Have you Seen This?: The Viral Videos of Tennessee
April 30, 2012 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
We get them in our in boxes, from Facebook Friends and Twitter- well not sure what you call people you follow on Twitter- but you have them to thank or blame. They are the flash mobs dancing to The Sound of Music, laughing babies, funny pets and almost all other subjects imaginable.
They are the viral videos and what the hulu hoop was to the 1950′s, disco to the 1970′s, these are the fad of this generation. It is hard to remember a time before You Tube and Vimeo.. you know, like ten years ago. But today they are home to some creativity often done solely for the desire to get one’s creativity out there. It is not without controversy as Edward Greenberg, a New York, New York intellectual property lawyer, called “possessing the fatal flaw many artists have which is the overriding desire to be liked.” Creativity becomes harder and harder to be a career as so many people do it for free. Steven Spielberg and James Cameron may not be nervous, but just ask that communications major who wants to create WITH OUT needing two other jobs.
Controversy or not, video sharing is not going away. So here are a few vistas of Tennessee through the eyes of YouTube and others.
CLICK! : Memorable photographs that chronicle The Volunteer State
March 26, 2012 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
The pillow in the corner shows Jackson was sick and in bed when Mathew Brady took this photo in 1845.
They are split-seconds frozen in time that tell the story of a place called Tennessee. The photos can be beautiful or ugly. They illustrate a split-second like Kevin Dyson’s near-win in the 2000 Superbowl. A fraction of a second earlier or later the photo would not have been nearly as dramatic. Or perhaps the scene has changed little. The natural beauty of Ansel Adam’s photos of the Smokey’s was enjoyed by him when he visited in the 1940s as it is today. And some notes on the photos – all of these can be found in various places throughout the internet. However where I could not find the owner of to the rights of the photo or royalties were cost-prohibitive, included only a link to the owner and or photographer’s website. There is a lot of use of copyrighted material without the owner’s permission but Across Tennessee will not participate in this practice.
Big Country: The Country Music Museum and Hall of Fame is Getting Bigger
March 5, 2012 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Ann and Geoff Slater of England visit while Patsy Montana sings ( and yodels ) in 1939's "Colorado Sunset."
The country music hall of fame honors the legacy of country while shattering stereotypes. It is worth a visit even for those who associate the Ryman Auditorium with The Pixies concert or whose idea of Tennessee music is Three Six Mafia.
Flight of the Bluebird: Nashville cafe a is Singer/Songwriter Talent Laboratory
February 13, 2012 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Larry Brown plays The Bluebird
Nashville’s Bluebird Café is small, but on Monday nights between 6 and 9 PM there is enough musical passion to fill the Tennessee Titan’s LP Field. On weekly open mike night, singer-song writers gather to perform and hear each other and visitors gather to hear original music. Just a few rules apply – no vulgarity, original songs only and performers provide their own musician accompaniment. It is one after the other and all are asked to keep performances tight enough to give everyone a chance. Long-time Bluebird personality Barbara Cloyd was the emcee for the night and called tonight “a laboratory of talent.”
Rites of Fall: Hit song and video captures Tennessee high school football
November 15, 2010 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
By Jan Jorgenson
Chilling temperatures and changing leaves are signs of fall. This year one of the number one country songs on the radio is a sign of fall as well. Kenny Chesney’s “Boys of Fall” is a nostalgic song about the royalty of fall, aka football players. A subtly patriotic piece which connects with a wide audience with its ability to almost allow you to put the names of your high school football stars names in the appropriate places while inspiring current players and anyone interested in sports.
Sing!!! : An incomplete list of Tennessee Songs
June 18, 2010 by Devin Greaney · 1 Comment
Sorry, Memphis.
The Rock and Soul Museum, a local treasure, published a list of 899 songs that mention Memphis. One observer ( me) also added “Mother Russia” by the 1980’s goth rock band Sisters of Mercy, making the total 900. This article will not come even close and will be fair to the other places and people of the state, and still include the official Tennessee State Songs.
Much of this information comes from allmusic.com, an excellent source for dates, performers and writers and many ideas come from the Facebook Fans of Across Tennessee. Feel free to make comments on this totally incomplete list. As for the performers, this like the list is subjective as to who made the song famous. Yes, many people have done Delta Dawn, but Tanya Tucker, not Dash Rip Rock made it to the airwaves of countless car radios of 1972.
I want my T TV!: Some Tennessee TV series
June 11, 2010 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
From 1963 to 1966 this wise-cracking penguin was voiced by Don Adams
Could TV viewers in the fifties have fallen in love with with Lucile Ball married to Ricky Ricardo, a Cuban-American country music performer living in Nashville? Could they have not set “Happy Days” in Memphis, the Epicenter of 1950′s Americana, instead of Milwaukee? Perhaps “Dallas” could have been called “Jackson” and replaced all references to oil with cotton or soybeans? “The Sopranos” as a Tri Cities crime family?
Read more
Gray sculpture in Brownsville: The Mindfield is a bit of modern art in small town Tennessee
April 23, 2010 by Devin Greaney · Leave a Comment
Late Afternoon at The Mindfield in Brownsville
Around Brownsville a sunny late spring afternoon gives a feel of a prototypical small Tennessee town. The azaleas are in bloom in front of almost every home. A stone Civil War soldier stands guard at the town square. The town has the feel of strawberry ice cream and watermelon in the summer, football and apple cider in the fall, hunting in the winter and planting in the spring.
But it does not have the feel of a place for avant-garde art. But thanks to the work of Billy Tripp just west of the town square, his 1989 creation called “The Mindfield” Brownsville has a structure like no other town.
Ok, it is a little more than a 1989 creation. That is when the work was started. Walking over to Tripp’s metal shop today there is a good chance he is welding together another piece for the sculpture. Twenty one years, four Presidents and even a change in millennium later, he is still using his time, talent and welding torch to create a metal landmark complete with a water tower, fire tower and dedicated to the memory of his mom and dad.
Tennessee in the Movies: Part I of a cinematic history
March 19, 2010 by Devin Greaney · 4 Comments
Opened in 1928, Knoxville's Tennessee Theater is a grand old movie palace
Comedy, drama and documentaries fill this diverse, but admittedly incomplete list of Tennessee movies. As for the criteria as to what is a Tennessee movie, it must be set in and or have a great deal of the filming done in Tennessee, so “In the Heat of the Night” and “US Marshalls” were not included, because only a small portion of the film was shot in Tennessee and the locales were not part of the story. Also films released several years ago but are no longer available were not included like 1979’s “Skinflint: A Country Christmas” or 1992’s “Memphis.” The movies listed could be about a Tennessee figure or event which is why “The Alamo,” and “Birth of a Nation” were included even though they were set in different places but about a Tennesseans or events.