John Cade

You’ll have to forgive me - I broke my blog at some point over the last two weeks while trying to updgrade Wordpress, and I left my readers with the dreaded “php errors” for viewing.  Maybe after reading the list of what has been going on over the past few weeks, you’ll understand why I neglected to fix it.

• I moved into my new place in Green Hills two weeks ago.  Other than listening to extremely loud traffic while in bed at night (clarification:  the traffic is normal.  the windows are super thin), I absolutely love the place.  The lady who owns the house, and lives downstairs, is a great neighbor.  Thank God for that.  Also, it only takes me 10 minutes to get downtown during rush hour.  Couldn’t have selected a better location.
• During GMA Week, I attended a preview of the Music Builds Tour with Switchfoot at the Wildhorse Saloon.  For anyone who has never been to the Wildhorse, Jon Foreman said it best:  “This is a nice country bar.  That’s what this is.”   As always, Switchfoot was incredible.  I never miss an opportunity to see them live, and neither should you.
• Meredith and I also attended the Dove Awards at the Grand Ole Opry.  It was my first time in the Grand Ole Opry House, and it was definitely a unique experience.  Sitting through a live taping of that magnitude is a very surreal experience.  Even though I was actually present at the awards show, it felt as if I was watching it all through a monitor.  Everything ran like clockwork.  I was able to see Switchfoot play for the second time in one week.  They played “This is Home” which is going to be featured on the Prince Caspian soundtrack.   Do yourself a favor, and listen to it on their myspace page.
• May 1 and 2 were my first two days as an employee of LifeWay (actually, it was just orientation).  My official title is Internet Producer, and I will be working in Digital Media Publishing.  I was able to meet a lot of great people and get familiar with the 22 acres or so of land that the campus sits on.  Second only to the Tennessee state government, LifeWay is the largest property owner in downtown Nashville.  If you need any advice on surviving the hiring process with a large organization, feel free to shoot me a message.  After three entire months of conversations with one, I know a thing or two.
• Meredith and I will be married in exactly two weeks.  I can’t believe how close it is!

Please excuse the missing images and sound files throughout my older posts.  I’ll work on getting those back up withing the next few days.

One of the things I like most about Nashville (other than the killer music scene) is how social it is. It seems like around every corner, there is a coffee shop. And in every coffee shop around every corner there are tons of people, each of them either conversing with the people around them, or staring endlessly into the enchanting glow of their Macbook.

It sounds like mockery, but I am actually one of those people. Except in my case, it happens to be a Macbook Pro. So sue me.

Nashville is very trendy, which worries me because I’m not sure if the coffee shop ‘movement’ is a trend or a mainstay. I hope it’s a mainstay, and I think it will be for several reasons. One of the reasons happens to be that a fair share of business takes place at coffee shops. I can’t tell you how many meetings I’ve held or attended at coffee shops to sell my design services to someone. Or even just to sit down, have coffee, and design for that matter.

It’s cheaper to buy someone coffee than lunch when doing business, which happens to be important in a town where it seems like everyone is a struggling musician. Thankfully, I’m not one of those people. I mean, I am a musician, and I am struggling, but the two are unrelated.

My favorite place to ‘light up’ my Macbook Pro is at Portland Brew, just off of West End. It’s not the most popular, but it’s a bit more calm that the more popular ones, like Fido and Bongo Java. Even if their low-fat white chocolate mocha with sugar-free hazelnut isn’t as good.

And that’s my rant about coffee shops.

Give em a try.

What’s your favorite local coffee shop (wherever you may be)?