Nashville for Free

I’ll be honest with you guys, up until yesterday evening I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do on the Halloween party night. I considered Ra Ra Riot or the Greenhornes, but I didn’t really feel like I could part with double digits of dollars.

So at the suggestion of a friend I decided to hit up The Basement’s Next Annual Halloween Soireefest 2010. I didn’t know much about it except that the first 50 people were going to get in free, costumes would be welcome, and some band called Hard Rock Zombies was going to play.

I ended up arriving at 10pm, a full hour after doors opened, but I was still lucky enough to be one of the first 50 in attendance. I met my friends inside and was told that the first band playing would be We Rock, a Dio cover band. I had my doubts about them but dang, they were a really good cover band. I mean, I typically will enjoy a half-decent cover band, but those guys were legit. That guitarist…holy crap. On top of that I got to watch Grimey himself (in a highway patrolman outfit) get his metal on. He even made the band come back after their last song to fill one of his requests. It was great.

Next up was Davey Ukulele and the Gag Time Gang, a children’s band started by David Mead and Bill Demain. Their outfits were hilarious and the songs were great. They’ve obviously put a lot of love into that project. I remember seeing David Mead play with Matt Ryan and Brian Richey at the Rutledge a year and a half ago and hearing him play some of the songs he played last night. It was great to finally see the finished product.

By the time that set was over it was 12:30 and I was completely exhausted. Hey, I wake up early every day. I felt pretty confident that I wouldn’t be able to make it through Hard Rock Zombies, but I feel like I’d already seen the best part (the costumes). According to my friend, who ended up staying, it was “pretty hard rocking and hilarious,” which is exactly what I expected. I wish I could have stayed out longer, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that late nights don’t sit well with me.

It might not have been the Halloween I thought I would have, with my recycled costume and last minute concert, but in the end it met my two main criteria for a good night: it was cheap/free and I had fun. Success!

How about you guys? What did you do this weekend?

-Emily

I’ll be honest with you guys, up until yesterday evening I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do on the Halloween party night. I considered Ra Ra Riot or the Greenhornes, but I didn’t really feel like I could part with double digits of dollars.

So at the suggestion of a friend I decided to hit up The Basement’s Next Annual Halloween Soireefest 2010. I didn’t know much about it except that the first 50 people were going to get in free, costumes would be welcome, and some band called Hard Rock Zombies was going to play.

I ended up arriving at 10pm, a full hour after doors opened, but I was still lucky enough to be one of the first 50 in attendance. I met my friends inside and was told that the first band playing would be We Rock, a Dio cover band. I had my doubts about them but dang, they were a really good cover band. I mean, I typically will enjoy a half-decent cover band, but those guys were legit. That guitarist…holy crap. On top of that I got to watch Grimey himself (in a highway patrolman outfit) get his metal on. He even made the band come back after their last song to fill one of his requests. It was great.

Next up was Davey Ukulele and the Gag Time Gang, a children’s band started by David Mead and Bill Demain. Their outfits were hilarious and the songs were great. They’ve obviously put a lot of love into that project. I remember seeing David Mead play with Matt Ryan and Brian Richey at the Rutledge a year and a half ago and hearing him play some of the songs he played last night. It was great to finally see the finished product.

By the time that set was over it was 12:30 and I was completely exhausted. Hey, I wake up early every day. I felt pretty confident that I wouldn’t be able to make it through Hard Rock Zombies, but I feel like I’d already seen the best part (the costumes). According to my friend, who ended up staying, it was “pretty hard rocking and hilarious,” which is exactly what I expected. I wish I could have stayed out longer, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that late nights don’t sit well with me.

It might not have been the Halloween I thought I would have, with my recycled costume and last minute concert, but in the end it met my two main criteria for a good night: it was cheap/free and I had fun. Success!

How about you guys? What did you do this weekend?

-Emily

Monday

Rock’n’Roll Trivia at the Mercy Lounge – 6:30pm, 21+
What, you think you know more rock minutia than I do? Well, you’re probably right, but if you really want a challenge then you should hit up this event. It consists of 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. The prizes are $50, $25 or $10 to be spent at Mercy Lounge. Plus, everyone gets free parking and beer specials all night. It’s about teams, so grab some friends, yo.

8 off 8th at the Mercy Lounge – 9pm
This week’s 8 off 8th is going to feature Black Comedy, Jessica Breanne, New Pleasure, The Dirty Holidays, Evan P Donohue, Westfolk, Paper Machete, and The Hollywood Ten.

Jimador Tequila presents Battle on 3rd at 3rd and Lindsley – 7pm
A new battle of the bands. The winner is chosen based on audience votes! This week you can come by and pick between Westbound Rangers, Hello Kelly, Kristen Rogers, and Ferrier

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Pumpkins! Pumpkins everywhere!

Everything will be orange in downtown Franklin today from 11am-8pm for its annual Pumpkinfest. There will be vendors, a costume contest, crafts, food, hayrides, chili, storytelling, and tons of other stuff too. Most importantly, there will be a ton of little kids dressed up in adorable costumes, and if that doesn’t make you smile well then that’s just too bad.

Also, last time I went to this festival I saw some famous people, which doesn’t EVER happen to me in Nashville.

The only downsides to this event are that it will be crowded and parking will be ROUGH. Last time I had to park in the grass on some way-off side street. That kind of sucked, but everything else was a lot of fun.

Just so you know, all of the shops and everything will be open during the festival, if that’s your kind of thing.

Have fun and be safe this Halloween.

-Emily

There's a little more to it than this

Whole Foods, watch out, the Turnip Truck is all grown up.

The organic grocery store that started in East Nashville is finally going to open their second location in the Gulch. Congratulations, Gulch residents, you finally have a grocery store!

But back to the Turnip Truck, the new store will be 9200 feet of awesome organic and local food (Whole Foods isn’t as local as you might like to think). It will even have a cafe with indoor and outdoor seating as well as a hot/cold food bar. And there will be more than just food, you can also buy cosmetics and the like as well as green cleaning supplies.

But I have to clear the air about one thing, the store is open right now. While the doors opened this morning, they’re waiting until tomorrow to celebrate, and what a party it will be. They’ll have a Turnip Toss game, prizes, samples, coupons, and healthy treat bags for the kids. But here’s the kicker, the first 200 people to spend $40 or more get a free tote bag. Woohoo! I love me some tote bags. Seriously, this store is worth checking out.

The grand opening celebration will be held from 11am-5pm and the store is located at 311 12th Ave South, Nashville, TN 37203.

-Emily

I feel like every time a holiday comes around I’m here blogging about how it’s my favorite holiday. Well, here’s the truth of the matter, Halloween is totally my favorite holiday (this week), and I’m going to be celebrating at least part of the Halloween weekend at Cheekwood.

For the past 11 years Cheekwood has been holding their annual Day of the Dead festival. It’s a celebration of Mexican culture and their version of Halloween. There will be crafts, different activities, food, and tons of different vendors there. There will also be alters for the dead, but I don’t know if that’s exactly a selling point.

But here’s the thing, though Cheekwood members and everyone under the age of 18 gets in free, us poor old fogies have to pay $15, which is totally crap and will honestly probably keep me from going. Come on Cheekwood, no student discounts? No broke blogger discount? $15 is kind of a lot of money to pay to get into an event where you’re expected to buy things like food and art. I hate that kind of crap.

So, if you’re a member of Cheekwood, a parent with lots of kids to entertain, or are a high school student/could pass as a high school student then this event is free for you. If you’re not, well, I don’t know, it’s completely possible that this event is worth $15. Hell, it probably is. Still…I could get 5 Mas Tacos for $15.

-Emily

So you didn’t make it over to Grimey’s on Tuesday to nab your spot at the Mumford and Sons in-store next week, I hear yah. Those 130 tickets sold lightning fast, and you were stuck at work/school/jousting camp/whatever. You promised that hot date an “afternoon of a lifetime” (your words, not mine) and now you can’t deliver! Well, never fear, a totally awesome—half-related—free event is going to save your weekend!

Ra Ra Riot will be gracing Nashville with their presence this Saturday (thank God someone is balancing out the Yin Yang Twins…), and they’re starting off their visit with an in-store at Grimey’s! That’s right, 3pm sharp, put on your sharpest costume—Jersey Shore characters prohibited—and head out to Grimey’s for a surely unforgettable performance.

Quick horror story: last year for Halloween weekend—It was on a Saturday—I dressed up as the trick-or-treating Charlie Brown (clever, I know) and my roommate dressed up as the Mortan Salt girl (he’s a dude, so it was clever AND bold). Friday night we prepared our costumes and showed up at a party, only to find that we were the people dressed up. Needless to say, it was pretty awkward…

Grimey’s website says something about Beer:30, so you can at least hope for a TON of “what time is it?” jokes (by the way, the answer is always “Beer: 30”). And think of it as another venue to showcase your incredibly crafty Halloween costume. You’re sure to have a “riot” (forgive me) with Ra Ra Riot at 3pm this Saturday!

-Matt

I write a lot about free music and movies and some about plays and art exhibits, but it’s not very often I get to write about free dance performances. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to write about a free dance performance, which is incredibly sad to me.

I don’t know much (or anything at all) about dancing, but I have incredible respect for good dramatic dance. I’m not talking Dancing with the Stars crap or really weird and boring interpretive dancing that you might see at a high school talent show, what I like to see is people seriously getting their dance on in a way that blows my mind.

Tonight at 7pm at the Frist Center Company Rose is putting on a free dance performance as part of the Impressionist exhibit that just opened. The dancers are going to use some of the same motifs that many of the painters used, and are in general going to perform something inspired by Impressionism. I don’t know what to expect, so I’ll just put the official event description behind the cut. I imagine whatever happens will be fun. And hey, if you’re a college student you can check out the exhibit for just $5 after 5pm! Score!

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Due to my completely insane work and school schedule, I don’t get to read as much as I would like. I especially don’t get to read anything that was written in the last 20 or 30 years that isn’t a text book or about the music business.

I have, however, gotten the opportunity to read a few of Margaret Atwood’s books over the last couple of years, most notably The Penelopiad, which is the Odyssey told from Penelope’s point of view, and Year of the Flood, her latest. I enjoyed both, and was incredibly excited to hear that she would be speaking at Belmont. One of my professors even made it a requirement to go, but in all honesty I would have gone even if that hadn’t been the case.

Let me tell you, this woman was funny, and in a very dry, sarcastic way (my personal favorite). Hearing her read passages from Year of the Flood made me realize the humor she injects even into the darker passages. When I was reading it the absurdity of “Mole Day” or the “Anooyoo” products wasn’t completely lost on me, but hearing them out loud made me smile in amusement.

After she talked a little bit about her most recent works and read a few passages from them she took audience questions, some of which were good, some of which were rambling, but man was she quick-witted about all of them. When asked about being a feminist writer she rattled off a few old, incredibly outdated thoughts about women, and once again she pointed out absurdity in a way few people can. She never answered the question outright, but I think she was implying that if writing about women as if they were human beings with souls made her a feminist writer, then so be it. She also took questions about things from references to finger-sucking in her novels and literary theorists who might be way off base but make up theories that are incredibly flattering and make her seem like an even more impressive writer than she already is.

If you didn’t make it out to see her tonight then don’t fret, you have two more chances tomorrow. She’ll be at Belmont’s Massey Board Room at 9am and will be in the Lila D. Bunch Library’s Bunch Multimedia Hall (on the second floor) at 11am.

If there’s any way you can get out to see her I highly recommend it. As one of my friends said after we left the building, “I want her to be my best friend.”

-Emily

Are you the kind of person who likes those gypsy punk bands like Gogol Bordello? It’s kind of hard not to; the music is infectious and their live shows are out of this world.

Tonight International Lens presents When the Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema.

I have to say, Romani people get a bad rap. Yes, there are some Romas (gypsies) that will rob you blind while you’re on vacation in Europe, and since those people typically tend to be more visible than most Romas the whole culture tends to get stereotyped as bad people, as vagrants.

The truth is, the Romani culture is an incredibly colorful, diverse one. And then there’s mention the music, which is pretty incredible. This film is all about the music and how it really bonds such a diverse culture. Here’s the synopsis:

This concert film/cultural documentary follows the 2001 U.S. “Gypsy Caravan” tour, which showcased five bands from four countries: Macedonia, Romania, India and Spain. The film captures electrifying performances and takes us behind-the-scenes where the groups, divided by language and musical interest, find inspiration through a common passion for music.

Again, this film is showing tonight, October 27th, at 7pm at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema.

-Emily