I’ve seen Metric now 3 times I believe. They are a terrific band, and put on a great show, but either I have seen them too many times, or they are losing some of their charm. I enjoyed this show, don’t get me wrong. The first time I saw them the highlight was “Dead Disco” which blew me away, this time the show highlight was “Poster of a Girl”, which also sounded great.
However, each time I see Metric I find myself enjoying them slightly less. I think part of the problem, as with any band for that matter, is once you move them from an intimate setting to a larger echo-y room like the Cannery, the experience just isn’t the same. It could also be that the staying power of their newer material doesn’t quite match the earlier albums. I don’t really know. Either way, if you remotely enjoy this band I still say they are worth seeing live, but don’t expect a drastically different show each time you see them. They stick pretty close to the same format each time.
The National has always been one of those bands I like, but don’t love. I think part of the reason is that their music is generally gloomy, which isn’t a bad thing, but just not something I care to listen to with much regularity. After seeing them live, I can safely say that I understand why this band has such a following. The National put on probably one of the best shows I have ever seen at the Ryman, and gave just what I was in the mood for, a solid rock show. I think the thing I appreciated about them is that they just joke around in between songs, and are really self depricating, which oddly enough made me appreciate them more than I did. Defnitely recommend seeing these guys.
My favorite “local” artist, Courtney Tidwell has a new project out with Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner, which they’ve called KORT. Nashville has so much musical history that I am pretty oblivious to. This record features songs off of Chart Records, which was an up and coming Nashville label in it’s heyday. It’s nice to see something that highlights some of that history, very similarly to the way the Plant/Krauss project did. I have to say, the results definitely have peaked my interest. I will probably be picking this up soon.
I had the opportunity to go over to Greece and Israel with Mars Hill Church last year as part of their production team. I shot a little video when I had time. This is what I put together….nothing too exciting, but here it is just the same.
Nashville is home to one of the oldest print shops in the world. They were founded in 1879. This is not a silk screen shop. They use letter press to make their posters, just like they did in the olden days of Gutenberg. That’s what I like about them. There isn’t a single thing about how these posters are make that is reliant on a computer. Everything that you see on the posters was made with someone’s bare hands. Honestly, it’s probably one of my favorite places to go in downtown Nashville. The quality of their work really stands out I think, and has been what has made them so successful. If you can’t make it down to the poster shop itself, but are flying through the airport, ask someone who works there where the Hatch Posters are hanging. The airport has a great gallery of a lot of the work they have done over the years.
I only have a couple of prints from their shop, as that’s all my walls have room for, but I do like them a lot. One is from an Interpol show I went to at the Ryman, and the other is a restrike of an old sideshow performer.
I have this instrumental mix that I compiled about a year ago as sort of a retro-funk-lounge throwback compiled from my ever expanding catalog of musical oddities. I thought it was good enough that it was worth posting. There are some real gems on here. No vocals whatsoever on this, just straight music. So if you are looking for a break from traditional pop music (or classical for that matter) give this a whirl. There is a bit of everything on here. Makes for good background music, or through headphones.
The cover/photo is a picture I took of the city of Capernaum. I thought it kind of represents the vibe I was going for, since it has a vintage/timeless feel to it.
Try out individual songs, or download the whole thing in a zip. All the tracks are tagged for easy navigation.
This blog has been largely dormant since the beginning of the year. Lately I have been rethinking my approach to the Internet and technology as a whole, and finding it to be more and more just a giant waste of time in many ways. Not to say blogging is a complete waste of time, but in terms of long term purpose, it really does not offer much. (I have yet to find a topic I would like to write a book about…ha ha.)
Don’t get me wrong, the internet still is a part of my day to day, and I certainly use it to keep up with news, etc. but I am becoming quickly persuaded that there are better things I can be doing with my time. And when I say internet, I should clarify that by saying surfing the web, Facebook, or just generally farting around, rather than other communication applications, such as Skype and email. I read an article recently that came out in 2008 that solidified a lot of what I have been thinking for awhile about our technology overload. Is Google Making Us Stupid? by Nicolas Carr. I do find that I have more ADD tendencies than I ever did when I was younger. I attribute a lot of that to the disjointed way information has come to be delivered. Everything has been reduced to the bite size and the immediate. There are obviously benefits associated with this, since you can get information quickly, however it does seem to reduce the ability to concentrate on one thing for an extended period of time.
I purposefully watch TV less and less with each passing year, mostly because I just do not find most of what’s on that appealing, and it uses up a lot of time. I try to force myself to read when I can, which does do wonders for quieting my mind. (That and exercise.)
Carr has a new book out called “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains” that I recently picked up. I am not very far into it, but so far I can say, it is probably worth reading, if only for the sake of holding a mirror up to yourself and considering if the time spent using technology is worth what it has cost to your ability to think deeply and concentrate, or just do other things with your time that would benefit you more. I can’t say I buy into his whole theory of it rewiring our brains, but I do think he has a point in that habits with technology transcend to other areas of life.
I also can’t say I have any answers yet, other than to work to keep things in moderation, so as not to allow technology to become the dictator.
I usually hate commercials, but I was oddly struck with both nostalgia and humor at this. For those of you who don’t recall, this is a remake of sorts of the Big Red commercials from the 80’s:
And the original:
Now all I have to do is see Tron Legacy later this year, and my nostalgia dosage for 2010 will be complete….
