Join us Monday, April 27, as we welcome renowned percussionist and composer Tatsuya Nakatani for a duo exchange—their fourth in Nashville with saxophonist/multimedia artist JayVe Montgomery. Their sonic unions are always unique and revelatory, two master musicians in abstract dialogue with concrete results. You will feel different after their performance and the space will also seem transformed. Valued Customer, an exciting and catchy synth- and guitar-driven postpunk band will open the show. 7 pm doors; 8 pm show. Tickets in bio.
Before the phrase “No Kings” was associated with political protests, it called to my mind No Kings Cadre, a Nashville/Murfreesboro-based cassette label documenting the musical and art activities of a collective called Horsehair Everywhere. Join us at Springwater for an early show, Saturday, April 18, at 2 pm when Lee Noble, Stephen Molyneux and Frank Baugh of the No Kings Cadre will each perform solo. Cherry Blossoms will perform as a duo of Peggy Snow and Chris Davis. Hope to see you there!
Kath Bloom 🪷🪻 with David Shapiro and Cherry Blossoms 🌸 playing at Random Sample tomorrow, Tuesday, April 14. Doors at 7 pm; music at 8 pm. We are all excited for the show and hope to see you there. Third pic is Peggy’s pastel sketch of her and Robert’s cat, Blackie.
Cherry Blossoms are heading to Kentucky for a few days supporting Kath Bloom and David Shapiro on a few shows. We play tonight, Saturday, April 11, in Louisville at B-Side with the fantastic Grace Rogers; a house show in Berea on Sunday, 12th; followed by a Nashville show at Random Sample on Tuesday, April 14. Thanks to the organizers. Hope to see old friends and make some new ones. Second-to-last pic is an upcoming Tatsuya Nakatani-JayVe Montgomery Duo show with Valued Customer at Random Sample. Last pic is Gregg.
TUE. 4.14: Kath Bloom / The Cherry Blossoms
"Bye Bye These Are The Days” is the latest release by luminary songwriter Kath Bloom. Born to a musical family, Kath moved through an early life absorbed and in love with the 60s sea change of musical expression, into a development of her own singular voice that would age to cast a wide net of influence. Her prolific relationship with Loren Mazzacane Connors in the 80s produced a body of work held sacrosanct by generations of avant-folk luminaries.
In 2007 Chapter Music released a tribute album to her songs from that time recorded by Bill Callahan, Meg Baird, Mark Kozelek and others, and her song “Come Here” was featured memorably in Richard Linklater’s 1995 film “Before Sunrise”, in a scene which Ethan Hawke claims was “my favorite scene I ever filmed”. Two lovers listen hanging on the edge of a kiss, tense and present for a moment just out of reach.
The Cherry Blossoms are a 'shaggy folk collective' based in Nashville. They have described themselves as 'Middle Tennessee's finest anarchic post neo-skiffle collective specializing in kazoo-exotica'. Although they have occasionally been grouped under the 'New Weird America' label, they have not sought the commercial exposure of younger, more polished acts, preferring to stick to a rambling, underground sound. Their self-released recordings remain difficult to obtain.
Doors at 7pm / Music at 8pm
$15 adv / $18 day of
Pre-sale available on Resident Advisor
Cash and card accepted at the door
NOTAFLOF
All ages
Join us at Random Sample on Monday, April 27, as we welcome renowned percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani back to Nashville. Nakatani will perform in duo with astonishing local saxophonist/multimedia artist JayVe Montgomery. Nashville postpunks Valued Customer open. Doors 7; music 8 pm. Tickets online and at the door.
We are blessed to mind the solstice with a concert of “Marvin Tate in Outer Music City”— the duo expression by world-renowned poet, visual, and performance artist, Marvin Tate, with JayVe Montgomery, a polymath audiovisual artist and sonic reseacher whose series of multimedia Lake Black Town performances were easily among the year’s best local concert series. The duo met while performing together in visual artist Theaster Gates’ musical group, The Black Monks of Mississippi, back in 2008.
Marvin Tate is also known as a Chicago musical institution with an Angel on each shoulder. In this case Angels -Bat Dawid and -Olsen, who were among his many collaborators in his group D-Settlement, a funkadelic performance vehicle whose rotating cast of participants included Mike Reed, members of Tortoise, Wilco, Bitchin’ Bajas and too many others to mention. Their work from the ‘90s and early Aughts is documented in an epic American Dreams box set.
Throughout his artistic career, Marvin Tate has continued to write poetry. His award-winning poems have been anthologized in collections alongside Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Lou Reed, and Mark Strand. In performance, Tate uses multiple devices including, but not limited to, personae, storytelling, and, occasionally, humor to expose hard truths about black life in America. His humor is a deliberate device and his cadence is as precise as a percussionist’s and is working from inside the form, not as embellishment but as a coequal musical element.
Some of Tate’s most recent musical work has been in The Separatist Party (feat. Ben LaMar Gay and Bitchin’ Bajas) and with Grammy award winning British songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae on her amazing 2023 album “Black Rainbows.”
If you love George Clinton, Reggie Watts, Boots Riley, Amiri Baraka, Bob Kaufman, and the operatic vocalising of ODB, or if you just love great art that makes you smile and feel good in your body, even while acknowledging uncomfortable truths, you don’t want to miss this show.
We Cherry Blossoms are honored to share this bill and open the evening.
Join us at Betty’s Grill, 407 49th Ave. N., Sunday, Dec. 21. Doors 8 pm; music 9 pm. $10 requested donation. NOTAFLOF.
Join us this Saturday, Nov. 22, for a Cherry Blossoms show at Springwater supporting Ant Death Circle and The Shady Unicorns. Show time is 9 pm. $10 cover. Hope to see you there.
Join us at Random Sample, Saturday, Nov. 1 at 8 pm, for TAKAAT’s Nashville debut. The musicians have been here many times before playing with Mdou Moctar, the guitarist and namesake of their phenomenal other band. In TAKAAT they reveal the influence of post-hardcore bands like Fugazi and Unwound in more noisy jams. In fact TAKAAT is the Tamasheq word meaning “noise.” Heart Math (JayVe Montgomery and Chris Davis) will improvise under the influence of Otha Turner and Napoleon Strickland.
Thanks to Ahmoudou and Mikey from TAKAAT for providing the Tifinagh alphabet translations for TAKAAT, Heart Math, and Random Sample, seen in the show flyer.
Tickets available online and at the door.
Join us tonight, Sunday, Sept. 28, as we Cherry Blossoms perform with two great, singular songwriters, Ziona Riley and Andy Bar (of the great band The Children’s Hour), at Ziona’s ongoing monthly Springwater Salon series. Showtime is 9 pm. $10. Hope to see you there.
Join us for an art opening, Thursday, Sept. 11, in the early evening (4-6 pm) at USN’s Tibbott Gallery. Delia Seigenthaler is showing work from her students at Room In the Inn. There are plenty of fantastic works that were not in the RItI show at Julia Martin Gallery earlier this summer. I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of portraits of Teddy Pendergrass or Boy George. Show is up all month. Check-in with ID required for visitors. Parking in the 19th Avenue lot.
Hope to see you there and maybe later on at JMG for a great Americana showcase or at Random Sample for excellent experimental music by JayVe Montgomery and Claire Rousay.
