Looks like we are going into our first true weekend of spring. The weather looks sunny and rather warm. Here’s the breakdown provided by weather.com.

Here’s are some links to things that you can get into this weekend:

AJC Auto Show

Sweetwater 420 Festival

Braves are back in town

Record Store Day

Avett Brothers at the Variety Playhouse

Atlanta Film Festival

Whether you are in the market for a new Aston Martin or even Saturn, you will be able to find them all at the AJC Auto show. People who have gone in the past have never told me anything real special about Atlanta Auto Shows. Therefore, I feel safe to say that it’s probably similar to many other auto shows outside of New York, Detroit and LA, where you have lots of cars, some hot girls, a bag full of brochures and a bunch of dudes all staring at the dream cars they never could afford. If you are into all those things, this will be a good way to spend a few hours during the next week.

More info:

Atlanta Auto Show

April 20th, four-twenty, four to da twenty, the national pot smoking day, whatever you want to call it is upon us again.  With April 20th we get the annual Sweetwater 420 festival. Named after their flagship beer, the 420 festival is drunken spring event with good beer, live music, large amounts of people and last year, people peeing all over the trees (girls and guys).  Either way, this should be a fun time, but if it was anything like last year then you might want to bring your own beer.  BYOB was acceptable last year and it’s a good idea because the lines to get a nice cold 420 is long and the beer isn’t as cheap as if you brought your own 420.  Now they might crackdown on this a bit but it’s an open park and the event is free, so I’m not sure how they will stop you.  Enjoy the party.

More info:

Sweetwater 420 Festival 

Local emerging psychedelic-grunge rockers, Dead Confederate, will be playing a free show this Thursday at the Star Bar part of a reoccurring event named, “Big Trouble in little 5.” Dead Confederate has been around since 2006 and has a growing following due to solid buzz through the music press and online. They are awesome live, so if you dig the music you hear below then I would definitely go check them out. Plus, remember this show is free, so now you just need cash to cover your booze.

MySpace

Star Bar

Listen Now:

Photo Courtesy of MySpace

The Braves arrive back in town on Friday for a seven day homestand where they will play the Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers and the Washington Nationals. The Dodgers are around this weekend for games on Saturday at 3:55pm and Sunday at 1:30pm.. Below is a complete schedule for your reference.

Friday through Sunday - Los Angeles Dodgers

Monday and Tuesday - Washington Nationals

Wednesday and Thursday - Florida Marlins

Full Schedule with times

photo courtesy of espn.com

If you like Regina Spektor and Lily Allen, then you probably will like Kate Nash. Other information that might intrigue you: she’s British, she plays the piano, her music is pretty awesome and she’s easy on the eyes. Basically she’s the girl you always wanted to date but never had the chance. Don’t feel bad though…I didn’t have a chance either.

Tickets

MySpace

As you might have noticed, there is an asterisk(*) on the title of this post and that was intended for a very good reason. See in a second I’m going to start telling you how awesome these shows are going to be and how much you should see these shows and then after getting you all worked up, I’m going to tell you that they are both sold out. So the asterisk is there to prevent you from getting all excited and then ultimately letting you down like probably your girlfriends first sexual experience. So not to belabor the point so in short: both bands are awesome, both shows will be rad, I’m not going to both of them because I’m was premature (see again first sexual experience), and I will join you in the disappointment of missing both shows. For you reference, Spoon will be playing at Center Stage tonight and Iron and Wine will be at the Variety Playhouse.

Spoon

Iron and Wine

With the constant onslaught from new competitors online, independent record stores have been unable to do anything o stop their perpetual demise. So in an effort to increase awareness of their struggles and importance in the community, independent record stores across the nation are banning together and dedicating a day to themselves and their survival. Criminal Records is throwing an event in support of the day which will include live music from Bobby & the Soft Spots, The Bridges, The Coathangers, Club Awesome, Dead Confederate, Hope For Agoldensummer, Judi Chicago, Anna Kramer & the Lost Cause, Manchester Orchestra, Janelle Monae, Noot d’ Noot, Ocha La Rocha, Suitcases, and Trances Arc. Sounds like a great event and I love to see record stores survive but I’m not sure how much they can do to fight the cheap and vast distribution of the online space. I wish them luck and go check out the bands and support Criminal Records.

Official Page

Criminal Records