Archive for July, 2007

Wow, it looks like the Gin Blossoms have all grown up.

I grew up on these guys and all of their great “You” songs (Til I Hear It From You, Found Out About You, Follow You Down), so it does my heart good to see that they’re still going strong.  The GB’s are bringing their solid brand of pop rock to the Wildhorse Saloon tonight.  The show starts around 6:00 pm.

Side note: Writing this post caused me to start thinking back about some of the GB’s albums.  New Miserable Experience was really, really good.  I wore that thing out in high school and a lot of the tracks, if I ever hear them pop up on Lightning 100, instantly take me back to a day when I was desperately heart-broken over Jeanine or Debbie or Robin or Brea or Kim or any one of the many “loves of my life” in high school.

What about you?  Are there any songs or albums that, when you hear them, whisk you away to a particular moment in your past?  Isn’t it cool how music does that?

Every now and then an opportunity arises to witness a master craftsman do his thing on a special kind of stage. Think Johnny Cash at The Ryman or Ray Charles at Carnegie Hall.  If you really enjoy seeing legends go to work, then don’t miss the Grand Ole Opry tonight.  The one and only Charlie Daniels Band will be headlining with some of that country-fried rock and roll that Nashville is famous for.  Bill Anderson, “Little” Jimmy Dickens, Dierks Bentley and The Grascals are among the opening acts, so it should be a great show.  Things kick off at 7:00 and some tickets are still available.

Geez, I had forgotten how hard filling out a MySpace profile is; About Me, I’d Like To Meet, Interests, Music, Movies, Television, Books, Heroes… good freaking grief! How on earth do I go about filling this thing out for an entire city??!?!

I need your help. Pick one, a couple or all of those categories listed above and suggest some things for that category that need to be added to the NiMH MySpace profile. The best suggestions for each category will get some kind of cool prize that’s yet to be determined.

Oh, and if you haven’t joined MySpace yet and added NiMH as one of your friends, then do it now. Or else.

Yep, Microsoft founder Bill Gates was in Nashville over the weekend.  Did the technology mogul seek out music industry feedback on a potential iTunes alternative?  Did he meet with a celebrity about licensing his or her image for a limited edition Zune?  Did he talk with Governor Bredesen about moving Microsoft’s headquarters to the middle Tennessee area?  None of the above.  Bill Gates was actually in Nashville to get his bridge on.  And I don’t mean “get his bridge on” as in “I’m paying someone a crap-load of cash to build me a freaking bridge so I can walk over my crap-load of cash” but rather I mean “get his bridge on” as in Mr. Gates was using terms like “ruff,” “overcall” and “slam.”  That’s right people, he was playing bridge.  Who knew that Nashville was home to the 2007 North American Bridge Championships???

At this point I want to completely own the fact that I’m ignorant when it comes to bridge, but I would have sworn it was like the most uncool card game on the planet.  Now if I were Bill Gates, I’d want to stay away from anything that could even potentially be perceived as “the most uncool,” but whatever.  Maybe being worth $50 billion helps him in the “I don’t really care what people think” department.  Maybe.

Side note - Speaking of card games, I’m officially addicted to gin.  I used to play a lot, like 10 years ago, but was recently re-introduced to it by a buddy of mine.   It’s almost as addictive as Dotson’s pancakes.

I love reading posts like this one over at Nashville is Talking where Birdwhistell lists his top-3 favorite Starbucks locations in the city.  Personally, I frequent the Cool Springs Boulevard location more than others, but it’s always so freaking busy.  I’d love to find a nice, quiet place with a great atmosphere and free wi-fi in or around Franklin.  Any recommendations?

Where do you prefer to consume your java?  Are you a “get and go” or a “sit and enjoy?”  Do you read a book or surf the web?

My daughter McKinley turned two years old yesterday.  I’m blown away at how fast she is growing up and I thank God everyday that he allows me the privilege of being this little girl’s Daddy.

We had her birthday party on Saturday evening and as a result we were exhausted yesterday morning.  We skipped out on church and slept in a little and when McKinley woke up, we all got dressed and decided to have pancakes at Dotson’s in downtown Franklin.

Dotson’s has become quite the Sunday morning tradition for us over the last month or so.  We get up, we go to church, we have breakfast at Dotson’s.  If you haven’t been to Dotson’s, do yourself a favor and make the trip.  I can’t vouch for the lunch or dinner menus as we’ve only had breakfast there so far, but their pancakes are the lightest, fluffiest pancakes I’ve ever had.  They are like the crack of pancakes: Instantly addictive.  My wife and I wondered yesterday if they whip their batter before pouring the cakes out.  Is that something one would do???

One thing catches my eye every time we visit Dotson’s: The pie case!  They have this glass case full of homemade pies that have the tallest mountains of meringue I’ve ever seen.  As a huge fan of meringue, I lust after these pies each time I see them, but I’m always disgustingly full of pancakes and sausage to give one of them a go.  Have you ever seen anything like this????

…Nashville is kind of known for being a pretty good music town. Yeah, maybe you had heard but I wasn’t sure so I thought it was worth mentioning. Anyway, being fortunate enough to live here, I have the opportunity to feed my live music habit pretty hard over the next couple of months. Shows I’ll definitely be attending between now and the end of the year include, *but are not limited to:

• Modest Mouse w/ Band of Horses @ The Ryman - 8.22.07
• Ben Kweller @ Exit/In - 8.24.07
• Interpol @ The Ryman - 9.22.07
• Kings of Leon w/ Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ The Ryman - 10.18.07
• Spoon @ Cannery Ballroom (Mercy Lounge) - 10.26.07
• Smashing Pumpkins @ The Ryman - 11.5.07

So far my wife is being very supportive. It absolutely helps that A) I’ve never had a stretch of shows like this in my life, B) I have a pretty big birthday (30) coming up in October and C) I’m a great husband and father (at least that’s what she tells me).

*God help me if Wilco, Arcade Fire or Ryan Adams decide to add a Nashville date this Fall. That conversation wouldn’t be pretty, but it’s not like I’d really have a choice, right? I’d have to go to them all. Seriously.

So what about you?  Any good shows coming up that you’re really looking forward to? 

Anyone can tell you how many people showed up and what the action looked like.  Only PredJoe can tell you what it all means.

Way to go PJ.  Here’s to hoping we have Preds hockey in Nashville for years and years to come.

You can check out a great review of yesterday’s “Live show of the night” over at Music City Bloggers.  Sounds like it was a great show!

A couple of weeks ago I posted about HolmanTV, a videoblog being produced mainly to promote a new student Bible being published by Broadman & Holman Publishing Group, a division of LifeWay. Earlier this week I connected with Steve Nesmith, Director of E-Business for B&H. He kindly agreed to an e-mail interview. Check it out.

What is HolmanTV?
HolmanTV is a videoblog, also called a vlog, produced by B&H Publishing Group in Nashville. It’s about a twenty-something guy named Holman who is stuck in his first job out of college. Holman wants to be a musician, and videoblogs from a camera in his office cubicle. We don’t try to hide the fact that it is a fictional vlog, but we don’t emphasize that fact either. It’s just meant to be fun entertainment for a young adult audience. We created it to build buzz around the new Holman Student Bible.

Who’s idea was it to use videoblogging to promote a new Bible?
Technically I presented the idea to B&H but I have to give credit to Tim Jordan, B&H Bible Marketing Manager, for getting on board immediately with the idea.

Is it working?
I think it is. A LifeWay retail store manager recently told us about a customer who walked in talking about HolmanTV and connecting it to the new student Bible. From the beginning this was designed to be a slow-burn campaign, that is, a low budget grass-roots effort that would slowly build buzz over a long period of time.

Every now and then we get kind of an “artsy” episode like episode 9 (4th of July). Do you find yourself walking a fine line between just doing something that feels cool and doing something that really develops the storyline?
I’m impressed that you liked episode 9. Honestly a lot of those decisions are made by our in-house vid editor David Woodard. We trust David’s judgement about how to craft an episode in the editing suite. Believe it or not, episode 9 was two different episodes that David decided to combine into one, and ya couldn’t even tell could ya!

Do you actually know where the storyline is headed?
The one thing we all agreed on is that this thing would act,look and feel grass-roots, like a real vlog. Most vloggers out there don’t have a script or tight storyline and neither do we. We all want Holman to find his big break and meet some cool people in the process, and that is probably where the storyline will go, with more meetups and interviews.

Does MWS know that Holman has a man-crush on him?
Yeah, we kinda over sold Holman’s infatuation with Smitty didn’t we.

Seriously, is MWS aware of the HolmanTV project?
One of the HolmanTV producers Eric has a friendship with Smitty’s son, and Eric has communicated our intentions to have Holman one day meet the big kahuna. So the answer is, I hope so.

I can see a ton of cross-promotional opportunities popping up out of this thing (Rocketown Records?). Any plans for stuff like that?
That was our idea from the beginning. And that’s why we believe HolmanTV is destined to be around for a long time. Most marketing campaigns last about
3 months. This one is completely different, much more innovative in my opinion.

Can I have a cameo on HolmanTV?
HolmanTV is a low budget vlog desperate for content and ideas. What do you think? Of course!