Monday

Rock’n'Roll Trivia at the Mercy Lounge – 6:30
It’s a super-rocking trivia night, as usual, with prizes from the bar and The Groove. With three rounds of questions, two rounds of “name that tune,” and the rock and roll-est of final wagers where you can bet (and possibly lose) it all, winning could come down to whether you remember who sang that one-hit wonder, which album came out first, or what’s that rocker dude’s real name. Always a fun time.

8 off 8th Road to Bonnaroo at the Mercy Lounge – 9pm
So, one lucky Nashville band will get to play at Bonnaroo. Last year it was Heypenny, who will it be this year? Well, after you hear all these rad bands you can vote, and then the judges will vote, and before the big festival a winner will be chosen. There’s even a rumor floating around the a few certain cheap-ass bloggers will be judges. The bands playing this week will be Brenn, Hillbilly Casino, How I Became the Bomb, Modoc, Shoot the Mountain, Tristen, The Kicks and Tesla Rossa.

Best Selling Author Lisa Lutz signs and discusses The Spellmans Strike Again at Davis-Kidd Books – 7pm
The uproarious fourth and final installment in the “New York Times”-bestselling, Edgar Award-nominated series about a kooky detective family. If it’s described as kooky it must be good, right? Right?

(more…)

Being a former Upstate New Yorker, I’ve obviously been to Canada a few times. I had my first legal drink there (at 19–something effeminate with strawberries) and even fed an ostrich an entire box of cookies (accidentally) at something called Parc Safari. In addition, I do recall watching K.D. Lang tear it up with a fly First Nations dance crew on live T.V. during the ’88 Calgary Olympics. (“It’s like punk country,” Mom remarked.) Thanks to The Groove’s ever-fruitful dollar bin, I can add to that list Rockin’ On The Airwaves, a 1980 CBS compilation of Canuck chart-toppers. As the Canadian government mandates at least 30 percent of music played on Canadian radio stations be created by Canadians, some bizarre (and occasionally awful) obscurities are represented alongside the given first-class talent (Loverboy, Triumph, the guy from the Guess Who, etc).

Trooper were rocking the hell out of Vancouver audiences under the name Applejack when they were discovered by Randy Bachman of BTO and signed to his Legend label. Trooper had a number of hits behind them when their 1979 release, Hot Shots, became the biggest selling Canadian album of all time. Their smash hit, “The Boys in The Bright White Sports Car” is one gloriously stupid minor-key gallop of a rocker. I bet Randy did a backflip when he heard this one.

Rough Trade were a theatrical new wave band whose lesbian frontwoman made a point of showing up for public appearances and photographs in full bondage gear. Their “High School Confidential” (nothing to do with Jerry Lee Lewis) is as dumb and artless as being gay gets, a girl-on-girl crush tale featuring the lines: “What’s her perfume? Tigress by Fabergé?/She makes me cream my jeans/When she’s coming my way.” Pret-ty fuck-ing bad, guys!

Of course, the kind of Cummings that most pleasure me on this collection are that of the Burton variety. The smooth, pop perfection of his little-heard (in the U.S.) 1980 hit “Fine State of Affairs” brings me back for repeated listens. Cute McCartneyesque writing, interesting song structure, with a cool doo-wop counter-vocal in the choruses. A killer single if Gerry Rafferty is your idea of a good time.

Other highlights: The all-too-precious but seductively earnest and always tuneful Bruce Cockburn singing “Wondering Where The Lions Are.” (Some Cockburn is on my dollar records shopping list, it appears.); Canadian hippie-jam-band Minglewood covering that Marshall Tucker Band song that goes “Can’t you see, can’t you see, what that woman has been doin’ to me,” replete with an intro about a Canadian boy from the prairie who moves to Toronto (or something); a hard rock band called TORONTO(!) that seems to answer Pat Benetar and the score to a Pontiac commercial in the same sentence. Jesus, Canada. You appear to have the music scene of Albany, NY.

Whatever. This entertained me. Loverboy’s “Turn Me Loose.” is everything we love about disco, hard rock, and maybe Canada. Three stars, better than no music at all.

What: Wayne “The Train” Hancock In-Store
Where: Grimey’s Records
When: Saturday March 20th, 5:30

Wayne “The Train” Hancock has been called the King of Juke Joint Swing. Not sure what that means? Well, it means that he’s a rambunctious and fun mix of honky-tonk, western swing, blues, Texas rockabilly and big band. I haven’t seen his live show personally, but I imagine it’s blow-your-face-off awesome. Grimey’s describes them as “raucous affairs where women swoon and men stomp the floor relentlessly.” Sounds like an ideal way to end this week. Oh yeah, and it’s Beer:30, which means free beer (probably Fat Tire) so I don’t see the point of missing this.

Rock on.

-Emily

Nashville has some sweet DJs. Seriously. They make us dance, they make us laugh, they make us want to party. It’s time for them to battle it out to see who is the king.

Red Bull Thre3Style apparently isn’t your typical DJ battle. Eight of Nashville’s best and most requested DJs will have to prove they have the spinning skills and musical knowledge to be crowned the city’s best.

Each hand selected contestant will have 15 minutes to mix three different genres of music and win over the judges and the crowd. Judged on song selections, creativity, skill, swagger, and audience reaction, each DJ will have to give their all to win this competition.

The DJs:
Dorian
Wick-It
Mike Allison
Coach
DJ Crumbz
Cliffy D
ROBOT EARS
Fan Fiction

Headliner, DJ Rob Swift, will perform a set as well as help judge the competition. The show is free, 18+, and don’t forget your ID because they will not let you in.

(info from Mercy Lounge)

-Emily

Monday

Rock’n'Roll Trivia at the Mercy Lounge – 7pm
Usually I just group this in with 8 off 8th because it’s pretty standard fare, but this week the Mercy Lounge is shaking it up a little bit! In addition to the bar/The Groove prizes on random team (not necessarily a winning team) will win a pair of tickets to the following shows: Yacht Rock Revue & Space Capone 3/19, Hockey 3/23, Who’s Bad – The Ultimate Michael Jackson Tribute 4/9, Roman Candle 3/27, and Naked Without Us 3-day pass 4/22-24. Other than that follow @rocknrolltrivia on Twitter for final round clues.

8 off 8th at the Mercy Lounge – 9pm
This week’s 8 off 8th has been dubbed “The Party Edition” and is hosted by Coach. You’ll get to boogie to Coach, Hands off Sam, Potamus, Brandon Eaves, Ducko McFli, DJ Chris Step, Jane Dupree, and D.A.D.

SXSW Bands Heading to Bonnaroo at the Basement – 8pm
Just incase playing SXSW wasn’t validation enough, the Basement offers you a night of SXSW bands who are also heading to Bonnaroo this June.  Be sure to check out Justin Jones, Inlets, Pearl and the Beard, Emily Long, Peter Matteson, and Hot Rails.

Jennie Bentley signs and discusses Plaster & Poison at Davis-Kidd Books – 7pm
I picked this as a highlight because of the event description: “While renovating an old carriage house on behalf of a soon-to-wed friend, former New York designer Avery Baker stumbles across a lifeless body–a person known all too well by the blushing bride. Includes home renovation and design tips.” Because I’m always disappointed when my murder mysteries don’t give me ideas for redecorating my house.

(more…)

21+, FREE

RSVP!!!!

21+, FREE

RSVP!!!!

What: Essra Mohawk In-Store
Where: Grimey’s Records
When: Friday, March 12th 6pm

You might not have heard of Essra Mohawk, but there’s a good chance you’ve heard some of her songs. She’s been on the scene since 1964 and has written hit songs for people like Cyndi Lauper (“Change of Heart”) and Tina Turner (“Stronger than the Wind”).

Though she began her career as a songwriter for acts like the Shangri-Las, in 1967 she was discovered by Frank Zappa. She started releasing her own albums including Primordial Lovers, which was at one point one of Rolling Stone’s 25 Greatest Albums of All Time. Not bad, eh?

Anyway, apparently she’s lived in Nashville for a decade but hasn’t gotten much attention. Collector’s Choice is re-releasing 3 of her earlier albums, Sandy’s Album Is Here at Last, Primordial Lovers, and Essra Mohawk. She’s pretty awesome and you can catch her at Grimey’s this Friday at 6pm. There will probably be beer, and she probably will play some awesome songs and tell some awesome stories, so don’t miss it. End your work-week right!

Here some of her toonz here.

-Emily

Sorry Garfield, humans only.

What: Biggest Loser Casting Call
When: Saturday, March 13th
Where: Dave and Busters in Opry Mills

Have you spent a little too much time eating at the Loveless Cafe, Arnold’s, and Swett’s? Have you gained at least 100 lbs too many from that fine food? Do you want to lose the weight and possibly earn $250,000?

The Biggest Loser is coming to Nashville, and they’re looking for people to join the cast for the next season. They want outgoing people with a drive to win who want to lose at least 100 lbs. They probably want at least one extremely bitchy person, but it’s not a VH1 show, so maybe not.

If you think you have what it takes to be the “biggest loser” then grab a photo of yourself you don’t mind not getting back and drag yourself to Dave and Busters on Saturday morning. Casting goes from 10am-6pm, but don’t line up more than 3 hours before everything starts. The picture and your 100+ lbs overweight self is all you need, they’ll have applications there ready for you.

Roll on, Columbia, roll on….

The Biggest Loser Casting Website

-Emily

What: Free Screening of The 300
When: Friday, March 12th at 7pm
Where: The auditorium at The Frist Center

The 300 is an epic movie. Not epic in the way Australia is or Gone with the Wind is, but epic in the sense that it’s really bad ass. I’ve never actually seen the whole movie, only the end, but it’s visually stunning, has a lot of really buff dudes, and has some intense fight scenes. I’m pretty sure I saw a dude get sliced right in half at one point, but I can’t be sure.

If you’re wondering why an art museum would be holding a free screening of The 300 you’re probably not alone. Right now at the Frist there’s an exhibit called Heroes, which features over 100 objects that represent Greek heroes (something I know way too much about for me to ever be considered cool). This is actually the 3rd of a 4 part film series being put on by the Frist. They’ve already shown Superman and Helen of Troy, and the next film will be To Kill a Mockingbird, one of my personal favorite movies.

About the movie:
This American action film based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel by the same title is a fictional retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae that took place in 480 BCE. Through larger-than-life scenes, 300 depicts the heroic and borderline impetuous Spartan Army and their struggle to preserve freedom and democracy. Led by King Leonidas, the Spartan’s small army of three hundred launches a battle against the much larger Persian military. Despite knowing their fate, the Greeks, who are joined by seven hundred Thespians, stand against the Persians for as long as they can in order to give the rest of Greece more time to prepare for the invasion. Starring: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, and Rodrigo Santoro. Directed by Zack Snyder, 2007. 117 minutes. 35mm. Rated R.