Live music venues are marked by signs. The city stages free and low cost concerts throughout the year. Some of the best are at the foot of lower Broadway right beside the river.

The city parks department has two good concerts coming up soon; both are set for the Looby Theater at 2301 Rosa Parks Blvd.

Celebrate April Fools day when The Centennial Hiptet, Bad Axe, James “Nick” Nixon and the Belmont University Guitar Ensemble perform at “Fools for Music.” The concert kicks off at 7 p.m. and costs $10.

A slate of choreographers and performance artists will be featured in “Inspired,” set to start at 6 p.m. on April 3. This program will feature music from members of the Nashville Composers Association. The cost is also $10 at the door.

One of the highlights of the “Fools for Music” concert is sure to be the Centennial Hiptet. The group plays hard-driving and funky jazz from the books of Art Blakey and Horace Silver among others. In a city known for its country music, it’s not always easy to find good jazz, especially hard bop.

But, to be honest, I’m not a huge country music fan. I’ve been into jazz since I was in high school. Soon after that I started to really appreciate classical music and in the last decade or two, I’ve become something of an opera aficionado.

Jazz, however, is still at the top of my list. By the way, there’s some country music I enjoy, especially the older classic icons like Hank Williams and Patsy Cline.

In my pursuit of jazz in this wonderful area where Country reigns supreme, I’ve discovered that some Middle Tennessee wineries program free jazz throughout the year.

One of the best is Amber Falls Winery in Hampshire, Tennessee, which is about an hour south of Nashville. This small, locally owned winery is starting to produce some excellent estate grown wines and they do a great job offering free music and events almost all year long.

If you like spicy, southern cooking, don’t miss the winery’s Gumbo Sunday, scheduled for around noon to 4 p.m., Sunday, February 27, 2011. Enjoy some great food and music in a beautiful setting.

Le Jazz Hot ‘2′ will be perform from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. The versatile jazz duo plays a wide range of material, with an emphasis on early, classic jazz. They also toss in some great, famous French songs and a few well-known bossa novas.

That may sound pleasant to you, especially if you’re unfamiliar with San Francisco in the summer time. Might I remind you of what Mark Twain once said?

“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”

Anyway, I became pretty familiar with the San Francisco Zoo, which achieved a little notoriety a few years ago when a guy harassed a tiger so much the animal leapt out of his enclosure, ate the dude and then went on to maul a couple more zoo visitors.

Although the San Francisco Zoo has been making upgrades through the years, it still seems pretty dated to me.

When I got older I was able to visit the San Diego Zoo, which is certainly a world class facility. Don’t miss it if you’re ever in Southern California.

I’ve also toured the Oakland Zoo, Knoxville Zoo and several zoos outside of the United States including the Belize Zoo in Central America, which is a really charming place to visit. I say all this as a way to let you know I have something of a perspective on zoos.

Today I want to recommend the Nashville Zoo. It’s not a huge facility, but it is very nicely designed and has a great collection of animals.

Visitors can feed the Rainbow Lorikeets at the Nashville Zoo.

With the exception of the Belize Zoo, I’ve been able to get closer to the wildlife at the Nashville Zoo than at any other zoo I’ve ever visited. And, for some reason I can’t explain, the animals in the Nashville Zoo seem more active than most zoo animals I’ve seen.

My wife and I enjoy the Nashville Zoo so much, we joined this year. We love heading out for a couple of hours on the weekends to do some walking and see what the animals are up to.

The exhibits are appealing, the layout is convenient, and the facility is just the right size for families with children. Visitors definitely get their money’s worth, but younger children won’t be kicking and screaming that they’re too tired to walk anymore.

The zoo has animal shows, butterflies, a petting area, and there’s a historic mansion and farm on the property that give visitors a glimpse of what life was like in Nashville some 200 years ago.

During a recently family visit, I put together a short video overview of the Nashville Zoo. Check it out.

The “north-to-south” scale of Tennessee is a little less daunting so a visitor to Nashville can take a leisurely day trip down to Chattanooga to see the famous Choo-Choo and a lot more.

River Journey building at the Tennessee Aquarium.

For many visitors to Chattanooga, the Tennessee Aquarium is the major draw. The sprawling, three-building facility anchors the lively, revitalized downtown area. Recently my family toured the Tennessee Aquarium and I put together a short video tour that gives you a glimpse of some of the aquarium’s highlights.

There are two main exhibit buildings. One focuses on the rivers of the world with an emphasis on local ecology. The other gives visitors a tour of the world’s oceans. There’s also an IMAX theater on the campus that screens a variety of programs.

For more adventurous aquarium goers, the River Gorge Explorer is a combination thrill ride and nature tour. Passengers cruise along the Tennessee River Gorge at speeds up to 50 mph. Trip are from two to three hours.

After getting your feet wet at the aquarium—figuratively speaking, of course—you can chug a block or two uphill to the Bluff View Art District where you’ll find some great restaurants, inns and art galleries. The area is also home to the Hunter Museum of American Art which houses an impressive collection as well as great traveling shows.

First on our list of events was the Christmas Parade. Fortunately the night wasn’t quite as cold as it could have been so both Pam and I survived with no problems at all.

I had no idea there were that many Shriners in Middle Tennessee!

Along with the Shriners and their little cars there were a number of great marching bands, big balloons, floats and of course, Santa Claus. We didn’t see it, but they also had a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in the Public Square Plaza.

Our next Christmas event was totally unexpected. Pam scored some free tickets to see the Nashville Ballet’s Nutcracker. It was a fantastic performance. The Nashville Ballet gives the production a little local twist by tying the story back into the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition.

Very well done indeed.

Finally, we headed over to the Grand Ole Opry to see the Radio City Rockettes in their Christmas performance. This was a great way to finish off our Christmas season smorgasbord of public performances.

Each year the Rockettes kick the Grand Ole Opry performers out of their venue and take center stage. From beginning to end it was a great show, but for us the highlights were the wooden soldier routine and the live nativity at the end.

It was also nice to see how the Grand Ole Opry has been given new life after the devastating May 2010 flood. They worked hard to get the venue and hotel back up for the holiday season and they both look better than ever.

It wasn’t very funny back then, either.

But there are plenty of free attractions in and around Nashville that will keep any country music fan busy for a while. I recently collected five of the best free attractions and wrote an article about them. You can find the article here. Along the way, I’ll turn you on to a great free, and very unpublicized, museum almost next door to the Grand Ole Opry, as well as some places on Lower Broadway where you need to poke your head into.

We had a shocker here in Nashville, as I’m sure you know, on the Fourth of July. Former Titan quarterback Steve McNair was found shot to death along with his 20-year-old girlfriend. Tomorrow the Titans are opening LP Stadium for some kind of memorial. I think they are mainly going to provide a place for local fans to leave some tokens of remembrance. I’m not sure. I may check it out. I had a few early thoughts about the tragedy that I posted over on my Associated Content page.

Here are some recent articles and a video I’ve published on Nashville and the surrounding area. If you are thinking of visiting, or just plain curious about the Nashville, I believe you will find something you enjoy here.

• Street level Nashville. A  quick video tour.
• Hiking and walking in Nashville.
• Great places to get married in Nashville.
• See some free (or darn cheap) jazz in Nashville.

I have several more articles in the pipeline and as events (especially free ones) hit the calendar, I’ll share them with you. If you have any requests, post a comment here and I’ll see what I can do.