Why I'm going to (working with, writing about, otherwise endlessly promoting) PodCamp Nashville…

We're in a new age of media creation and consumption the likes of which we've never seen before. We have more tools, we have more avenues, and more choices to be made than ever before.

But it still comes down to who is saying what to whom through what channel and with what effect. (Otherwise known as the Lasswell model for you communication geeks out there)

However, "where" is an important part of it as well. Nashville is as vibrant a media creation community as there is in this country and probably the world.

Obviously, we've got the music. But there's an incredibly active publishing, visual arts, photography and technology community that needs knitting together. PodCamp Nashville can help accomplish that.

It's not just about podcasting. Let me rephrase that: IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT PODCASTING.

(Ok, that wasn't so much a rephrasing as it was screaming at you that IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT PODCASTING.)

The PCN Crew (a lovely and talented group, I might add) has chosen the tagline/catchphrase "Find Your Digital Voice" and not without a touch of conversation and controversy.

But again, because IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT PODCASTING, we think PodCamp can be that place where, if you're an enthusiast about digital content, both creating and consuming, you can go and expand your horizons.

Similarly, if you're a digital media expert, from image editing wizards to top-notch videographers to social media entrepreneurs to, yes, podcasters, and you have skills you can share, we heartily encourage that as well.

We keep bandying about the phrase "unconference" as both a style and an ethos, but even more as a storytelling point.

What it really means is that it's an experience created by the people who get involved, both the speakers and the attendees. We're not telling you what to think or even what to think about (the traditional role of mass media, if you've ever been one of my students)…we're just giving you the venue at which to think.

That said…what are you waiting for? If you're interested in attending, create a profile and sign up at www.podcampnashville.org.

If you're interested in speaking, create a profile and sign up at www.podcampnashville.org, then click on "Create A Session" (starting Feb. 9…but start thinking about what you want to say now…)

If you're a company flush with cash and a desire to get in front of an active slice of Nashville's digital community, then we reaaaaaaaally want to talk to you, and encourage you to check out the Sponsor page linked here.

If you're an interested newcomer in the world of digital media, or if you a seasoned pro just looking to get an energy boost about your chosen field of interest, I can guarantee you'll find something that will fit your needs Saturday, March 6 at Cadillac Ranch.

I'm so confident of it that, if you're not satisfied, I'll give you your entrance fee back.

Will you be one of The Five?

I don't like marketing to my friends.

Yes, I said it, and my myriad of recently added social media-focused acquaintances are rolling their eyes at me, scoffing at the "old media guy hopelessly stuck in the past."

"Don't you know that it's all about relationships?" they'd likely chide. "Everybody shares, everybody benefits, blah blah blah."

Perhaps. Perhaps this is all the wave of the present. But it still feels weird.

Case in point: Today I went to a reputable music site run by people I know and trust and like (NoiseTrade.com) to acquire music by someone I know and trust and like (Sarah Masen's 2007 EP A History of Lights and Shadows).

The NoiseTrade model (as it exists now, but will change in the very near future) espouses two modes of acquisition: "Pay What You Like," enabling direct payment to the artist, or supply them five email addresses, and let the system send out your recommendation of the music you just downloaded to friends of your choosing.

I pursued the latter course, because I am, after all, a full-time freelance writer (read: bereft of cash).

But two of the email addresses I gave weren't so much bogus as they were, well, me. (Sorry, Sarah.)

It's not that I don't think many of my friends wouldn't enjoy Sarah's music, because many of them already do.

It's just that I feel bad for sending them even more email, unbidden, in yet another piece of the omnipresent marketing puzzle that has become our everyday lives.

However, I want to continue to discover music, to support NoiseTrade and the artists they serve, and to help spread the word of the good things I find.

So, then…I'm asking your permission. Who wants to be a member of The LargeLandMammal Five? Who wants to be alerted when I find something on NoiseTrade (or similar services) that allow free and legal music downloads, based on email acquisition.

(I will, in return, serve gladly as one of Your Five, if you so choose.)

If I get enough response, I'll even break it down further, creating Fives for different styles of music, like singer/songwriter, power pop, rock 'n' roll, Brazilian goat herding, etc.

I just want to help serve a community of music fans that wants to be served, rather than just scattershooting random emails at friends and running the risk of denting our relationship by becoming "that guy."

Who's in?

In praise of the dinosaurs...

In my bio for PodCamp Nashville, I say that I'm an operator of new media, but a defender of old media. And I will continue to stick to that mostly self-appointed task, in this era of old being routinely quashed and ignored by the new (unless you're Conan O'Brien.)

One of the great characters I got to work with in my salad days at the Nashville Banner was Bob Battle, whose official title at the time was "senior business editor" but whose real title was "who you go to when you needed a phone number." Bob knew everything and everybody, having spent his entire life in Nashville and his entire career newspapering at the Banner.

Bob passed away Friday, January 22, and I'm grateful that the final time I saw him, at the Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue event in 2008, I got a warm handshake and a smile. It was an event at which Bob was a fixture as a judge, and he was reveling in the attention he received as the barbecue glitterati (yes, they exist) lined up to greet him.

(By the way...I'm linking to the first-day Tennessean obit, even though it's a touch incomplete. Why? Because the second-day story's headline speaks only of Bob's role as semi-occasional columnist for a Tennessean regional publication, not the near five decades he toiled for the Banner. If it was a young copy editor who wrote that headline, they should be admonished. If it was anybody who's been in this town longer than a decade, they should be beaten soundly with multiple copies of the Banner's final edition. End of rant.)

Another talent cut from that same cloth a half-generation later is Tim Ghianni, who wrote this more realistic tribute to Mr. Battle and his role within the halls of the city's afternoon newspaper. Tim, as per usual, paints a great picture of the man, flaws and all, that makes one wish they could be whisked back to those days of capturing a city's heartbeat via words and pictures on pulped wood and ink.

As someone four decades Mr. Battle's junior, I always felt when I started at the Banner that I was coming in at least one era too late. And I responded to Tim's column this way...

I do not lament for Bob, Eddie, C.B., Mr. Russell and the like, because they got to do the job the way it was meant to be done.

I lament for those of us who got to do the job, for a little or a long while, in the midst of the numbers meaning more than the product.

I also lament for the generation existing in "journalism schools" right now who will never work alongside not only their peers, but talented folks mid-career, much less the "dinosaurs" who have so much to offer because they know where the bodies are buried, not only within the communities they're charged with covering but also within the organizations that cut their checks.

They're going to be caught up in an endless loop of overreacting to an underinformed audience's ignorance, rather than do the job of actually informing that audience. Message boards, search engines and social media crowdsourcing will be their fall back, rather than working the phones or pounding the pavement.

And their "brand managers" or "producers," rather than their editors, will keep track of how much time they spend in their chairs rather than how many stories they break. (Oh, wait...)

I do count myself lucky to have spent my brief time in full-time newspapering with a group of people who never had enough time or enough resources, but spent every day maximizing both, and having the more-than-occasional blast of fun doing it.

And I count myself lucky to have been able to read the always engaging, ever-mystifying-as-to-where-he-found-his-subjects work of one of the greatest feature writers/biographers I've ever met.

It's not your --30-- time yet, sir.

Here's to you, Mr. Battle. And to you, Mr. Ghianni.

Moments of the Aughts...

I'm not paid nearly enough to attempt to encapsulate "the best" of the music of the decade now passed (depending on when you read this), so instead I'll focus on the songs and the situations that meant something to me. In absolutely no particular order (other than maybe the playlist to your right might make for good sequential listening...), I give you my Moments of the Aughts.

"Not That Cool" by Will Hoge
I'd known about Will for years, having seen him around town in various band/solo configurations (plus having worked in the same building with his dad Peyton for a number of years). But it wasn't until I was driving through the southern Illinois countryside listening to this song on a pre-release of his major label debut Blackbird On A Lonely Wire that I got the gut-punch that told me this guy was the real deal. I remain a huge fan.

"Vertigo" by U2
Yeah, I'm a late-comer to the party, but this was the decade where I learned to love U2. Sure, I was around for all the '80s stuff, but for whatever reason, that era of U2 just irritated me. Then the '90s stuff just pissed me off, because here was a band that went from being a smidge self-righteous to fully self-centered. But with All That You Can't Leave Behind, I saw and heard a U2 that took a step back, saying "OK, we just spent the better part of 15 years believing our own press. We're going to get back to making rock 'n' roll now." And then, in the wake of 9/11, the Irish foursome became the prototype of an American band, and the back half of the Elevation Tour helped to salve the wounds. They were one of us. This particular track I loathed when it first came out, thinking I'd heard them do it (or something very much like it) a dozen times over the years. It took a road trip with "my buddy Ed" to Lynchburg, Tenn. for a freelance job for us both to realize what a kick-ass song "Vertigo" is. Yes, they've careened a bit back into the ethereal navel-gazing mode with the last record, but I'm way more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt now than I was 10 years ago. Plus, Bono walked over my head this year. (hey, T-Veg, remember that time...?)

"What Do I Do Now" by Sam & Ruby
I knew I wasn't gonna be alone when Sam & Ruby's debut took my breath away. I didn't know the Associated Press was going to name it the No. 1 album of 2009, but I couldn't agree more. As much as I frequently lament the lack of truly outstanding material emerging from the morass that is the music business today, Sam Brooker and Ruby Amanfu have forged a partnership that has generated the sexiest mind-moving record you'll hear this year. Or, at this rate, any other.

"Paranoia in B Major" by The Avett Brothers
Gonna refer you back to the Record Store Day post from earlier this year. Again, 'twas wonderful to see a young band get their licks in in front of a young, appreciative crowd that sang along with every word, especially on this song.

"Chief" by Patty Griffin
In 2000, I got the simultaneous pleasure/consternation of seeing Patty Griffin play in front of the biggest crowds of her career opening for the Dixie Chicks. A dozen times, I watched arenas full of people meet one of the greatest singer-songwriters of her generation and have absolutely no clue what to do with her. No matter...the people who need to know Patty Griffin know Patty Griffin. And they (we) love her. Hearing "Chief" for the first time on a pre-release of 1000 Kisses, then hearing it again in the confines of the Belcourt Theatre and the Ryman Auditorium over the course of the following couple of years just underscored what a truly talented artist she is. (And just wait until you hear the upcoming Downtown Church, if you haven't already...it's spectacular.)

"Hey Pretty" by Poe
It was the early days of The Rage (back when it was pamphlet-size, yet had plenty of room/resources for people to, you know, write things?), Poe dropped her second full-length album titled Haunted, which had the story points of being recorded completely digitally and was a tie-in with her brother Mark Danielewski's novel House of Leaves. I didn't really care about all that. I just knew that it sounded freakin' awesome throughout, living up to its title in many spots, with Poe's voice able to send chills in the midst of defiance. I remember laying on the floor of my office spinning the record over and over again, soaking it in. Still a favorite. (What is it about me and loving bands that only make two records?)

"Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson
Yeah, here's the surprise entry. Because if you know me, you know I hate American Idol. Wait, hate isn't good enough. LOATHE it. I think it's the embodiment of everything that's wrong with both the music biz and television today, and I can't wait for it to run its course. That said, I freakin' love this song, wrote as much in a one-shot magazine piece I did, and was reminded why in a recent "All Songs Considered" episode wrapping up the decade. Big production, big vocals, big hooks...it's a reminder of what pop music should be. And yes, I'm only slightly embarrassed by liking it so much.

"Heaven" by Los Lonely Boys
I remember having lunch with the Garza brothers at La Hacienda on Nolensville road sometime in 1998. They were all in their teens (in Ringo's case, just barely), and their dad had moved them from San Angelo, Texas to Nashville, in hopes of them becoming country stars. That didn't pan out, but as they grew into their own as musicians and fully embraced their rock side, a powerful power trio emerged. It was really cool to watch their career take off back in '03 via this song.

"Work" by Jars of Clay
And here's another set of musicians I've known since they were in their teens...well, one of 'em anyway. I've watched Jars of Clay have explosive success and ridiculously high expectations placed on them, and make some head-scratchingly interesting musical choices, and still watch them reinvent and redefine themselves over a decade and a half. For me, "Work" represented an unleashing for Jars, and I first heard it in two contexts in the same night, both at Nettwerk's space just off Music Row. First, as an acoustic move, the likes of which I'd heard them do dozens of times over the years, and it didn't really take. It was when their short performance was over, and they pumped the recorded version through the speaker that I realized this record was going to be a monster of a different color. It was Jars rocking out in a fashion I'd been hoping for for years.

"Killing Him" by Amy LaVere
Memphis girl. Plays a stand-up double bass that's way bigger than she is. Indescribable voice. Played this song during an XM Radio "in the round" event at AMA '08 that also featured Jim Lauderdale, Todd Snider and Lyle Lovett. Yes, she sang this song while standing next to LYLE FREAKIN' LOVETT. Love it, love her.

"Diablo Rojo" by Rodrigo y Gabriela
All the years I've been doing this (whatever "this" as it relates to my "career" is), I still can't write while listening to music, unless the music is instrumental sans lyrics. I somehow got on a bit of a flamenco kick a few years ago, and really wanted to find something new and different from that world. Enter Rod y Gab, former punk rock kids turned flamenco masters. Their runs will leave you breathless.

"Radio Nowhere" by Bruce Springsteen
"57 Channels And Nothing On" for the iTunes/BitTorrent generation. When are people going to realize that radio can still work? But for it to do so, it has to be relentlessly local, that it has to not only reflect but be woven deeply into the community it serves? Worldwide exposure on the Internet is great, but it doesn't do you any good when the people "out there" don't affect what you're doing (read: patronize your advertisers) "right here."

"Worry Too Much" by Buddy Miller
Buddy's Universal United House of Prayer record was a staple for me when it came out, a moving, touching, cautionary gospel record in an age when "Christian music" has lost its identity (right alongside most of American Christianity). This cover of Mark Heard's classic came to mind when I heard that Buddy had suffered a heart attack while out on the road with Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin, and even though I don't know the man all that well, I can't explain how happy I was to see him shuffle into Expo Design Center a few weeks later, only hours back in town, scraggily bearded but grateful to still be around. So say we all, Buddy.

"Mexican Wine" by Fountains of Wayne
Like I said before, I'm a sucker for hooks. And while "Stacy's Mom" got FoW a fair spate of national attention (and former VP Al Gore showing up at an Exit/In show got them notice on the local level), it was this opener of the Welcome Interstate Managers record that really sucked me in. I love the fuzzy jangle detailing 21st Century "circle of life," leading in to the big crunchy guitar-and-snare attack that makes power pop so damn fun.

"Ego" by Fugitive Glue
Speaking of power pop and Nashville, FuGlu is a four-man 2GBD project from some of Music City's finest session/side men. The cool thing is everybody involved (Eliot Houser, Craig Wright, Michael Webb and Rick Plant) is pretty much interchangeable from both an instrumental and vocal standpoint; everybody plays everything and sings to boot. The fact that it's a song about ego as played by a band without a lot of individual egos about who does what makes it even sweeter. (And if you get a chance, head over to the band's MySpace page and spin the seminal classic, "Everybody Sucks But Us.")

"Don't Let Me Down" by Go Jane Go
I wrote about my friend Kristy West and her band Go Jane Go a couple of years ago here. I like that it's pop/punk that's a little raggedy. It's Kristy flexing her muscles as a songwriter, performer, recording artist and frontwoman. Is it going to make her a superstar? Likely not. But it's great to see people expand their artistic skills, to get into position to get into position should the right break come their way. Plus, it's just fun.

"Joining A Fan Club" by Jellyfish
Yeah, this isn't from the Aughts. It's just barely from the '90s. But it represents one of the first musical obsessions I developed when I moved here early in the previous previous decade, and it's a record that I return to again and again when the mundanity of music without filters starts to get to me.

"Going In The Right Direction" by Robert Randolph & The Family Band
When a local publicist approached me to write a story about a New York kid coming out of the "sacred steel" tradition of the House of God church, I was skeptical at best. And then I heard RR&tFB's live, pre-label release Live At The Wetlands. And when I was able to peel myself off the back wall I was blown to, I jumped at the chance to interview this pedal steel whiz kid. The cooler thing was, months later, when I would run into him again at Nashville River Stages mere moments before he took the stage, he remembered my name and asked how my folks were doing, a subject that came up in our previous interview. Oh, yeah...this was after he'd basically been awake for the previous 48 hours, having played in Australia opening for Dave Mathews Band (I think), flown across the planet, got on a bus in New York and riding down to Nashville. Great guy, even better music.

"Everything Will Never Be OK" by Fiction Plane
Musical nepotism frequently doesn't work out all that well. But I was OK with Fiction Plane opening for The Police on their reunion tour a couple of years ago, because at least FP had given it a go as a baby band, attempting as best they could to minimize the familial connection found via frontman Joe Sumner. Still, when I saw the band at Nashville's famed Exit/In, the parallels with Joe's single-pseudonymed pater familias was ridiculously evident.

"Love Isn't Made" by Jon Foreman
I've talked to Jon Foreman as he's been in a number of different roles over the past few years: frontman for Switchfoot (his most well-known role), partner in the collective Fiction Family and solo artist releasing a series of four, season-themed EPs. This track from the Spring EP vaulted its way back into my consciousness via a random iTunes "genius" playlist as I was driving across Nashville on a recent Friday night, the fog of human interaction uncertainty obscuring a lot of things. The chorus/mantra "don't let the panic bring you down" didn't so much snap me from my reverie as reassure me that I was far from alone in feeling the way I did at that very moment. Identification is a powerful tool.

"Red Morning Light" by Kings of Leon
2009 found the Followill boys finally getting the Stateside success they'd long craved, and of course, they spat at it sideways (see also: Nathan's recent "mom jeans" comment.) But this moment from the beginning of their debut record always reminds me of seeing them for the first time at the old 12th and Porter and walking away thinking "These guys are barely competent on their instruments, but there's something there." Three years later, they're opening for U2 on the Vertigo Tour, and I got to witness some incredible rock 'n' roll behavior over dinner at Fleming's in an interview just before the tour kicked off.

"American Dirt" by Matthew Ryan vs. The Silver State
Matthew Ryan is a gritty genius. I have this very vivid memory of sitting in a shopping mall somewhere in Alabama, transcribing an interview and quickly writing a feature on Ryan in the days right after 9/11. The interview happened before that horrible day, but the feelings conveyed therein (and found frequently in his work over the years) were prescient. Life is hard. Living in America is hard. And it's not going to get any easier, and we might as well admit it. This comes from his "band project" Vs. The Silver State, and I love how bad he makes me feel in the midst of listening to his songs.

"The Wrong Thing To Do" by Mudcrutch
Mudcrutch is Tom Petty's pre-Heartbreakers band from his teenage years in Florida, and when they got back together in 2008, they basically put out the best Heartbreakers album we'd heard in years. Though that project, I got to interview guitarist Tom Leadon and keyboardist Benmont Tench, and they were both espousing the idea that you should never put too much of your past away, because it might come back and be better than you expected. Plus, every guy can relate to the chorus "I got a woman waiting/at the top of the stairs/it's the wrong thing to do/but I don't care..."

"Horseshoes & Hand Grenades" by Trent Summar & The New Row Mob
In the summer of 2001, Trent Summer had a song out talking about creating his own Jungle Room, so I asked him when was the last time he'd been to Graceland. He had to sheepishly admit that, at that point, he'd never been. I got a great lede out of it, and I've been a big appreciator of Trent's talents ever since. He's one of those guys who writes killer country hooks and can deliver a high-energy show like nobody's business, but it just hasn't happened for him in the way he deserves. Here's hoping he will keep plugging away.

"Jesus On The Mainline" by Ollabelle
A ramshackle post-9/11 NYC bar choir turned recording group turned out a spiritually laced debut record, devoid of the posturing and politics of the "Christian music business," making it my favorite "gospel record" of 2004.

"Every Little Thing About You" by Raul Malo
True story: Walking up 2nd Avenue late at night, sometime early in the decade. The "world famous" pink NashTrash bus passes and all of a sudden I hear "Hey, it's Raul Malo!" and people start waving. At me. Nevermind that I've got about 10 inches in height on the man. But I wish I had that voice. Loved the Mavericks, love his solo stuff.

"Get Rhythm" by Reverend Horton Heat
OK, for good or ill, when you exit a three-year relationship, you should have some sort of positive take-aways. For me, it was seeing and adopting music that I normally wouldn't have. The psycho-rockabilly of The Rev is one thing that I wouldn't have sought out on my own, but I do have an appreciation for now. (Plus, I've got that whole "West Texas oil field brat" thing in common with Jim Heath, so we actually had a couple pretty good conversations.)

"Rock & Roll" by The Clutters
Big, crashy, Farfisa-laced, crunchy-chorded rock 'n' roll. The Clutters' first record was absolutely sublime in its primality. Very fond memories of nights at The Basement and Exit/In etching these grooves into my memory.

"I Believe In A Thing Called Love" by The Darkness
From the sublime to the ridiculous. The Darkness was a camera flash of spandex metal that broke up the emo fabric that balled up most of the decade. Saw them first at a converted church in Atlanta (where members of Aerosmith and Cheap Trick had hung around after their shed show the night before just to see this batch of lunatic Brits), and then later at the Muni here in Nashville. I interviewed the brothers Hawkins, separately, the day after they picked up one of Great Britain's biggest songwriting awards. And just like that, they were gone...

"Still Learning How To Fly" by Rodney Crowell
Crowell is still one of the greatest hybrids in the business: part journalist, part storyteller, part protest singer, part troublemaker. His four-album arc this decade (The Houston Kid, Fate's Right Hand, The Outsider and Sex and Gasoline) are as vivid a portrait of one-man's life (not necessarily always autobiographical, but frequently) as you're going to find committed to bits.

"100 Days, 100 Nights" by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
If you're not stirred by the soul-shaking talents of Ms. Jones and her cadre of Dap-Kings, then I weep for your past, present and future. Finally got the chance to interview her (and Dap-Kings bandleader Binky Griptite), on the dusty plains of Zilker Park during the 2008 Austin City Limits Music Festival, and she's every bit the firebrand off-stage as she is on it. Go see them next time they're in your town...you will not regret it.

"Zombieland" by T Bone Burnett
It feels like T Bone finally got his long overdue reception as "big-time producer" this decade, with the O Brother soundtrack blowing up at the beginning, and the Plant/Krauss combo and Costello/Sugarcanes collabo rounding out the end. But my favorite thing was his solo record The True False Identity, a record he admitted to me he was worried if Nashville would "get." I don't know about the rest of the city, but speaking for myself (and by extension, the thousand or so at the spectacular show at City Hall), I get it. And I continue to use the line "Machines always do just what you tell them to do/As long as you do what they say" as one of my .sig files to this day.

"Whine Whine Twang Twang" by The Doyle & Debbie Show
I have nothing more to add that is either relevant or true.

"Up To The Roof" by Blue Man Group with Tracy Bonham
Some people can look at the azure aesthetes/PVC-weilding percussionists of BMG and think "one trick pony." But their "rock record" The Complex was every bit as original and thrilling as their stage show, and the tour supporting it was equally impressive. (Google "Words On The Left" and see if you can make any sense of it.) I somehow ended up with front-row seats for the spectacle at TPAC, and it was the most visually stunning night of rock 'n' roll I've ever experienced. And Tracy Bonham's contribution to this track is my favorite part of a record I still pull out of the stacks frequently.

"Conservative Christian, Right Wing Republican, Straight, White, American Males" by Todd Snider
Todd sure likes his list songs. And I can relate, considering this is the decade I veered away from some (not all) of the characteristics of this song's antagonists and toward some (not all) of the characteristics of its protagonists. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

"The Highway's Coming" by Tommy Womack
And we finish with some of the most sage words ever committed to tape (or whatever digital thingamjig passes for tape these days): "Leave the banjo...take the sausage." Tommy's another one of those troubadours whose talents I've admired from afar and have enjoyed conversations with when I get the chance. And you have to love interview subjects who aren't afraid to get quippy, as Tommy was when I asked him in 2002: When did rock ‘n’ roll become a dirty word? His answer: "About 12 years ago, I seem to remember the party where they declared it a dirty word, and it was a weird new world the next day." This track is both an ode to the Golden Rule and to circular logic, every bit of which we're gonna need as we cross the threshold into this new decade.

Which really doesn't start until this time next year, but I'll leave that argument to the numerically anal-retentive. Me, I like fives and zeros, so Happy New Decade, ever'body...

What will *you* be doing when '010 arrives?

There are still a handful of people who remember Guilty Pleasures' origin, back in what we lovingly (or wistfully or hungoveredly) refer to as "the Slow Bar days."

Once more, back into the archives, for a look at what has turned into a Nashville New Year's Eve tradition (for which you can snag tickets by clicking here). But back then, it was usually just a sweaty, loud, packed trip down a more recent memory lane.

From the Nov. 20, 2002 issue of The Rage:

What's Your Guilty Pleasure?

It always looks different in the daytime.

Especially when you were there last night till late-thirty, riding high on the after-effects of a packed, sweaty house that was rockin' all night, what with it being Guilty Pleasures' ''Rock Night'' and all. But the rag-tag, fugitive, fleet-fingered members of Nashville's greatest loosely configured '70s and '80s cover band are back at it again this fall afternoon. There may be football on the TV over the bar, but there's also Trisha Brantley's ''big book of lyrics,'' and there are songs to be learned.

What? You thought Grimey, Kimbrough, Tashian, Deaderick, Gerhke, Tommy, Marna, Kat, Kim, Masa, Jen, Jocelyn, Jeremy and whoever else ends up on the Slow Bar's stage know all those tunes by heart? Think again....

''We got it, man!'' exclaims Slow Bar proprietor/Guilty Pleasures guitarist Mike Grimes as I walk in the door. He's not talking to me, though; he's encouraged by the fact that their rendition of Heart's Alone, featuring Jocelyn Taylor and Brantley on vocals, has come together so quickly. Tonight, Grimes notes later, is ''Chick Night,'' with a power ballad-heavy rundown destined to bring out the Benatar-lovin' best from band and crowd alike.

After a verse and chorus, the band has the instrumental rudiments down; now it's just a case of locking in the harmonies, which, on a Heart song, ain't an easy task. Keyboardist John Deaderick is pretty much warbling as high as his lanky frame will let him, and Jocelyn is trying to find the right place for her rich soprano. Brantley is the utility infielder, cracking the whip to keep the rehearsal flowing, shuffling around the reams of paper that make up the Guilty Pleasures ''songbook,'' and even providing some last-minute stage attire for horn guy/singer Tommy Keenum from her vintage clothing enterprise, The Hip Zipper. Right now, though, she's waiting for Jocelyn to find her vocal comfort place, which is where she'll jump in for the harmony part. ''You pick a note and I'll follow you,'' Trisha says, mostly patiently.

That's how it goes for a Guilty Pleasures rehearsal. They try to mix up the show as much as possible (save for guitarist Will Kimbrough's spot-on delivery of Journey's Lights, which always kicks off the night), but the experience and versatility of the players lets the singers play around a little bit.

Sometimes all it takes is one pass, as it does this day with Kevin Rhoads, a shaven-headed kid who has apparently spent way too much time listening to Vanilla Ice. Rhoads walks in while the band is picking up Annie Lennox's Why, with Marna Taylor wailing away while bassist Daniel Tashian plucks out his part prone on the floor. The band takes a moment to reset, then launches into Ice Ice Baby, for which Rhoads mounts the stage and doesn't miss a word, syllable or Rob Van Winkle vocal nuance. And when the song is over, just like that, he's gone.

Sometimes it takes a little experimentation, as with the re-creation of the Phil Collins/Philip Bailey hit Easy Lover. They cycle through four different sets of male vocalists in about 30 seconds before handing the assignment to Tashian and Keenum. With Keenum doubling Bailey's ridiculously high vocal parts, it's agreed this one is better earlier in the night, and tentative set lists are starting to form.

And then there are times when it takes just a little more effort to get a song off the ground. Japanese-American folk-rocker Masa needs four runs through My Sharona to get the lyrics down. (''You guys won't know what I'm saying anyway,'' he accurately notes later on.) Kat Martin, Keenum and Jocelyn need a little extra time for the ornate ''choreography'' required for Salt 'N' Pepa's Push It. And, as the band approaches the seventh hour of rehearsal (following an equal amount of rehearsal time plus a nearly four-hour show the night before), the appeal of learning Boys Don't Cry's I Wanna Be A Cowboy is just about nil.

Eventually the rehearsal breaks up, but by around 10:30 p.m., when the lights go down in the city and the sun shines on the bay, the crowd wedged into the bar that has become an East Nashville mainstay will have little to no idea that the players on the platform before them have been aiming for this moment since about noon today. The crowd is just there for the music and the memories. And so are Grimey, Kimbrough, Tashian, Deaderick, Gerhke, Tommy, Marna, Kat, Kim, Masa, Jen, Jocelyn, Jeremy and whoever else ends up on the Slow Bar stage.

–Lucas Hendrickson

Getting below the Surface...

Turn up the radio...

It feels a little weird to sit and reminisce about decades-old audio equipment while listening to Pandora, but there seems to be an influx of stories and blog posts honoring the 30th anniversary of the Walkman and various other music consumption gear.

So when I started seeing several places mentioning a website devoted to boomboxes (look under the "Golden Years" section), naturally my curiosity got rolling. Namely...would they have a photo and/or a mention of my very first portable stereo?

The answer: yup.

"Another Sanyo, this one from 1983 boasts a 4 band tuner, 10 step VU/Sound Level LED display and AMSS, aka automatic music search. What's AMSS? It's a "smart" feature that allows you to rewind or fast forward through songs, then stopping just before the next one begins (similar to skipping through a CD's tracks). It's nothing more than a noise detection mechanism, that stops the motors when the player hits a spot on the tape with no audio."

I can't remember if it was a birthday or Christmas gift, but that thing got hauled all over West Texas to innumerable athletic events, and as with previous generations of student-athletes that attended my small, private alma mater high school, there was the unspoken agreement that if music with "objectionable content" was being played in the van (yeah, we traveled in vans...we were that small), several occupants would cough loudly when the objectionable word(s) would come up. Our coaches/teachers must've thought there was an odd case of pleurisy that only appeared during weekend athletic trips.

It was also part of my audio arsenal throughout college, and even made the move to Tennessee, finally settling in my bathroom and serving as my morning entertainment as I got ready to head to the Banner at 5:15am. I'm sure my neighbors appreciated that.

I also can't remember what eventually happened to it, but I think the thing finally shorted out due to residing in a bathroom for a few years.

I wonder...is there going to be this same kind of nostalgia when the iPod generation starts getting early onset mail from AARP? I'm betting not.

Stories you never want to see...

Much less have to report...much less have to think about...much less have happen in the first place...

I spent an afternoon with Steve McNair in the summer of 2004 getting photos for Sports Nashville magazine. You could tell McNair had a lot on his mind that afternoon, but was receptive to the ideas that were being thrown out to him.

My most vivid memory comes from when we had him down by a creek on the property where we were shooting. We kept moving around trying to get the right angle or right light, but McNair was perfectly content with the fishing pole we'd put in his hands to just cast a few times into this stream. It was the most relaxed we saw him all day.

It now stands in stark contrast to the news of the day, a story that's probably only going to get uglier as the details emerge.

Rest in peace, Steve. I'll always remember your strength on the field, and your smile beside that stream.

USA TODAY: "CMA Festival hits all the right notes"

(This story appeared in the Monday, June 15 edition of USA TODAY.)

As one-half of what brought the music world's attention to Tennessee this weekend, Nashville's CMA Music Festival attracted thousands of fans and dozens of country artists. USA TODAY took it all in.

Get the party started: Rodney Atkins served as grand marshal for the downtown parade that kicked off CMA Fest Wednesday, an honor he didn't learn about until the day before and one that allowed Atkins and his family (wife Tammy Jo and son Elijah) to have time together before the hectic five days ahead. "She took her flip-flops off and she rode through the parade barefoot," Atkins said. "We just got to be ourselves, have fun and do it together as a family."

Shift into overdrive: The members of Little Big Town see the festival as the equivalent of a sports season's opening day. "It's the thing that puts it into the extra gear of summer," said Jimi Westbrook. While the group's Wednesday fan club party was at the beginning of the festivities, Kimberly Schlapman says planning for next year's bash starts before the last autograph is signed. "Every year when we finish a fan club party, we go, 'Here's what we're doing next year and here's what we're doing different, here's what we liked and here's what we didn't like.' "

Picking and choosing: Wednesday's most anticipated event was the Alan Jackson club gig marking his 20 years of hitmaking, and fans had to make some tough choices if they wanted to get in on the rare opportunity. "We had to leave (Little Big Town's party) to come get in line for a wristband for Alan," said Linda Stolting of Memphis. "We stood in line for about two hours to get in there, but we could only stay for a few songs."

So you're saying Alan Jackson wins out? "Every time."

Caution, superstar traffic ahead: Euphemisms about her looks aside, Kellie Pickler literally stopped traffic Wednesday afternoon while filming bits for ABC's CMA special airing Aug. 31. Coming out of the world-famous Ernest Tubb Record Shop on Broadway with TV crew in tow, Pickler was instantly mobbed by fans who moved with her in an amorphous blob as she attempted to cross the street.

"This is amazing!" Pickler squealed. "As long as everybody's having a good time and nobody gets hit, then it's great."

The future is now: Marty Stuart's Late Night Jam can usually be counted on as a place to find young and upcoming acts — but not always ones as young as the showstoppers called The Martin Brothers. Guitarist March, 11, and singer Kell, 8, are sons of Stuart's Fabulous Superlatives bass player Paul Martin, and the boys played and sang a pair of numbers with Stuart's band, garnering a standing ovation Wednesday night from the Ryman Auditorium crowd. "You don't have steady jobs and you've got a pretty girl driving you around," Stuart said, referring to beaming mom/vocalist Jamie. "Congratulations, boys — you're professional musicians."

That's dedication: A line started forming alongside the Nashville Convention Center at 9 p.m. Wednesday for signing sessions with Carrie Underwood and Reba McEntire that didn't start until 1 p.m. the next day. "As soon as we found out they were going to be here, we knew we had to be in line," said Amanda Breeden of Martinsburg, W.Va., who was in the prime spot for the Thursday sessions.

"I just can't believe the devotion and the support they always give," McEntire said after her session. "It still amazes me that they will come to Nashville and do that to get an autograph."

The trend presented itself again Saturday afternoon when fans started lining up at 3:30 p.m. for Taylor Swift's marathon session that began at 10 a.m. Sunday morning.

Where's a ShamWow when you need it? Heidi Newfield used CMA Fest to signal Thursday's launch of her fan club. "I wanted to wait until I got on my feet and really got some music out there that people recognized, and to make it a little bit more special," she says. But even though she's fairly new to the solo artist thing (she's formerly of Trick Pony), she's got years of experience with the autograph pen and a quick answer to the most difficult surface on which to leave her mark.

"A sweaty head is the hardest thing to sign," Newfield says. "Sharpie just won't stay on a sweaty, shaved head."

Twist and shout: Even though Bo Bice was able to use American Idol as a springboard to the music world's attention, he admits that he can still "goob out" when he sees somebody of whom he's a fan. That includes Steve McGranahan, the "World's Strongest Redneck," who performed one of his feats of strength for Bice on Thursday, hand-twisting a horseshoe into the shape of a heart. "This is going right up there with my gold records, dude," Bice said, beaming at McGranahan. "I'm happy."

When it rains …: A 3½-hour rain delay Thursday night prevented Rascal Flatts from performing during the nightly concerts at LP Field, but the power trio made its way through the press gauntlet before the downpour. Always looking to lighten the mood, Jay DeMarcus decided to engage in a little canine conversation during the band's photo shoot with USA TODAY, exchanging barks with Julianne Hough's spaniel Lexi.

Like almost every other act appearing during the week, Rascal Flatts talked about the importance of fans and how artists in other genres are coming to realize that today's music industry requires a new level of transparency. "You are naturally personable with your fans or you aren't," DeMarcus says. "That's not something anyone can teach you."

Avoiding sophomore slump: CMA's best new artist Lady Antebellum lit up the LP Field crowd Friday night like the seasoned performers they're becoming, but the band is keenly aware of expectations for a second record looming around the corner. "We'd be lying if we said there wasn't pressure," Hillary Scott said. "It keeps you on your toes, but you can't let it consume you because then you're off your game."

CMA Fest vs. Bonnaroo: The Atlanta-based, six-piece Zac Brown Band had one of the more musically diverse weeks, being one of two bands (bluegrass family outfit Cherryholmes being the other) playing both CMA Fest and Bonnaroo. But lead singer Brown noted the two festivals shared one important denominator: "It's two different demographics, but they're all just people wanting to hear good music."

When the going gets tough: Country rocker Jason Aldean hardly slowed down Friday, racing from his prime-time slot at LP Field across the river to the Wildhorse Saloon for a fan club show benefiting the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation. If he was tired, he wasn't going to let it show. "You tell yourself that it's just a few days and they're the ones who give us a career and support us all year long, so it's a small price to pay," Aldean says.

Ring her up: Sometimes, it's as simple as picking up the phone. "He just called and asked if I wanted to do the duet with him, and I said absolutely," said Martina McBride matter-of-factly about performing with Kid Rock on Picture during Rock's "surprise" appearance Friday night. "He's a great guy and it was a blast. I had so much fun."

Bring Mom to Work Day: Though Wynonna has worked hard for her solo stardom, she does get excited about the occasional onstage reunion she and mother Naomi have as The Judds. Backstage before such an occurrence Saturday night, she admitted to nerves beyond what she normally experiences. For starters, "I never know what my mother is going to do or say," Wynonna says. Then "I never know what the fans are going to do or say to me on stage. It's somewhere between panic and peace."

Dude, where are you supposed to be? CMA media relations director Scott Stem talked about a reporter from a surfing magazine showing up for credentials because he'd been told to fly to Nashville and check out the music festival, likely meaning Bonnaroo. "We weren't going to turn him away," Stem said, "but he's probably going to look funny going home with stories about Reba McEntire for a surfing magazine."

Tennessean: "Kid Rock invites Martina into the 'Picture'"

(This story appeared in The Tennessean and on TuneInMusicCity.com Sunday, June 14.)

Sometimes, it's as simple as picking up the phone.

"He just called and asked if I wanted to do the duet with him, and I said absolutely," said Martina McBride, matter-of-factly. Martina was speaking of her appearance with Kid Rock on the song "Picture" during Rock's "surprise" appearance at Friday's CMA Music Festival concert at LP Field.

"He's been to our studio before and worked, he's a great guy and it was a blast. I had so much fun."

Martina was at it again Saturday with her annual appearance at the charity auction benefiting the YWCA Domestic Violence Center. Martina says not only does the event generate much-needed funds, but it also gives her an extra bit of personal motivation.

"This coincides with my closet cleaning every year. I brought out some items that are really special to me, the dress I wore to sing at the White House for Stevie Wonder and the dress I wore on the Flameworthys a couple years ago to close the show," she said, referring to the former name of the CMT Music Awards.

"It's an opportunity for me to go through and try to figure out what would really mean a lot to my fans and what would bring the most money for the YWCA."

TIMC: "Aldean keeps music going late-night for Komen For the Cure benefit"

(This story appeared Saturday, June 13 on TuneInMusicCity.com)

So many aspects of CMA Music Festival involve hybrids.

For the fans, the week is both a vacation and a chance to celebrate their favorite music and artists. For the artists, the fan interaction merges with the opportunity to get exposed to a wider audience.

So when an event within CMA Fest can serve two purposes – late-night fan party and worthwhile cause benefit – even better.

Friday night’s Jason Aldean-headlined show at the Wildhorse Saloon featured the requisite special guests, as hitmakers Luke Bryan and Jake Owen brought the party straight over from LP Field to play short sets after newcomer Ashley Ray opened the show.

But the true stars of the night were the breast cancer patients and survivors supported by the Susan G. Komen For The Cure organization, the event’s beneficiaries. Having such an event tied in with country music’s biggest party is a natural for an organization that celebrates cancer survival alongside early detection and education.

“Country music has such a universal message and the fan base is so broad, it really helps us reach every element of the fan base with our message,” said Tracy Rode, president of the Greater Nashville affiliate of the Komen organization. “There’s so much work to be done to cure breast cancer, but everyone’s involvement can really make a difference.”

Aldean, who was whisked from his prime-time slot at the stadium to the Wildhorse, said the loss of the wife of one of his best friends to breast cancer at age 29 got him involved with the organization, and that the multi-purpose event suits him well.

“It’s something we started doing back in 2005 and it’s gotten a little bigger and better every year. It’s a really serious disease, but at the same time we have a lot of fun with the show,” Aldean said. “It’s not all about the sad side of breast cancer. There are so many people who are survivors of it, and the other thing is that affects both men and women, which is something not everybody realizes.”

“CMT Top 20 Countdown” host Lance Smith served as emcee for the event, and even amidst the hectic pace of the week, noted that this event was a personal highlight. “I get asked to do a lot of events because I’m that four-letter word – host – but really it’s just about friendships and relationships,” Smith said. “Then you look at what it’s for, and everyone’s been affected by cancer, directly or indirectly. When you see benefits like this, it’s easy to say yes, regardless of who you know.”

TIMC: "World’s Strongest Redneck works over CMA festival"

(This story appeared Friday, June 12 on TuneInMusicCity.com)

Steve McGranahan stands out.

At six feet tall and 375 pounds, the North Carolina native gets his fair share of requests for pictures. His favorite pose? Lining up his 22-inch biceps alongside somebody’s thigh. McGranahan’s arms are usually bigger.

The photo requests are merely part of the gig of being the “World’s Strongest Redneck,” the moniker McGranahan has used through stand-up comedy, motivational speaking and, most famously, appearances on CMT’s “Country Fried Home Videos” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” showcasing his feats.

McGranahan’s fame has literally been built by hand, using his prodigious hand strength to rend, morph or otherwise obliterate objects into shreds — or works of art. One of McGranahan’s favorite tricks is to twist — by hand — a horseshoe into the shape of a heart.

He did it back stage Thursday at Cadillac Ranch for an appreciative and awed Bo Bice as part of the hectic schedule McGranahan was keeping during CMA Music Festival.

In-between the A-list superstars and the street-level performers just trying to get noticed during the Country Music Association’s festival is a galaxy of potential stars with a story, a gimmick and some professional experience trying to make that next step. McGranahan knows that even 10 years into this kind of career, there are logical progressions to that step.

“The goal here is getting sponsors, growing the brand out there, hopefully getting some more support,” McGranahan says. “There’s strategy behind it, sure, but a lot of it is just going through the doors as they open. We did more in the first day of my visit this year than we did the whole time last year. Each year, we build upon what we did last year and it just keeps getting bigger and better.”

In the short term, McGranahan hopes to shift his act to a touring support role for artists who love what he does while continuing to hone his feature performances. “It’s all about getting out there, getting that 15 minutes of glory every night, get the crowd fired up, laughin’, happy and exuding endorphins, then boom, let main act hit.”

Meanwhile, McGranahan is more than willing to methodically work at elevating his profile, much the same as he is methodical about honing and performing his tricks. He prays aloud before hand rolling a frying pan into what he called a “redneck hot dog cooker or blow dryer,” an object that fetched $200 during the live auction at Andy Griggs’ celebrity poker tournament.

McGranahan is careful to wrap the ends of a 60d nail (more a spike, really… 6 inches long and one gauge thick) with cowhide straps before bending it in half…one of his favorite greetings. When he hands you the nail, you can feel the heat emanating at the bend point.

And McGranahan knows what he does is unique, so much so that he offers anyone who can bend the 60d nail in half a free “World’s Strongest Redneck” T-shirt. He hasn’t parted with much clothing over the years.

“In the 10 years I’ve done this, I’ve had six guys get free shirts,” McGranahan says. “And three of ’em were from Pennsylvania. There are some strong dudes there.”

So how far can the really strong ones who don’t make it, but give it their all, bend the nail? “Usually about 10 degrees,” he says. “Beer muscles show up with these guys sometimes, too. And they wake up the next day wondering why every muscle in their bodies hurt.”

New Day for "Tonight"...

Big day in the media world yesterday as Conan O'Brien took over as the fifth host of "The Tonight Show."

And for the first time in 17 years, it felt like "The Tonight Show."

Big, expansive stage. Band to the right. Interview set to the left. Announcer/sidekick at about 8 o'clock as we're looking at the host.

And an emcee who has hit his stride in such a way that he should not only bring his hard-earned audience forward an hour with him, but is savvy enough to get the folks used to a certain sort of post-late news comedic world to stick around.

The show's cold open, with Conan realizing he hadn't done the final item on his show prep checklist and having to sprint from sea to shining sea (or at least to the Universal lot), also did one other, slightly more subversive thing.

Set with the background of Cheap Trick's "Surrender," it said that this is going to be the "Tonight Show" for Generation X, that much-maligned and now-suffering group of folks in their late 30s, early 40s who live in an absurdist world not of their own choosing.

We're the ones hopefully with kids, jobs, responsibilities (clearly, I'm not talking about myself...) that just want a look-in on the world from between our toes as we start drifting off to sleep.

And sometimes, we want that look to be a little off-kilter...Leno was never really able to provide that, certainly not in the way his predecessor could (Carnac and/or Art Fern, anyone?) and not in the way his successor will.

Amazing how different two guys from Boston can be. Part of it is their background: Leno as a stand-up guy who slugged it out in front of club crowds for years, O'Brien plucked out of a writer's room on The Simpsons who suffered his performance growing pains in front of a national TV audience (albeit small those first few years.)

But after close to 3,000 hours spent with a camera pointing at him, Conan's got this stuff down pat.

And say what you will about Leno still having a few good years in him and he's still making NBC Universal a boatload of money and he'll redefine prime-time when his new show debuts in September...it was time Conan graduated to the big stage.

So congrats to the folks at the new "Tonight Show," including recently transplanted Nashvillian/music guru Jim Pitt, on their first outing. The big-name stunt booking is going to bring them plenty of eyeballs this week, but if the first show is any indication, it'll be the quality of the production that keeps them looking in.

Brother (and/or Sister), can you spare a mouse click?

So here's the deal...I'm asking for your help.

(Those of you who are sports fans and/or Tennessee Titans fans, I'm *really* asking for your help.)

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm feeling a little bit like Crash Davis from Bull Durham here. After so many years in the "getting paid for my work" leagues, I don't like to try out. (Nor do I believe in quantum physics when it comes to matters of the heart, but that's a discussion for another time.)

However, I'm finding myself in the odd position of trying out for a position...namely as an NFL correspondent for the CBSSports.com-affiliated site BleacherReport.com.

They're looking for writers in each NFL city for the upcoming season, and they're basically holding open auditions right now. Since I've been a rabid observer of NFL football since I can remember, and since there's a team in my virtual backyard, I thought I'd give it a go.

Here's where you come in...I need you to go read my stuff. I've written and posted five pieces already, with a couple more to go per the tryout requirements.

Here are the links to the pieces I've posted:

• "Getting The Center's Attention: 10 Q's For Kevin Mawae"
• "Keith Bulluck: Will He Stay or Will He Go?"
• "Staying Off The Merry-Go-Round: Titans' Coaching Staff"
• "The Line In The Sand: Titans' D-Line Key To Cecil's Success"
• "Laying Down Roots: The 1999 Tennessee Titans"
  

I need to pump up the page views. For those of you with opinions on the NFL and/or the Titans, I need some comments, criticisms, etc. (Yes, feel free to disagree with me, so many do...)

Mainly, I just need to bring my significant and oh-so-influential friend/fanbase to the party.

Can you take a few minutes and help a ridiculously tall re-emerging sports writer out?

Thanks so much...love ya, mean it...

Been there, experienced that...

(h/t to David Bean for bringing this forward...)