Bryan Young

photo credit: Nashville Scene

Years ago, a young, bright eyed high school senior watched Pump up the Volume and heard Leonard Cohen’s deep, husky voice for the first time. That young teenager was me. Since then I have followed his music and writings more than any other artist. Only a few short months ago, I listed Leonard as one of my all time favorites. I had garnered hope of seeing this 75 year old singer/songwriter/poet/philosopher last year when he began his first tour in 15 years. I didn’t make it to Austin or Chicago though. But I nearly jumped through the ceiling when I learned he added a date in Nashville to his Fall 2009 schedule. I turned back flips when I got tickets for the 8th row of TPAC’s Andrew Jackson Hall.

Leonard was gracious both to the audience and to his band members. He frequently started his songs during the first set singing on his knees to the audience. He became a member of the audience by focusing intently on each of his band member’s solos. And honestly, someone could write a thesis on this world class band performance.

My heart pounded through Everybody Knows, Hallelujah, So Long Marianne, I’m Your Man, Bird on a Wire, If It Be Your Will, and In My Secret Life. I dare say, after a 3 hour performance including 3 encores, no one left unhappy.

Others who wrote more eloquently than I
Leonard Cohen the sage, better than ever (and Dylan) at 75 Steve Haruch, Nashville Scene
Leonard Cohen at TPAC’s Jackson Hall, 11/5/09 The Spin, Nashville Cream, Nashville Scene
Updated: Leonard Cohen shares smiles, lessons and music at TPAC Peter Cooper, TuneInMusicCity, The Tennessean
Leonard Cohen TPAC 2009 Margaret Elizabeth
leonardcohenforums.com Review Thread

My personal favorite was from the Haruch advance piece

His songs sound like works of great labor, and even as a relatively young man, he sang in a voice that was knowing and a little forlorn—an old soul trying to get laid and figure out who God is at the same time.

Mr. Cohen recounted that he lived here in Tennessee in the 1970s, renting a cabin on 1,500 acres near Franklin for $75/month from songwriter Boudleaux Bryant. What a magical place I live in.

Honestly, I don’t know how Mr. Cohen and his band of world class musicians exceeded my already monumental expectations. I must say this was the best concert I have ever heard. I’m still floating. Did I dream this?

If you’ve never listened to or heard of him, allow me to recommend a few songs:

In My Secret Life
Hallelujah
If It Be Your Will

and to acknowledge the Red Headed Stranger whose voice was warming the Ryman Auditorium at the same time a mere 4 blocks away (and to which I also bought tickets and had to choose)
Willie Nelson covering Cohen’s Bird on a Wire

Linus Hall is a hero of mine. You may not know the name, but Middle Tennessee residents have at least seen the fruits of his labor. Many of them drink it. Linus is the proprietor of the Nashville original Yazoo Brew.

Linus was a young quality engineer for a major tire manufacturer headquartered in Middle Tennessee that sounds like Flintstone. He’d been homebrewing for several years and made so much he gave it away. And they liked it! So after much debate with his wife, he began the process of starting a brewery.

The first step was to quit his job. His steady paycheck gone, Linus completed an MBA at Vanderbilt Owen School of Management, a craftbrewing degree from the American Brewer’s Guild and an internship with the Brooklyn Brewery.

In 2003, he signed a lease on space in the old Marathon Motor Works building and acquired brewing equipment. Six years later, Yazoo Brew is a rousting success. A Yazoo tap has a place in most every restaurant and bar in Nashville. Yazoo bottled beer occupies shelf space in Nashville area Kroger, Publix, Walmart and Whole Foods stores. They operate a small tap room with limited hours that Nashville Scene readers voted Best Underground Happy Hour (shhh, don’t tell).

It’s taken 6 years, but Yazoo has outgrown it’s space in Marathon Motor Works. It’s a good problem to have. Linus is in the process of building out a new facility in the Gulch, giving them ample room to expand operations. I’m looking forward to many a cold one and the new concotions from the new facility.

My personal favorite Yazoos are the Sly Rye Porter and the Hefeweizen (fresh from the tap). The chocolaty porter is my favorite cool weather beer. And for cooling down in hot weather, it’s none other than the fruity Hefe.

If you’re a beer lover and visiting Nashville, stop by the tap room, try it at a restaurant, or buy a six pack. You’ll be glad you did. And if you don’t, I’ll buy one for you.

And why is Linus a hero of mine? Because he quit his steady paycheck to follow his dream.

Be sure to check out

• Yazoo Brew’s blog
• Forbes article on craftbrewing that interviews Linus
• Tennessean article on the new facility and here.
• Yazoo on Twitter here and here

This is a post of Favorites Friday. Each Friday, I share some of my favorite music, writing, movies… anything that’s a favorite of mine.

Borrowing words sung by Alan Jackson and George Strait, “they’ve committed murder, down on Music Row.” And while Nashville’s Music Row has favored “pop” country for years, many newer artists like Brad Paisley have a healthy respect for traditional country music.

Not on Broadway where no “honkytonk” consistently delivers traditional country anymore. The old haunts in the area of the former home of the Grand Ole Opry and the Mother Church of Country Music (the Ryman Auditorium) have mostly abandoned the style. All except Robert’s Western World that is. Each Friday and Saturday night from 10pm to 2am you’ll hear their house band, Brazilbilly (traditional country music with a Latin flair). And the place is always packed.

If you want to hear covers of Marty Robbins, Johnny Cash, and Hank Williams Sr and music inspired by them, Brazilbilly is your band. Check out some of their music below.

• Gene “Pappy” Merritts, 80, plays fiddle, mandolin, bass and guitar. “Pappy” has had the distinction of playing with Patsy Cline, Dottie West, and Bill Monroe. And he really makes his fiddle sing.  “Pappy” also plays with John England and the Western Swingers on Mondays at Roberts.
• David Tanner plays doghouse bass. David gave up his successful career as an attorney in Indiana to move to Nashville and pursue his music career. He also fronts his own band, Fifty Five Eleven in E.
• Chris Casello plays lap steel and electric guitar for Brazilbilly. Chris also plays with his own group, the Starlight Drifters.
• Jesse Lee Jones is “the Brazilian Hillbilly” and sings vocals and plays rhythm guitar and percussion for Brazilbilly. Jesse Lee was born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil and absorbed the vivid musical influence of that culture. But in 1984, he left Brazil for the United States without knowing a word of English. After spending about 10 years in Atlanta and Peoria, Illinois, Jesse Lee came to Nashville in 1994 where he worked scrubbing the decks of the General Jackson. From his first gig at the Stoney’s Inn at Opryland he ended up on Broadway where Robert recognized his talent and helped him put a band together for regular gigs. From these humble beginnings to leader of the house band and part owner of Robert’s Western World, Jesse Lee has come a long way baby.

Here’s a couple of the MP3’s from their website.
Big Iron
If That’s What’s In Your Heart

Brazilbilly page at Robert’s
Brazilbilly Myspace Music
Brazilbilly Myspace

Brazilbilly and Robert’s Western World are absolutely musts for visitors to Nashville. What are your must see regular music performances?

This is a post of Favorites Friday. Each Friday, I share some of my favorite music, writing, movies… anything that’s a favorite of mine.

Welcome to the inaugural post of Favorites Friday. Each Friday, I’ll share some of my favorite music, writing, movies… anything that’s a favorite of mine.
I was first introduced to Leonard Cohen through the soundtrack of the early 90’s movie Pump Up the Volume starring Christian Slater. Leonard’s raspy voice belting out Everybody Knows spoke to me as an 17 year old high school senior. The lyrics seems to sum up all I knew about the world at the time. Since, that song has been successfully covered by Rufus Wainwright, Concrete Blonde (their version is also on the soundtrack) and Don Henley and yet nothing substitutes for Leonard’s own rendition. I didn’t know at the time this poet was older than my own father.

Leonard has done much of what I suspect would do me good.

• Spent time with Janis Joplin
• Study religion in a monastery
• Dated Rebecca De Mornay

During a recent tribute, I’m Your Man, Teddy Thompson covered another fantastic song which sometimes I find myself singing as I remember someone that was special to me. Interesting though, that someone hated Leonard’s music until I pointed out his music on the soundtrack one of her favorite movies, Shrek. Can you find the song he wrote?

The rest of the tribute-mentary is fantastic and includes other performances by Rufus Wainright, Nick Cave and Bono.

Leonard Cohen wiki

What other less known artists have influenced you?

As I write this, I’ve just finished working all day preparing for a small gathering at my home to celebrate Independence Day. As I was cutting the grass, I pondered the words of Ben Franklin who was asked at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention what sort of government we had.  He  replied “A republic, if you can keep it.” And then the irony stuck me. Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and the rest of our founding fathers risked their lives for liberty that we willingly cede to our government every day.  Today, we only dream of the freedom of our founding fathers.  King George must be smiling.

The mere fact that Americans didn’t take to the courts and the streets (as we’ve recently seen in Iran) over the bailouts (and fascition)  of our financial and automotive industries makes me believe we’re losing our republic. There’s an old-fashioned term for these types of “investments”. It used to be called theft to take something from someone against their will, even to give it to another. As Congress is poised to seize more power over our healthcare industry and enact an invisible tax on energy, we celebrate Independence Day. Independence from what? Independence from the fruits of our labor? Independence from thinking for ourselves?  Independence from liberty?

Please don’t misunderstand me. I wish to honor our founding fathers and those who sacrificed for us. Looking at the United States today, I would say their sacrifice was in vain. I hope I am wrong.  Take a moment and read the Declaration of Independence.  If you agree with our founding fathers and believe that our government strayed from these principles long ago, speak your mind and get involved.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

I’ve allowed the mead to age for 6 weeks in my closet with no agitation. A few weeks ago, I racked (transferred) it to a clean carboy (large glass bottle) to leave behind the lees (separated solids) which wasn’t much. As you can see, it hadn’t cleared at all really. I decided in mix in a dose of bentonite as a clearing agent. I got out my trusty mixing whip for my cordless drill and started mixing.  Remember the CocaCola and mentos experiment?  It reminded me of that.  I lost about a quart due to the overflow, but topped it back off with spring water.

Man, that bentonite works! Within 3 hours, I had about an inch of lees and a crystal clear mead in the carboy.

Preracking sample specs:
Specific Gravity: 1.002
pH: forgot to take one (oops)
Temperature: 79 degrees F

Now that the mead is clear, I’m making preparations to bottle it.  Half will be a still mead and bottled in wine bottles.  The other half will be primed with honey for carbonation and bottled in beer bottles.  Before that I need to make my final acid adjustments.  THAT is my research for this week.

I’ve been hitting ya’ll up on Twitter and Facebook to vote for my friend, Randy Elrod, for his dream job in a contest called A Really Goode Job.  Many of you have asked me exactly what that is.  In a nutshell, the Murphy-Goode Winery in Sonoma County, California is looking for a wine lover and social media virtuoso to help them launch their Web 2.0 presence.  In an innovative use of social media, they’re screening applicants using social media.  Each applicant submits a 60 second video and solicits votes for their entry.  While a high number of votes won’t guarantee the job, it will improve the chances of getting an interview.

That said, why did I vote for Randy and why should you?

1. He is perhaps the most knowledgeable wine connoisseur I know.  He hosts wine tastings frequently to benefit Kalein, an artist center for creative studies in Tennessee and serves as sommelier to his blog readers and twitter followers worldwide.
2. Having nurtured his blog Ethos to a Google Pagerank of 5 and made thousands of friends on Facebook and thousands of  followers on Twitter, Randy is passionate about social media.  So much so, he co-hosts Lifework 2.0, an educational and creative think-tank to inspire others to use the medium to its full potential in their lives and businesses.
3. Randy is also my friend and one of the most passionate people I know.  He is a wonderful host and an engaging conversationalist.  Randy will be completely at ease in the winery and vineyards and make masterful conversation with customers, the media, and the winery’s fans via social media.

So now, I’ve convinced you, what now?

Click here to go to Randy’s video page, watch his video then enter your email address and click submit.  Then check your email and click the confirmation link.  The whole process takes about 70 seconds.  You can vote once from each email address you have.

When you’re done voting, drop back by here and leave me a comment to let me know you did!

UPDATE: Check out Randy’s interview with Hugh Hewitt HERE. (Randy’s segment is 19:00 in)

I was really impressed.  Following the tips from Basic Brewing and Hightest’s Honey Haven, I was able to get the mead fully fermented in about two weeks.  I think staggering the yeast nutrient into the must and doing the one pH adjustment helped the yeast do its job and quickly.  I racked (siphoned) off the must into a clean and sanitized 6 gallon carboy (Bottle) and put it under airlock in my closet.  I will probably will check it every few weeks and hopefully it will clear on its own.  Every 6 weeks or so, I’ll rack it off into a clean carboy to get rid of the dead yeast.  Thanks for following this experiment with me.

Specific Gravity: 1.006
pH: 3.5
Temperature: 76 degrees F

Monitoring the fermentation of this batch of mead has been exciting, but time consuming. When I make wine, I usually wait a week or so between samples. But because I have to add additional yeast nutrient (honey is notoriously lacking in certain nutrients the yeast needs to do its job) at specific points in the fermentation, I’ve been sampling daily.

The fermentation slowed down considerably at about 1.066 SG. So Saturday, I added more nutrient, as I intended, as well as 5g of potassium bicarbonate to raise the pH from its ~ 3.4 level. Since then, the fermentation is proceeding much quicker, bubbles through the airlock every 2-4 seconds.

All the yeast nutrient is in the fermenter. From now on, I’ll take a sample weekly, unless I notice a substantial slowing of fermentation. I’m hoping I don’t have to make another pH adjustment.