by Jake Morgan | Jul 12, 2010 | News Slider
We all take our own approach to individual liberty. Myself, I enjoy taking full advantage of our Constitution’s First Amendment which prohibits any law from, among other things, “infringing on the freedom of speech.” Last Sunday night, on our nation’s 234th birthday, I demonstrated this liberty by screaming “AMERICA” at the top of my lung from the Shelby Street Bridge in downtown Nashville.Everyone commemorates individual liberty in their own way, but I assure you, on July 4, 2010, there was no better way to celebrate than taking in the South’s greatest firework show over Music City, Tennessee. After finding free parking at the Tennessee State Capitol Building, my party meandered through the masses downtown to get a bird’s-eye view of the firework extravaganza. We settled centrally on the Shelby Street Bridge, which resides just above the might Cumberland. With the symphony playing in the warm summer air, the stage was set for the show of the year. The first streaming flare took to the sky as the clock struck 9:30pm. For the next half hour, the rockets’ red glare lit up Music City like, well, to quote country music artist Toby Keith, the 4th of July. It was truly a sight to behold as the incandescent lights and vibrant colors reflected on the towering duo of the Batman Building & the Pinnacle. The drumfire thundered beneath the bridge and echoed all the way down the Cumberland. Truly remarkable… To view a highlight video of the evening, click here! The South’s greatest firework show came to a triumphant close with a finale worthy of the founding fathers. (Well, maybe not Alexander Hamilton, but the...
by Chris Shappley | Jun 22, 2010 | News Slider
High expectations were a big part of the baggage I toted to my first Bonnaroo. My plans were that the four-day festival would change the way I experience music. Of course, I didn’t fully express that before the festival, simply because I wanted to cushion the fall if Bonnaroo failed to live up the hype. Now, a week or so after Dave Matthews Band closed it out, I look back and can say Bonnaroo not only lived up to the hype, it was one of the best experiences of my life. From the moment I first walked beneath the Bonnaroo arch and into Centeroo (where all of the stages are located) until DMB’s final notes, I was enchanted. The What Stage was larger than life, providing the best concert experience I’ve ever had. The three tents (This, That and The Other) housed so many great acts in a single day that I found myself having so many choices, I quickly realized I was going to have to miss several must-see shows just so I could be at another must-see. What a great problem to have. The weekend started off Thursday evening with Miike Snow at This Tent. Snow is an incredible up-and-coming artist and was the first act I knew I had to see. As I stood there listening to Snow kill his song, “Animal,” I looked around and tried to soak up the epic size of the festival around me. There were things going on everywhere. That was the moment when I knew four days wouldn’t be enough to absorb everything. From Miike Snow, my friends and I went over to That Tent where we spent the rest...
by Tim Ghianni | Jun 15, 2010 | News Slider
With red-hot Lady Antebellum as the closers, the Grand Ole Opry’s second visit to Allen Arena tonight promises to be memorable. Allen Arena became one of the flood-relief homes of the Grand Ole Opry on June 5, when the world’s longest continuously running radio show arrived at Lipscomb University. And tonight the music fills the arena again. The Opry House was damaged severely in the May 1-May 2 floods that devastated parts of Nashville and Middle Tennessee. The Opry House will be repaired and is scheduled to reopen in the autumn, and the show can return to its home. But for now the Opry wanders around Nashville and demonstrates that the music – not the structure — is the heart of the iconic broadcast. While waiting for the repairs to be completed at the Grand Ole Opry House, the broadcast is setting up shop in such sites as Two Rivers Baptist Church, War Memorial Auditorium, the Ryman Auditorium (which regularly houses the show during the winter months), TPAC’s Jackson Hall, Municipal Auditorium and the Allen Arena. Prior to the first visit by the Opry to Lipscomb, Pete Fisher, Grand Ole Opry vice president and general manager, expressed excitement at adding Allen Arena to the list of places that can call the venerable show “home.” “The Grand Ole Opry is looking forward to presenting ‘The Show That Made Country Music Famous’ at Allen Arena,” he said before the June 5 show. ”We are grateful for the hospitality that Lipscomb University has extended to us. In its 85-year history, the Opry has only a handful of homes and we are excited...
by Tim Ghianni | Jun 4, 2010 | News Slider
Little Jimmy Dickens will escort Lipscomb University into the history books at 7 p.m. Saturday when he takes the stage and officially makes Allen Arena one of the homes of the Grand Ole Opry. The short-in-stature, rhinestone-and-smiles showman, who had a country song on the charts in every decade from the 1940s through the 1970s, is host of the Dollar General segment, the first half-hour of the legendary country variety and radio show. Allen Arena is stepping in to serve as host of the Opry both this Saturday and on June 15, as the world’s longest continuously running radio show lives out something of a gypsy existence in the wake of the May 1-May 2 floods. Those floods, which ravaged much of Nashville, severely damaged the Grand Ole Opry House as well as adjacent Opryland Hotel and Opry Mills mall. The Opry House will be repaired and is scheduled to reopen in the autumn, and the show can return to its home. But for now the Opry wanders around Nashville and demonstrates that the music – not the structure — is the heart of the iconic broadcast. While waiting for the repairs to be completed at the Grand Ole Opry House, the broadcast is setting up shop in such sites as Two Rivers Baptist Church, War Memorial Auditorium, the Ryman Auditorium (which regularly houses the show during the winter months), TPAC’s Jackson Hall and the Allen Arena. “The Grand Ole Opry is looking forward to presenting ‘The Show That Made Country Music Famous’ at Allen Arena,” said Pete Fisher, Grand Ole Opry vice president and general manager. ”We are...
by Aaron Schmelzer | Apr 27, 2010 | Uncategorized
Click below to listen to the latest Bison Break-In covering the Summer Celebration lecture series. here
