I do not know where to begin! My husband and I were so lucky to find The Cosmic Collective for our…read morereception! We actually found them at our local coffee shop in Nashville. It was love at first sound and I knew we had to have them for our special day. I was beyond excited when I found out they actually played weddings! Communication with Nikki was so stress free, it was so refreshing while planning. We had so many different changes they had to work with and they were so sweet about everything. They were the highlight of our party. Everyone was raving about them the whole night and a week later I'm still hearing praise from our guests. Their talent, their song list, their energy, and the way they got everyone on the dance floor exceeded our expectations. I could not imagined our special night without them. You will not regret choosing them! Thank you, again, Nikki and The Cosmic Collective! I can't wait to see y'all again soon! - Mal & Ian Mahon

Look no further!! If you're thinking about hiring a band for your wedding, party, event - this one…read moreis the way to go! Nikki and the Cosmic Collective came all the way down to Santa Rosa Beach, FL to play for our wedding and did a FANTASTIC job! We loved them so much we didn't want them to leave. They were kind and overly helpful from beginning to end. They would send us their set list and if we didn't like a few songs, they kindly replaced them and accommodated our every want and need to make our wedding day one of a kind! My husband and I were both thrilled with the way they played our first dance song, which they practiced in advance just for our wedding day! I wish we lived closer to Nashville, just so that we could see them play live more often. Thank you SO much, Cosmic Collective - you guys are true gems!! (and we just love the stellar band name)

Drew Holcomb and his wife Ellie are the voices of an awesome Nashville-based band - playing tonight…read moreat Eddie's Attic - called Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors. I've been smitten with their sound since a friend introduced me - it's a kind of warm blanket-like swirl of country and blues like Buddy Miller and Al Green, with dashes of modern songwriters a la Jason Mraz or my friend John Pringle in the mix. I find their songs irresistable and the lyrics so engaging. They tour heavily and have opened for a huge variety of acts from Sister Hazel to LosLobos. Not band for a group whose lead singer is only 26. There's also an interesting bio section that gives cool insight into Drew and both his and the group's inspiration. I can't wait to see where they go - check out the website . . . http://www.drewholcomb.com . . . my favorite is that you can listen to a whole bunch of songs as many times as you want!!

I have been working with Matt and I must say he is truly amazing!!!!…read moreno joke I have tried Guiatr zoom, Marty Music, 365 academy and even Metal Apprentice and no one was willing to bend and listen like Matt is he understands and will understand your needs and were you are in your journey.. seriously I ran into him by mistake on the internet and he has been a blessing in my guitar journey and Iam a retired guy set in my ways and I feel so confident in him and I trust him 110%.. if you need a guitar teacher this is the guy trust me !!!

The TEN is a new addition to the Nashville theater scene; they opened their first show - Romeo and…read moreJuliet - this weekend. If you go to shows for cushy chairs, snacks at intermission, and fancy props and costumes, this isn't the place for you. But if you like theater because you enjoy the experience of watching a story play out around you, you just might find a show that's to your liking. The experience is very bare-bones - folding chairs, cinderblock walls, and nothing in the way of scenery other than a raised platform painted black. It's a very intimate venue - there are chairs for about 50 people, the girl selling tickets will pop out at intermission to tell you it's time for a break. One of the people we saw on Saturday night had brought his own cushion for the chairs - BRILLIANT. You should do that. I really enjoyed their rendition of Romeo and Juliet. The Montagues and Capulets wear argyle and plaid, respectively (BRILLIANT!) which makes it very easy to follow who is angry at whom. Mercutio's performance was the best I have ever seen, on stage or on screen, hands-down. This is a particularly great show for those of you who vaguely remember reading this in junior high or who avoided it at all costs because Shakespeare is obnoxiously incomprehensible - even though they haven't modernized a single word of the script, you'll understand what's going on - and you'll even get the Nurse's saucy jokes through the veil of Shakespeare's English. Tickets are incredibly reasonably priced at $10. Keep an eye on their Twitter feed for deals - I scored 2 free tickets for retweeting the information about their opening weekend.

After a long hard week, I needed comic relief. Music City Improv to the rescue! The cast is…read moreenergetic and quick on their feet with humor. They've worked together long and thus have a chemistry that makes the comedic twists and turns work well - quickly building from funny to hilarious. I was pleased that during the second show I attended they broke into improvised songs in a few sketches. Talent! Music City Improv currently entertains at The Building, which is a small venue tucked in an alley behind Batter'd & Fried in East Nashville. The size is intimate enough that every audience member can participate and yet the energy is still high once the cast and crowd quickly warm up. There's a bar with snacks or you can BYOB to most (all?) shows. Show schedules are on their website, and most of their improv shows occur on the third Friday of the month at the time of writing.

One Saturday in August of 2010, I was having lunch at Panera with my then-girlfriend now-wife. We…read morewere discussing our plans for the day, and what we could do in the evening. It so happened that my eyes fell upon a pretty grim and ominous looking poster tacked to the community billboard at the back of the Panera. "Twilight of the Gods - Great minds die alike." A play by a new theater company in Nashville called Blackbird Theater. Curious, I looked it up on my phone and found it interesting enough that I bought us tickets for that very night. Since that first night, we've seen 3 other productions by Blackbird Theater: Arcadia, Magic and their current production, Amadeus. Blackbird Theater is a Nashville theater company by Greg Green and Wes Driver. They bill themselves as theater for the "intellectually adventurous," - in other words they specifically select plays that are challenging - in their dialog, in their ideas, in their acting and also in their production. From my experience they certainly deliver on all these. Production quality: From their very first play, I've always been impressed with their production quality. From the stage, to the props and wardrobes, to the acting - they've always have managed to create scenes specific to their era and to the mood. Acting: They've also been very skilled at finding impressive talent for their roles: In Twilight of the Gods, they had to cast for Mark Twain, Rasputin, Annie Oakley, Nietzsche and more. When you've got characters who are so well known to the public, it's easy for them to appear as caricatures, but in every case I've found the roles to be very convincing. Play selection: While I've missed two plays out of the 6 shows they've now done, from the 4 that I've seen I would say that while I definitely appreciate the plays they select, they are also not for everyone. As I mentioned, they select plays which tackle difficult material - philosophical, scientific, mathematical. That being said, the plays are far from being college lectures - they are entertaining, they are emotional, and even thrilling. As an example: The first play they had put on, Twilight of the Gods, was written by themselves (Wes Driver and Greg Green). It's a murder-mystery with notable Victorian people as the main characters. To put it brief: Clue for Grown Ups. The premise is that a wealthy intellectual is able to find historical luminaries reincarnated into present day people. With some convincing, he is able to transform these people back into their former selves - upon which they take on the appearance and mannerisms of the figures. The man's goal is to create a more enlightened age by specifically choosing a set of people who were experts in their own rites, and can discuss issues in a productive way. These discussions begin to be interrupted as the people are suddenly killed off - one by one. I managed to catch their current production, Amadeus, on opening night. Having seen the film, I wasn't sure what to expect. To put it simply, I was blown away. It was profound material and delivered better than Hollywood. For a play to span more than 30 years of time means a lot of scenes, and for characters to age. The actor who played the lead role, Salieri, was incredible as he transitioned back and forth between the young Salieri to the old. Most importantly, they managed to capture the mood, music and emotion of the story in a way that was deeper than the film (I could hear sniffles and tears of the audience). My major criticism unfortunately is with the venue - Blackbird Theater has all its shows at Lipscomb's Shamblin Theater. The theater itself is not bad: I like its proximity to some restaurants and coffee shops you can visit during intermission, and the main area is set up with circular tables that give the stage production more depth as those at the tables often feel more immersed within the play. What is really problematic for me are the chairs - which is not something I'd normally complain about. Shamblin Theater's chairs are awful - they are stiff, and upright in such away that three-quarters of the way through the production, you find yourself with a stiff lower back, and neck. The chairs are so bad they can sometimes become distracting, as you can't find a comfortable position. All in all, I'll finish off by saying that I look forward to future productions by Blackbird Theater, and there's a lot that can be said about a theater company when my only complaint is with the chairs. I encourage everyone (even those who may be intimidated by the idea of "intellectual theater") to give Blackbird Theater a shot - they're a small, local theater company that puts on high quality productions with ticket prices far less than what you'd find at TPac.

Homecoming is not really a big deal... it takes place in October and its usually packed, but its…read morenot really comparable to Rites of Spring, which takes place in April. The artists are AMAZING! I'm always surprised that we are able to get these musicians here. And ditto to the previous reviewer about differing opinions on the performances. Anyway, the prices are still $40 for the general public, but its now $15 for students.

This yearly concert is part of Vanderbilt's Homecoming festivities. Though tickets were once free…read moreto Vandy students, last year they were hiked up to $15 and now this year they went up to $20. The concert usually has Rap or Hip Hop artist headlining the show, and they tend to be whoever is most popular that year. In 2006 Common and Ludacris were our headlining men, 2007 it was Guster and Kanye West (who wore a small backpack the entire time), and this year we get the ridiculous luck of having Lil' Wayne, Lupe Fiasco, and Free Sol. The concert is open to general admission (though you get the privilege of paying $40) and you can buy your tickets either at the Sarratt box office at Vanderbilt or on ticketmaster. People usually leave the Quake with differing opinions of the night's performer -Personally, I thought Kanye was really disappointing - but nevertheless it's bound to be entertaining (If anything because the performers always manage to upset the delicate sensitivities of Vanderbilt's more conservative students).

Last night I had the honor of attending Cheekwood's inaugural Songwriters Under the Stars at the…read moreCheekwood Mansion. When welcoming all of us (a sold-out 500 person crowd!) the CEO of Cheekwood said that, a few years back, they polled people about what they would like to see more of at Cheekwood. This being Music City, we responded as expected: live music, on the beautiful grounds of Cheekwood. I have been to a few special concerts here in the past, but nothing like the amazing show I saw last night. The music of the evening was provided by the Music City Hitmakers, who live up to their name. You might recognize the major names they have written for, such as Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney, and the Eli Young Band, just to name a few. They all had number one songs to their names and awards galore and yet they were open about their lives and struggles in making music. They were backed by the absolutely incredible Nashville Studio Symphony, rockstar musicians in their own right. The arrangements of all the songs you have no doubt heard on the radio were almost better than what the performers themselves have done. These people were absolutely incredible. Set on the back lawn of the Cheekwood Mansion (called the Swan Lawn) under a beautiful October night sky, this event was everything that is Nashville. The setting, the music, the stories, just incredible. As for the finer details, here's some info: parking fills up quick when 500 people pack into an evening at Cheekwood so come early! They had gold carts whizzing about to help people get up the hill if needed. You were allowed to bring food but not booze, though they sold wine, beer, and liquor on the grounds and there were plenty of bars set up so there were never any lines. You could bring lawn chairs but they had to be more like stadium seats (the email said "you can't be able to fit a basketball under the chair" which was nice because you weren't struggling to see over anyone's head). It was a cold night so warm clothes and blankets were required but that only made it more awesome. Every single person on the Cheekwood staff and their volunteers provided assistance and support and smiles. For a first time event, they ran it perfectly. Talk is this will be a yearly or twice-yearly event. I HIGHLY recommend this experience. It was a beautiful setting with amazing music, and it kind of felt like adult storytime with all the great tales these artists told. And turns out that one of the songwriters is married to Kelly Pickler, who got called up to sing, and she was incredible. Because that is something that happens here in Nashville. You never know what surprises will occur at events like this.