Road to Bonnaroo tonight/New Mew/Pregnant Mythbuster
May 18, 2009
The last “Road to Bonnaroo” 8 off 8th is happening tonight at Mercy Lounge. I definitely think this one will be tough to call, and could be a very close race, much like the first one in which The Features won by 1 fan vote. So be sure to come out to Mercy tonight and cast your vote. You never know, it could be the deciding vote! Nashville Cream has more on the lineup/order, etc…
Speaking of local music, the Magic Wands got another mention on RCRD LBL, this time for a Crystal Fighters remix of their breakthrough single “Black Magic.”
Remember that epic Danish band Mew from 2006? Well, they’re back in action, and I’m anxiously awaiting the release of their next album on August 25th. Leave it to them to use a whole effin’ poem as their album title… You ready? Here it is:
No more stories
Are told today
I’m sorry
They washed awayNo more stories
The world is grey
I’m tired
Let’s wash away
Yep, that’s it. A whole poem. More deets at Stereogum.
Credit: NASA
The astronauts of STS-125 have been hard at work repairing/upgrading the Hubble Space Telescope, doing a spacewalk every day since Thursday, and today was their last. Click the image or here to see more eye candy from the mission at Universe Today.
Speaking of great photography, the New York Times started a new photography & video blog called LENS. It has a great interface and allows you browse through several photo essays and great video clips.
I did a short preview of Wolfram:Alpha on here once before, and now it’s actually here. Head on over to check it out, but be sure to read about how to phrase your input before you just start typing in questions. We’re not quite to the point of a computer simply being able to correctly answer any question regardless of phrasing/syntax. But this is a damn good start… Is it better than Google? You tell me.
It should be no secret that I’m a HUGE Mythbusters fan. (In fact, the only good thing about LOST being over with is the fact that I now get to watch new episodes of Mythbusters.) Apparently I’m the last one to know this but Kari Byron, the red-headed geek-girl of the cast, is pregnant! It should also be no secret that I have a huge celebrity-crush on her (as does just about every male fan of the show). I didn’t even know she was married! What’s really cool about the whole thing is that she’s taking this opportunity to bust some common pregancy myths. She did an interview with Pregnancy Magazine in which she busts the top 5. Go Kari! Via Bad Astronomy. Also- watch this unedited clip on Discovery.com of her subtly announcing the news.
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!
Today Theory 8 Records released the new self-titled EP from Shoot the Mountain. So far I’ve only listened the 1st track “Invitation,” and so far so good. Actually, so far so AWESOME. I can’t wait to have time to check out the rest of it. Head on over to their Bandcamp page and purchase it for a measley $5. Yet another Nashville indie rock gem recorded and produced by Jeremy Ferguson at Battletapes.
In other release news, Those Darlins have announced the release date and album art for their debut self-titled full-length album. The vinyl version hits shelves on June 23rd, followed by those “other” formats on July 7th. They’ll be celebrating the album release on June 27th at Mercy Lounge with….. the Black Lips. Fuck yes. More details at We Own This Town.
Thank you to everyone who came out to my 8 off 8th last night. It was most definitely a success, at least as good as the last one I did. All the bands played great sets, and I was especially happy to hear some new stuff from The Nobility and Carter Administration. Mean Tambos killed it, and Ryan was really getting crazy on stage because my friend/bandmate/videographer Seth was taping the performance for their EPK. Hopefully I’ll do another one late summer/early fall. And who knows? Maybe I’ll book a full-on show.
It was really nice to have today off from work at Vandy. When you host an 8 off 8th you gotta stay till the end, and even a little after, so it was nice to be able to sleep in today. I’ve been sitting around with the doors open listening to the Lovin’ Spoonful and The Association on vinyl. It also gave me a chance to take the new kittens to the vet, where we discovered that Sebastian is actually a Sebina. But they’re in pretty good health, main concern was a little bit conjunctivitis in Sebina’s eye, which should be easy taken care of with some meds.
EcoGeek reported on an amazing new company that aims to create a Second Life-esque “video game” interface that will allow homeowners to control every energy-consuming device through a 3D animated program. The “game” uses avatars to control lights/AC/etc… So you would login and make your avatar turn down the AC, and in real-life your AC would be turned down by a computer that controls your house. Whatever you do, just don’t name your house’s computer H.A.L….
Space Shuttle Atlantis is now on its way to Hubble. They’ve completed the heat shield inspection with the shuttle’s robotic arm. There were a few dings found, but the initial opinion is that they’re very minor and not a threat. Detailed analysis is underway, however, to be certain. I’ll keep you updated daily. In the meantime, watch this kickass HD video of yesterday’s launch. If you have your computer hooked up to a sound system, I highly suggest turning the volume and bass waaaay up.
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:
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?
Via dontstaylong
It’s that glorious time of year again. Moustache May is in full swing! If you have a stache, sign up! If you want to grow a stache and document the progess, sign up! *Update: as of ~12:45pm registration is already closed… ya snooze ya looze!* Or just bookmark it and check often for the always clever theme-days. I did it last year and it was fun, but I think I’m gonna lay low on the stache this year… It took at least 2 weeks for mine to grow enough so that I no longer looked like a creepy child molester.
Tonight I’ll be at a party, but a lot of you will probably be seeing Junior Boys & Max Tundra @ Mercy Lounge.
Also, The Rabbit Release party is going down at the Dirty Eye Warehouse (100 Talyor St.) Featuring Caitlin Rose, Heypenny, and others.
Tomorrow is also looking to be a good night for show-going:
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart @ the End w/ Zaza, Mother Father, and Bows & Arrows. Mother Father are locals… I have no clue about the other 2. I’ve blogged about POBPAH on here before. Obviously this is where I’ll be.
Also Saturday- Pico vs. Island Trees/Butterfly Boucher/The Bridges @ the Basement.
Do I really need to mention the Death Cab shows Sunday and Monday at the Ryman? We’ll be there Monday- I got Megan tickets for her birthday.
The world’s fastest camera can take 6.1 million photos per second. Needless to say, this device is only for scientific purposes. I mean, who else would ever want to take that many photos in a second? It also doesn’t use the conventional CCD or CMOS sensors that regular digital cameras use. Those sensors aren’t capable of anything even close to 6 million frames per second. The technology is explained fairly well in the article, so just go read it if you’re interested.
Universe Today has a story that sheds some much needed light on the confusion over the recent buzz about NASA’s plans for the shuttle fleet, the Constellation program, what we’ll be doing on the moon, etc… In a nutshell, congress is prepared to shell over the dough needed to extend the space shuttle program past 2010 (if needed), NASA still doesn’t have an administrator, and nobody’s really sure just what we’ll be doing on the moon in 2020.
Lastly, I give you the iSnort app:
Have a great weekend!
Evan Voytas=jam of the summer/Eureka finally returns/Asteroid may not have killed dinos
April 27, 2009
It’s pretty rare for me to instantly fall in love with a band/artist these days. I’ve just become so “Nashville” about everything- jaded/oversaturated/desensitized/insert-apathetic-synonym-here. But RCRD LBL posted some mp3’s from this dude named Evan Voytas on Friday, and I was instantly blown away. It feels good to be totally into something new. This guy’s stuff is a little bit of everything- the tracks I’ve gotten my hands on so far range from a shoegazy, fuzzed out slow pop jam to electro-driven rock with a touch of twee to a full on summery disco-pop groove. That last track I’m describing is called “Getting Higher,” and I have hereby proclaimed it to be the official jam of the summer 2009. Please, PLEASE go to RCRD LBL and download it now! Then go to the Hype Machine and you’ll be able to find several other great tracks. But “Getting Higher” is where it’s at. It’s an instantly love-able dancey track, complete with a 70’s funk bass groove, and straight-up disco beat, and uplifting sunny guitars and syths bathed in a healthy but tasteful dose of reverb.
In local news- Makeout With Violence, the locally made feature-length film starring several members of our music scene, pretty much owned the Nashville Film Festival, taking the best feature-length narrative film and best music awards, along with a few other smaller awards. It’s good to see these guys finally getting the recognition they deserve for their 3 years of hard work on this thing.
My love of science fiction is no secret. That’s why I’m quite pleased to know that one of my favorite TV series Eureka, has finally been scheduled to return to action on July 10th on the SyFy channel. (Yes, the SciFi channel is now SyFy…. go figure.) I read about this on io9, and I agree with their sentiment that moving the show to Battlestar Galactica’s old slot of Fridays at 10pm/9 central was a bad idea. That means I’ll end up watching most of it online because I’m normally out & about by that time on a Friday night…
So we all know that the dinosaurs were killed because of a giant asteriod hitting just off the Yucatan Penninsula in Mexico, right? That’s what they taught us in middle school science class, afterall…. Not so fast. As more and more new evidence is uncovered, that theory is starting to look more and more… extinct. Universe Today posted this morning about some new discoveries that date the actual impact at least 300,000 years prior to the mass extinction. At the same time comes the discovery of a supervolcano eruption (or even a series of supervolcano eruptions) called the Deccan Traps in India. Such an eruption could easily have thrown enough dust and ash into the air to block out the sun and cause a sudden massive cooling. My personal hunch is that the asteroid surely did have some degree of impact on the global climate, (pun fully intended) and obviously would’ve killed a ton of dinos in the immediate area, but ultimately it may have been the volcanic activity that dealt the lethal blow to our bird-like ancestors.
I’ll leave you today with this great image of the next space shuttle crew… I must say NASA has been doing a great job of marketing lately. First the whole C.O.L.B.E.R.T. thing, and now this:
Click to enlarge
Magic Wands & JEFF get blog love/unexplained stuff
April 20, 2009
Via Bre Pettis
Today’s post will have a lot of quick links. Let’s get right to it:
First of all, Kottke.org had some great stuff this morning. The image to the left is from a hilarious set of vintage 1930’s German illustrations about various ways to get electrocuted. Please do visit the flickr set and read the rollover comments. SERIOUSLY… read them all, you will laugh quite loudly at the very least, if not fall out of your chair. He also linked to this pretty interesting article on 13 things that science has yet to explain. I say “yet” because I’m confident that eventually we will be able to explain everything through science. That is, if we last long enough as a species. Some of these have been pretty well explained, however… especially the alleged “WOW signal” from a radio telescope in 1977. SETI scientists see signals very similar to this all the time, and all of them have been declared to have terrestrial origins.
Universe Today has an interesting article explaining the procedure of a rescue mission in the event that Atlantis is badly damaged on its mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
Locals JEFF the Brotherhood and Magic Wands got some blog love today. JEFF was mentioned in this Brooklyn Vegan post about their upcoming dates in NYC with Screaming Females and Sisters. Then I found a post on RCRD LBL featuring a download of the Magic Wands’ Black Magic. Good to see these Nashville bands getting major blog love… though I’m pretty sure Chris and Dexie (Magic Wands) moved to L.A. a year or so ago. I would still argue that they have Nashville “roots” since Chris spent so much of his musical career here. Apparently they’ve got an EP coming out soon.
Tonight is the 2nd installment of the 3-part series, “Road to Bonnaroo” at Mercy Lounge. It’s a special version of the famous 8 off 8th series where audience votes, combined with a panel of judges, will determine which of the 8 bands will get to play at Bonnaroo. Tonight’s lineup and more info can be found on the Mercy Lounge website. I suggest you come on out and help decide the winner!
Finally, major kudos to Grimey’s for making the top 10 of SPIN’s 15 best indie record stores. They came in 8th out of 15. Awesome!
Click image to see bigger version
This has been popping up in a few places around the interwebs for a couple days now, and I should’ve posted about it earlier, but I’ve fallen victim t0 post-SXSW sickness and laziness. A team of physicists have discovered a brand new subatomic particle, which they’re calling “Y(4140).” Ironically this particle was not discovered at the Large Hadron Collider, which is still not operational due to repairs from the catastrophic helium leak last fall; it was discovered at Fermilab, right here in the USA. This new information will be valuable in future mathematical models of the universe, as well as in the experiments conducted at the LHC later this year. You’d think they could come up with a cooler name for a completely new type of subatomic particle… something like “megaquark” or “quarktron.” Lazerquark…
The space shuttle undocked from the ISS yesterday and did a fly-around, capturing the first images of the fully symmetrical, full-length ISS. Universe Today has the space porn, including video of part of the fly-around.
According to Space.com, NASA has decided to go ahead with the Hubble repair mission, despite the increased risk of debris impact due to the satellite collision on Feb. 10th. I’m glad, but kinda scared for the crew. The danger is heightened by the fact that they won’t have the ISS as a lifeboat. Instead, NASA will have Space Shuttle Endeavour on a different pad, ready to launch and be used as a lifeboat should Atlantis be damaged.
Several different time-lapse videos of plants growing. These things are always fun to watch. Via kottke.org.
This has been showing up on almost every blog I read, but it’s definitely worth posting- the first trailers for the Spike Jonze-directed, Arcade Fire-loaded, live-action version of Where the Wild Things Are has been posted. The best place to view it is on apple.com. They have gorgeous HD versions that are true eye candy.
Camera Obscura @ SXSW 2009 Photo: Steve Cross
I was quite pleased yesterday to find out that Camera Obscura will be kicking off their north American tour in Nashville at the Mercy Lounge on May 27th. To my knowledge, they have never played here, and they’re one of my favorites. Even though I just saw them at SXSW, I will be there enthusiastically. Their new album My Maudlin Career drops April 20th via 4AD. Check out the rest of their tour dates at their myspace.
Another upcoming show I’m looking forward to is The Pains of Being Pure at Heart @ the End on May 2nd. Like C.O., I saw this band at SXSW and they did not dissappoint. But I really look forward to seeing full length sets from both bands, as all the shows at SXSW are showcases with 5 or so bands, thus each band has less time to setup and a shorter set length than normal. POBPAH are definitely one of those “blog-buzz” bands, but I honestly think they will have more staying power and are on an entirely different level than say, Vampire Weekend or Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
SXSW coverage/mosquito-killing lasers
March 24, 2009
I originally planned to resume posting yesterday, but we encountered some traffic issues on the way back from Austin which resulted in us not getting back till 6am monday morning. I had to be at work at 7. Needless to say, I did not feel like blogging yesterday. More on that later…
Mostly quick links today:
First of all, be sure to check all my slideshows of pics from SXSW over at Nashville Cream. I had a blast, even if I did catch the SXSW Cold Virus of Death on saturday.
Also on the Cream, round one of the Mercy Lounge’s Road to Bonnaroo 8 off 8th contest happened last night, and apparently the Features won by one single vote, edging out Kindercastle. Phew. I do like Kindercastle, but I have to say that the Features deserve it more, even if they do get stuck in some tiny side tent playing at noon while everyone’s still nursing their hangovers. They’ve been at this since 1994, and are probably the tightest, best live act in this city.
The New York Times has an interesting article about the extreme branding/marketing/advertising involved with SXSW.
Those Darlins did a Daytrotter session back in January. I guess they don’t always post these right after they’re recorded… I honestly never paid that much attention before though.
Local bloggers Janet Timmons (Out the Other) and Glenn Peoples (Coolfer.com) were both mentioned in a Reuters article about the blogging panel held on Thursday of SXSW.
Ok enough SXSW junk….
Kottke.org highlights a survey that reaveals the average American citizen’s ignorance of basic science. I find it absolutely pathetic and appalling that only 53% of Americans know how long it takes the earth to complete one revolution around the Sun. But it doesn’t surprise me.
Alaska’s Redoubt volcano finally erupted last night after weeks of rumbling. Seismologists have been expecting an eruption for at least a month now. It’s good to see that our prediction methods are at least somewhat accurate.
The entire Cosmos Series, hosted by Carl Sagan, is now available on Hulu. I will be watching them soon. It’s sad that I can only recall seeing one or two episodes…
I hate mosquitoes. They are the bane of my existence. In my opinion, the world would be a better place if they did not exist at all. They do nothing but reproduce uncontrollably and bite people… and animals. That’s why I was very pleased to read this article about a high-tech laser system that targets and kills them. Yes, you heard right- a mosquito-killing laser weapon. This will probably only be used in areas where mosquito-spread disease is a major problem, but we can hope for it, right?
The Space Shuttle Discovery has been attached to the ISS for several days now, and the astronauts have successfully attached the final set of solar panels, which will give the station enough power to support the new crew size of 6-7 astronauts. You can watch live coverage, including footage from onboard the shuttle and the space station, on NASA TV.
Finally, I have some sad personal news to report. My cat Sherman had to be put to sleep this morning. I know it seems lame, but to avoid having to explain the whole story over and over again, I posted a facebook note about it that read as follows:
I’m sad to say that my cat Sherman had to be put to sleep this morning. I’m telling this story on here so that I don’t have to do it 100 times for everyone I know.
We arrived back in nashville from my SXSW trip at 6am monday morning, just barely in time for me to get ready for work at 7. I found him lying on the floor unable to move. He was still yowling, however, so I rushed him to the vet. We discovered that he had a urinary blockage and had been unable to urinate for at least a few days. (Probably since friday, because that’s the day Megan checked on him & he was ok.) This caused his kidneys to malfunction and thus his body was unable to get rid of toxins. He was so near death when I found him that the vet told me there was little hope for him, but I had to at least try to save him. They put him on an IV, relieved the blockage, and put him on a heating pad. His condition improved slightly, but this morning he was unable to control his bladder, showed no interest in food or water, and was still unable to walk or stand. It was obvious that the odds of him recovering were too small for it to be worth the continued suffering it would put him through. So I made the decision to end his suffering. It was a hard choice but it gives me relief to know that he’s no longer suffering.
If you have a male cat 3 years or older, be wary of their urinary habits. This only occurs in male cats, and it’s due to the chemical makeup of cat urine and its tendancy to crystallize. When that happens in their urethra, it causes a blockage. When you can’t pee, it causes major problems VERY quickly. Can you imagine not being able to pee even for 12 hours? If your male cat constantly goes to the litter box but seems to just scratch around a lot, or you notice him squatting but not really doing much, that’s a sign that he might have a blockage problem, and it needs to be treated FAST.
steve cross loves music and science 