My Moustache May photo from May 19. Believe me, I'm just as terrified of this as you are.

This weekend is pretty rad when it comes to show offerings in Nashville, as most are.

FRIDAY:

First at little self-promotion: Night of The Living Cover Bands Pt. II- Electric Boogaloo @ Walnut House in Murfreesboro. This a benefit for the Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp, and I’m playing in a Weezer cover band for it. Rest of the cover bands: Guided By Voices (members of Those Darlins)/Fugazi (members of Gentlemen Divers & Apollo Up)/Sleater-Kinney (members of Take the Power Back & Heavy Cream)/Radiohead (members of Ascent of Everest & Protomen)/They Might Be Giants (members of Kelly Kerr & the Distractions)/The Replacements (members of HP Witchcraft & Skybox) Starts at 9pm!

Annual Moustache May Finale ft. Kindercastle and Roy Ira @ Mercy Lounge. 9pm $7 (As a proud participant of Moustache May, I wish I could go to this, but see: above.)

SATURDAY:

Third Man Records Fan Appreciation part 1: The Ettes, Dex Romweber Duo, Jacuzzi Boys, White Buffalo Woman, and The Turncoats. (No, not Linwood Regensuburg’s Turncoats, another Turncoats with whom I am not yet familiar.) @ Mercy Lounge. 9pm $12

Open Lot fundraiser @ The Zombie Shop, 506 6th Ave S. Ft. The Cherry Blossoms, Denny & the Jets, Natural Child, Plex Plex, and many more. For a full lineup and schedule check out Open Lot’s website. The Open Lot now has a new location downtown on Hermitage Ave. in the SoBro area, which is currently under quite a bit of “urban development.” This place is gonna start kicking some ass very soon, so keep an eye on it. *This event was originally slated to happen at Open Lot but has been moved due to construction at Open Lot.*

Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs w/ Tristen and Reid Magette @ The End. 18+ $10 9pm.

SUNDAY:

Thrid Man Records Fan Appreciation part 2: Henry & June, PUJOL, The One Through Tens, D. Watusi, and The Grayces @ Mercy Lounge. 9pm $12

*Two-day passes to the Third Man shows can be obtained for $20.*

Jonathan Richman @ the 5 Spot in 2010/Photo by Steve Cross

FRIDAY:

Jonathan Richman (night 1 of 2) @ The 5 Spot. 9pm $12

Naked Without Us presents: Kink Ador, The Ettes, Hans Condor, Baby Daggers, and DJ Jane Dupree @ Mercy Lounge. 9pm $10

SATURDAY:

Jonathan Richman (night 2 of 2) @ The 5 Spot. 9pm $12

Naked Without Us presents: Vicious Guns, Hollywood Kills, Blacklist Royals, Details Details, and DJ Cornelainaire @ Mercy Lounge. 9pm $10

Across Tundras CD release show w/ Campaign, Red Forest Hunter, and Endamori. 8pm $5. (Across Tundras are some awesome dudes who play heavy-but-not-quite-metal-rock and have an organic farm in Goodlettsville. I recently took some photos of them at their farm for Sean Maloney’s article on them, which will be in either the June or July edition of Cowbell magazine, so look for that.)

SUNDAY:

Vintage motorcycle show at Drifter’s (1008 Woodland St., East Nashville) featuring free music from Heavy Cream, Turbo Fruits, Hans Condor, Useless Eaters, and Double Barrel. 12-8pm

Also worth mentioning, The Exit/In FINALLY FINALLY got themselves a snazzy new website. It was a good 5 years overdue, but better late than never.

Have a great weekend!

First the music.

FRIDAY:

Shoot the Mountain, Gentlemen Divers, Church of Cleanliness @ the 5 Spot. 9pm $5. Shoot the Mountain has a new drummer- Patrick Rodgers of And The Relatives- and new batch of songs.

Twilight Singers, and Margot & The Nuclear So & So’s @ Mercy Lounge. 9pm $15

SATURDAY:

Heartbeater (supporting acts???) @ Brown’s Diner. 8pm $???

Jasmin Kaset w/ Delicate Cutters and Spiderfriends @ the Basement. 9pm $5

The Bohannons w/ Tiger Blood and Sunday Valley @ FooBar. 9pm $???

If you happen to enjoy planes and/or aviation even a little bit, you might want to consider the Great Tennessee Air Show this Sat. and Sun. in Smyrna. When I was a kid, there used to be an airshow every summer at the Tri-Cities Regional Airport and my folks took me every year. I wouldn’t call myself a military enthusiast by any means, but to me the appeal of seeing fighter jets perform highly skilled and intricately choreographed maneuvers is undeniable. These are planes doing stuff you simply will never get to see anywhere else. The main attraction is the Air Force’s Thunderbirds- a team of six F-16s that do some pretty amazing aerobatics. The show is both Sat. and Sun. and only costs $15 if you get your tix today. Conveniently, the tix are good for either day, so if it’s looking a little rainy on Sat. as it may be, you can just wait and go Sun.

Here’s what I personally think is worth seeing this weekend:

FRIDAY:

The Pink Spiders, Evan P. Donohue, Devin Robinson, Denny & the Jets @ The End. 9pm $5. Yep, TPS are back, and for more on that check out Adam Gold’s feature on them in this week’s Scene.

SATURDAY:

Those Darlins Screws Get Loose album release party w/ Heavy Cream and Trophy Wife @ Mercy Lounge. $10 (half price tix available at Grimey’s!) Doors 8pm.

The Clutters Breaking Bones album release party w/ Big Surr and DJ Ben Swank of Third Man Records @ The Basement. 9pm
$5.

This is a really tough choice as both shows going to be utterly awesome. Might as well flip a coin?

In other news, the Cream’s “Conference Call” series continues with Evan P. Donohue. Definitely worth a watch or three.

In other other news, the Country Music Marathon is tomorrow and there are a ton of road closures around downtown. As usual, the Nashvillest gals are kickin’ ass and takin’ names by compiling all the info you’ll ever need to avoid crossing paths with the CMM.

Have a great weekend!


This weekend is almost as crazy as last weekend in terms of good shows in Nashville. If you don’t get out and see something awesome then there’s just no hope for you.

FRIDAY:

Peelander-Z, Anamanaguchi, Cheap Time, and Diarrhea Planet @ The End. 9pm $5?? Seriously, you should arrive early for this one- it WILL reach capacity. The last few times Peelander-Z has played Nashville it’s been at Exit/In and they filled it up pretty nicely, and with such an awesome cast of supporting acts… this show is going to be beyond insane.

The Kills, Cold Cave, The Entrance Band @ the Cannery. 9pm $15 but it’s SOLD OUT.

SATURDAY:

A-Trak, Kid Sister, Glasslamp Killer @ Limelight. 9pm. This show is now a part of the Dayglow festival, which I don’t know much about, but A-Trak is a living legend. Dude is at the top of his game. He won the DMC World DJ competition at age 15 for heaven’s sake.

Promocalypse ft. DJ Wick-It @ the Cannery/Reagan Rock Prom ft. Yacht Rock Revue @ Mercy Lounge. Cannery row is just prom-tastic this weekend apparently…

Have a great weekend!

Wow, this weekend has a lot to offer in the way of good music to see. That’s partially because a lot of bands are gearing up to head to Austin next week for SXSW, but hey, we’ll take it. Here’s a quick rundown:

FRIDAY:

The Non-Commissioned Officers album release show w/ Cortney Tidwell and Kyle Andrews @ Mercy Lounge. 9pm $12 to get CD, $7 w/out CD. Stream their entire new album on their facebook page.

JEFF the Brotherhood w/ King Tuff and Diarrhea Planet @ The Other Basement. $5 all ages, 8pm. For a free King Tuff mp3, check out Nashville’s Dead.

The Clutters, Slick, Dirtbot, the Black Faces @ the 5 Spot, 9pm $5.

SATURDAY:

Duh. Come to La Paz for La Paz Late Night presents: ROBO BOOGIE. As I said yesterday, it’s $2 w/ robot outfit, $3 w/out, and Potamus, Vitalic Noise & I will be spinning 80s and other robo-tastic jams all night.

Those Darlins, Denny & The Jets, D. Watusi @ the Basement. *YOU MUST PRE-ORDER THOSE DARLINS’ NEW ALBUM SCREWS GET LOOSE THROUGH GRIMEY’S TO GET INTO THIS SHOW!*

Space Capone w/ Floorwalkers @ Mercy Lounge. 9pm, $10

A few other news tidbits in the music world:

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart now have their Flood-produced, Smashing Pumpkins-esque new album Belong streaming at their website. I haven’t listened to it yet as I’m glued to the news at the moment, but I’m cautiously optimistic.

Tristen’s video for the song “Baby Drugs” debuted on Rolling Stone yesterday. Seriously, go watch it. (Via Nashville Cream)

Shows this weekend

March 4, 2011

As usual, I’m in a time crunch between work stuff.

As I mentioned Wednesday, Nashville’s Dead’s Freakin’ Weekend is happening all weekend, so go checkout their “Rundown” post about the lineups for that. If you aren’t inclined to see every night of the FW, here are some other shows I’d recommend.

FRIDAY:

The Nobility w/ Bravo Max, the Tendoor, and Overzealous @ the 5 Spot. 9pm, $5

The YEAH! Rock Block benefit show @ The End, ft. Kiddo. 9pm, 18+$5 donation (or however much you wanna give)

SATURDAY

Korean is Asian album release w/ Cortney Tidwell and The Lisps @ the 5 Spot. 9pm $5

Rocky Votolato w/ Matt Pond @ Exit/In. 9pm $12

The dudes at Nashville’s Dead have upped the ante this year for their Freakin’ Weekend… festival… for lack of a better term. Let’s just call it the Freakin’ Weekend from now on. If memory serves, last year’s was all house shows. This year however, they’ve “graduated” to full-on venues and the lineup is killer. They’ve taken over Exit/In, The End, and Springwater (and even an early show at Third Man Records) to bring you a nonstop rock n roll party that lasts 3 days this weekend- March 4th, 5th, and 6th. It’s safe to say that Infinity Cat acts such as JEFF the Brotherhood, PUJOL, and Natural Child are all “heavy hitters,” not to mention out-of-town acts like Ty Segall and Davila 666. For the full lineup and more info checkout ND’s post about it.

ND also has another treat for all the vinyl nerds out there: they’ll be doing a pop-up record store above the new Local Honey store on Belmont Blvd! It’ll be open from noon-5pm on March 3rd through 5th. They’ll have limited edition pressings and other hard-to-find stuff from Infinity Cat, Third Man, Nashville’s Dead, Turbo Time, Evil Weevil and more. For more deets checkout their blog post. Gonna be a good weekend y’all.

Last night was a blast. From the folkwave of Courtney Jaye to the dude-rock shredfest of Tyler Bryant, it was a night to behold. Overall however, it probably won’t go down as one of the most memorable Road To Bonnaroo nights. There just weren’t as many theatrics as there have been at past RTBs, but the quality of the music certainly was not lacking. At the end of the night, though, Chancellor Warhol (who I hadn’t seen until last night) ended up taking the prize. Warhol jumped on stage in a very Kanye-esque outfit, and proceeded to own the crowd. This guy is a phenomenal performer, though his opening song was the only one that really stuck with me. I certainly can’t disagree with the outcome.

Other artists/bands who really caught my attention were Evan P. Donohue and Heartbeater. If EPD’s performance wasn’t enough to win you over, then you need to have your head examined. This kid is a class act and has just the right combination of stage charm and hooky songs to be a genuine star. Just wait.

Heartbeater have switched out guitarists and added a keyboard player, and I love where they’re headed. They’ve got some new material that demands more sonic textures and the keys are fitting the bill perfectly. Bravo, fellas.

I can’t go without mentioning Tyler Bryant. The kid’s guitar shredding style falls somewhere between Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen (in style, not skill, but maybe he’ll get there one day), and he’s what… 20? 19? Despite his age, he somehow filled the stage with more testosterone than I’ve seen there in quite some time. Except for when he tried to do those “yeooowwww” screams and his voice cracked & went into the register of a 12 year old girl. Speaking of 12 year old girls, dude looks a little bit like Justin Bieber. Sorry… had to go there. It’s true. Give JB a guitar and rough him up around the edges and basically you have Tyler Bryant. Seriously though, if this kid learns to write good songs and not turn each show into a total wankfest, he could do something I might be interested in. Otherwise he needs to be the lead guitar player in a speed metal band. Unfortunately it’s rare to find that kind of technical prowess and truly good songwriting skills in the same person.

Let’s hope the next two RTBs get a little more theatrical and/or intense.

Some amazing and unique footage of Space Shuttle Discovery’s launch last thursday from an airplane window. The people on this plane got very lucky, as this is something rarely seen by the public. It’s one of those “right place, right time” deals. Be sure to pump it up to HD resolution.

(Via Bad Astronomy)

If you’re in Nashville and are a fan of local music, be sure not to miss tonight’s Road to Bonnaroo 8 off 8th at Mercy Lounge. This is the third year of RTB, and tonight’s lineup looks great. This event really brings out the best in these bands, as most will have some sort of trick up their sleeve. We’ve seen just about every type of gimmick you can think of at these events in the past two years. If you didn’t know, the bands’ scores are made up of 50% audience vote and 50% judge vote. Tonight’s lineup:

Evan P. Donohue
Courtney Jaye
Chancellor Warhol
Majestico
Heartbeater
Kink Ador
The Kicks
Tyler Byant

For more info on the bands/artists and sample mp3s, visit the Mercy Lounge calendar.