flowing water on the surface many millions of years ago. I’m looking forward to seeing what they find to confirm (or deny) this theory and what else is learned about Mars’ watery past.
A Few Good Shows: 1/4/13
January 4, 2013
It’s kind of a slow weekend since we just had all sorts of New Year’s craziness earlier this week, but there are still several goods shows to check out this weekend in Nashville. Here are my picks:
FRIDAY:
Ghost Dance, The Electric Dollhouse Groovebuggy, and Fly Golden Eagle @ The Groove. 8pm, FREE
All Them Witches, Slick, Justin & The Cosmics, and Velvet Elvis @ The Basement. 9pm $5 21+
SATURDAY:
The Deli Magazine Presents: Magnolia Sons, Peter Terry & The City Profits, and Star & Micey @ The 5 Spot. 9pm $5 21+
Parquet Courts, OGG, Dirty Dreams, Nots, ArchAnimals, and Gold & The Rush @ The Owl Farm. 9pm $5
That’s it, have a great weekend!
A Few Good Shows: 9/14/12
September 14, 2012
It’s a rock explosion, get it?
This weekend, specifically tonight, is a Nashville rock show explosion. Shit’s officially gettin’ crazy. But this is a good problem to have. I’d much rather be stressed about which awesome band or show to see, than be sad and depressed that no good tours are coming through town. Here are some shows that I’d see… now if I could only clone myself and see them all….
FRIDAY:
Built To Spill, Helvetia, Sister Crayon @ Exit/In. 9pm $20 (SOLD OUT)
Metric, w/ Half Moon Run @ The Ryman. 7:30pm $30
Makeup & Vanity Set, Sugar Sk*-*lls, Robocotopus, and Afrosaxon @ Richland Ballrom. (4208 Murphy Rd.) $3
Little Bandit EP release w/ Derek Hoke and Birdcloud @ The 5 Spot. 9pm $5 21+
The Biddies, Phil Hummer & The White Falcons, The Maloneys @ Zombie Shop. 8pm $???
SATURDAY:
Beach House and Dustin Wong @ Marathon Music Works. 8pm $22
Conestyle album release show w/ Yautja and No Christmas @ The End. 9pm $5
Daniel Ellsworth & The Great Lakes, Lulu Mae, and Neulore @ Exit/In. 9pm $5
SUNDAY:
Turbo Fruits Big Shred/Album Release/party @ the Groove Records. 2pm/FREE. Their label Serpents & Snakes are throwing a big ass pig roast and party to celebrate the release of their album Butter. The band will play as well. More info on facebook.
Of course there’s the Americana Music Festival, which has been happening since Wednesday. My taste for what’s generally referred to as Americana is somewhat limited, so I’ve stopped short of posting all the various lineups and showcases here. Their website has the full listing and info on wristbands, etc… so please check it out if you’re interested in any of their offerings!
Have a great weekend!
The Freakin Weekend/New PUJOL song on Spin
March 7, 2012
For the third year in a row, local music blog Nashville’s Dead is hosting their Freakin’ Weekend festival. It all kicks off tonight at The End with a special all-ages show featuring Screaming Females, Titus Andronicus, Diarrhea Planet, and No Regrets Coyote. Thursday night things jump across the street to Exit/In for The Greenhornes, PUJOL, Ranch Ghost, Denny & The Jets, and Dirty Dreams. Friday night’s show stays at Exit/In for Jeff the Brotherhood, Cy Barkley & the Way Outsiders, D. Watusi, Useless Eaters, and Fox Fun. Then we jump back across Elliston Place to The End for the finale on Saturday: Traditional Fools, Mikal Cronin, The Men, Heavy Cream, and Cannomen.
Also, returning from last year’s Freakin’ Weekend is the pop-up shop at Local Honey! Not only can you grab limited releases, vinyl, tapes, etc… from labels like Infinity Cat, Nashville’s Dead, Turbo Time, Third Man, Cass, Sebastian Speaks and many more, but on Friday & Saturday you can also catch great free day shows in the back lot as well! Head over to Nashville’s Dead for the full lineup+details. Major props to Ben Todd & his crew for making such a cool string of shows happen. They’ve really upped the ante this year by nailing a few bigger-name headliners, most notably The Greenhornes, whose rhythm section shares duties with The Raconteurs.
Another very related tidbit: Spin.com just debuted the first single from PUJOL’s first official full-length on Saddle Creek, DIY2K, via a free download. If this track is any indication, this is gonna be one phenomenal album. It drops June 5th.
Kelley Anderson leaves Those Darlins
February 27, 2012
Copyright 2010 Steve Cross
Whoa. Just whoa. I just read on Brooklynvegan that Kelley Anderson has left Those Darlins. A bit of a shock to me, really, but at the same time, I’ve known Kelley (and all of them) for years and I know that Kelley is a very driven and ambitious woman with lots of talent. I’ve no doubt she’s got some awesome projects up her sleeve and I can see how the rigorous touring of Those Darlins may have become a bit too much. I mean, look what she did by founding the Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp! That grew into Youth Empowerment through Arts & Humanities, one of the coolest non-profits around, and a cause well worth your support & time. I have no doubt that Those Darlins will power on ahead with the talents of Jessi, Linwood, and Nikki, plus whomever replaces Kelley. The above photo is from a documentary project in which I spent a few days on tour with them, as is the one below. These haven’t been published anywhere else, and I intend to keep it that way- so please don’t download and/or use these!
Copyright 2010 Steve Cross
Infinity Cat rules Elliston tonight/LOST timeline, etc…
February 2, 2010
First of all, if you’re a LOST fan as I am, of course you know that the final season premiers tonight. To go along with that, I give you two links of interest:
The New York Times’ timeline of a few significant events. This is pretty helpful in remembering the time scale we’re talking about here…
The real physics involved with the time travel of LOST. As an avid science lover/advocate, I have of course been pleased with the fact that the time travel involved with LOST is at least somewhat based on real-world physics.
Image via Nashville's Dead
Unfortunately there’s a great show that I’m going to miss out on due to LOST tonight, and that is the Infinity Cat Rock the Block at Exit/In. In case you’ve been under a rock the past couple of months, Ryan Bruce has revived Exit/In’s free tuesday night weekly series Rock the Block. It’s similar to the 8 off 8th series at Mercy Lounge in that it’s hosted by a rotating cast of local musicians/scenemakers/bloggers/radio show hosts/etc…. It differs in that the number of bands is entirely up to the host, however most of the ones so far have been in the 7-9 band range. Tonight’s is hosted by Infinity Cat records and has a killer lineup. So if you’re not going to be glued to ABC for 3 hours, Exit/In should be your destination, because it’s free.
Speaking of 8 off 8th… Mercy Lounge released the actual lineups for each of the 4 Road To Bonnaroo series today. See the full lineups at Nashville Cream. This is going to get interesting.
For your daily dose of eye-candy, checkout local vintage clothier Carmen Jaudon’s official spring 2010 lookbook. Photography was done by Bradley Spitzer and of course the styling was by Carmen. A good pairing of photographer/stylist indeed.
Speaking of lookbooks… I present to you Hipsters Have to Pee. Must be all those PBRs and soy lattes… (Via Hipster Runoff)
Happy LOST day!
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:
Meemaw reunion/Fitout/Soundgarden
January 5, 2010
You’ve probably already seen at least one of these music news items by now, but hopefully not all of them, if so, just ignore this post.
Local DJ hero Justin Kase has officially released a few of his remixes in full-form to the blogosphere via Nashville Nights. Go grab his remixes of Ke$ha’s Tik Tok, Little Boots’ Earthquake, Matt & Kim’s Good Ol’ Fashioned Nightmare, and his own original track Gil as reworked by another local electronic music icon (IMO) Makeup & Vanity Set.
Local scrap-punk purveyors MEEMAW are re-uniting for at least one show after a year of hiatus. More at Nashville Cream and Nashville’s Dead. I was starting to get tired of them toward the end, but now I’m ready for more MEEMAW. Gimme gimme gimme. This flyer is absolutely priceless:
Meanwhile, Brooklyn Vegan continues to blow their load over JEFF the Brotherhood. And the Soundgarden reunion. No, I’m not joking, Soundgarden is reuniting. I have to admit I was totally into them through most of high school, and because they were one of many bands that were an integral part of my formative years, I’d like to keep them a distinctively retrospective affair. They were just soooooo 90’s… how could they ever do anything good by reuniting now? I think they’re a band that should stay in the past.
New Nobility tracks/EP
July 21, 2009
I was absolutely delighted to find a press release from The Nobility in my inbox today. They have a new 3-song EP set for release on August 14th. The release show will be that night at the Basement. The EP will be called Gentle Giant and the title track is available for free download at their bandcamp page. From the press release:
The first chance to purchase the single will be through digicards for sale only at this Aug. 14 show. Digital downloads will be available after Aug. 14 through retailers Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon, Napster, and eMusic. A free high quality download of the title track is now up on The Nobility’s Bandcamp page in a variety of music nerd-approved formats, including FLAC, AAC, Lossless, and MP3. All three songs are streaming in their entirety at http://thenobility.bandcamp.com.
I absolutely love these songs. I’ve literally had the songs on repeat from the bandcamp page ever since I got the email and I can decisively say that it’s some of their best work yet. They are one of those few bands who just seem to get better and better as times goes on. Sean Williams’ songwriting is catchy as ever, yet it’s gotten more thoughtful and intricate. Of course Brian Carter’s production is on the dot, as always. The title track is easily the bounciest, most accessible of the three, but Mr. Danby/Mr. Blackman is a real gem, too. When the multi-layered harmonies came in at the end on my first listen, it was so beautiful I almost jumped out of my chair. Please do yourself and the band a favor by purchasing the EP when it’s officially released on Aug. 14th. If all goes as planned, the band plans to put out a full-length album on vinyl next year.
steve cross loves music and science 