Nashville for Free

The Vespers have quickly become one of my favorite local bands, and not just because they’re incredibly nice people with ties to Dairy King, one of the best home-cooked meat-n-three restaurants in Nashville.

They consist of two groups of siblings (Callie and Phoebe Cryar, Taylor and Bruno Jones) and offer some great Americana music. They even got a sweet write-up in the Huffington Post and just got back from a tour of the Northeast.

They’re the real deal and they’re playing their biggest show ever today – as their record release party. It’s completely free, even parking, so you have no excuse to not find yourself there tonight. So come on out and celebrate the release of The Fourth Wall with them.

It starts at 8pm at the Boone Center at Trevecca University. It’ll be live-streamed by Music City Roots and Live It Now Entertainment.

-Emily

Monday

8 off 8th Road to Bonnaroo at the Mercy Lounge – 9pm, 21+
This week’s 8 off 8th will feature performances by Evan P. Donohue, Five Knives, Marquee Mayfield, Nikki Lane, The Running, Static Revival, Tesla Rossa, and Wild Cub.

Classical Performers at Belmont’s MPAC – 7:30pm
Featuring a composition by Cory Winters and soloist Daniel Bolick, Travis Patton, Alan Puglisi, Ryan Traub and Amanda Walden with the University Orchestra.

Tuesday

Film Screening: The Hedgehog at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema – 7:30pm
Inspired by The New York Times best seller, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery. The timely story of Paloma, a young girl bent on ending it all on her upcoming twelfth birthday. Using her father’s old camcorder to chronicle the hypocrisy she sees in adults, her unlikely friendship with a grumpy concierge helps her to come of age in a different light. French with English subtitles. Not rated. 100 mins.

Pat Bergeson, Charles Treadway, and Charles Walker at 12 South Taproom – 9:30pm
One of the best B3 organists, one of the best soul singers,  and one of the best guitarists in Nashville in one room? You better believe it. It’s going to be a great set of music.

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Cherry blossoms make spring a reality for me. I know that winter is over when I see those beautiful blooms all over Nashville. Sure, Spring gives me insane allergy fits, but damn, it’s beautiful, thanks in no small part to those trees.

Apparently cherry blossoms, or sakura, have been a symbol of U.S.-Japan friendship since the Mayor of Tokyo donated 3,000 cherry trees to Washington, D.C., in 1912.

That’s why Sister Cities of Nashville and Japan America Society of Tennessee host the Cherry Blossom Festival every year. It’s a celebration of Japanese Culture and American friendship that features a musical showcase, tea ceremony, origami, a CosPlay contest, Japanese food booths and more.

A 2.5 mile walk with the Mayor will take place at 9am in Public Square Park, and the festival will get started at 10am, also at Public Square Park.

-Emily

12 Monkeys is a weird movie. Most futuristic sci-fi movies are though. However, it has pretty high reviews and a kind of ridiculously awesome twist at the end. Brad Pitt is in it for a minute. Here’s the synopsis:

A stunning adaptation of Chris Marker’s La Jetée, this sci-fi mystery thriller is set in the year 2035, where a lethal virus has wiped out most of the population. A criminal volunteers to go back in time to 1995 to gather information about the origin of the virus and is mistakenly sent back six years earlier than expected.

It’s showing at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema at 7:30pm as part of the International Lens Series.

-Emily

Sometimes one in-store just isn’t enough. Today is one of those days. Yep, this afternoon Grimey’s will be bringing you free, intimate performances by a pair of pretty awesome bands.

The first up is Fanfarlo at 4pm. Fanfarlo is a British band that “fuses elements of folk, indie rock and post-punk using eclectic instrumentation including trumpet, violin, mandolin, musical saw and clarinet.” The show is a little earlier than most, but if you can make it out for this set I HIGHLY suggest that you do.

Then, at 6pm Scissormen will take the room. Scissormen will be releasing their new CD/DVD set entitled BIG SHOES: Walking and Talking the Blues. According to Grimey’s, “the movie captures the Nashville-based contemporary juke blues band on tour in the midwest and is part road movie, part concert film and part blues history lesson.” It sounds pretty awesome. Absolutely worth sticking around after Fanfarlo for.

-Emily

Thursday

Film Screening: Pardon at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema – 7:30pm
Based on a true event, the tragicomic story of three friends who end up in prison when they are mistaken as members of a terrorist organization. In prison, they remember the families and lovers they left behind. Turkish with English subtitles. Not rated.

Author Event: Robin O’Bryant at Parnassus Books – 6:30pm
Join humor columnist and author Robin O’Bryant as she discusses her book, Ketchup Is A Vegetable And Other Lies Moms Tell Themselves.

Vanderbilt Divinity School’s Antoinette Brown Lecture at Vandy’s Benton Chapel – 7pm
Amy Hollywood’s talk is titled “Love Abyss: Preaching Desire in the 13th and 21st Centuries.” Hollywood, who is the Elizabeth H. Monrad Professor of Christian Studies at Harvard, specializes in mysticism, with strong interests in feminist theory, psychoanalysis and continental philosophy.

Vanderbilt University Berry Lecture: Can Bad People Live Well at Vandy’s Furman Hall – 7:30pm
Marilyn Friedman, the W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University, will deliver the last of four 2012 Berry Lectures in Public Philosophy. Her talk is titled “Can Bad People Live Well?” The Berry Lectures aim to make philosophy accessible and relevant for the public. Friedman will address the fact that bad people, those who harm others seriously and often, sometimes manage to live good lives. This talk explores a variety of ways to come to grips with this disturbing observation.

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Monday

Pond In-Store at Grimey’s – 6pm
Pond hails from West Australia and features three members of Tame. According to Grimey’s, Pond’s sound is a “woozy, distorted take” on the “heavy, psychedelic rock” of Tame. They’re just stopping by Nashville on a day off, so this is the only chance you’ll have to see them.

Bobby Keys Band Showcase at the Mercy Lounge – 9pm
It’s not every day that rock’n’roll royalty plays a free show at the Mercy Lounge. Bobby Keys’ name may not be familiar to you, but he’s played saxophone on albums by The Who, Harry Nilsson, The Rolling Stones, and more. He actually played the sax solo on “Brown Sugar” and you might remember that famous film scene of he and Keith Richards throwing a TV out of a hotel room window during their 1972 American tour.

Rick Steves: Travel as a Political Act at Vanderbilt Student Life Center Ballroom – 7pm
Before the Travel Channel and the Internet helping you plan trips overseas there was Rick Steves. The man has spends months every year abroad for 30 years, and tonight he’s coming to Vanderbilt to talk about how the other 96 percent of humanity (people not in the USA) sees our nation and explores how his social activism has grown naturally out of his travel experiences. Tickets are required and are available in the Sarratt Center Box Office.

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Parnassus Books is doing a fantastic job stepping up to fill in the massive hole that formed with the end of Davis-Kidd, especially in the events department. They’ve brought some great national and local artists to their store to speak about and sign their books. and tonight they not only bring another, they bring swag and more from Algonquin Books.

Tonight from 6-8pm at Parnassus, Algonquin Books will be there with complimentary titles, free tote bags, wine, and a chance to win $150 in Algonquin titles of your choice.

On top of all that, Robert Goolrick, the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, A Reliable Wife, will be there too!

Basically, this is a must-attend event for book lovers. Save some swag for me!

-Emily

The Great Escape has spent a good part of this year celebrating their 35th anniversary (like with their 50 cent LP sale) and they’re continuing that celebration with an even bigger sale.

They’re calling it the Indoor Sidewalk Sale. It’ll take place this Saturday (St. Patrick’s Day) and all day long there will be tons of items on being sold for 5 cents to one dollar. A whole big room filled with nothing that costs more than a dollar!

Before you scoff and think to yourself “it’s just going to be a bunch of junk anyway” let me tell you that you’d be wrong. At the 50 cent LP sale we found a lot of great music – we even found an original pressing of a super-rare Stevie Wonder record! It’s the rule of huge record sales: the digger will be rewarded. 

Here’s the low-down on the pricing for Saturday:

• 10¢ Vinyl Records (LPs, 45s & 78s)
• $1 DVDs
• 25¢ VHS Tapes
• 50¢ CDs
• $1 Comic Books (Regularly priced at $2.99-$9.99)
• $1 Trade Paperbacks
• Magic & Sports Cards 100-For-$1 (Grab Bags)
• $1 Toys
• 50¢ Posters
• 5¢ Books
• 5¢ Magazines

The store will be open from 10am-9pm. This sale applies to the Charlotte Avenue location only.

Happy digging!

-Emily

Lilly Ledbetter might not have set out to be an activist, but her fight for equal pay has made it easier for women across America to find out and take action against wage discrimination.

Yep, she’s the Lilly Ledbetter from the Lilly Ledbetter  Fair Pay Act of 2009 - also known as the first bill Barack Obama signed into law.

Tuesday, March 13th from 6-8pm, Lilly Ledbetter will be speaking at Vanderbilt University, delivering the Cuninggim Lecture on Women in Culture and Society. She’ll be telling her story in a talk titled “Grace and Grit: My Experience with Equal Pay for Equal Work.”

The event is free and open to the public, but you have to RSVP here.

-Emily