Sightings

Friday, July 27, 2012

Dr. Phil Was at Hoobastank's Exit/In Show Last Night

Posted by on Fri, Jul 27, 2012 at 1:24 PM

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So, if you like rock 'n' roll music that lands between "Quite" and "Extremely" on the "General Goodness" scale, there's a strong chance you were at Guided by Voices' Marathon Music Works show with Turbo Fruits last night. The majority of Team Cream was there, and The Spin's review of that one will be coming along shortly. But there was a rock show of a radically different ilk going on over at Exit/In: post-grunging alterna-bros Hoobastank with Stellar Revival and Stars in Stereo (look at all the stars!).

If you were at said Exit/In show, then first of all, welcome to Nashville Cream. Perhaps your "Hoobastank" Google Alert brought you here? And second of all, if you think you might have seen television personality and towering, mustachioed celebrity psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw there, you are correct. But no, he isn't just a Hoobastank fan. McGraw's son Jordan is Stars in Stereo's guitarist. Anyway, Stars in Stereo is (surprise!) a compressed, chuggy, MOR sort of alterna-pop-rock outfit (hear a handful of their tunes after the jump ... yowzer) that sometimes covers NIN's "Closer." A Google search of "Dr. Phil" and "Stars in Stereo" turns up all sorts of junk, including this pretty brutal comment on an Absolute Punk thread:

This is what happens when your parents tell you that you "can do anything you want". Jordan McGraw is using his dad's (Dr. Phil) money to buy his dream. Kind of a slap in the face to all the bands who put in the elbow grease. They out of nowhere are touring in a bus opening up for The Used, kind of raises a lot of questions.

Ouch. We can indeed confirm that McGraw the Younger sleeps in a bunk on a bus. When reached for comment regarding Dr. Phil's presence at Exit/In last night, Exit employee Jesse Baker had this to say: "Discovering he wasn't simply a huge Hoobastank fan was a bummer."

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Monday, June 25, 2012

Dan Sartain Skips End Show Saturday, Still MIA?

Posted by on Mon, Jun 25, 2012 at 5:01 PM

Have you seen this Dan?
  • Have you seen this Dan?
If you book them, they will come, right? Dan Sartain was scheduled to appear at The End on Saturday night. But by 11:30 p.m., after already pushing the start time back to 10:30, there was no sign of the celebrated Alabamian indie roots rocker — Sartain was a certifiable no-call/no-show. It was then, during first-at-bat opener Phil Hummer and the White Falcons’ set, that the club decided to abort the show and refund disappointed and perplexed patrons. Sartian’s direct support, Denney and the Jets, also did not play, though they did show.

Show promoter Jesse Baker tells the Scene that, over the course of the evening, Sartain’s booking agent could not contact the singer and expressed that his management was at a loss too. Two days later, Baker says, he still hasn’t heard a word from the Sartain camp explaining, apologizing, or updating him on the artist’s outright stand up, which forced him to refund about 15 patrons’ $8-$10 admission fee and turn away others at the door.

Saturday night’s End appearance was to be Sartain’s first after canceling an eight-date string of shows, citing a family emergency.

So, anyone heard from Dan? If so, is he safe and sound? If not, should we be worried?

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Monday, April 23, 2012

Aziz Ansari Kicks It at Zombie Shop and Catbird Seat, Tweets About It

Posted by on Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 3:12 PM

Remarkably, Preds post-game traffic and light rain didn’t deter my lazy ass from hitting up Cheap Time’s record release show at The Zombie Shop on Friday night. More of you should have followed suit. Really.

Regrettably, I made a relatively late arrival and missed Ranch Ghost’s first-out-of-the-gate set. Now, here are a couple things you non-attendees missed: D. Watusi turning in their seemingly weekly local performance of rockin’, rambunctious freakbeat revivalism for a smallish but invigorated crowd of from-thrift-store-clad brown baggers. That was cool. ‘Twas then followed by a punishing, distortion-and-haunting-facial-contortion-laden set from Detroit garage-psych luminary Tim Vulgar’s (Clone Defects, Human Eyes) Timmy’s Organism. And then Cheap Time slayed all in attendance by playing Wallpaper Music in its entirety, hardly once ever stopping between tracks to take a breath as they enraptured and deafened all with their deft musical approximation of The Sex Pistols gone psychedelic.

You also missed your chance to gawk Aziz Ansari, who turned up after doing his stand-up thing at TPAC.

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Ke$ha and The Flaming Lips Messed Around in Nashville

Posted by on Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 12:51 PM

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Well, we kind of snoozed on this one for a couple of days. But thanks to a reminder from occasional Cream contributor Leslie Keffer (via her blog, Noisebloid), we are now prepared to share this tantalizing sliver of goss with you. Euphoria junkies and heralded pych-pop architects The Flaming Lips were allegedly in Nashville over the weekend, palling around with our very own glitter-encrusted trash-pop queen, Ke$ha — in fact, the Lips and Ke$h-Ke$h were sighted at Springwater Friday night, watching bands including but not limited to something called Linear Downfall.

As confirmed by both Ke$ha and Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne's tweets, the band and the singer are collaborating on at least one trackhere's a clip of K$ laying down some vox. Anyway, there was apparently no sleeping and plenty of recording, and perhaps we'll all come away from this damn thing with a psych-glam-glitter-pop-rock track for the ages. Or at least something to wash down Ke$ha's Dylan cover. 2012: the year of the collaboration! And for more Ke$ha-related Nashville crossover, have a look at a clip of Ke-dollarsign-ha shaving her head while listening to The Black Keys after the jump. If that's the sort of thing you're into.

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Monday, November 28, 2011

Animal Collective at Springwater in 2001 [Stale Vids]

Posted by on Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 10:00 AM


The Springwater's streamers: Keeping it classy for ... at least 10 years.

So I went to the infamous Springwater Supper Club and Lounge on Saturday night to check out Memphians Cheap Time along with Chicago's Mannequin Men and locals D. Watusi and King Karl. (King Karl is Cy Barkley's new outfit, by the way, and it's definitely less punk rock and more melodic indie rock than most of Cy's stuff. Think Pixies and Dino Jr. rather than the usual Ramones and Misfits influence.) Anyway, Ke$ha was there, and while that doesn't have too much to do with anything — and while we know it certainly wasn't the first time Ke$ha was spotted at Springwater — it's always entertaining to see an international pop star (who has a bunch of awards from MTV and NME and Billboard and stuff) being carded in a place like Springwater.

But someone else who happened to be in attendance was former Scene/Cream intern Rodrigo Avendano (he's also the frontman for Bows and Arrows). Rodrigo told me he recently stumbled across some footage of those now-beloved indie-rock stars and elder statesmen of the Pitchfork set, Animal Collective, playing at the supper club back in June of 2001. Above you'll see what is technically a rendition of "Essplode," and after the jump you'll find footage of A.C. playing "Lablakely Dress." It's a lot of erratic playing and caterwauling from Panda Bear, Avey Tare and Geologist in a performance that some might deem difficult — or at least mildly uncomfortable — to watch. As a friend put it, "If I'd seen that show, I probably would have thought Animal Collective sucks." Anyway, hip things happen at Springwater at least once a decade. Thanks to Rodrigo for letting us know about the videos. Enjoy!(?)

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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Jamie Lynn Spears Pursuing Country Career, Performs at The Rutledge and Puckett's

Posted by on Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 1:54 PM

Well. So. Twenty-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears is, of course, known for her fine work on Nickelodeon's All That and Zoey 101, as well as ... hmmm. Isn't there something else she's known for? I'm drawing a blank. Oh right! She's known for her original country tunes. At least, she is as of this month. As this Fair & Balanced article reports, Spears played a set at The Rutledge on Nov. 7 to a crowd that included her parents, Pam Tillis and, as far as we know, no one named Britney. Spears the younger also apparently reappeared onstage last night, this time at Puckett's. Puckett's sent a press release:

Britney Spears' little sister, Jamie Lynn, gave a surprise mini-concert at Puckett's in Nashville Monday night. She played several original country songs during her set.

Spears, who has been living in Nashville for the past two years, has been rumored to be working on a country album. "The girl can sing!" said one attendee. "The Crowd was really into it and there was a great atmosphere in here tonight."

"One attendee" could not be reached for further comment. Also, when the words "has been rumored to be" appear in a press release, our brains basically convert that to "is," right? I mean, if she's not working on a country album in Nashville, then why does her website have that Google Maps thing going on? Anyway, see also: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jessica Simpson. Puckett's was also kind enough to send along some photos from last night's performance, so click on through to the other side if that's something you want to see.

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Monday, November 15, 2010

Danny Gokey Marks Territory in Green Hills

Posted by on Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 2:35 PM

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Faith in Christ does not flush toilets, at least not for Danny Gokey. According to a Facebook status update posted last night by an unnamed employee of an unnamed, upscale tea store — a tea-tery, if you will — in the Green Hills Mall, bespectacled contemporary Christian country singer and eighth season American Idol third place finalist, Danny Gokey, had an epic fail in the common courtesy department when he neglected to flush a store toilet after relieving himself yesterday. A screen cap of said update appears above. The names of the innocent have been blacked out, but the name of the accused remains.

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Monday, October 18, 2010

Taylor Swift Stalks One of Her Fans ... But in a Sweet Way [Updated]

Posted by on Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 2:12 PM

Taylor Swift and Victoria Schupp
  • Taylor Swift and Victoria Schupp
UPDATE: Shortly after posting this entry, I was contacted by the mother of the Taylor fan in question. Turns out the lucky little girl is named Victoria Schupp, and her mom snapped the picture at right on Aug. 1. (I was right about it being GameStop, by the way.) Victoria's mother, Rocio Hendrix, also added the following: "Thank you Taylor, we love you!" There goes Taylor, making dreams come true again. My terrible Photoshopped image — which I removed to make room for the genuine article — is on file if anyone would like to be sent a copy.

In a sneak peek of the forthcoming issue of Parade Magazine, Babygirl Tay-Tay — that’s what I like to call her — reveals that she recently pulled a reverse-stalk on a young fan here in Nashville.

“I was driving near the mall and I saw this girl with my tour T-shirt on. She was probably 11. I made a U-turn and tried to follow her—I really had to do some maneuvering. I found her in a video-game store and just kind of walked up to her and said, ‘Oh, hi. I wanted to meet you.’ She had no idea what to say for about three minutes. Then her mom walked over, burst into tears, and proceeded to tell me that they’d driven all the way from Austin, Texas, just to see where I was discovered.”

So, for starters, she was likely driving by Green Hills, right? Which would probably make the video-game store in question GameStop on Glen Echo, no? I bought my niece some newfangled, animal-related Wii game there last Christmas. But in reading that quote, did anyone else think to themselves, “Oh, she was totally trying to bust that little girl for bootlegged merch”? We all know Ms. Swift doesn’t like it when perps wear false Taylor/Fearless gear — and rightfully so. I’ll bet she was all, “Nice try, punk! That tour shirt isn’t a licensed … oh, wait. It’s legit. All right. Carry on.”

We kid because we love.

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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

R.E.M. Finishing New Record in Nashville, Hanging Around

Posted by on Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 10:43 AM

The other day, P-Rock and I were wandering around The Gulch trying to find lunch. Jimmy Carl's smoketastic BBQ was all sold out, on account of a mob of conventioneers having converged on Station Inn, and as we dodged women in sunglasses much too large for their skirts en route to a shitty restaurant I will not name, we ran into an excited Gold, iced coffee in hand and Ray-Bans glinting in the sun, who exclaimed, "I just saw Peter Buck outside Station Inn!" We wondered aloud whether R.E.M. were in town working on a new album.

This weekend, R.E.M. manager Burtis Downs took to the band's official site to confirm what we've been hearing around town, which is that they have, in fact, been working on a new album here:

Band finishing work on the record in Nashville. All going well, songs sounding great; the band, ably assisted by Jacknife and team, in the homestretch of making what sounds to me like a great R.E.M. record. And between New Orleans, Berlin, and Nashville, you would be hard-pressed to find three more musical and [inspiring] places in which to work. Having Anton Corbijn in town was pretty special as it has been a while since any of us has seen Mills, Stipe, and Buck through Anton's eyes and lens. And Nashville provided some pretty characterful backdrops.

Guessing from the photos posted, I'd say they had dinner at Margot one night. I heard Michael Stipe was in the audience at Saturday night's Pixies show at The Ryman, but didn't see him. If you want to see Stipe playing pocket chaos noise and leading handclaps, check out this in-studio video of the new R.E.M. album in progress.

(HT: Spinner.)

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Time Reaffirms Grimey's Indie Cachet

Posted by on Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 2:13 PM

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  • Photo: Rachel Briggs
Any time the elusive indie culture satirist Carles uses his Hipster Runoff pedestal to ruminate on Pitchfork's "dark secrets" — however unfounded — you're pretty much guaranteed a few laughs. Such was the case this morning when the site's Alt Report spin-off shared a new Time piece that details Pitchfork's now well-known rags-to-, well, still rags, but with loads of ad cash, tale. If you're unfamiliar with Carles' trademark tween-style snark, here's a taste:

"Sorta feel like I just looked behind the curtain of the Wizard of Oz finding out that Pitchfork isn’t some robot. Kinda feel inspired. Like me and my bros can start an organic indie music site, and eventually rise to prominence and ‘control the fucking scene’ while ‘rolling around in piles of cash.’ Might cancel my plans to start a chillwave buzzband and opt to build a blogspot."

Sounds like Carles is, once again, 'feeling it all around.' [Via Washed Out bro.]

In any case, the Time piece is perhaps more intriguing because, of all the record store co-owners in the country, the writer chose to interview Nashville's very own Doyle Davis of the venerable Grimey's. Perched alongside quotes from Beach House's Victoria Legrand and Atlanta rapper Big Boi, Davis briefly riffs on the correlation between a high Pitchfork rating and the interest Grimey's receives in the record that was lavished with praise. Following last week's Tennessean story on Nashville's healthy record store sales, in which Davis figured prominently, August has been a solid month in Grimey's PR department.

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