Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothin’,” featuring Zac Galifianakis gyrating on and around various farm equipment while Will Oldham lurks in the background.

PS: Also, clogging.

Country music star Billy Ray Cyrus will be performing the national anthem at Saturday’s Predators-Canucks home game. Cyrus, who is currently promoting his song “I Want My Mullet Back” from the album Wanna Be Your Joe, will also host a mullet contest during the second period of the 7:00 p.m. game.
via The Predators website

Seriously, if this doesn’t get you to a Predators game, you are probably a Communist.

-Matt

That’s me as The Dude, Karen as Audrey Hepburn, and Heidi as Gwen Stefani. This was at a Halloween party 2 years ago. Note the lame excuse for a goatee on my face, but otherwise I think it’s pretty authentic.

This picture makes me miss my long hair.

-Matt

It’s a great week to be in Nashville, y’all. There are about a dozen-million exciting things going on around town, just in the span of a week. I wanted to post a few quick links to a few of the more interesting events. We’re blogging about the Americana Music Conference later this week, so stay tuned for that. We’re both facing a mandatory out-of-town trip this weekend to see family (my brother, soldier in the Army Nat’l Guard, is leaving for Iraq in the next couple of weeks), so I’m not sure how much we’ll be able to see. Disappointing, YES. But family comes first. We’ll blog more in depth about a few of these events, but for now just a couple quick links:

1. If you are at all interested in seeing Del McCoury perform on Wednesday night at the Country Music Hall of Fame, would you let us know? We scored two tickets to see him do a live performance and question/answer session from 650 WSM and then promptly realized that we have about three other events that we’ve already committed ourselves to (the most important being the AMC show at the Mercy Lounge - I do enjoy DM, but I just can’t pass up Mercy’s line-up). You’re more than welcome to have our tickets, just e-mail us and let us know that you’d like to attend. If we still have the tickets, they’re yours. The show is on Wednesday evening at 7 PM, with doors at 6. We can meet somewhere and hand them over, or possibly leave them in your name. This show is invitation only, I don’t think any tickets are being made available to the general public. You can read more info on the event here.

2. The Belcourt has three major events going on in the next week. First, on Wednesday (God, what is it with Wednesday this week?), M.Ward (click here if the official link doesn’t work) is playing a show.

Second, R. Kelly’s masterpiece, Trapped in the Closet, is screening this weekend, on Friday night at 11:30. YES, dudes, it’s a sing-a-long. We’re not kidding. Pre-show puppetry from the Pull the Strings Players.

THIRD, and the most important of the three, is the upcoming performance from Solomon Burke on Monday evening, the 25th. Burke is someone we’ll definitely be focusing on later in the week, with a few tracks from him as well as his upcoming duet partners. He was a master of soul and gospel through the 60s, recording some country music, and has now completed an album of country songs on his own, with some help from duet partners Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Patty Loveless, Gillian Welch and Dolly Parton. The album hits stores on Tuesday, the 26th. Emmylou, Gillian, Patty Griffin and “others” will appear at the Belcourt show. This show will be fantastic. You want to know why you should be so lucky to live in Nashville? It’s because of shows like this. Tickets are a bit pricey, at $40 a pop, but the show will be well worth the expense.

3. You probably have already heard that the Americana Music Conference is in town this weekend. If you’d like to see a full schedule of all the performances, you can click here. We’re planning on seeing the Mercy Lounge showcase on Wednesday (Chatham County Line, Hem, Mindy Smith, etc.. CCL is playing again at a Yep Roc party that’s open to the public on Thursday night, if you just can’t get enough! That’s at the Basement, from 6 - 8, free to the public.. Jim Lauderdale and Tres Chicas will also perform). Thursday, we’re doing the Cannery Ballroom showcase, featuring Darrell Scott, The Duhks, and others. Friday evening’s selections are vaguely underwhelming, but from 3 to 6 PM, Nettwerk is hosting a party featuring a performance from the Be Good Tanyas (LOVE.) at “The Sync,” a place that we’ve never heard of. The address: Suite 206, 1201 Villa Place, Nashville; 615-320-1200. “The Nettwerk Music Group Party with food, drink and friends! Featuring Be Good Tanyas.” No word at the site on whether this is only open to convention delegates or the general public. You could try to crash the party!

Friday night is the AMC awards ceremony and concert. Here’s the info on that:

THE HISTORIC RYMAN AUDITORIUM: 116 5th Avenue North, Nashville
7.00pm 5th ANNUAL AMERICANA HONORS & AWARDS
Hosted by Jim Lauderdale
Featuring an all-star house band led by Buddy Miller
With special guests:
Ronee Blakley
Sam Bush
Rosanne Cash
Elvis Costello
Rodney Crowell
Charlie Daniels
The Dynamites featuring Charles “Wigg” Walker
Tim Easton
Alejandro Escovedo
Vince Gill
James Hunter
Kacey Jones
Kieran Kane, Kevin Welch and Fats Kaplin
Delbert McClinton
James McMurtry
Tim O’Brien
Barry Poss
Kim Richey
RobinElla
Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives
Bryan Sutton
Allen Toussaint
Uncle Earl
Kenny Vaughan
and more!

THE AMERICANA HONORS & AWARDS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Tickets ($35) available now via The Ryman and Ticketmaster.

Shell out 35 bucks for that, if you’d like. We won’t be around, but we’d probably be at the Cannery Ballroom showcase, featuring The Derailers and Jim Lauderdale. It turns out that Alejandro Escovedo will not be appearing at the festival. We’d also jet over to the Mercy Lounge and check out the Paul Thorn Band, too.

Anyway, we’ll have some samples from our favorites, up later this week. But that’s the rundown for now. You can get wristbands for $25, available at Grimey’s, the Basement, Mercy Lounge, Cannery Ballroom, 3rd and Lindsley, and the Station Inn. From the site: “Wristbands are also available at Belcourt Theatre, Border’s on West End, Brentwood and Cool Springs; Christopher Pizza; Corner Music; Davis Kidd; Ernest Tubb Record Shop (on Broadway); Fork’s Drum Closet; Frothy Monkey; Regions Bank Music Row; and Katy K’s Ranch Dressing.”

4. ALSO, on Wednesday evening, the Borat movie, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, will premiere in cities across the United States, and Nashville has been selected as one of the locations for the premiere. Admission to see the Borat movie is free (if you’re not familiar with Borat, a character played by Sascha Baron Cohen (Ali G, and Will Ferrell’s French nemesis in Talladega Nights), you can check out a ton of Borat videos online). Getting in to see the show is sort of complicated, however. You have to have a myspace, first of all. Second, you must add the movie’s myspace profile and Borat to your friends, and place them in your “Top 8″.. Then, print off your profile, showing that you’ve added them to your Top 8, and take that with you. This is your ticket to the show. Yeah, that’s a lot of work, but it should be a great movie. Borat is screening at the Green Hills Cinema on Wednesday, September 20th, and the doors open at 9. It’s first come, first serve, and only one myspace printoff per person will be allowed. The movie has endured a slight bit of controversy on the part of the Kazakhstan government, culminating in an visit to the US from the Kazakhstan President. It was originally reported that he was interested in meeting with GW to discuss the negative stereotypes that Borat brought to Kazakhstan (seriously) but the White House denied that Borat would be the focus of the meeting. Whatever, dudes.

To celebrate Borat (and Nashville! with Porter Wagoner! !), here you go:

love, celine.

Thanks, Liz, for directing me to this:

(Thanks, Shauna, for the advice!)

We were pretty good about keeping up with Extras in the beginning, but have been slacking for the last year or so. This clip pretty much made my day.
There will be a more substantial music post coming tomorrow. I’m at the end of my rope with my teaching schedule at this point, so it looks like blogging will be reduced for the time being, hopefully only until things even out with my job.

Celine

It’s dirty song Friday. We’re celebrating, right? Three day weekend, right? Nothing says three day weekend like a few songs that you’d be embarrassed to listen to while your boss is in the room. Seriously. Three of these are classic gems from 30’s vaudeville/blues/jazz sessions, two are modern ditties from one of the best bands ever. Uhh, not always safe for work. Click on the artist’s/band’s name for more info.

Don’t Tear My Clothes (No. 2), State Street Swingers

I’m Going To Give It To Mary With Love, Cliff Edwards

Shave It Dry, Lucille Bogan (this one is slightly more graphic.)

The Scrotum Song, Asylum Street Spankers

If You Love Me (You’ll Sleep on the Wet Spot), Asylum Street Spankers

Uh, happy Friday! Share these with someone you love.

- celine

I got so excited about the Katies tonight (at the Basement! 9 PM, $5) that I neglected to post a few other notable happenings around town:

- Tonight at the Radio Cafe, in East Nashville, you can catch the first annual Buster Fest, led by Kevin Ball and the Busters. It starts at 7 PM, and is free. The party promises a few special guests: Julie Zeitlin, Cindy Greene, Tim Carroll, Kenan Boyle, Jeremy Baldwin Trio, Brian Pepper, Don Shaw Trio and Chris Griffin are scheduled to appear, but the most fun you’ll probably have at the Radio Cafe tonight will be during the alt-country, revved up set from Nashville’s The Coal Men. They have sweet Jayhawksian (is that a word? It is now, I just invented it.) harmonies and shimmery, soulful tangy guitars - perfect alt-country fare.

They have a few MP3s to sample from their website:

The Coal Men: King of Letting Go

Duane Jarvis and Dave Coleman: New Madrid (from an Uncle Tupelo tribute album)

The Coal Men: I Tell You

If you have to miss this show, you can catch them again on August 1st at 12th and Porter. There are a few other opportunities after that - add them to your myspace to keep up to date.

- Venus Hum, an electro-pop band that we haven’t exactly heard a lot of lately around here, is playing an in-store performance at Grimey’s record shop at 6 PM.

- AND! Porter Hall Tennessee plays a show tonight at the End, sharing a bill with local bands Bullets to Broadway, Tall Over Tokyo, and Gainesville rock/ska band The Know How. The show starts at 9 PM, cover is $6. Porter Hall TN seems (to me, at least) to be kind of the odd man out on the bill, as they are grounded in more of an insurgent country sound.. But there can definitely be an edge to it. If you can only check out one clip from their myspace, please let it be “The Miracle Woman,” sung from the point of view of the Miracle Woman (Norma Jean White), about her (now infamous) husband Jesse “Jesco” White, the Dancing Outlaw. With a tap-dance worthy intro and segues in and out of Wildwood Flower, Porter Hall sings the story of Jesco White: They say he is three people: Jesse, Jesco and Elvis.

Those who have missed out on the story of Jesco White might try plumbing the depths of YouTube, as pieces of the documentary have turned up here and there. It used to be posted in its entirety, but I think it’s since been taken down. Dancing Outlaw was part of a larger documentary series featured on PBS in the late 80s/early 90s that features slightly eccentric people (okay, very eccentric) on the fringe of society. There’s been a lot of talk about how Dancing Outlaw and its sequel, sponsored in part by Roseanne Barr/Arnold’s production company, only served to exploit Jesco and strain the already tenuous ties between him and his neighbors, community and family. Not only that, it gave many people a lot of fuel to fire the already negative views of the stereotypical redneck hillbilly mountain man, which I believe is detrimental to the South in general. At any rate, it’s a very interesting documentary. Humorous stuff, yes, but also a little pathetic. If the documentary doesn’t do it for you, and you’re interested in a more authentic Jesco experience, you can always head over to West Virginia and attend the Jesco Fest 2006, a fundraising event for Jesco himself.

I didn’t mean to rant about Jesco. Go see Porter Hall play tonight! It’ll be a fantastic show.

I know I’m a little late in posting this, but I don’t think any self-respecting blog about music should remain silent on the subject of Syd Barrett. Just in case some of you may have been hiding under a rock recently, Syd Barrett passed away on Friday from complications related to his diabetes. He was 60 years old, but his brilliant career had burned itself out many years before.

I could waste many paragraphs talking about what Syd meant to the the musical landscape, but that’s already been done. I’d rather talk about what he meant to me personally. By the time my friends and I discovered Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett was barely a footnote to the legacy of Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wall. We heard rumors of the genius original frontman, but little more. We certainly never sought out Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, much less any of his solo material.

Since discovering more and more of his music as I’ve aged, it’s become apparent that Syd was the beginning of something, or at least the catalyst for the psychedelic rock music. He obviously grew out of those that came before him, but he was wholly unique. Many would argue (quite convincingly) that even with all of their orchestration and borderline pretentious arrangements, Pink Floyd never achieved anything close to the originality that Syd brought to the band.

There was a period in the early ’90’s when it was rumored that Syd had long been dead. In fact, what we had heard as high schoolers in North Carolina was that he had mysteriously disappeared, but that he was sometimes spotted hiding in the clothing racks at department stores (kids will believe anything I guess). But in reality, Syd was living with his Mom in Cambridge, trying to escape his past and keep his mental illness at bay.

Much has been made of Syd’s drug use and how it destroyed his mental health, but everyone that knew him insisted that Syd’s mental breakdown was an inevitable thing. The drugs may have spurred it on, but they were certainly not the cause. In fact, this Wikipedia article does an excellent job of outlining his life.

In all honesty, I hadn’t really thought much about Syd in years until I heard of his death this week. But I do love his music, and while he doesn’t fit into the overall theme of the music here, I felt it was important to mention his life and death here. His maverick approach to songwriting influenced almost all of the British rock that came after him, and it’s that sort of originality that we hope to celebrate in this blog.

Here are two tracks for you to sample:

See Emily Play by Pink Floyd, their second single which was written by Syd.

Effervescing Elephant by Syd Barrett, a lovely whimsical sort of songs from his album Barrett.

I’m sure this has been floating around the internet for a while now, but I’m just now getting around to finding it. Ricky Gervais as 1/2 of Seona Dancing, a failed brit-pop outfit from the early 80’s. For serious. The site has audio clips and everything. Amazing.

I have two big music posts planned for later today, before I head out to Minnesota for a week. Mmmmminnesota. Anyway, stay tuned.