Charles Alexander::The Village Drumbeat

On Thursday, March 31st at 6 pm, I host a Tin Pan South show. Here’s what the Nashville Scene had to say this week about the show:

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Well, that was a great week (or two…) For those wondering, my carpal tunnel release surgery went great. My hand is healing extremely well and will be ready right on schedule for…

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Like This at Tin Pan South

I just heard that I get to again host a Tin Pan South round with some stellar singer/songwriters. Beginning last year – I’ve tried hard to pull together a round that is pretty diverse not only ethnically but musically. My hope is that Tin Pan South provides a great platform for what these artists do and that Nashville is recognized for it’s entire musical palette.
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My friend, Fett, recently joined FaceBook. One of his first status updates for the New Year was a request for civility. In fact here is what he said,

“Here’s my main wish for 2011: A return to CIVILITY in all aspects of our culture: politics, religion, international affairs, personal relationships, etc. We’ve all been screaming at each other for far too long; we’re way overdue for some good, ol’ fashioned kindness toward each other. And it starts right here, right now, with each of us.”

Roughly 4 days later, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Federal judge and a host of others were shot outside a Tucson, AZ supermarket. Soon after, the shouting began – again. We all looked for folks to blame and if one person or another was either solely or at least partially responsible for the actions of, by all accounts, a mad man.

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Click To Get Song

Right after I graduated college, my dear friend, Vid Cuddihy wanted to form an a cappella rock group and asked me and my now wife, Wendy Sumner Alexander, to join. We were called PinK Dakota. Folks mutilated our name. But in my humble opinion we had one of the coolest promo pics in music history. I’m trying to dig it up and if I can find it, I’ll post it.

I don’t know if we were Sing-Off material but for a while there we were rockstars in Western New York. I’m not really sure what happened to the rest of the group, they’re probably in the witness protection program.

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When we first moved to Nashville, we weren’t sure what the culinary landscape here would hold. But a friend of ours. Jackie George, told us about Patti Myint’s Thai cooking (more…)

Jackie and John DiPillo are friends of ours. Meghan, their daughter, babysat for us once and is a warm, caring individual. One of their other daughters, Rachel, is an actress (more…)

Floodwater from the Cumberland River creeps into downtown Nashville, Tennessee, Monday, May 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

I am a real homebody. I love home. To me it means comfort and safety. It’s the place that gives me the freedom to be who I truly am.

My childhood home of Sentul, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur in the Southeast Asian nation of Malaysia was for all intents and purposes, a ghetto. (more…)

The tragedy and the subsequent events in Haiti are hard to comprehend and wrap my head around. The First Church of the Nazarene is holding a prayer service Saturday, Jan 30th to remember in solidarity victims, citizens of Haiti and members of the Haitian community here in Nashville.

There is a significant benefit being planned that we should be able to announce soon. In the meantime keep your eyes and ears open for other such happenings. One such event is tonight at 12th & Porter. Dave Barnes, Marc Broussard and Gabe Dixon amongst others perform.

God Bless, Haiti.

Dear friends

Hours after I sent out my last newsletter yesterday, I learnt that my friend, Kim Risburg, had passed away sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning. She was found on the shores of Woods Reservoir near the UTSI campus in Tullahoma,TN.

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Photo by Iris Baker

On Dec 26th, 2004, a tsunami hit the coastal regions of Southeast and South Asia. Some of the countries that were worst hit were Indonesia, India, Thailand and Sri Lanka. It wasn’t long after the tragedy happened that we were inundated with images over CNN and various other media outlets as to the magnitude of the disaster.

It also wasn’t lost on most of us that some of the loss of human life could have been averted if there had been an advanced tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean in place. (more…)