Gonna Leave Nashville

Once again, the Reverend has been away from this page for a couple of weeks, and a lot has happened during my absence. First of all, we've been asked to leave the house that we've lived in since 1989. Moving will be a massive task, not only because the wife and I are incredible packrats, but also because we've collected almost two decades worth of (heavy) books, zines and CDs.

Due to some family mechanics that I won't bore any of you with, when we move next month, we'll also be leaving Nashville for the wilds of Western New York (WNY). What this means for the "Other Side Of Nashville" project is that we're not going to be able to videotape any interviews for a possible DVD before we leave town. I'm not real happy about this, but the reality of the situation is that with packing and preparing for the move in six weeks, there's no way I can talk with all the people that I wanted to tape.

That's not to say that there won't eventually be a DVD as part of the project. Right now, however, I'm going to be concentrating on a book that documents the history of the local rock music scene. I've got plenty of recorded material to use in assembling a lengthy discography, and various friends like Donna Frost, Greg Walker and Holly Duncan have provided copies of zines and tapes that have filled in some of the blanks. After we get settled in WNY, I'll get to work assembling the materials I've spent the last six months collecting into a book of some sort. I'll also get in touch with a number of people that I want to include in the book and interview them by phone or email.

I've lived in the Nashville area on-and-off since 1971, graduated from Franklin High School in '75 and, with the exceptions of a year on the road between Texas and Colorado, a brief stint in the Army and a couple of years in Detroit, I've done most of my growing up and learning and writing in Nashville's shadow. I have a lot of friends and family living here, so I'll be keeping in contact with the area, but I'll miss the "Music City" nonetheless.

While working my way through copying old issues of The Metro and Bone Music Magazine I ran across even more bands that deserve to be on the "official" project list. I also packed up a bunch of cassettes that I dug out of some boxes and hidden in corners and found a few more bands. This brings the list to a whopping 310 bands, and unless I happen across somebody significant that I've overlooked, I'm leaning towards leaving the list where it is. Of course, I could always change my mind if I run across another cassette tape or old vinyl by a Nashville band....

15 STRINGS, 9R3RO23, ATREEO,
AUTUMN REIGN, BAZOOKA JOE,
BIG SIR, BONEYARD,
DRAIN THE LOBSTER, HEGE V,
IMMORTAL CHORUS,
MOUTH FULL OF BEES,
MYSTIC MEDITATIONS, NUMBSKULL,
OVERZEALOUS, ANTHONY RIAN,
RUCKUS, THE SEVENTH SISTER,
SIT A WHILE WITH ED,
THESE ARE HOUSEPLANTS,
THIRD EYE,
LARK WATTS & RATTLESNAKE,
WIRED HITCHCOCK