Memphis vs Nashville!

This past weekend after my graduation, I took a mini vacation to Memphis and I thought I'd dedicate a post comparing it to Nashville. I've been to Nashville three times and Gatlinburg once, but never had the chance to visit Memphis. It's about 5 hours away from Eastern so we figured why not make a trip down there. Although I am a huge fan of Nashville, (the city and the show!) Memphis was pretty damn cool. I enjoy both country music and blues so either city is wonderful if you're a fan of those music genres. Even if you're not, both places have a plethora of amazing things to see and do.

Nashville is called Music City and it surely lives up to that name! Everywhere and anywhere you go, day or night, you can hear some incredible live music from one of the many honky-tonks that grace Broadway Street. It's so cool to be able to walk in off the street and hear people on the edge of fame singing in a small bar. Sometimes famous singers actually come in randomly and play a gig! The first time I went I got to see past American Idol contestant Bucky Covington perform, which was pretty awesome. Nashville doesn't just cater to the country music lovers though, many other bands have come to call Nashville their home in recent years. The Black Keys, Kings of Leon and Jack White reside and record in the city. I am a massive fan of all of those artists, especially Jack White. One of the coolest things that has ever happened to me was when Jack White and his little daughter came into Third Man when I was there. He just walked right in and said "How ya'll doing?" I couldn't even believe what was happening and I'm pretty sure no one else did either. Let me tell you, he is a GIANT in person! Literally one of the tallest people I have seen in my life. Nashville is the place to go if you want to possibly run into any celebrities, the entire cast of the hit show Nashville has been seen out and about as well as many famous country stars. I personally would love to live in Nashville in a few years, mainly because of how wonderful the town itself is! It is a city but also has a town-like feel to it. I would feel completely safe walking around at night and it is so easy to get around the town. I also love how friendly everyone is and of course, the Southern food! Seriously, the best barbecue ever is in Tennessee and my favorite place to go in Nashville is Rippy's. Also, if you want to eat the best burger in the coolest restaurant on the planet, check out Pharmacy. The waitstaff are covered in tattoos and piercings but don't let that stop you from eating there! I had heard many good things about the place and was not disappointed. They make homemade sodas and you can create any flavor you want! Another place to go to for amazing coffee is Fido. It used to be a pet store but they closed it and turned it into this rad coffee shop that makes fantastic coffee.

Memphis is the home of the blues and it also lives up to it's name. Similar to Nashville, there are restaurants and honky-tonks on the infamous Beale Street. The Memphis in May festival is a huge event that features Beale Street Music Fest, World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, and a sunset symphony in AutoZone Park. I had just missed both the music fest and the barbecue contest which was a bummer, but next year I'm planning to go. Beale Street Music Fest had a TON of great bands including Alabama Shakes, Pretty Lights, Fitz and the Tantrums, Foster the People, Snoop Dog, Blues Traveler and many more. During my trip, I got to tour Sun Studios and Graceland. Sun Studio is where Elvis Presley first recorded and has been a milestone in music history. The tour showed the guitars used during the eras of blues as well as where the legends recorded. The studio still records musicians today, including Maroon 5, Jack White, Johnny Marr and others. The next tour I embarked on was of the one and only, Graceland mansion. The mansion itself is gorgeous from the inside and out. It wouldn't be considered a mansion by today's standards, but it's a pretty decent sized house with a lot of property! Just seeing where Elvis spent most of his time during his life was so cool and I would definitely make a trip back. Even if you're not a big Elvis fan, it would be worth your while to check it out. The tour started in the mansion itself, which was awesome.Throughout the tour, I got to see all of the awards and gold records Elvis earned; it was incredible to see just how many awards he received. There was also a room dedicated to showcasing his lavish outfits and more of his records. Elvis is also buried on the property, with his Mom, Dad, Grandma and twin brother. After touring the house, the next part of the tour was of his 2 planes. He had a huge private plane named Lisa Marie, after his daughter, and another small leer jet. Both were extremely over the top in terms of decor and very 60's/70's. The Lisa Marie had multiple areas of the plane including a large bed and a small bar. The plane even had 24 karat gold seat belts and even the bathrooms had gold sinks. It was crazy to think that he paid just 250,000 for a plane that would cost at least a couple million today. The smaller plane had less features and had cool 60's colored leather seats. The most interesting piece of information that I found out through the tour was that Elvis wrote none of his own songs. It blew my mind that someone who won that amount of awards and gold records didn't write a single song that he sang! Overall, I thought the tour was very well done and I would encourage any music lover to make Graceland a must on their travel list.

Both Memphis and Nashville are amazing cities with their own historical/music backgrounds. I truly enjoyed my trip to Memphis and honestly don't think I can choose which place I like better. I definitely would rather live in Nashville than Memphis, but there is something for everyone in both cities. I would say that Memphis has more to do because there are less honky-tonks and more museums/tours to go on. Nashville is mainly honky-tonks and there are a few museums but not as many as Memphis. Nashville does have some cool neighborhoods like the West End (close to Vanderbilt) and the East End if you get tired of the touristy scene on Broadway. I plan on going back to both cities and eventually hope to move to Nashville in a few years. I also am making it a goal to hit up Bonnaroo so hopefully the lineup is good next year!

Here is more info on the Memphis in May festival as well as Beale Street Music Fest:
http://www.memphisinmay.org/musicfestival
http://www.memphisinmay.org/

If anyone has any questions or has been to either of these cities, don't hesitate to comment! I love talking to people about places I've gone/want to go. P.S. Pictures from both trips will be posted in a separate post, hope you enjoyed this one!

Cellrs at Celebration

I haven't posted on here in waaaaay too long so this post is definitely overdue! This past semester, I was an intern at the Doudna Fine Arts Center at Eastern and got the opportunity to assist with finding talent for the annual festival called Celebration. This event is a 3 day festival that features local artists, bands and food vendors. The band that I picked to play the festival is a Chicago-based band by the name of Cellrs. They are really entertaining and definitely a group to watch out for! I first saw them at the House of Blues a few weeks prior to Celebration and I was very impressed with their performance. The crowd at Celebration loved their energy and I'm so glad that I was able to get them at the festival because now they have fans from other areas of the state besides Chicago. If you enjoy rock & roll shows that constantly keep you entertained, check out Cellrs because you won't be disappointed! Go to their Facebook page to hear their music as well as updates on upcoming shows at https://www.facebook.com/cellrs

Here are a few pictures I took from their set!

Wild Belle @ the Metro 10/26/13

I've been looking forward to writing this post even before I attended this concert due to my extreme anticipation! Wild Belle is a relatively new band that has gained tons of exposure in the past year due to their unique sound. The band consists of siblings Natalie and Elliot Bergman (their Aunt is actress Anne Heche by the way, no big deal.) They are from Barrington, IL, which is awesome because they're local and successful! Natalie is only 23 years old, which is mind-blowing. She does vocals for the band and also plays the keyboard and guitar. Elliot also sings, but mainly plays the saxophone (it's a bass saxophone so it's MASSIVE!) and various other instruments. Since their debut album Isles came out in March 2013 on Columbia Records, the band has played Coachella, Lollapalooza, featured on Conan and many other places. They have been to Chicago numerous times and every time they were here I was couldn't go which was why I came home from school to see them this past weekend. I had never been to the Metro prior to seeing them so it was a weekend of firsts. The venue is very similar to Lincoln Hall (which Wild Belle has played before) in terms of layout. The main floor easily occupies 100 or more people and the balcony holds about 100 as well. I really enjoyed the venue and would definitely like to see more bands there in the future!

The opening act for Wild Belle was a band out of New Jersey called Saint Rich. I didn't look them up before the show so I had no idea what to expect so when I saw four very young looking guys take the stage I was pretty surprised! They literally looked like they were still in high school. It turns out after further research that they may or may not be in high school because their bio wasn't very detailed. Anyways, the lead singer's mic was turned down the entire time so no one could understand what he was saying! I felt really bad for him and it was a shame that happened because the band itself was good, just sucked not being able to hear the singer! They played for about 30 minutes before Wild Belle took the stage. Since this was their last show on their tour, a lot of their family and friends were there and they actually had most of the balcony sectioned off for that reason. When they took the stage the entire crowd went crazy! I could tell that a lot of people were fans and had seen them before because I hear a few people talking in line about how good they were at Lolla this past August. Natalie wore these really cool skinny jeans that were shimmery, I want a pair! She also wore an interesting belt that had a knife attached to it (I should invest in getting myself one!). Elliot also wore a cool outfit! The entire band is just awesome and they really looked like they get along great. It was really sweet to see Natalie and her brother talk and smile at each other during their set. She looked extremely happy to be there, which makes sense since they're from Chicago and it was their last show of a long tour.
I took pictures on my phone this time because my camera is bulky and I didn't want to carry it around with me since I was really close to the stage. I took lots of pictures and snippets of most of the songs. The reason I didn't record entire songs is because that distracts me from being in the present and I didn't want to watch the show through a screen. I will be seeing them the next time they tour, so maybe I'll take longer videos then but since it was the first time seeing them I wanted to really experience it. They started off with It's Too Late with Natalie on guitar. They then went on to play all of the songs off the album and 2 that were not on the album. One of them is a song Natalie wrote when she wasn't in Wild Belle and it's called Mrs. Franklin. Such a good song. I literally love every song on their album which is something I can't say for anybody that I listen to!  Keep You is their song that most people would know but others have been used in various movies. I am so grateful that I finally got to see them live, it was one of the best live shows I have ever seen. Nothing fancy, just pure, raw talent which is rare these days in music. CHECK THEM OUT and see them if they come to your area on their next tour! If anyone has seen them before, leave me a comment at the bottom of this post! :)

   

 

     

 

The one and only critical music post I'll ever write.

So for the first time since starting this blog, I'm going to post negatively about music. Not all music, but today's music. I have attended many fantastic concerts and am very thankful for the opportunity to see some of those artists. This will be the only negative post I'll write about music because with the exception of today's current music, it is a positive aspect of my life and I'm sure most people's lives.

The event that compelled me to even think about writing this was the VMA's. Normally, I could care less about these awards due to the fact that 1.) I don't really keep up with the current music trends and could never tell you who has the number one song on the charts. 2.) I frankly think they don't focus on what they're supposed to, which is music VIDEOS. Yes, I understand that to keep the show exciting they need live performances, but what happens when the performance is nothing like the videos? Exhibit A (the only exhibit of last night): Miley Cyrus. Okay, can I just seriously ask a question that I'm sure everyone is asking...WHERE ARE HER PARENTS?! Oh, and another one...who in their right (wrong!) mind would even allow her to perform like that when they know young kids will be watching? It's no wonder kids grow up wanting to be "famous", they think that acting completely insane and trashy will get people to like them. The video itself was over the top, but her performance was even worse. It would've been so much more interesting to see her just sing the song without acting like a psycho. It also upset me that they paired her with Robin Thicke to sing his song Blurred Lines. That's one of my favorite songs and I was so looking forward to seeing HIM perform it, sans Miley. Seeing Miley's "performance" made me highly question our society and the way we see music today. Personally, I don't call that music, I call it shock value. When artists really want to shock people, they put out music videos that they know people will talk about to accompany less than mediocre songs. If Lady GaGa's performance was boring compared to Miley Cyrus's, there is a problem. That's all I have to say about her considering I still am in disbelief at what I saw less than 24 hours ago, which says a lot considering nothing ever really shocks me anymore. Music today really makes me want to start a rockin' band that actually makes songs that mean something. I've been playing my guitar more, so I just might!

A positive aspect of last night: JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE. I could write for days on how fabulously amazing this guy is! Seriously. I have been a fan since N'SYNC and will never stop being a fan. He is constantly professional in a world of unprofessional talent. He single-handedly turned an entire show around in less than 20 minutes, just by performing like a normal person. Just seeing how many great songs he has put out and still maintained relevance in the ever-changing music scene shows how his immense talent level. I don't care if he was on for 20 minutes, it was a well-deserved showcase of his abilities as an artist and a breath of fresh air compared to the other performers. Everyone loves him and honestly find it hard for someone not to like him! He's humble, classy, and never fails to re-invent himself. He was so deserving of the awards he won and I know he will continue to change up the music industry in a brilliant manner. The main highlight for me, and I'm sure most of the viewers, was when N'SYNC came out on stage. I never got the chance to see them perform live in their hay-day so seeing them re-united made my 3rd grade self extremely sentimental and happy. I also enjoyed seeing Jimmy Fallon talk about Justin and making him blush, so precious! Well, like I said I could literally dedicate an entire post to JT but that will probably come at a later date so I'll spare you now...for now haha.

If anyone has any comments or wants to share what their favorite parts of the show were, leave me a comment!

~Ava

Divine Fits at Taste of Randolph 6/14 + 21st birthday!

Since I first heard Spoon front-man Britt Daniel's new band Divine Fits, seeing them live was on the top of my concert list.The members are Britt, Dan Boeckner (from Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs), Sam Brown (from New Bomb Turks) and Alex Fischel. When I found out they were playing Taste of Randolph it was a given that I was going, especially since I had missed them twice due to being at school. My Mom's friend Cathy's son Sam is the drummer (He's unbelievable! Seriously the best drummer I've ever seen.) so that made seeing them even more important! Since Cathy had never been to Chicago, she came for the concert and brought her daughter Candace (Sam's sister). We had so much fun! Before the show, we got to hang out with the band for awhile. They were so easy to talk to and extremely nice! We talked about cities they'd been to so far and their upcoming shows. They were leaving for Bonnaroo the next day and then I found out they played at Third Man Records 2 days later. Being a massive Jack White fan, I was so excited for them and can only imagine how cool that must've been! We also got to go backstage during the show, which was awesome because I'd never gone backstage before except when I worked the concert at school. My 21st birthday was on the 16th, so I told them that and Dan said Happy Birthday to me on stage later in the show! It was also Candace's birthday the next day, so he said Happy Birthday to her too, which was really cool. They played all of the songs from their debut album, A Thing Called Divine Fits, as well as two covers including You got Lucky by Tom Petty and Lost by Frank Ocean. After the show, we hung out with Dan and Sam more and they said that this was one of their best shows in awhile. It was clear that all of them connected well and they seem to get along with each other.  I got pictures with the band and also some from their set. The entire weekend was great because it was my 21st birthday weekend and it was filled with good music! On Sunday (my actual birthday) I saw the Heavy at the Double Door, which was cool since it's a 21+ venue and I could get in. I had never been there so I didn't know what to expect besides what other people had said about it. It was a bit grungy and old, but it was still fun to experience it on my birthday! I'd definitely go back and see other bands there because it was a nice sized place and there's a small balcony where you can sit down and still see. Anyways, both concerts were great and if you have the chance to see Divine Fits, DO IT. They're incredible and it's cool to see members of other successful bands get together and have a great time playing incredible music!

 

 Dan and I.

 Sam aka the best drummer on the planet.

 Britt!

 View from backstage

 

Rodriguez @ The Arie Crown Theater 5/17/13

This past Friday I got the chance to see Rodriguez, aka Sugarman. This man is a LEGEND and always will be.  I first heard about him when my Mom told me she saw him on 60 Minutes about a year ago. I immediately looked him up and his story absolutely blew me away. If you watch the documentary made about him, called Searching for Sugarman, you will understand. He has been around for many years and gained success in South Africa and Australia but not in his own country, the US. Check out the documentary to find out more about his life, but his story is extremely inspiring and I am SO glad that he is finally getting the success he deserves. This concert was at the Arie Crown Theater and it was my first time seeing a show there. The theater is pretty big so there really wasn't a bad seat. I sat in the 3rd row of the first balcony and it was actually a great spot! I met a guy and his parents that were sitting in the row in front of me and they were really cool. The guy was literally a boy version of me. He knew about all my favorite bands and he was only a Freshman in high school! Plus, he was at a Rodriguez concert so he obviously has good music taste. The opening act was Jenny O. and they were awesome! I love California bands so it was a given that I would enjoy them. I actually downloaded a few of her songs and I encourage you do to the same if you like their vibe. I can't even imagine how it would be to be the opening act for someone like Rodriguez. I would be so honored and stoked! Anyways, Rodriguez played for what literally felt like hours haha but it was really about an hour and a half (which is still pretty long!). He played songs of the album Cold Fact, which was a big hit and a lot of people sang along. He also played a few covers which he also did fantastically. I actually felt sad when it was over because I had been looking forward to it for so long and then it was done. I usually don't feel like that unless it's someone I reaaally wanted to see and he was one of those artists! Word is he's currently working on a third album so when that comes out you can bet I'll be purchasing it and seeing him on his next tour. (P.S I only took 2 pictures because I was in the balcony and couldn't really zoom soooo here ya go!)

~Ava

Today is the day!

I'm seeing Rodriguez AKA Sugarman today! Words cannot describe how excited I am to see this amazingly talented man. He is an inspiration and his story is incredible. ALSO, in other concert news, I'm seeing The Heavy at the Double Door on June 16th (which also happens to be my 21st birthday! Awesome, right?!) Even though my birthday lands on Father's Day AND a Sunday this year, I'm still gonna have some fun! This will be the first concert I've attended on my actual birthday so this is a treat. I will also be attending the Taste of Randolph fest on Friday, June 14th to see the Divine Fits. (My Mom's friend's son is the drummer so it will be awesome to meet them!) Such a jam-packed weekend but it'll definitely be a birthday to remember. Feel free to leave me a comment if you're going to any of these shows or are seeing any other good bands!

~Ava