Nashville Grotto -

Grotto Executive Meeting - July 2009

joestewart — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:45:27 +0000

Start: 2009-07-02 19:00

End: 2009-07-02 21:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT-5

The July Executive meeting will be held on July 2, 2009 at 7pm at the home of Owen Walker in the Crieve Hall area of Nashville. The Executive Meeting is open to all grotto members and usually involves setting up trips for the upcoming month and other grotto business, along with good food and drink.

Grotto Meeting - June 2009

joestewart — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:20:34 +0000

Start: 2009-06-18 18:30

End: 2009-06-18 21:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT-5

The June grotto meeting will be held on Thursday, June 18, 2009 at the Adventure Science Center starting at 7pm.

June 2009 Executive Meeting

joestewart — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:33:39 +0000

Start: 2009-06-04 19:00

End: 2009-06-04 21:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT-5

The June Executive meeting will be held on June 4, 2009 at 7pm at the Cinco De Mayo Mexican Restaurant on White Bridge Rd. The Executive Meeting is open to all grotto members and usually involves setting up trips for the upcoming month and other grotto business,
along with good food and drink.

The Battle for Bats: White Nose Syndrome

joestewart — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:28:27 +0000

The Battle for Bats: White Nose Syndrome from Ravenswood Media on Vimeo.

www.caves.org/WNS/battle_for_bats.htm
www.cavebiota.com/wns.htm

SERA Cave Carnivale

jameswood — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:48:00 +0000

Start: 2009-05-28 12:00

End: 2009-05-31 12:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT-5

The Nashville Grotto is still hosting a great party in Walker County, GA May 28 to 31. That’s right, the 58th annual SERA Cave Carnival is still on! It’s gonna be a party folks and I hope that it enlightens the spirits of all you sour troglodytes out there!!

The Nashville Grotto is planning a flurry of event s to keep even the grumpiest of spelunkers happy, in keeping with the original spirit of SERA, this year we are reintroducing the SERA Cave Carnivale!! Here are a few of the events that you may not already be aware:

Caver Dave’s Friday Night Open Mic: Beer Brewer extraordinaire and owner of Nashville Violins, Dave Wascher, will be hosting an Open Mic on Friday night. Come by the pavilion stage on Friday to register for a spot. Belly Dancers and the White-Nose Blues Jug Band will be kicking off the evening. As the evening progresses, caver Karaoke will entertain those in the proper frame of voice and mind.

Mardi-Crawl Parade: On Saturday night, we are going to host the first ever SERA Mardi-Crawl parade! Put on your finest cave carnivale costume and let your freak flag fly! Here’s your chance to make a creative statement about what is going on these days in the caving community – build your ethos into a float for all to see! The Nashville Grotto will be selling some supplies including Mardi-Crawl Beads and Masks but bring your own supplies to turn this into a true spectacle! Prizes will be awarded for best costume and best float.

Win your weight in Beer: That’s right…. win your weight in beer!!! Visit all of the vendors on vendor row to become registered for the drawing. The winner will be placed on one side of a huge scale as beer is piled onto the other side until the scale is balanced!!

Burning Cave Man: Once a year, tens of thousands of participants gather to create Black Rock City in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance. They depart one week later, having left no trace whatsoever. With this as our inspiration, the Nashville Grotto is proud to present the first ever SERA Burning Cave-Man!!! Towering over the event all weekend, the cave-man will draw curious stares from cavers as they peruse vendor row. On Saturday night, the large cave-man will be set alight to celebrate our own identity as a community of self-expressive and self-reliant cavers.

Old Union to play Saturday night!! Imagine a musical road trip through Memphis and Muscle Shoals with side trips to Texas and Detroit, ending up in Macon and you have a idea of the distinctive American rock and roll of Old Union. With musical influences as varied as the individual members, the music of Old Union has been described as fresh and new, yet with a cool retro vibe.

Old Union was formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2001 by Chuck Foster (keyboards and lead vocals), Johnny Zvolensky (guitars), Steve Spotty Swertfeger (guitars and vocals), and David Bryndal (drums), with the recent addition Professor "JDubb" Williams (bass). The strong, well-crafted songs and soulful, gritty vocals of Foster remain the heart and soul of the band. With additional songwriting from Zvolensky, and Swertfeger, Old Union has acquired the reputation as one of the best song-oriented bands working today. With superb musicianship from the twin guitar assault of Swertfeger and Zvolensky and the locked in solid-as-a-rock rhythm section of Williams and Bryndal, Old Union hits the stage with an aggressive rock edge drenched in Southern soul.
You can listen to free samples of their music at:
http://www.myspace.com/oldunion and http://sera2009.org/old-union-band-perform-saturday-night

Registration forms, directions, etc for SERA Cave Carnivale 2009 at: http://sera2009.org

Grotto Meeting - May 2009

joestewart — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:41:21 +0000

Start: 2009-05-21 18:30

End: 2009-05-21 21:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT-5

The May grotto meeting will be held on Thursday, May 21 at the Adventure Science Center starting at 7pm.

Are you Volunteering for the SERA Cave Carnival?

joestewart — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:23:28 +0000

Have you volunteered to help with the SERA Cave Carnival? The time is now!

The Nashville Grotto is hosting the event as a fundraiser and can use your help.

Even if you can't attend, that is no excuse. There is plenty to do before the event in addition to staffing the Cave Carnival itself.

To find out how you can help, contact the SERA Chairman, John Hickman.

Want to know more about where the fun will be May 28-31, 2009? visit http://sera2009.org.

What's Killing The Bats?

joestewart — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:05:27 +0000

"Bats play a crucial role in maintaining the balance of nature and they're dying in record numbers in several U.S. states. As Daniel Sieberg reports, it's a mystery that has biologists baffled."

CBS News report from Aeolus Cave February 2009 about White Nose Syndrome. It aired April 5, 2009.

Watch CBS Videos Online

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4920589n

More info: http://www.batmanagement.com/wns/wns.html

and http://www.caves.org/WNS/WNS%20Info.htm

White Nose Syndrome - Presentation 2009-03-19

joestewart — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 15:27:13 +0000

Chrys Hulbert presented this information to the Nashville Grotto meeting on 03/19/2009 and has allowed us to show the slides here.

White Nose Syndrome

View more presentations from nashvillegrotto.

For more info or to donate, visit:

WNS Liaison web page - http://www.caves.org/WNS/WNS%20Info.htm
White Nose Syndrome Rapid Response Fund - http://www.caves.org/WNS/index.shtml
FWS Recommended Decontamination Procedure - http://www.fws.gov/northeast/whitenosemessage.html

Grotto Meeting - April 2009

joestewart — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:56:15 +0000

Start: 2009-04-16 18:30

End: 2009-04-16 21:00

Timezone: Etc/GMT-5

The April grotto meeting will be held on Thursday, April 16 at the Adventure Science Center starting at 7pm.