Go Memphis

Josh Leggett told it like it was when he advertised for musicians for his band, which eventually became Foresight. “I got tired of being kicked out of bands in Memphis ’cause I didn’t want to play thrash metal or just insane punk,” said Leggett, 28, Foresight lead and rhythm guitarist and singer. Leggett, who learned to play guitar while in prison, and his band play Sham-Rock Fest in Hernando on Wednesday. Full story »

Joseph Barrios’s first gig was memorable — but not in a pleasant way. He forgot the lyrics. "It was kind of a painful experience," he says. That would end the dream for some people, but not Barrios. He quickly got another gig at Square Beans. “If you’ve got something to say, you really want to get it out to people. And I think the best form of expression (is) to say it to them directly.” He performs Saturday at Square Beans Coffee in Collierville. Full story »

Members of After the Storm went through bad weather before the skies finally cleared. Singer Nick Kunkel, 21, and drummer Glenn Griffin, 21, got off to a rocky start. “We actually hated each other in high school,” Griffin said. “We played on the same rugby team. He was pompous. Nick was all about Nick. It was just the way he carried himself.” Kunkel spent a lot of time trying to impress girls. He’d pop the collar of his Polo shirt and try to act cool. “What 18 year old isn’t like that?” he said. Full story »

The band After the Exhale’s original name was “Accusations of Evil.” “It just kind of sounds like metal,” said guitarist and band co-founder Sean Flowers, 18. “A lot of syllables.” They changed the name after their first show. “A lot of people were like, ‘Oh, what does that mean?’ They were thinking we were being judgmental, I guess.” Flowers and his girlfriend found the new name in the side notes of a Bible. Full story »

When they’re not on stage rocking out in the Seeing Red band, Nina Makris and Jessica Willett are in school teaching teenagers. Makris, who sings and plays acoustic and electric guitar, teaches psychology, health and physical education and is head coach of the volleyball team at Munford High School. Singer Willett teaches physical education at Elmore Park Middle School. A lot of their students know they’re in a band, Makris said. Full story »

Michael Moyer didn't do much talking the first seven years of his life. "I never would use my words," said Moyer, 20. "I had to take these classes to learn how to speak. I used to just point at things." But by the time he was 13, things had changed. His sister, Tristan Moyer, who goes by the name Nancy Whiskey in the Vegas-based-band, Darby O'Gill and the Little People, bought Moyer his first guitar and took him to punk rock shows. Full story »

M. C. Mack described his 2003 Macknificent album as more "stylish" and his new album Pure Ana Part 1 as "more on the street side." "I rap kind of fast," he said. That's 'pure ana' — pure animosity. I'm shooting my lyrics like a .38." Mack performs at 11 tonight at The Plush Club at 380 Beale. Full story »

“Grounded” was a good thing for Jordan Clayton. “I made bad grades in school so I was grounded all the time,” said Clayton, 18. “I refused to do school work, basically. I thought it was pointless. I knew that I would never do anything with most of it. There’s no point in me learning how to draw a perfect hexagon.” He was grounded “27 weeks every year — the second nine weeks to the fourth nine weeks of school” elementary through high school. Full story »

Drummer Jeremy McDonald, 15, wasn’t sure Here Lies Heart was ever going to get off the ground. “I thought it was gonna be like some middle school band: ‘Yeah, we’re a band, but we don’t practice,’” he said. McDonald soon discovered his fellow band members’ hearts were in it. Hence the name. The band performs Saturday at That Church in Bartlett. Full story »

Jimmy Crosthwait's new venture is reminiscent of shows he used to give with his puppets at Memphis Pink Palace Museum. He makes music by stroking or hitting 5-1/2-foot tall gongs with steel rods or his hands. "The whole apparatus is sculptural," he said. "And it is as visual as it is melodic." Crosthwait is going to perform along with fellow "cymbalist" Jessica Jones, bassist John Stubblefield and saxophonist Jim Spake at a memorial to Dickinson Monday at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park. Full story »

It took a while for Marcela Pinilla to realize singing was her passion. A native of Bogota, Colombia, Pinilla, 27, auditioned and was chosen to sing a song with Tuna, a traditional Spanish band, when she was in the fourth grade. But, she said, “I didn’t want to be a singer. That was not my dream.” Eventually, singing became a dream then a reality. She performs Saturday at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park. Full story »

Some people don't get the meaning of Never Forgotten's name. Explaining the actual meaning, the metal band's lead singer Ryan Stephens, 17, said, "We really try to strive and let people see what God did for us. We want to make sure the sacrifice that was made for us so we could be here today will never be forgotten." Although their songs deal with Christian themes, the band members don't call themselves a Christian band. Full story »

Jeremy Stanfill played drums in his first band, a surf-rock instrumental group called The Mysterious Comics, at age 8. “I had some leopard-skin Jams pants, Vans, ‘Life’s a Beach’ Bad Boys Club flip-up hat and a Rude Dog tank top,” he said. “We were huge into the Ventures and all that stuff.” “I didn’t even like music at 8 years old,” said Nick Redmond. Stanfill and Redmond now are the hosts of Bar Stars, a concert/open mike night on Wednesdays at Neil’s. Full story »

The first guitar James Thomas Shaheen ever picked up was his grandfather's 1963 Gibson. "I didn't have enough money to buy mom a mother's day or birthday present so I was like, 'You know what? I'm gonna figure out a song and I'm gonna play her a song,'" said Shaheen, 20. "Obviously, the mother thing happened. She broke into tears and said it was the best song she ever heard." Shaheen performs Saturday at the New Daisy Theatre. Full story »

Richard Johnston's one-man band is an institution on Beale Street. People gather in front of him while he plays guitar, drums and sings -- all at the time same. They dance and talk to him. The audience gets larger during the evening. By playing the drum with bare feet, Johnston achieves the sounds of the kick and bass drums and tambourine. Saturday night, the one-man band will become a group of performers, but they'll still play on the street in front of The New Daisy. Full story »