Celebrate the birthdays of Chance, Clay, and T-Roy!

6pm cake and ice cream!  7pm double video premiere followed by a live private performance.  Multiple dj’s and acoustic acts from 7:30-9:30…

10PM “Ridin’ On Chrome” LIVE VIDEO SHOOT

followed by a monsterous live show w/ the CHANCE BAND & Friends!!

More acts to follow that will blow your mind!  ONE GREAT BIG AMAZING NIGHT of family, friends, music, & birthdays!

Everyone come join Chance, Clay, T-Roy  in celebrating their birthdays this Labor Day weekend!

Video Release of “Can You Hear Me Now” at 7pm!

Check out his last video…

CELEBRATE AT THE NEWEST HOT SPOT IN THE VILLAGE – BELCOURT TAPS AND TAPAS!!

Don’t Miss This Labor Day Weekend Bash!!

September 4, 2010

www.timothychance.com

]]> http://ncompassmagazine.com/an-all-white-affair-labor-day-2010/feed/ 2 http://ncompassmagazine.com/n-tha-know-with-big-cho/ http://ncompassmagazine.com/n-tha-know-with-big-cho/#comments Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:27:58 +0000 admin http://ncompassmagazine.com/?p=2174 Big Cho Knows:  Nashville Hip Hop

A few years ago a friend of mine
Asked me to say some emcee rhymes.
So I said this rhyme I’m about to say.
The rhyme was def and it went this way…

This was the first rhyme that I remember hearing ‘Rap’.  Shortly after hearing this Rap, the whole hip-hop world became very vivid to me: ‘B-boys’, breakdancing, ‘MCs’, ‘DJs’…hip-hop culture, if that’s what it was called back then.

See, Nashville was  a predominately country-music-driven town.  Yeah, in the ’80’s there was pop, rock, soul, MoTown and all of that great stuff.  But what was mindblowing to a kid like me, was hearing this thing called rap.

Wait!  First, let’s examine what hip-hop and rap really are.

Imagine a musical family.  In that family you have Classical, Gospel, Blues, Bluegrass, Country, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Jazz, Pop, R & B, and one of the youngest members of the family is Rap.

Now, for the most part hip-hop is an artistic culture, the phrase in which was coined by an emcee by the name of Busy Bee.  As the story goes, he tells me that in his neighborhood (the Bronx, New York) he would see the B-boys rapping to one another.  He described their manner of dress and the way they talked to one another, hip, in the sense of being cool.  He remembered making fun of them by saying “Look at all those hip-hoppers”and somehow the phrase just stuck.

Now let me explain what hip-hop culture is.  B-boys, short for beat boys; the beat being the music they made.  B-boys=the DJ.  MC=the Master of Ceremonies, or the Rapper.  Rap is the message.

In the beginning, rap was used to show how quick-witted and lyrical one could be to a beat.  Often, DJs would invite rappers or MC’s to their parties to entertain the crowds.  Then came the rap mix tapes, a collaboration of rap lyrics and the beats from the B-boys.  Today’s mixtape is the product of the rapper collaborating with the Beat Boys, now called Producers.

Believe it or not, even the city of Nashville has had a hand in raising the hip-hop culture.

Now some of you may not know this, but back in the early ’80s, a lot of the founding rap artists from labels such as DefJam (and countless others) have used Nashville as a testing ground for a lot of their acts in the beginnings of hip-hop, or rap.

I recall in the early ’80s, a concert series called the “Fresh Fest” would come to Nashville just about every summer.  You old hip-hop heads know what I’m talking about.  This is something, in my opinion, that Nashville should be proud of: having a historical influence in today’s urban music.

After all, Nashville is ‘The Music City.’

Nashville has aspiring rap artists such as ‘Timothy Chance’, formerly of Music Mafia, ‘Albert J’, and ‘Black Catfish’, just to name a few. Dig deeper– you’ll find that Nashville’s hip-hop culture is very eclectic.  There is a lot of great talent within the city.  I will admit, the music industry as a whole tends to overlook Nashville’s urban music talent.

However, we as a community strive to become more supportive of our friends in Hip-Hop.

If I’m not mistaken, we are the only state in the Union that has an Oscar-winning Rap group from Memphis, (Three Six Mafia) the home of Elvis, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and many, many others.

When we didn’t receive an honorable mention from the VH1 Dirty South Hip Hop Honors, it hurt a little.

But hey, that will just make us work harder.

by Big Cho

www.beatkangz.com

THURSDAY JULY 29th, 2010

4 pm – 11 pm

AT THE LOVELESS BARN

on the grounds of the world famous Loveless Cafe

www.rockawaytheblues.com

CELEBRATE THE END OF SUMMER AND HELP NASHVILLE’S KIDS!!

GENERAL ADMISSION IS FREE!!

Starring…

STARSHIP Featuring Mickey Thomas!!!

It’s a Toy and School Supply Drive!

Support some of the Nashville Flood’s smallest victims, children that lost everything including toys, schools supplies and photographs!

FROM 4 – 6 pm, EVERY child attending will receive a new packaged toy from LEAP FROG and a bag of school supplies from FRESHII – Nashville’s new healthy fresh fast food restaurant!

FREE FOOD AND FROZEN YOGURT FROM FRESHII between 4 – 6pm!!

AMERICAN GLADIATORS – JUSTICE AND THE WOLF – will be there to take pics with the kids!!

INTERN ADAM from 107.5 will be hosting and broadcasting live from the event!

If possible please bring a Donation, new packaged toy or school supplies.

SEE YOU THERE!

Rock has returned to Nashville!

Hard Rock Cafe Nashville has officially reopened its doors after being temporarily closed due to the recent flooding.

THE LOST PATROL

Playing at the Hard Rock

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Doors open at 7:30

Show starts at 8:30 pm

The Lost Patrol is a critically acclaimed band hailing from greater NYC.

Their music is an ever-evolving, genre-defying wall of sound that has been likened to everything from gothic spaghetti western to experimental surf.

Characterized by twangy-ethereal electric guitars, lush acoustic twelve strings, deep synth textures, and sirenic vocals, their cinematic mish-mash of sounds has clear connections to the band’s bottomless well of influences – yet the music of The Lost Patrol is a unique amalgamation unto its own.

“We’ve jokingly assembled a list of artists that people have compared us to, and the number is well over 100 – with no rhyme or reason,” quips Stephen Masucci, the band’s founder.  Masucci, born and raised in Rockland County, New York, recalls his obsession with music at an early age.  “My dad used to play me old Shadows and Ventures vinyl, and it was from those records where the music of The Lost Patrol derives some of its earliest inspiration.”

Michael Williams (TLP’s rhythm guitarist) is originally from Rhode Island, but eventually took up residence in the New Jersey suburbs where he immediately set himself apart from the mainstream.

“Everyone was a metalhead or a classic rocker, which was cool, but I preferred Siouxsie & The Banshees.”  Williams was a de facto member of the band from the beginning through his album artwork; however, he became a full-fledged member by 2003.

In earnest, The Lost Patrol formed as an experimental project of instrumental soundtrack music that was to be an extension of Masucci’s contributions to auteur, Hal Hartley’s films Flirt and The Book of Life.  Although the faces have changed over the band’s brief history, their signature eclectic soundscapes and captivating timelessness remained a constant throughout their vast body of work. Lending his efforts to the mastering process over the years is Grammy winner, Larry Alexander (Sisters of Mercy, Suicide and David Bowie).

Joining forces with The Lost Patrol as lead vocalist in early 2008, is L.A. born Mollie Israel, who is the daughter of noted filmmaker, Amy Heckerling.

Masucci heeded the advice of a friend suggesting that he scour Craig’s List looking for singer-songwriters.  Eventually, he would stumble upon Israel’s humorous ad.  While Israel had no experience playing in a band other than a few open mic and karaoke nights, she is a classically trained harpist and self-taught guitarist.  Like many other young musicians of the new paradigm, she began writing and recording her own songs using the latest software.  After belting out her audition, both Masucci and Williams were convinced that they had found their girl.  “The chemistry was instantaneous!” Williams boasts.  “I was looking to join a band for a while – and I even contacted a few of them, but everything that I heard was pretty cookie cutter,” says Israel.  “After recording our first song, I knew this would work,” states Masucci.

After only a few months of working with the band, Israel was already earning her stripes in the live setting, and shortly thereafter, the band came out with their seventh proper release, Midnight Matinée.

Aside from receiving much critical acclaim, the album reached the #1 slot for multiple weeks on the Rutgers CMJ charts in the fall of 2008 and winter of 2009.  Additionally, Matinée made the 2008 top albums list of Scholars & Rogues in Denver, Colorado, which also included the likes of R.E.M. and Nine Inch Nails.

The Lost Patrol is currently in the studio writing and recording their next album, which is slated for an early 2010 release.

In addition to playing up and down the east coast, the band has expanded their touring to the west coast, where they had the immense pleasure and privilege of playing the world famous Whisky A Go Go on the fabulous Sunset Strip.

While The Lost Patrol still maintains their elegant mixture of cinematic soundscapes and retro-futuristic pop, they continue to grow and evolve with their most powerful lineup to date.

The band’s music has received positive recognition from fans and critics around the globe, including far-off places such as Australia, Serbia, Japan and Peru – transcending the borders of nations and genres and creating a world of its own.

www.thelostpatrol.com

Matthew Corrin is a 28-year-old dynamo who has been likened to Howard Schultz, and Freshii to the “Starbucks of Fresh Food.”

The company’s tag line is “Fresh food.  Custom built.  Fast.”

But Matthew Corrin did not have beginner’s luck.   On the first day he opened a restaurant called Lettuce, the kitchen ran out of lettuce.

A few days later, while preparing food for the day, Corrin’s chef sliced off the tip of his thumb.  Spotting the blood, the sous-chef fell off the table he was sitting on, broke his nose and passed out.   An ambulance picked the pair up at 6:30 a.m.

Corrin, who had never worked in a restaurant kitchen before, was left to figure out how to use the kitchen equipment.

“I started chopping lettuce. I started grilling bacon and chicken and cutting the avocado. And we got through it,” he says.  Looking back, there was “this interesting moment of reflection, where I knew . . . if I can get through that moment I really feel I can get through anything.”

Those opening bumps are long behind Corrin, founder and CEO.  About one new Freshii restaurant opens each week.   By the end of 2010, 60 Freshii restaurants will be open around the world from Los Angeles to Vienna.  By the end of the year, the company is expected to bring in $50 million in sales.

The inspiration for Freshii came to Corrin, who grew up in Winnipeg, while he was working in New York in publicity for fashion designer Oscar de la Renta.

“Every day for lunch, I was eating at this mom and pop deli around the corner from Oscar’s office.  The quality was really great but the service was dull and the branding lacklustre,” he says.

“I thought if you could take this fresh food concept and create a brand to it, you could potentially Starbucks the fresh food business.”

While Corrin had visions of building a fresh-food restaurant empire from the get-go, his business began modestly.  In 2005, Corrin used $250,000 from his family to open his first fast fresh-food restaurant in Toronto’s TD Centre.

Then called Lettuce, the restaurant was quickly embraced by those working in nearby office towers who wanted to eat healthy but were pressed for time.  It didn’t take long for Lettuce to become profitable and Corrin used the profits to open other locations around the city.

By 2007, Corrin had one restaurant in Chicago.  He wanted to expand further into the United States.  But he wasn’t sure Lettuce was the best name for his growing company. His restaurants were already offering more than salads. But it’s not easy to convince customers to order breakfast if your restaurant’s name is Lettuce.

Corrin researched other companies, such as Subway, that had rebranded themselves.

“Subway was initially called Pete’s Submarine Shop and when said really quickly it would sound like Pizza Marine Shop. Customers would get there and say, ‘Where is the pizza?’”

So the company rebranded itself.  “I thought, if they can do it, why can’t we do it?”  With the help of advertising agency Leo Burnett, in 2008 Lettuce was rebranded as Freshii.

“It’s a broader name that connoted multiple – in the restaurant industry it’s called Day-parts – different reasons to come into Freshii throughout the day to leverage your fixed costs like rent and labour,” Corrin says.  “Now at Freshii, we have strong breakfasts, strong desserts, strong snacks, strong lunches and strong dinners.  The name Freshii really made that a better sell from a consumer perspective.”

With the new name, and three angel investors, Corrin was ready to expand big-time south of the border.  Then the economy tanked.  With stocks plunging and businesses filing for bankruptcy, traditional avenues for raising money became too difficult.

“My personality isn’t just to sit still and not do anything and wait for things to get better,” Corrin says.  “So we said, ‘What are our other options?’ ”

Corrin looked to franchising.  Instead of one-store deals, he aimed for multi-unit deals with well capitalized partners.

“Our strategy with franchising and growth isn’t, ‘What’s the next good market to go into?’ ” Corrin says.  “It’s, ‘Where do we find great partners that we think will be very successful with the brand, who are completely aligned from a philosophical and a cultural and a strategic perspective?’ ”

Corrin plans to have 1,000 Freshii stores open by 2015.  At the rate Freshii is going currently, it won’t take long to achieve that goal.

Corrin believes in thinking big. “Our goal for Freshii is to create the most convenient choice for fresh food, custom-built, fast across the world,” he says.  It’s a long way from standing in that deli in New York.

Corrin is building a fresh food empire, one customized bowl at a time.

by Naomi Carniol

FRESHII will be opening on 6th and Church St downtown Nashville August  2010!!

Contact Olivia@Freshii.com or Olivia@NcompassMagazine.com for more information

]]> http://ncompassmagazine.com/freshii-founder-matthew-corrin/feed/ 0 http://ncompassmagazine.com/introducing-korked-bats/ http://ncompassmagazine.com/introducing-korked-bats/#comments Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:06:47 +0000 admin http://ncompassmagazine.com/?p=2041 Ncompass Magazine Presents….

SPORTS!

After many..ahem…strong suggestions to feature sports, we have brought on the Korked Bats team!

Korked Bats is a group of guys – Austin, Frank, Chip, Jared, and Kyle – that take pride in not only delivering you sports, but making you laugh in the process.

We’ll start by being Frank with You.

It pays to be a Laker.

It’s no secret the “big men” on the Lakers, while extremely talented and good, are somewhat soft compared to some of the other post players around the league.

Lakers’ coach Phil Jackson even went as far as calling them “thin-chested.”  [Insert inappropriate joke here].

So, what’s Phil’s solution?  Well, it looks like he took a page right out of John Calipari’s coaching handbook and has decided the only way to get better is to pay his players off.

That’s right.

For every offensive charge drawn the player gets $50. (Big whoop, right?  That’s not even enough  money to garner the term “pocket change” to these guys.)

Don’t count temperamental forward Ron Artest among those participating in the incentive program.  “I don’t even know how to take a charge,” he said. “To get the charge you have to fall.  I’d rather not fall.”

…The man has a point.

This is a pretty awkward picture.

I hope whoever decided it’d be a good idea to put Larry King and King James on a basketball court together wearing work clothes was fired, or at least fined $50 by Phil Jackson.

It wasn’t worth risking a broken hip to find out Cleveland “has an edge” in his upcoming free agency battle.

Now take your suspenders back to the studio Larry.

This man is a true American.

I don’t care what anyone says.

Risking your $9 beer to catch a ball thrown into the stands, pulling off the maneuver with very limited spillage, chugging the beer, then fist pumping for freedom is far more American than apple pie.

by Frank Ford

frank@korkedbats.com

AUSTIN – THE A-HUFF

Hi, This Is Ken Griffey Jr., Let’s Retire From Major League Baseball.

An era of baseball ended a couple of days ago when Ken Griffey Jr., the player voted “Best Player in the 1990s,” retired from Major League Baseball at the age of 40, after a 22-year career.

The announcement was heard by millions live on ESPN, including Ted Anders, a 25 year old from Topeka, KS, who saw the announcement at a local Buffalo Wild Wings.

“I almost started to cry,” Anders said, “but then things just got worse.”

After a smattering of sniffles, mumblings, and a few people even audibly stating, “Thank you, Junior,” the youngest present wing-eater, Jimmy (age 8), spoke up:

“Who’s Ken Griffey Jr.?” Jimmy turned to his father.

“Honestly, I wanted to punch the kid right in the face. Right then, square in the face,” Anders continued, “but I didn’t. He’s a kid, after all.”

“I wouldn’t have blamed him [if he hit Jimmy],” said Craig Turner, Jimmy’s dad,”I was (expletive) embarrassed.”

When asked who his favorite baseball player was, Jimmy replied, “I don’t really watch baseball. I like video games and LOST.”

Griffey, who was fifteen minutes late to his retirement press conference due to a nap in the green room, was the face of baseball for over a decade. As Griffey announced his retirement, the tilt of the Earth was knocked .04 degrees further down, a phenomenon scientists attribute to 4.6 millionbaseball caps being turned around forwards simultaneously.

The Indians Are Bad.  Very Bad.

At 19-33 they are sporting one of the worst records in all of baseball.  Indians broadcaster Bruce Drennan has a somewhat strong opinion on the subject.

Take a look at this epic rant.  It’s awesome.

Profiling Thy Enemy: Peter Crouch

Hello from Korked Bats’ Senior World Cup Editor*!

For those of you not counting down the days–AKA those of you with girlfriends–we are exactly six days away from the race-driven World Cup opener for the United States and their enemies across the pond.

*Self-created nickname. Self-created position.

To get you ready for the match, I’m going to profile a different player on England’s roster each day leading up to the not-friendly on June 12 in Rustenburg. I hope that they will be informational, but–most of all–they’ll likely just be full of mean-spirited jokes because I’m racist toward the English.

Now, gander some footie. (That’s British for “Let’s talk soccer”. Or something)

Peter Crouch Bio Blast: There’s this scene in Muppet Treasure Island where the pirates are interrogating Gonzo.  They have a crankable device that is supposed to quarter him as a means of torture, hoping to get him to divulge information.  But, wouldn’t you know it, the plan backfires as Gonzo’s arms just stretch and stretch painlessly to to his delight.

That’s what Peter Crouch looks like.

The 6-foot-7 Tottenham striker looks like a failed quartering experiment.  It’s the height that has defined his career and, apparently, his life, as he has  written a book (it can be yours for 13 pounds!) about the odd life that he lives because he is tall, or something like that.

Apparently, fans have said mean things to him because he’s tall.   The nerve!   Anyway, he says that he did the book because he had an interesting story, not because he wanted pity for being a tall professional soccer player that shacks up with this every night…

…and, in the shocker of shockers, has been made fun of by fans of all teams.

Oh, ok.

On the pitch (that means field): Despite what his gangly frame would suggest, Crouch is actually very gifted athletically (but don’t pity him!).

He’s strong in the air, as you would expect from a person of his stature, but he’s also very skilled with his feet relative to his size.

To my knowledge, it hasn’t yet been announced whether Crouch will be the starter for England beside Wayne Rooney or not, but if he does, the US men will call on their own giant (although he doesn’t have a book), Oguchi Onyewu, to try to keep Crouch from nailing in headers.

That’ll be a tall order for Onyewu, who has only played about 90 minutes of live game time in the last seven months.

Wikipedia fact: Crouch’s most common nickname is “Crouchy.”

OK, pity him for that.

by Austin Huff

austin@korkedbats.com

www.korkedbats.com

And yet…

]]> http://ncompassmagazine.com/piles-of-dreams/feed/ 1 http://ncompassmagazine.com/gone-with-the-wind-prom-2010/ http://ncompassmagazine.com/gone-with-the-wind-prom-2010/#comments Sat, 05 Jun 2010 19:45:27 +0000 admin http://ncompassmagazine.com/?p=1980 Sitting on the patio at Bricktops, enjoying cocktails with Nashville’s Girl Friday, Ashley Kemp, I spy a group of teenaged girls dressed for the Prom sashaying down West End.  What struck me was the sashay, they were literally wearing hoop skirts!

Having only heard lore of that long lost fashion trend, I jumped up and accosted them on the sidewalk.  They modeled and showed me the complex construction of their gowns.  I insisted on taking their picture.  I couldn’t believe it, Gone With the Wind was finally back!!

As a girl growing up who would act out scenes of Scarlet O’Hara in her living room – insisting on the immediate audience of anyone who walked in the door – I felt pangs of blatant jealousy that hoop skirts hadn’t come back into fashion 15 years ago at my prom…or that I hadn’t thought of it myself and done it anyway.

But one of these girls, Abby Kimble, not only seized her Scarlet O’Hara moment, she made darn sure that even if all the girls were wearing hoop skirts, no one else would be wearing one exactly like hers.

How did she do it?  Times have changed since my day on the gymnasium dance floor…

Olivia Sarratt McCarthy

PROM 2010

By Abby Kimble

This is it!  The Prom I’ve been waiting for since the beginning of freshman year!

There’s so much to plan: the perfect hairstyle, the perfect date, and of course, the perfect dress.

I’ve had this idea in my head for years of my ideal prom dress and I was going to settle for nothing less.  I wanted a light purple strapless dress with a dropped waist and was big and poofy at the bottom.  The only problem with being this picky was that I couldn’t find it in any of the stores I went to.  So, out of desperation, to find this dream dress, I turned to eBay.

After typing in every key word I could think of, and eliminating all the rejects, I finally came across THE dress.  It had everything I wanted…for a reasonable price.  Another plus: it was from a city in China, so I knew no one else would be wearing it!!

The dress arrived a few weeks later, alterations were made, and I was ready for Prom!

The night arrived faster than expected, and before I knew it, I was walking through the doors of the Renaissance Hotel.  Everything and everyone were so extravagant!

There were dresses in every style you could think of: short dresses with sequins at the top and big flowers, long dresses with trains that dragged the floor like movie stars, huge ball gown dresses that made the girls wearing them look like princesses, animal print dresses, and dresses with ruffles down the skirt and an elegant slit up to the lower thigh.

But of course, you can’t forget the guys!  There were assortments of different tuxes that made every guy there look like a million bucks.  There were some with bow ties, some with patterned ties and vests, some with long tail flaps like piano players, some with shiny shoes, some with white jackets, and some that made their outfits their own by adding a pocket square or their favorite pair of shades.

You only get a couple of Proms in your life, so wear what makes you feel like the most amazing person that walked in the door.  And if you don’t have a date, go with a group of friends and strut around like you were the catch that couldn’t be caught!  Most importantly, have a blast at your prom!

Abby Kimble

Station Camp High School

Class of 2011

Mickey will be rocking his hits and singing the blues here in Nashville on July 29th, 2010 at the Loveless Barn to help support the kids and families affected by the flood!

Mickey Thomas is famous for mega hits such as Fooled Around and Fell in Love, Jane, We Built this City, Find Your Way Back, Sara, and Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now but he’s been singin’ the Blues since he was a boy growing up in Cairo, Georgia.

Thomas, whose career spans 34 years and 12 albums, returns to his roots with his new album, The Bluesmasters Featuring Mickey Thomas.

Real soul transcends all genres of music.

R&B “got soul,” to state the obvious, but the best rock “got soul,” too.  The angelic-voiced singer John Michael “Mickey” Thomas injected revitalizing soul into the pop rocking Jefferson Starship beginning in the late 70s, propelling them to super stardom with hit after hit throughout the 80’s.

Before joining the band, however, Thomas gained serious roots music credibility when he stepped up to sing the stunning lead vocal on stone bluesman Elvin Bishop’s surprise hit, Fooled Around And Fell In Love, and a highly-acclaimed blues record featuring Booker T and the MGs.

Thirty years and counting into his ongoing tenure with the Starship, the amateur cook now turns his sweet and sour voice to a discriminating selection of choice covers and creates a spectacular musical statement with The Bluesmasters, testifying with sweaty fervor to his rock audience while making true believers of blues fans.

As if to acknowledge his years of preparation and knowledge of the material, Thomas recorded all his vocals in one take including a nostalgic rendition of Fooled Around And Fell In Love.

Recently signed to Blue Mountain Artists, Mickey and The Bluesmasters will undertake a US and international tour in 2010.

Don’t miss Mickey and friends at the end of July…date and other performers to be announced!!

Please visit www.rockawaytheblues.com

www.mickeythomas.com

As you may have heard, torrential downpours in the southeast flooded the Tennessee capital of Nashville over the weekend, lifting the Cumberland River 13 feet above flood stage, causing an estimated $1 billion in damage, and killing more than 30 people.

It could wind up being one of the most expensive natural disasters in U.S. history.

Or, on second thought, maybe you didn’t hear.

With two other “disasters” dominating the headlines—the Times Square bombing attempt and the Gulf oil spill—the national media seems to largely to have ignored the plight of Music City since the flood waters began inundating its streets on Sunday.  A cursory Google News search shows 8,390 hits for “Times Square bomb” and 13,800 for “BP oil spill.”

“Nashville flood,” on the other hand, returns only 2,430 results—many of them local.

As Betsy Phillips of the Nashville Scene writes, “it was mind-boggling to flip by CNN, MSNBC, and FOX on Sunday afternoon and see not one station even occasionally bringing their viewers footage of the flood, news of our people dying.”

So why the cold shoulder?  I see two main reasons.

First, the modern media may be more multifarious than ever, but they’re also remarkably monomaniacal.  In a climate where chatter is constant and ubiquitous, newsworthiness now seems to be determined less by what’s most important than by what all those other media outlets are talking about the most. Sheer volume of coverage has become its own qualification for continued coverage. (Witness the Sandra Bullock-Jesse James saga.)

In that sense, it’s easy to see why the press can’t seem to focus on more than one or two disasters at the same time.  Everyone is talking about BP and Faisal Shahzad 24/7, the “thinking” goes.  So there must not be anything else that’s as important to talk about.  It’s a horrible feedback loop.

Of course, the media is also notorious for its ADD; no story goes on forever.  Which brings us to the second reason the Nashville floods never gained much of a foothold in the national conversation: the “narrative” simply wasn’t as strong.  Because it continually needs to fill the airwaves and the Internet with new content, 1,440 minutes a day, the media can only trade on a story’s novelty for a few hours, tops.  It is new angles, new characters, and new chapters that keep a story alive for longer.  The problem for Nashville was that both the gulf oil spill and the Times Square terror attempt are like the Russian novels of this 24/7 media culture, with all the plot twists and larger themes (energy, environment, terrorism, etc.) required to fuel the blogs and cable shows for weeks on end. What’s more, both stories have political hooks, which provide our increasingly politicized press (MSNBC, FOX News, blogs) with grist for the kind of arguments that further extend a story’s lifespan (Did Obama respond too slowly? Should we Mirandize terrorists?).

The Nashville narrative wasn’t compelling enough to break the cycle, so the MSM just continued to blather on about BP and Shahzad.

If I sound like I’m condoning the media’s inattention here, I’m not.

My explanation is meant as a criticism.  Given audience demands—especially at a time when traditional media companies aren’t doing so well—it’s impossible to avoid the stories with the most buzz and the strongest narratives.  Nor should we.

But urgency should be at least as important.

In this case, the most urgent aspects of the oil spill and the Times Square attack had already been covered to death; the culprit was already caught, the containment was already underway.

And yet we still kept rehashing each of those stories—and fighting about politics—while thousands of homes and business were destroyed and dozens of people died.  That matters.

Media silence means public ignorance, and public ignorance means fewer charitable donations, slower aid, and less political pressure.  If that’s not reason enough to cover the flood–to do our jobs–I don’t know what is.

by Andrew Romano