i like public transportation, if it functioned properly here, i would be the first person to stop driving.
Continue Reading...Archives For nashville
actually help some other people out. moustache may has come and gone and not one person has contributed to my fund-a-stache, although, it should be said it didn’t do much to promote it. i was busy, i had a lot to do, blah, blah, blah. now it’s the beginning of july, i’m issuing a challenge – i will trim a portion of the ‘stache off for every $100 raised so that by the time i’m close to $500 goal i will be left with a ‘chaplin,’ now who wouldn’t pay to see that. conversely you can donate to ensure that the ‘chaplin’ doesn’t ever happen. ask captain planet used to say, the choice is yours. and to add to the challenge i’m willing to do stupid ‘stache tricks to ensure that i reach the goal, donate and leave a message with your request.
cough up the monies here to support the galaxy star drug awareness program.
vic and i have been listening to Neil Gaiman`s American Gods for about a week now. i had heard more of it before i convinced her to listen and now we`re listening to the last six hours of the unabridged version that i downloaded during a free audible trial.
i`d read the book before, but listening to it, is lending some more nuance to the tale. it`s also got me thinking, especially in light of the political and religious climate here, in this country and in this town. in the store there is a standing joke among those of us that work on a Sunday; find the Lord, lose all good sense and manners.
the worst behaved people that we have in the store are always on Sundays. it`s amazing how badly all these people in their Sunday best behave and how steeped they are in their belief that they have the right to talk to you however they feel like. this isn`t a rare occurrence, the store has been open four Sundays, i`ve worked three of them and without fail there is at least one person, still dressed for church and comes in and abuses us. and that is primary reason i loathe organised religion; the people.
every time my shift ends at the store i find myself more than a little surprised that it`s over. i`ve never really considered myself a people person but i spend at least 20 hours every week interacting with people, answering questions and giving them the best advice i can and at the end of the day i feel good about it. but i digress.
i think Nashville has more square footage allocated to churches than there is office space, this might be an exaggeration, but i doubt it. drive along any major thoroughfare and there is at least two churches per block or a strip mall. it`s all about what you worship, isn`t it? and all of them, churches and malls are massive erections screaming for attention. and i wonder where is the humility and couldn`t the money spent on building these gaudy displays be better served in helping those in need.
these are the sort of thoughts that i have that make me a `bad` person but i can live with myself.
i start my new job on Wednesday at CMT. and while the infinite probabilities adjust themselves; i mean how much more surreal can you get, 6` 2″ dreadlocks and a Caribbean accent working at country music television in Nashville; i`m taking a few days off.
in a universe where the probabilities were aligned differently, i was supposed to be off this coming week and driving to Miami over the weekend to renew my passport. however that isn`t quite happening but there is a silver lining. first of all i don`t have to drive to Miami, i can fedex my passport to the embassy and i`ll have it back in a month, saving us gas, hotel and complete and utter exhaustion this weekend.
we were going to start out on Saturday afternoon and be back at some ridiculous hour on Tuesday morning at which point vic had class. not fun. this way we can relax this weekend, go hang out with the boy chick and with the money we`ve saved — do a little shopping. vic needs to get some stuff and i need to get some shoes, retail is taking its toll on my feet.
little Mac insider joke there.
the boychick has a snow day today. how many inches were dumped on Nashville, TN to warrant a snow day you ask? zero. zip. nada. how many inches are expected today? more of the same. it`s flurrying outside my window at the moment, but the temperatures are climbing and by midday any chance of flurries will be over.
i come from the tropics and i find this completely laughable. there is absolutely no reason for a snow day. there are reports of patches of ice on the interstates and i`ve managed to find the national weather service advisory for Davidson County:
URGENT – WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN
658 AM CST TUE MAR 1 2005
.COLDER AIR WILL REMAIN IN PLACE ACROSS THE REGION TODAY ALONG
WITH GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS. THE COLD AIR…ALONG WITH LINGERING
MOISTURE…WILL CONTINUE TO BRING SNOW SHOWERS TO THE REGION.
ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATIONS WILL VARY DEPENDING ON EXACT LOCATION AND ELEVATION. GENERALLY…MOST AREAS WILL HAVE UP TO 1 INCH OF
ADDITIONAL SNOWFALL WITH GREATER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE AT HIGHER
ELEVATIONS ALONG THE PLATEAU.
this is astounding, there are places where an inch of snow fall accumulates in minutes. i got in the car this morning and i didn`t even have to scrape. there was light powder on the car. i don`t get it.
i shouldn`t let this upset me, i should know better. this is the same city, where i never saw a snow plough on my street when it actually snowed and froze just before Christmas, but there was one clearing the lot of the neighbourhood mall.
That`s all from Nashville where the current weather conditions are partially cloudy and 29F (-2C) with a 30% chance precipitation.
i lost my virginity last night. well of a sort.
I`ve been Nashvegas for three months now and i attended my first live show at the Ryman auditorium.
For those of you unfamiliar with Nashvegas it is one of the premiere live music towns in the world. there at least four stadium venues; the Starwood amphitheatre, the Gaylord entertainment complex, the Ryman auditorium and of course the Grand Old Opry, plus a myriad of smaller venues and it`s not just country music. Nashville is a must stop on all tours, from OzzFest, Dave Matthews and Prince to Hillary Duff and Simon & Garfunkle. Plus there are all this up and coming indy bands playing at bars all over the place. This weekend, the $5 music series, Dancin in the District kicks off with Cake.
I had the great fortune to start my Nashville live music experience at the Ryman with Keb` Mo`. It rocked. From the opening act to the final encore, I can`t remember the last time i enjoyed a show so thoroughly. the lights, the sound engineering, the performances, the professionalism.
i`ve always said, if i had to take up a second career path it would be sound engineering and not in studio, but live. there were a couple of minor hiccups during the opening act; Shelby Lynn`s first couple of songs, but for the rest of the night, the sound was perfectly balanced.
professionalism at a stage show is something that i always admire, i mean you already have the patrons there, you could just play an hour and leave and we, the patrons would just have to live with it. Keb` Mo` played for close to two and a half hours, interacting with the crowd, trying to acquiesce to all the requests shouted at him. what was also interesting to see was everyone was taking care of their hearing, ear plugs all around, none of this getting older and not being able to hear because of too many loud gigs.
all in all i would i have been glad to spend the night doing anything with vic, but being at the concert was icing on the cake. and we got home to more good news, which precludes me having to drive to Memphis at some ridiculous hour tomorrow morning.
edited for subject change.
this weekend was riverstages which i didn`t attend because it was a CCE Clear Channel Entertainment event.
I live in Music City, USA. and this summer promises more big name shows than you can shake a stick at and it appears, even if i can afford i`m going to be letting a lot of them go by.
like i said before i find Clear Channel morally reprehensible and as long as i`m able to, i`ll avoid any dealings with them. meaning any show coming to Starwood amphitheatre this summer including Ozzfest, Dave Matthews Band and Prince, i`ll not be attending.
this anti-Clear Channel tirade is not about Howard Stern, well not entirely. i personally don`t like Stern, but there are functional station tuners on my radio. this is about a continued commercialisation of radio, the music industry, radio stations and government in a cosy relationship deciding what`s best for me listen to or for me to hear. i believe every business has a right to make a profit, i don`t object to that, i object to unfair business practices and i think Clear Channel epitomises that. they are rich and powerful and believe they can do whatever pleases them.
i disagree and i`m showing my disagreement in the strongest way possible, as a consumer. yes, they will continue to exist but they will just have to do so without my dollars. i`m sure there are other people who share the sentiment, eventually there will be enough for them to get the general idea.
i hope.