Nashville for Free

Monday

Rock’n'Roll Trivia at the Mercy Lounge – 6:30pm
This Rock’n'Roll Trivia is just like every other week, only it’s its FIRST BIRTHDAY! There’s going to be more trivia fun than ever, awesome prizes, and more! Michelle wrote all about it here. It’s going to ROCK.

7 off 8th at the Mercy Lounge –  whenever triva ends
This week is only a 7 off 8th to allow even more time for trivia. I’m totally okay with that. This week features Whole Fantastic World, Powerbrrrd, Bad Cop, Zut Alors, How Cozy!, Kingston Springs, and our friend Evan P. Donohue.

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Photo by Studio Rigby

This isn’t the first Miller Made Music Showcase in recent memory. In fact, last December Miller brought the rock by putting on an awesome free show with The Protomen,Parachute Musical, Tallest Trees, and Majestico.

Well, it’s time for another great, free 21+ show. This Thursday, May 27th at the Mercy Lounge Keegan Dewitt, Kink Ador, The Vespers, and Paper Route will be playing. It looks like a good mix of bands I’ve heard of and a few I haven’t, but that might just be because I’m not very up-to-date on local bands.

It’s going to be an especially big night for Kink Ador, who will also be celebrating the release of their new album, which features the song “Animal,” a song you might have heard for free if you have an Android. The phone’s music player comes with that song pre-loaded. The video is cool and although the song isn’t really my thing I can understand the appeal (I cannot, however, understand a word the singer is saying). It’s kind of bluesy indie rock and not really too unlike the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Again, the event is on Thursday, May 27th at the Mercy Lounge at 9pm and is 21+. You can RSVP to the event on Facebook.

I would venture to say that most of the people in the world know Karen Elson as little more than Jack White’s wife. Unless you live around Belmont, in which case you know her as the person who owns Venus and Mars.

Well I’m about to turn your one dimensional view of Karen Elson on its head. She’s also a singer-songwriter, and a freaking good one at that.

Elson was recently signed to XL Recordings, which is one of my favorite record labels for a number of reasons. They have a great history of releasing awesome music, and this is no different. Her album, The Ghost Who Walks is being released this Tuesday and was produced by Jack White (who else?).

I’ve listened to the few songs that are streaming on her MySpace and I really dig it. By now you know that I’m not good at describing music, but her stuff just sounds cool. I much prefer it to anything Jack White has done. It reminds me a little of Mazzy Star and PJ Harvey. This isn’t just a musician’s wife milking her husband’s fame for what it’s worth. Karen Elson has the talent to back it up.

She’ll be playing a free in-store at Grimey’s this Wednesday, May 26th at 6pm. Go there.

I would venture to say that most of the people in the world know Karen Elson as little more than Jack White’s wife. Unless you live around Belmont, in which case you know her as the person who owns Venus and Mars.

Well I’m about to turn your one dimensional view of Karen Elson on its head. She’s also a singer-songwriter, and a freaking good one at that.

Elson was recently signed to XL Recordings, which is one of my favorite record labels for a number of reasons. They have a great history of releasing awesome music, and this is no different. Her album, The Ghost Who Walks is being released this Tuesday and was produced by Jack White (who else?).

I’ve listened to the few songs that are streaming on her MySpace and I really dig it. By now you know that I’m not good at describing music, but her stuff just sounds cool. I much prefer it to anything Jack White has done. It reminds me a little of Mazzy Star and PJ Harvey. This isn’t just a musician’s wife milking her husband’s fame for what it’s worth. Karen Elson has the talent to back it up.

She’ll be playing a free in-store at Grimey’s this Wednesday, May 26th at 6pm. Go there.

Monday

Gear Up for World Cup 2010 at the Madison Public Library – 3pm
Hey teens! Do you like soccer? Play FIFA 2010 on the teen room gaming kiosk to get ready for this year’s World Cup!

Local Author Tisha Morris discusses and signs 27 Things to Feng Shui Your Home at Davis-Kidd Books – 7pm
If you want to change your life, move 27 things in your home. This ancient Chinese proverb speaks of the powerful connection our homes have with our lives. In 27 Things To Feng Shui Your Home, Tisha Morris shows in creative, basic steps how to use the art of feng shui to create an inviting, personal atmosphere in your home that will renovate your life. Discover how to: Clear clutter to optimize space. Use lighting, color, and simple objects to create good energy flow. Space clear to promote good health. Integrate the Five Elements into your home to create harmony.

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This is a real picture of Mark Twain. I know, right?

Mark Twain is, without a doubt, one of the greatest American authors of all time. This is the guy who brought us Huck Finn, Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper, and countless other works. If you’ve ever seen a PBS documentary on his life (like I have) you’ll also know that he had an incredible sense of humor and was BFFs with Nicola Tesla who is quite possibly the most awesome person who ever lived. I mean, he not only invented AC and an earthquake machine, but he dreamt up wireless internet well over 100 years before it actually existed, but that’s another story entirely.

So, I came across a great event for all you Mark Twin fans out there. This Saturday, May 22nd at the Main Public Library Tennessee poet laureate Maggi Vaughn will read from her book Foretasting Heaven: Talking to Twain at Quarry Farm. Vaughn is the only poet to receive the Mark Twain Fellowship from Elmira College. During her time there, Vaughn wrote Foretasting Heaven which is a series of poem-letters addressed to Twain. I wasn’t able to find out a lot about the book on the internet, but it’s obviously not going to suck. I mean, she’s the TN Poet Laureate and it’s a book about Mark Twain. Not exactly a lot of risk there.

Again, this event will take place this Saturday, May 22nd at 1pm in the Special Collections Center of the Main Public Library.

Everyone who knows me knows that I’m a sucker for random coupons. If I happen to magically find a coupon for a free candy bar in my candy bar wrapper I’m one happy lady.

I’m not a big gum consumer, mostly because I have TMJ and it just exhausts my dysfunctional jaw, but every once in awhile I indulge. The other day I bought a pack of Stride Mega Mystery gum, which tastes like that zebra gum with the temporary tattoos, by the way. After all the gum was gone and I was about to throw the pack away I noticed a weird little image on the bottom half of the pack on the left hand side behind the gum. You can’t really make it out in the above image, but next to that weird little thing is a picture of a sell phone with the words “snap it” along with an instruction to “get the free app for your phone at http://gettag.mobi,” which I, of course, did.

When I opened the app and held the phone in front of the weird image it immediately took me to a site on my phone that asked for my email address so they could send me a super secret coupon. Hell yeah.

The only issue with the coupon is that it didn’t work on my computer. That’s right, for some reason it’s not supported on Windows 7. I’ll have to use a different computer to actually get the coupon. I was able to view the details for the coupon on my phone, and apparently it’s a buy-one-get one deal on the Mega Mystery Stride gum. Not bad at all.

From what I’ve read, this isn’t exactly a new concept, but I’d keep my eyes open for weird little icons on different products. You never know when you’ll get something for free.

Has anyone else seen these? Have you found a magical surprise coupon lately? Let me know in the comments!

I know I’m not alone in the world as an outer space geek. I don’t know a lot about the specifics of the universe, but dang, there are some pretty cool pictures of it floating around the universe.

My nerdiness is what makes me excited about Science Cafe, a series presented by Adventure Science Center that takes place at Fido Coffee. The great thing about Science Cafe is that it isn’t a lecture, it’s an actual discussion. You get to sit at a table with your fancy coffee and muffin and talk to an actual expert and other enthusiasts/curious people.

This month’s Science Cafe is titled “The Search for a Second Earth.” Here’s the official event description:

With all the galaxies in the universe, how likely is it that we will find another another planet like Earth? Are there other planets capable of sustaining life similar to what we know? How would we find it if it does exist? What would it mean to us here on Earth if we did find it? In May, our guest will be astrobiologist Dr. Todd Gary of Tennessee State University. We’ll discuss the decades long search by astronomers to find other Earth-like planets in the universe.

There is always some sort of expert at these things, just to make sure they don’t go in an insane direction (and this one has every ability to do just that). This time it’s Dr. Todd Gary, Director of the Institute of Understanding Biological Systems (IUBS) at Tennessee State. He is the Principle Investigator for the management of the NASA Astrobiology Institue-Minority Institute Research Support program (NAI-MIRS). Dang, that’s a mouth-full. He sounds important.

This event will take place this Thursday, May 20th at 7pm at Fido.

There’s serious trouble in Appalachia. The practice of mountaintop removal mining is destroying the region’s mountaintops, all in the name of coal. This is taking a toll on the people who live in Appalachia. Their health, homes, and culture is suffering, and now they’re fighting back.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) presents Movies Save Mountains, an evening of film, music and discussion celebrating the power of people coming together to defend their communities and the mountains we love.

On Thursday, May 20th you can head on down to The Belcourt where the acclaimed new films Deep Down and Coal Country will be shown. Both are documentaries that go into the details of the effects of mountaintop removal mining on the communities around them. The makers of both films and other activists will be available for a Q&A after the screenings.

In addition to that Kathy Mattea will be giving a special performance. That woman knows a lot about coal. She wrote a whole album about it, and it’s awesome. I saw her a few years ago and she’s someone you don’t want to miss.

This event IS free, but you have to reserve tickets as seating is limited. You can do that here. Doors are at 5:45 and the whole thing gets down at 6:30.

This is the second family friendly event I’ve decided to write about in the past few days. I have to say, if you have kids this sounds like a great organization and a great event.

Coal Train Railroad is a collection of jazz songs written for kids. They’re written from a child’s point of view and the topics include things like bellybuttons, juice, sharing, and snuggling.

The idea is to inspire kids to do a variety of different things. Most notably dance, play, and use their voices to riff along with the musicians. Sounds like fun, right?

This is Nashville, and I know that all Nashvillian mommas and daddies want their kids to be musical at a young age. I mean, how else are those kids gonna get work before they’re two?

This event will take place on Monday, May 17th at 10:30am at the Green Hills Public Library.

Enjoy.