Nashville for Free

Editor’s Note: Katie Chow is a journalism and French student at Belmont University.  She also writes about music and has contributed to publications such as American Songwriter, American Noise, and Thought Catalog. For more pictures of the Apache Relay in-store check out her Flickr page.

My sister-in-law came to stay with me and Tyler Wednesday through Sunday of last week. She’s not just any sister-in-law. She’s a 15 year old, hyper hyper, girly girl teenager. And i love the crap out of her. She had never really been to Nashville aside from helping her big bro move into Vanderbilt about 3 years ago, so I really wanted to show her everything I could.

Now. Tyler and I are buh-roke. We can’t spend a fortune to take her on a bunch of different tours or anything fancy like that. So I used my keen sense of cheapness and not only showed her a great time, but re-realized what a beautiful city I live in.

I guess what I want to tell you is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money or go anywhere fancy schmancy to have a good time. Sometimes you just have to appreciate what’s in your own backyard.

Friday night we took her to The Frist Center. It was their birthday and everyone got in for free. Score! Incase you missed it, I blogged about that particular event here. Always keep up with The Frist Center. They are constantly having “Free Days.”

Later on, we took her to the majestic Centennial Park. Take your dog and go for a walk (you probably need the exercise.) Or sharpen up your photog skills. Play the coolest game of hide-and-go-seek ever, do whatever–there’s a ton of space there, and it’s free, so use it! There are also free events being held there all time time. I’ve seen free yoga classes, free movies in the park, free symphony concerts, it’s a pretty long list.

Now, since you all probably live in Nashville you may scoff at the typical things to do here, but don’t be embarrassed to bring out your tourist-y side. Walk down broadway, 2nd avenue, church and commerce. Walk around the State Capitol, heck GO into Legislative Plaza! It might not interest a lot of you, but did you know that you can sit in on any committee meeting? If there’s something you’re interested in, go and listen to the legislation being passed (or trying to be passed) about it. Plus, you never know what you will find there. I went earlier this week (it’s part of my “real” job) and as I walked in there were piglets, cows, donkeys, chickens and some other farm animals. People, there was a milking contest outside of Legislative Plaza. And I got to hold a little piggy!

I have lived in Nashville all my life (minus the 5-6 years I was in Bowling Green, but let’s just forget about that…please…) but I still love driving on I-65 and seeing the Nashville skyline. I love those little honky tonks on Broadway and I don’t know how many pictures I have with that Elvis statue on 2nd avenue.

One of the best ways to do stuff for free that would normally cost you money is simply to ask. Is there a new gym or yoga place you want to try out? Don’t be shy, call the manager and say you are looking around and was wondering if you could drop in on a class for free. They will say yes if they want your business, which they do.

There are a ton of things you can do right here in this beautiful city of Nashville every single day. Sometimes you just have to get creative and maybe bat an eyelash or show off your pearly whites. Or, of course, you could always read our blog and follow our twitter for daily updates!

Yesterday was the Frist Center’s 9th birthday, and in hopes to get a ton of people to show up to the party, they let everyone in for free!

I was already interested in seeing the “Heroes, Mortals and Myths in Ancient Greece” exhibit, and figured, why not go for free? Plus my sister-in-law is in town and she, nor my husband has ever been. Woo field trips!

The exhibit was awesome. There were ancient artifacts, helmets from war, burial stones and even a “family tree” of the relationships among the Greek gods. (Some gods weren’t exactly…moral.)

As you entered the exhibit, there were 2 computers where you could take a quiz and figure out which Greek god you were most like. I was hoping to get Athena but I (and my husband, hahahaha) got Helen. Apparently, I am a captivating person! Alright!  Oh, and I also love drama and being the center of attention. Pssh.

The lives of the ancient Greeks were stories told on vases, bowls and various ceremonial items. You could follow their stories by following theur paintings. You could see how they lived and died simply by looking at a vase used to hold water.

My favorite part of the exhibit was how they compared Greek heroes to modern day heroes. For example, an ancient Greek hero was considered a hero mainly after his or her death. And to be considered a hero, you did not have to save a million lives or invent anything revolutionary. You could simply be a virtuous person. Do you know how many people we could consider heroes if we went by this standard?

The exhibit also gave us little interesting bits of information. The death of a hero was rarely depicted in Greek art. It was always the burial, events leading up to the death, events directly after, but never the death itself.

Also, boxing was an original olympic sport! (I got that answer wrong at one of the interactive quiz stations set up.)

I think Ancient Greek history is awesomely interesting. Every story captivates me and being able to physically see part of that history, for FREE, deepends my interest and appreciation for the era.

The Frist Center is always having “free days”. I would encourage you to follow them on twitter, as a lot of the time, you have to mention Twitter to get in for free. But it is totally worth the money to go and check out something you are interested in. There is an art station updtairs for kids (and big kids, like me) to draw, paint, and even make movie animations! It is a great place for all ages.

Going on tonight: FREE music & artmaking in the Grand Lobby and To Kill A Mockingbird screens at 7:00.

First of all, I need to make a disclaimer. The photos in this blog are not from Monday night’s show, they are from some other Mercy Lounge show (although the photographed performer is the same). When I went to take the card out of my camera to edit them, it was discovered that there was no card. *gasp* I have a sneaking suspicion my darling husband has it somewhere and just has not told me. Anyway. On to 8 off 8th….

Tyler (above mentioned darling husband) and I got there way a little early because I am anal and I have to be able to sit down in a place where I  want to sit and not just wherever is left. (don’t ask, ok? just go with it.)

We got there while Rock ‘n Roll trivia was still going on. Have any of you guys ever participated in that? I never have, but Tyler and I are going to try and make it to one soon. It seems like a lot of fun and the winners get free booze. I repeat. Free. Booze. We should get a whole N4F team together and come up with an awesome name. Because there are prizes for the best team name, too. Sound like a good idea? Great.

The main attractions for me personally were Jeremy Lister and Gabe Dixon. I’ve been long time fans of both and try to catch them whenever I can. The other performances were entertaining as well.  There was everything from funky rock to peaceful, earthy tunes. Hard to believe we get this all for free every week! If you don’t take advantage of this already, you should. Yeah, you stay out kinda late, but it’s worth sacrificing your old woman/man bedtime. And I am definitely an old woman bedtime kind of person.

This week’s theme was Paul Simon and the acts that performed Paul Simon songs really brought it home. I think hearing other performer’s interpretations of songs is really cool. To hear how other people perceive a song vs. your perception is interesting to me. (I’m not the only one, right?)

The best part of going to these shows is not only being able to hear your favorite local artists, but discovering new favorites as well. There is a lot of talent in Nashville, people. I would encourage you to step outside of your pop CD’s and experience live Nashville music. Lucky for you, there is FREE live Nashville music all the time. Which is why you should check our blog often for events every week!

And don’t forget to come to 8 off 8th Monday, April 12th! Your very own Nashville For Free blog is hosting and it will be beyond fantastic! Come out and say hi!

I had to add this picture of Richie Lister because it is just so cool. Enjoy.

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.

Soft-rocker Paul Davis was not having a “Cool Night” the evening of Wednesday, July 30th, 1986, when he was shot in the stomach during an attempted robbery outside a Music Row hotel. Nice one, Nashville! Davis eventually made a smooth recovery and returned home to Mississippi, where he fished a bunch and made more music before we lost him to a heart attack in 2008.

Paul Davis had been lurking in the soul, country rock, and soft rock worlds for the better part of one-and-a-half decades when he struck gold with 1978′ s “I Go Crazy,” the sort of dental chair snoozer that bores even a seasoned soft-rock lover such as I. Nonetheless, a certain brand of female could not get enough of Davis singing: “I go crazy…WHEN I LOOK IN YOUR EYES.” The “Your Body Is a Wonderland” of its day, it became an epidemic, lingering 40 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 before the virus could be contained. (Styx would quickly lift its hook and mood for their own sappy earworm, “Babe.”)

Curiously, I find Davis’s 1981 work, Cool Night (a buck at The Groove) damn engaging. The drum sequencers and intricate harmony arrangements suggest a one-man-music-nerd-party amidst the decidedly middle-of-the-road aspirations here. The title track, you’ve heard–probably in a CVS. It’s a glorious soft-rock booty call to a once-passionate Summer love on a cool Autumn night. Sure, it’s self-consciously a follow-up to his 1978 hit, “Sweet Life,” but “Cool Night” is the lasting cut, and he sings the hell out of it. Highly addictive stuff.

The other hit big hit, “’65 Love Affair,” is the perfect mid-60′s rock nostalgia single, Davis pining for a time when “rock-and-roll was simple and clear,” and he was going steady with a cheerleader: “Well, I acted like a dum-dum/You were bad with your pom-poms/We said, ooh-wah go team ooh-wah go.” Uh-huh. The new wave sheen amidst early-Johnson-era pop conventions brings to mind The Beach Boys‘ whacked-out, contempo-nostalgia masterwork, Love You, or the doo-wop/modern rock fusion of Hall and Oates‘ comeback, Voices. Dick Clark loves this shit. I can’t say I blame him. (I do detect some similarity to Sheena Easton’s “Morning Train.” Coach’s Challenge?)

There are other joys on Cool Night: The softrockification of “Love Me or Let Me Be Lonely,” a hit for Friends of Distinction in 1970; an amusingly misguided ballad titled “Oriental Eyes” about (you guessed it) an affair with a nice Asian lady. Oof!; “Somebody’s Getting To You,” its transitions as energizing as that of a 1964 Brian Wilson tune. The lyrics skew to the acceptable side of stupid: “I never knew it would be such a bummer/Fallin’ in love with you/Now I couldn’t feel any dumber/What am I gonna do?” It’s high school stuff, produced and arranged by an (obviously) older guy. I mean look at that beard on the cover. You’re an ADULT. Whatever, guy. Shit is fun. You had fun making this. I can tell. Thanks for not being just another singer-songwriter, and for giving me a cool night. A belated R.I.P. to you, Paul. Love your attitude and your approach.
–Brett Rosenberg

Paul Davis – Cool Night

Paul Davis – ’65 Love Affair

Sad news in the Dollar Records world last Sunday, as Knack frontman/songwriter/guitarist Doug Fieger passed away after courageous bouts with brain and lung cancer. Reviled by rock critics and self-proclaimed people-with-taste everywhere, The Knack had a huge hit in 1979 with their classic studio-punk, raging-horno stomper “My Sharona” and followed it up with the similarly sexist “Good Girl Don’t.” While the critics decried the mysogomy and L.A. musician’s band take on punk rock, the little girls screamed, and their excellent debut, Get The Knack hit #1 for six weeks.

Get The Knack has aged well, in part due to its raw, sponaneous presentation (thanks to producer Mike Chapman, responsible for the bubblegum side of proto-hair-band Sweet) . This is a hot club band playing live, fast, catchy pop music, and it’s not just the reprised Capitol rainbow inprint and Meet The Beatles homage on the cover that makes this feel like early Fab Four. It’s pop-for-pop’s sake, a fun album full unhinged performances and killer pop songs.

Fieger has two speeds. For the girls: the sweet, shy, crestfallen boy. For the guys: horny confindant who wants to help you get some from the girls who won’t give you any. Considering Fieger was 26 when Get The Knack came out, this should be disgusting…but Berton Averre’s guitar playing is sooooo sweet! His solos are caffienated explosions of genius, but it’s not all bombast. On Fieger’s absolutely stunning slow-one, “Maybe Tonight,” Averre rips the perfect little George Harrison lead. Were I a 14-year-old girl, I’d tear my hair out. Then I’d probably learn the solo.

If good playing makes for bad punk, I guess we’re supposed to hate the Attractions and The Rumour, too? I love this band. Bassist Prescott Niles bassically becomes Paul for the record. Notable session drummer Bruce Gary (who we also recently lost) seems much more at-home playing a cross between Ringo and Keith Moon than ruining postumous Hendrix records.

What’s not to love about Get The Knack? The songs are great, the band is hot, the recording is raw, Side Two is appropriately different (“Siamese Twins” shows the band is already progressing beyond its chosen idiom) and it’s one of the greatest power pop albums ever.

(more…)

For years, I struggled through life believing The Roches were just some crunchy, boomer female singing group whose NPR appearances and occasional sets at upstate New York folk fests told me all I needed to know. Upon discovering their 1979 self-titled debut, however, I can happily report: There’s plenty to love about this wacky trio of New Jersey sisters, even if you’re not a middle-aged white woman dressed as Alvie’s second wife in Annie Hall.

In their effortless emulation of all kindsa musics within a basic folk arrangement, The Roches bring to mind, oh, Jimmie Rodgers? Save for producer Robert Fripp‘s tasteful guitar and Tony Levin‘s bass, the women and their voices carry the album. The result is a fun, meaningful, and relatively undated contemporary folk recording.

The opening autobiographical theme, “We,” plays like The Andrew Sisters in a far-off galaxy. New-Wave Folk, Greenwich Village scenesters dubbed this in its day. The vocal blend is stunningly weird: Youngest sis Suzzy and middle sis Terre often sing pixieish unison lines, with the eldest Maggie working in low contralto range. Irish heritage peeks through here and there (“The Troubles”) but the writing is throughly steeped in late-20th century, East Coast progressive quirk.

“Hammond Song” is the obvious show-stopper, a liberated female anthem about a pair of friends (or sisters) urging a third not to quit school to run off with some guy. The song is Maggie’s, and Fripp completes it with the most appropriate Frippery imaginable.

All three sisters happen to be engaging writers. Terre’s “Mr. Sellack” finds the protagonist abandoning her musical ambitions, begging to be hired back by the restaurant job she quit only months earlier:

Give me a broom and I’ll sweep my way to heaven.
Give me a job;
You name it.
Let the other forty-million three-hundred and seven
People who want to get famous

In The Roches’ penchant for the bleak-yet-goofy, I’m reminded of the sad/funny approach of singer-songwriter/actor Loudon Wainwright III. In fact, while LWIII was being raised in affluent Westchester County, The Roches were growing up an hour southwest in the similarly affluent fifties boomtown of Park Ridge, New Jersey. Suzzy Roche would, in 1981, have a child with Loudon–singer-songwriter Lucy Wainwright Roche. Suzzy’s “The Train,” which opens Side Two, is probably the closest thing to a female perspective Loudon song we’re likely to hear.

Phoebe Snow would record Maggie’s “The Married Men,” but beyond the northeast and west coast, The Roches was not a hit. It’s a regular in dollar bins everywhere, having made several appearances at The Groove’s 99 cent section several times since I started shopping there at the beginning of last year. This is recommended for fans of folk, freak-folk, Fripp, or just damned good songs. I might even say it’s essential if you call yourself a songwriter. A major record loaded with humor and harmony–don’t pass this one by.
–Brett Rosenberg

Richie Lister at The Mercy Lounge

Birthday parties. They rock. Especially Mercy Lounge’s birthday party. Hello! 7 nights of free shows!! I wish I could go to ALL of them but alas, My schedule only allowed me to attend 2. Luckily, it was the 2 nights I was looking forward to the most. My two favorite Nashville artists, Jeremy Lister and De Novo Dahl were playing at this rocking birthday party.

FOR FREE.

Oh my dear sweet goodness. Was it my birthday, too? Did Mercy Lounge peek into my diary? Am I that easy to read?

Either way, these shows were awesome.

Thursday night was my Jeremy Lister night. Before Mister Lister took the stage, we were introduced to Kyle Andrews, who I enjoyed, and a new band called Dozen Dimes. They were an updated 50′s/60′s rock ‘n roll band and i looooooved them. I can’t wait to check them out again!

Then, Jeremy Lister took the stage. He is one very talented musician. I’ve been a fan for a few years now. I like him so much that my husband and I even danced to one of his songs for our First Dance at our wedding. (It was “Fit” for you inquiring minds out there.) As my husband, Tyler, says “That guy just sings his guts out. Every time.” And he does. He feels it, he gets into it, and his energy resonates through his audience. Love him.

Jeremy Lister and his "choir"

After J.List rocked our musical socks off, we heard from Pico vs. Island Trees, who was fun to listen to and then Autovaughn, who I liked, but they definitely had a different sound than what I remember.

I would’ve stayed for The Protomen, but I am an old lady a responsible young adult and had to get in the bed so I could rest up for work the next morning. (i know, i know…) But I’m sure they were awesome. I heard great things about them.

The very next night I headed down to the Mercy Lounge again to hear De Novo Dahl. And you know what I got while I was there? A flippin’ FREE DND T-SHIRT! You better believe I’ve already worn the heck out of that t-shirt.

De Novo Dahl was great, as always, but they, too had a little bit of a different sound. As well as like 1923874765 new members. (ish.)

We also got to hear great bands like The Features and Apollo Up.

Last week was a great week to live in Nashville. There were free events left and right. Also, there were people wearing skinny jeans left and right. I mean…what’s with that? I know it’s “in” but still….

<3 Rachel

Sure, there’s bad disco, but there’s a bad version of every music, right? I, for one, peeled that bumper sticker off
a while ago, but if you’re still hesitant, investigate the roots of the genre in The Legendary Zing Album (1972) from Philadelphia’s Trammps, a reissue of which I recently poached from The Groove‘s dollar bin.

There’s no consensus on the first disco hit. Those who don’t cite the title track to this collection may point to “The Love I Lost” (1973) by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, whose pioneering disco backbeat is provided by Trammps drummer/bass singer Earl Young. With guiarist Norman Baker and bassist Ron Harris, Young painted the rhythmic backdrop to countless Philly soul records in the late 60′s and early 70′s. (Supposedly, club D.J.’s were drawn to Young’s patented 16th-note proto-disco hi-hat, as it made for easy slip cues.)

Aside from the beat, there are other remarkable goings-on within the first Trammps record: the passionate, hot, high scream of lead singer Jimmy Ellis; the Motown-inspired lushness of the arrangements, typical of Philly soul; inspired songwriting from the trio of Baker-Harris-Young; interesting cover choices– race music classic “Sixty Minute Man” and Judy Garland hit “Zing Went The Strings of My Heart” each get Trammpled; and, most significantly, disco-wise, mix-engineer Tom Moulton‘s dance-oriented treatments. Sections are spliced and repeated, instrumental versions of songs reappear (with goofy titles like “Penguin at the Big Apple” and “Scruboard”) foreshadowing an era of 12″ dance remixes, and full LPs that played like a D.J.

Graham Parker and The Rumour, 1977

I may have listened to “Hold Back The Night” a dozen times tonight. English pub-rocker Graham Parker listened to it enough times to cover it with The Rumour, releasing it as a UK hit single in 1977. (What’s pub rock, you ask? It’s what punk rockers were doing in 1975, n00b.) Anyway, if ever a disco-shuffle existed, this is it. Beautiful, hypnotizing.

The Trammps will be best–or, at least, most–remembered for their 1978 smash, “Disco Inferno,” featured prominently in Saturday Night Fever. In years following, the disco backlash (arguably aimed less at the music itself and more at its initial core fanbase of gays, latinos, and blacks) would render the genre nominally dead. Nevertheless, dance music with a four-on-the-floor beat, blaring in clubs to shaking rumpuses, never really went out of style.

The Legendary Zing Album (or The Original Trammps, as it is titled for the 1975 Buddha reissue) takes us back to a simpler era when the story was just one hell of an R&B vocal band with top material, production magic, and a rhythm section to die for. Seek this before you burn a mother down.
–Brett Rosenberg