Nashville for Free

Some people would love to get back stage at a movie set. You know, see the stars, see the equipment, watch the rehearsal, eat some of that food you know they have there, etc.

Well, Nashville’s not a movie town, and I can only imagine that movie sets are, in reality, incredibly boring, but if the theater is what really gets you going then you’re in luck because the Tennessee Repertory Theatre is having a LookIn on Yankee Tavern this Tuesday, January 25th at 5:30pm.

If you’re not familiar with a LookIn then let me tell you about it. It’s all those things that I mentioned in the beginning of this article, only instead of behind the scenes at a movie set you’re backstage at a theater rehearsal. You get to check out the set, watch some scenes during the rehearsal, and munch on some snacks. If you have any interest in theater then you’ll want to check out this event.

As for Yankee Tavern, this play was written by Steven Dietz and is described as a “mind-bending dramatic thriller” about conspiracy theories and whether they serve a purpose or simply do damage. Apparently it’s pretty good because it’s already widely-produced, a selection of the National New Play Network’s Continued Life Project and one of the top ten plays produced among regional theatres this season.

This event is free and open to the public, but you have to RSVP to khorsley@tpac.org, which I recommend you do ASAP before it fills up.

-Emily

Google may have chosen to celebrate artist Paul Cezanne’s birthday today, but he’s not the only famous dead dude who can call today his birthday. Today is also the 202nd birthday of every goth girl’s second favorite writer and all around awesome yet creepy dude, Edgar Allan Poe.

I sincerely doubt that there is a single person in the English-speaking world who hasn’t read at least one work by Poe. Be it “The Raven” or “The Tell-Tale Heart” or “The Gold Bug” I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of you all were at least assigned some Poe in high school. I apparently read a ton of his short stories, because almost all of his selected short stories on Wikipedia at least ring some sort of bell for me.

Of course, I’m not just sending you on this trip down memory lane for my health. I mention it because the promoter/producer and founder of the erstwhile Southern Writers Theatre, Jaz Dorsey decided that it would be pretty awesome to celebrate Poe’s birthday with some live performances of his work. In addition to a little piece involving and actor playing actor Vincent Price getting visited by Poe himself, veteran actors Tony Domenico and David Kinnard will perform five pieces: “Conqueror Worm,” “Alone,” “The Bells,” “Mother” and “The Raven.”

Seating is limited and reservations are recommended. Email jazmn47@aol.com or phone 915-0891. This event will take place at the Scarritt-Bennett center at 7pm tonight, January 19th.

-Emily

If you’re a fan of any sports team or any band that tours then you know that tickets for games and shows are expensive. Sometimes they’re really really expensive. You like hockey? Well if you don’t make bank you’re probably very used to watching it on TV. Love Elton John? I hear his live albums are great, and very affordable.

Well, there’s a little website called ScoreBig that aims to change all of that. This website offers discounted tickets to sports events and concerts (right now mostly sports events) from 10% to over 50%.

ScoreBig allows you to browse events in different cities, Nashville included. You then get to pick your seat (or section, at least), and then make an offer on those seats. The, you bid (an offer, not eBay style bidding) on your seats. ScoreBig will tell you what percent people typically save on whatever event you picked so you know roundabout what you should bid, but you can bid whatever you want on those tickets. Then you put in your payment information, and you’ll only get charged if your bid is accepted.

When it comes to bidding you can either be conservative, or you can go all out and try to get the tickets for basically nothing. It’s all up to you.

Right now ScoreBig is still on a waiting list basis, but if you sign up now you’ll probably only be waiting for a little bit. I signed up two weeks ago and got my invite today. Right now I’m seriously considering bidding $30 for some hockey tickets that usually cost over $70 with fees (did I mention ScoreBig doesn’t have any fees)? In Nashville they only have sporting events right now, but in other cities they’re already listing concerts like Bon Jovi, Josh Ritter, and more.

I have high hopes for this website in the future. Right now it’s still a little bare, but it looks like it’ll be an absolutely fantastic way to save money in the future.

UPDATE: Just for you guys ScoreBig has given me some invites to pass along to my readers! Get them while you can HERE.

-Emily

Monday

Rock’n'Roll Trivia and 8 off 8th at the Mercy Lounge – 7 & 9pm
Test your crazy rock knowledge with others and compete for prizes from the bar and the Groove Record Shop. If you have a Twitter follow @rocknrolltrivia for clues. After that stick around for an 8 off 8th featuring David Olney, Jonell Mosser, Tommy Womack, Peter Cooper & Eric Brace, Rachel Loy, Sweet Eastern Saint, Jacob Jones, and Derek Hoke. Both are 21+ events.

Best Selling Author Jason Wright signs and discusses The Cross Gardener at Davis-Kidd Books – 7pm
Jason Wright is a NYT Bestselling author and he’s in Nashville with his new book which is about hope or some crap like that. I don’t know, I don’t read fiction.

Clean Drips: An Urban Art Experience at Rocketown – 6pm
WorkForce is bringing in a lot of their friends in to show work for the Clean Drips show. 20 Clean Drips prints will be given out to the first 20 people who ask about them, so first come first serve. DJ KidsMeal (really? that’s really the DJ name he picked?) will be providing the musical atmosphere.

(more…)

Monday

8 off 8th at the Mercy Lounge – 9pm

This week’s 8 off 8th is brought to you by 91.1 FMWRVU’s “The Surface Underground” and will feature The Coolin’ System, Fly Golden Eagle,
Biscuits and Gravy, Thunderbear, Cosmic America, The Fireman’s Daughter, Grace Askew (Memphis), and The Calamity Cubes (Kansas). Also there will be drink specials. Yay for consistency!

On Writing: Featuring Robert Scherrer at 117 Alumni Hall at Vanderbilt – 4:10pm (I don’t make the times, I just tell them)

Are you a writer? Have you always wanted to write a story about baseball in space? Well, Robert Scherrer beat you to that one. This guy has actually researched the dynamics of dark energy and the moderately early universe. I may or may not know what dark energy is. Come and listen to him talk about the “joys and challenges” of writing in different genres. Space baseball, eh?

Slide Show with Quang Ho at Montgomery Bell Academy, Paschall Theater – 7pm

Quang Ho, acclaimed Master Artist, teacher and author will be speaking about his life and the art process. Born in 1963, in Vietnam, he emigrated with his mother and 5 younger siblings to the United States in 1975 and is now a U.S. citizen. He presented his first solo show at age 16 at the prestigious Saks Gallery in Denver, Colorado. At 19, he became the guardian for his siblings when his mother was tragically killed in an automobile accident. Currently, he teaches at the Denver Art League. An avid scholar of philosophy and religion, he will present his thoughts on art and creativity in a fascinating discussion not to be missed. The lecture is open to the public and free of charge.

Bullfrog at 12 South Taproom – 9pm

How does 12 South Taproom find bands with these names? Zydeco Jazz is their genre, if you were wondering. I really don’t think that Bullfrog is a good band name. I the people from  Bullfrog ever want me to rename their band I’d be glad to tell them how to pick an awesome band name. Totally.

(more…)

Do you even read these?

Monday

8 off 8th at the Mercy Lounge – 9pm

It’s Ashley Spurgeon and Caligula’s birthday, so The Mercy Lounge is gonna get DOWN. Here’s the lineup: The Minor Keys (funky soul jams), Electric Mayhem (Matt Friction from Pink Spiders, Dave Paulson from The Privates, and an all-star backing group play hits from The Muppets), Twee’s Nuts (Music Journalist, DJ and former Young Livers singer Sean Maloney returns to the stage — with what? we have no idea), Powerbrrrd (formerly known as Shit Sandwich, noisy East Bay-style 90′s style punk feat. members of Tigers Con Queso and The Armed Forces) Denney and the Jets (members of Meemaw AND Jeff), Daniel Pujole and Some Beaus (former Meemaw frontman goes solo) Max and the Wild Things (reezy Jonathan Richman-with-a-banjo approach to rock, known to us at Nashville for Free as the guys who tried to convince us that KOL was playing the other week, but we still love them), and Gunslinger (proggy classic rock on the jammy tip)

Tuesday

Bows and Arrows in-store at Grimey’s – 6pm

Bows and Arrows is one of the most talked about reverb-soaked indie-pop outfits in Nashville. They’ve opened for Au Revoir Simone and the Brunnettes, and on Tuesday at Grimey’s they’re releasing their new EP – The Perils of The Polkadotapotamus, which is free at this instore, by the way. Suh-weet!

Catlin Rose plays the early show at The Basement – 7pm

I’m pretty sure that Lance is in love with Ms. Rose, and for good reason: she’s pretty friggin awesome. You should go check her out then stick around afterwards for New Faces Nite, which will feature Technology VS Horse, Edgehill Ave, Englishman, What Bird, Brandon McGuinness and Aaron Cox.

Wednesday

International Lens Series Presents The Visitor at the Sarratt Cinema on Vanderbilt’s campus – 7pm

Vanderbilt did this last year too, and while I unfortunately never got around to going to one I think it sounds great. I don’t really want to get into a whole synopsis of the movie, so I’ll just point you to the ILS website: International Lens Series

Tunesmithing on Music Row at Edgehill Studio Cafe – 7-9pm
They say it so well on Now Playing Nashville, so I’ll just have to quote them there:

Tunesmithing on Music Row will spotlight hit and emerging songwriters on Thursday, September 3 at the Edgehill Studios Cafe. The songwriting celebration will feature a closing performance by the acclaimed country group The Alvarado Road Show. Also performing will be songwriters Brittany Hamilton, Jeff Jacob and Angel Pontier. Chuck Whiting and Kimberly Maiers Shaw will emcee the show.

Thursday

NAAD Presents Art After Hours – 5-8

It’s the first Thursday of the month, which means that a bunch of the art galleries are going to be open late, handing out wine and cheese and whatnot. Click here for a map of participating galleries.

International Lens Series presents Planet B-Boy – 7pm

I’ve already posted the link for the ILS above, but I just thought I’d let you know that if you stick around after this film (about New York street dancers) you can catch a Hip Hop Dance Demo! If you go I expect to see pictures.

Shakespeare in the Park presents The Complete Works of Shakespeare – 6:30 pre-show, 7:30 curtains.

I promise that this night will not be as long as it sounds. Lance wrote about this in an earlier post, but the Complete Works of Shakespeare isn’t actually his complete works, and it wasn’t written by him. In 90 the actors will attempt to briefly cover all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays. It sounds hysterical.
Friday

Team Green Full Moon Hike at Edwin Warner Park Pavillion #9 – 7:30

Better enjoy this while it’s still warm enough to hike at night. It actually sounds really cool to me, but I just like full moons.

Shakespeare in the Park is tonight, as well.

Saturday

Shakespeare Allowed presents Romeo & Juliet at the Downtown Public Library – 1-4pm

I’ve talked about this before, so some of you probably know what this is about, but Nashville Shakespeare Company does this every first Saturday. They’re working through the entire Shakespeare catalog, reading through every play as a group. Come if you want to impress everyone with your reading ability or if you just want to listen. Everyone is welcome!

First Saturday Art Crawl – 6-10pm

This is a lot like the Thursday Art Crawl except it’s Saturday so you don’t have to go to work the next morning, so you can stay out longer, enjoy more art, and drink more wine (but please, not too much, don’t be that asshole who got drunk off the free wine at the art crawl. Lame). Also, there’s a shuttle, the route of which you can view here.

I love weekly highlights.

Here’s the list of the sweetest events this week that I know about. Leave a comment, let us know what you’re doing, tell me what I’ve missed.

(more…)

In-stores, book signings, learnin’ stuff, it’s gonna be a busy week.

Monday

8 off 8th at the Mercy Lounge: Heypenny’s COP CAR EP Release – 9pm
Come on down and buy Heypenny’s new EP, the packaging of which is pages from a coloring book. Live performances by Matthew P. Jones, Cheer Up Charlie Daniels, The Biv, Madi Diaz, Coral Castles, Mikky Ekko, Natalie Prass, Heypenny, & Coach DJ’ing between sets!

Sam & Ruby In-Store at Grimey’s – 6pm
Sam & Ruby blend folk, R&B, and pop and are just awesome. They’re doing pretty well for themselves, and are playing this in-store they day before their album drops, but because Grimey’s is wonderful, you’ll get to pick it up a day early at the in-store

Local Mystery Writer Jennie Bentley discusses and signs Spackled and Spooked at Davis-Kidd Books – 7pm
From Now Playing Nashville:

A mystery surfaces behind the walls in the new Do-It-Yourself series! Avery Baker and her boyfriend, Derek Ellis, are flipping a seriously stigmatized house rumored to have ghosts. Soon, they’ll have even bigger problems, and this renovation project might haunt them forever. (Includes original DIY bathroom remodeling tips in the back!)

Tuesday

Darryl Worley autograph signing at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum – 4pm
If you head down to the Country Music Hall of Fame’s store starting at 9:30 and buy Darryl Worley’s new album, you’ll get a voucher to show up at 4pm and get him to sign the record.

ASCAP Rocks the Basement – 8pm
Free show featuring The Elms, Chris Nathan, Gabriel Kelly, Lee Anna James and Mike Willis

Rock the Block at Exit/In – 8pm
Performers include Lazar Lazar, Ikaik, Joshua Armstrong, and Steve Satre. Haven’t heard of them? Go check them out anyway, it’s free.

Wednesday

Arby’s free food
Free Roast Chicken Club with soft drink purchase

LYLAS in-store at Grimeys – 6pm
Come down and see LYLAS, our artist of the week, play a free show at Grimey’s. More on them later.

Thursday

Shakespeare in the Park at Centennial Park – pre-show at 6:30pm, curtains at 7:30pm
Shakespeare in the park presents Taming of the Shrew every Thursday-Sunday in Centennial Park through September 13th. Tonight will be the first presentation of the year. Free, but a $5 donation is suggested.

Bear House Lecture at the Belmont Mansion – 7pm
Belmont’s history is weird. Really weird. Come by and hear about how freaking weird it is. $5 suggested donation.

Friday

Fall Home and Garden Show at Cool Springs Galleria (through Sunday) – 10am til
Vendors throughout the mall will have tips and ideas for home improvement. Food, fun, shopping, and education.

Dyer Open House Telescope Night at Vanderbilt Dyer Observatory 8-10pm
Come for a great view of the stars. If it’s cloudy the event will still be on, but will involve tours and such.

The Big Rock Show with Aubrey Collins and Anthony Corder at 12th & Porter – 8pm
Free rock show. ‘Nuff said

Saturday

Big Band Dances in Centennial Park featuring Debbie Bailes Band – 7:30-10pm
Participate in one of the amateur dance competitions, take a ballroom dancing lesson (7-7:30, 8:30-8:50), or just bring a lawn chair or blanket and enjoy the tunes.