march 19–25, 2020 I volume 39 I number 7 I Nashvillescene.com I free
City Limits: At-risk workers concerned about health, financial stability during pandemic Page 12
Critics’ Picks: Activities you can partake in while practicing social distancing Page 37
Th e
Food
&
Drink Is s u e
dozen bakery
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Nashville Scene Ad_full page_with quote_LadyBirdJohnson.pdf 1 3/16/2020 12:56:54 PM
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NASHVILLE SCENE | MARCH 19 – MARCH 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
Contents
marCh 19, 2020
9
44
Walk a Mile: West Park to Robertson Avenue .....................................9
Disappointed Idealist
City Limits In the third installment of his column, J.R. Lind explores a historic and ever-changing segment of West Nashville By J.R. Lind
No Work-Arounds .................................... 12 Workers in hospitality, custodial and cafeteria services are at health and financial risk during the pandemic
this week on the web:
Books Talking to Madison Smartt Bell about the life and work of novelist Robert Stone By mARiA BRowning And ChApteR 16
46
Metro Schools to Close Until at Least April 3
musiC Support Your Local Player ...................... 46
By ALeJAndRo RAmiRez
Winter releases from local musicians to get you through the live-show drought
Pith in the Wind ...................................... 12
By stephen tRAgeseR
This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog
The Spin................................................... 48
14
Cover story The Chefs’ Guide to Eating in Nashville.... 15 Your culinary to-do list just got a lot longer, with 100-plus local chef recommendations By AshLey BRAntLey
Hungry for Competition .......................... 30 Local chefs share their thoughts on competitive cooking
The 5 Spot Announces Temporary Closure, Community Fund
The Scene’s live-review column checks out To Nashville, With Love at Marathon Music Works By steve CAvendish
We Can Get Through This! Here’s What Diners Can Do. Bryce McCloud’s ‘Communication Station’ Visits Lower Broadway
51
NEW YORK TIMES CrossWorD
51
marketpLaCe
By ChRis ChAmBeRLAin
Critically Speaking .................................. 34 Two longtime Scene food writers on the state of restaurant reviews, ‘best of’ lists and, yes, Yelp By steve CAvendish And ChRis ChAmBeRLAin
37
CritiCs’ piCks Play some board games, build your own streaming Scorsese film fest, stream nature documentaries in isolation, get your sports fix, fill out the census, listen to The Rewatchables and more
42 art
Weather for Art ....................................... 42 Karen Seapker’s Circuities is both grounding and transcendent By CAt ACRee
Reflection Eternal ................................... 43 At Wilder, artist Benjy Russell imagines a radical queer utopia By eRiCA CiCCARone
on the Cover:
Ham-and-cheese croissant, chocolate chip cookies and sourdough bread at Dozen Bakery Photo by Eric England
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nashvillescene.com nashvillescene.com | MARCH 19 – MARCH 25, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE
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MUSIC CONNECTS US
nashvillescene.com | MARCH 19 – MARCH 25, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE
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NASHVILLE SCENE | MARCH 19 – MARCH 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
Sincerest thanks to Liberty Party Rental for supplying a heated tent to the citizens of North Nashville in the wake of the March 3 tornado. Your generosity is appreciated.
city limits
Walk a
Mile
with J.R. Lind
sA
e venu
In the third installment of his column, J.R. Lind explores a historic and ever-changing segment of West Nashville By J.R. Lind | photos by Eric england
63rd Avenue North Morrow Road
Croley Drive
Jame
West Park to Robertson Avenue
Robertson Avenue
The route: From West Park on Morrow Road west to 63rd Avenue North, following 63rd through its transition to James Avenue, then south on Croley Drive to Robertson Avenue. East on Robertson to the market. Number of cranes: None Abandoned e-scooters: None
Once a month, reporter and resident historian J.R. Lind will pick an area in the city to examine while accompanied by a photographer. With his column Walk a Mile, he’ll walk a one-mile stretch of that area, exploring the neighborhood’s history and character, its developments, its current homes and businesses, and what makes it a unique part of Nashville. If you have a suggestion for a future Walk a Mile, email editor@nashvillescene.com.
T
he crowing of an illicit rooster cracks the silence of morning at West Park. He is late for the stereotypical dawn greeting, but then again, the sun is late too, delayed by the recent transition to daylight saving time. The first rays are burning through the overcast, though — a
sort of second dawn, drawing the attention of the contraband chanticleer. West Park is a little more than two blocks wide and Nebraska-flat, running in a rough rectangle from Morrow Road back to Richland Creek where it abuts Briley Parkway. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about West Park — there’s no model of an Ancient Greek temple, for example — but it’s nonetheless the Platonic ideal of a neighborhood park. It fits harmoniously into the geometry of the neighborhood. There are well-maintained baseball and softball fields — the outfields are freshly mowed and the red-clay infields raked flat. It’s ringed by a wide and rolling greenway that melds easily into a wide sidewalk along Morrow itself. There’s a small commercial strip next to the park — home of a restaurant, a market and a church. The signage for all three is in Spanish. The south side of Morrow in this stretch maintains its character as West Nashville’s working-class enclave. The other side of the street shows the future, though. Once just another block of simple and small postwar clapboard homes — what we’d almost certainly call workforce housing today — is now a monotonous block of new tall-and-skinnies looming over Morrow, their homogenous roofs peaking just below the uppermost branches of the ubiquitous oaks that have loomed here far longer. Those oaks are immortalized in paint on the dominating feature of West Park. At
37 feet high and 260 feet in diameter, the park’s 21-million-gallon overflow tank is impossible to miss. It was added to the park during a renovation, completed in 2018, that transformed it from dilapidated to pleasant and included rehab of the park’s community center — which is now the site of a healthy and thriving badminton league — and basketball courts, on this morning occupied by a trio of truants. The giant water tank is designed to assist the older pumping facility just behind it that keeps the flood-prone park safe from inundation. Artist Eric Henn used a pseudo-trompe-l’oeil style in what is the city’s largest mural, clocking in at more than 80,000 square feet, if the domed roof — painted to match the sky — is included. If the light strikes just right, particularly in the evening gloaming, the tank melds seamlessly into the background. Along Morrow, there’s more public art, if a bit more inscrutable. “Anchor in the Storm,” a sculpture by Betty and Lee Benson, depicts a hefty limestone boulder chained to a similarly hefty raft. It honors a rock quarry on Robertson Avenue that sucked up untold millions of gallons of the Cumberland in 2010, sparing the lowlying neighborhoods of Charlotte Park, The Nations and Croleywood from further devastation during that year’s massive flood. The boulder comes from the quarry itself, donated by its owner, the Rogers Group. Though it’s likely not the artists’ intention, it would be easy to connect the raft
nashvillescene.com | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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city limits to the history of Nashville’s foundation. After all, James Robertson’s home Richland was just a half-mile south as the crow flies, and his colleague John Donelson brought his half of the first European settlers upriver on the Adventure, a raft not unlike the one depicted. Plus, just yards away, an important moment in the early history of the area occurred beneath one of the oaks, when Robertson signed a treaty with the Chickasaw tribe. Though primarily concentrated in southwestern Tennessee and northern Mississippi, the Chickasaws used Middle Tennessee as hunting grounds. A relationship with the British that irked a nascent United States early in the Revolution soured, and Piominko convinced the tribe to ally themselves with the Americans. In 1783, the settlements around Fort Nashborough were under frequent attack by an alliance of Cherokees, Creeks
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and Shawnee. Robertson signed a treaty with the Chickasaw that undoubtedly saved the young settlement. The negotiations took place at a sulphur spring now in the rear of the Music City Tents and Events property on 60th Avenue North, and the treaty was signed at an oak that, until it fell in 1956, stood at the corner of Louisiana and 61st. Treaty Oaks Drive remains as a memorial. A portion of the tree itself is in the state’s agricultural museum at the Ellington Agricultural Center. Walking northwest on Morrow, the park gives way to a residential strip, the homes stubbornly in the older style, close to the sidewalk and squatting on well-maintained postage-stamp lawns. Eventually the sidewalk gives out as Morrow approaches 63rd Avenue North. Sitting well back from the road beyond a few rolling acres of verdant pleasantness is a windowless 50,000-square-foot brick building that could be mistaken for a secret government facility. It is, in fact, a manufacturing plant for D&P Custom Lights and Wiring, which creates light fixtures for commercial use. Across 63rd is a not-so-secret quasigovernment facility, though: a massive Nashville Electric Service substation and catchall storage area and motor pool. The March 3 tornado passed about a half-mile north, blessedly avoiding the substation and the rows of petroleum-product storage tanks along Centennial Boulevard. Nevertheless, the NES property has been abuzz since the storm. Before, there were piles of wooden and metal utility poles stacked high next to massive spools of electric wire. The property is emptier now, fleets of trucks having hauled the reserves off to points east to restore power to stormstricken neighborhoods. The road arches here as 63rd turns harder to the west and becomes James Avenue, lifting as it crosses Richland Creek — bubbling and brisk and unexpectedly crystal-clear, a testament to the tireless and often unsung work of the Richland Creek Watershed Alliance — and then the zipping traffic of Briley Parkway. There’s a welcome lack of litter on the wide shoulders of James, for whatever reason, but what is there are monuments to vice: an empty whiskey bottle (Evan Williams), a lottery ticket (a loser)
Nashville Scene | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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THROUGH JUNE 28
919 BROADWAY, NASHVILLE, TN FRISTARTMUSEUM.ORG
CLOSED THROUGH MARCH 31
From 2011 to 2016, Nashville artist Mel Ziegler periodically drove across the United States with a supply of new American flags. When he saw a flag that was faded, weathered, or frayed, he would offer to replace the old flag with a new one, renewing people’s outdoor displays while acquiring the materials for Flag Exchange. Ziegler says, “It is good that we renew and regenerate weathered flags. . . . Capturing them in this moment is what . . . gives them new meaning, new life.” ARTIST’S PERSPECTIVE
Friday, April 3, 6:30 p.m. Auditorium • Free; first come, first seated
Organized by the Frist Art Museum, in cooperation with Perrotin
Silver Supporter
THE SANDRA SCHATTEN FOUNDATION
The Frist Art Museum is supported in part by
Exhibition view of A Living Thing: Flag Exchange, curated by Hesse McGraw, at Federal Hall, New York, 2017. Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli
nashvillescene.com | MARCH 19 – MARCH 25, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE
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CITY LIMITS
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NO WORKAROUNDS
Workers in hospitality, custodial and cafeteria services are at health and financial risk during the pandemic BY ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ
I
n order to suppress the outbreak of COVID-19 — the disease caused by the novel coronavirus — in the United States, experts and officials are asking people to avoid public spaces as much as possible. That’s causing a lot of businesses to shut down temporarily. But labor advocates worry that low-wage workers in industries like housekeeping, construction and hospitality will face both health risks and financial insecurity during this crisis. David Rutledge of the Laborers International Union of North America Local 386 says workers’ concerns are twofold: Is their workplace safe, and will they remain employed? Rutledge’s union represents a variety of workers, including the maintenance, groundskeeping, custodial and dining-room crews at Vanderbilt University. Rutledge says these workers are used to maintaining a clean and safe environment — but there’s certainly more pressure to keep themselves and others safe due to the pandemic. “We’re hoping, and I think that the university is planning, to make sure that the people are provided with … personal protective equipment to ensure their health while they’re doing a deep clean of the facilities,” Rutledge says. He adds that the union is talking with Vanderbilt about how to handle any mandated time off for workers. The university has already canceled in-
person classes for the rest of the semester, which will disproportionately affect dining-hall workers, for example. Rutledge declined to give the details of the negotiations. Meanwhile, bars, restaurants and music venues are closing down temporarily and canceling events all over Nashville, raising similar concerns for their employees. The restaurant industry was already hit hard by Nashville’s March 3 tornado, with many businesses forced to close or delay events due to lost power and damage to buildings. Hayden Smith, an affiliate of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, says that while organizations like the U.S. Bartenders’ Guild were able to help fundraise for workers affected by the tornado, the coronavirus pandemic is too widespread for similar efforts. “We can’t cover everybody in the current system,” says Smith. “And so when restaurants are closing ... those are just people without an income right now, indefinitely.” Smith says workers at smaller restaurants may not be offered paid time off or health insurance, and adds that the health insurance offered by bigger restaurants isn’t always an affordable option. He says small businesses will be hit hard and may close for good because “they can’t afford to close their doors for extended amounts of time.” Restaurant workers also face health risks — while they have to maintain proper hygiene, they still have to deal with crowded environments and remove dirty plates from tables. Over the weekend, the Metro Board of Health voted to impose limits on restaurant capacity. With restaurants now operating at 50 percent capacity, Smith says workers have also seen their hours reduced. The immigrant community will also be hit hard by the crisis. A 2017 study from the immigration research nonprofit New American Economy found that occupations like construction, maintenance and housekeeping have some of the largest shares of
foreign-born workers. In response to the pandemic, organizers with labor advocacy group Workers’ Dignity conducted a virtual town hall, which Spanishlanguage news outlet Nashville Noticias streamed via Facebook Live. The event, broadcast in Spanish on March 14, featured a panel of workers who spoke about the risks facing low-wage employees working in the construction and hospitality industries. “Who will protect us at work?” asked panelist Alexandra Chavez. She pointed out that while workers can do everything in their power to stay healthy, employers may still not provide enough resources to keep workplaces safe and sanitary. Chavez also pointed to unclean bathrooms — sometimes lacking soap and toilet paper — at construction sites as an area of concern. The panelists also called for paid time off for any workers who have to stay home, whether due to illness, being affected by the tornado or due to an employer deciding to temporarily shut down their place of work. The advocates stress that workers should receive these benefits regardless of immigration status. Panelists also echoed the demands outlined in a press release from Workers’ Dignity. The organization is calling for the Metro government to halt evictions in Nashville and to provide emergency funding to Nashville General Hospital and free clinics. They also demand that Gov. Bill Lee expand both TennCare coverage and emergency unemployment benefits. For workers like Smith, this crisis shows that changes are needed to better protect workers in this country — not just in times of hardship, but always. “It’s exposed the cracks in our system and that the people in our type of jobs, hourly jobs and low-wage jobs, are always the first people that fall through those cracks.” EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM
THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG: In less than two weeks, Nashville — still reeling from the disaster of the March 3 tornado — pivoted to deal with another crisis, as the first cases of COVID-19, caused by a novel coronavirus, were confirmed in the Midstate. In that time, official guidance went from “wash your hands” to “sports are canceled” to “everything is closed,” with Mayor John Cooper requesting that the Metro Board of Health order bars to close and limit restaurant capacity. Most seem willing to comply. … Meanwhile, inside our local correctional facilities (crowded places with a disproportionate number of immunocompromised individuals), inmates are barred from having alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Otherwise, state and Metro facilities are following CDC recommendations — telling inmates to sneeze into elbows, sanitizing high-touch areas and so on — though social distancing is hard to pull off. The state correction department has also canceled visitation For the Duration. Statewide, courts were closed, and Metro’s public defender asked that all vulnerable defendants be released on their own recognizance. ... Also canceled: Metro schools, at least for a few days. After MNPS shut down schools for the week after the tornado, officials started spring
PHOTO: ISLE OF PRINTING
and a Fruitopia bottle (potentially of archaeological interest). As James swoops back down, the bustle of new construction dominates the south side of the street in a development that promises affordable housing. On the north side, it’s still older homes with yards sunken below grade. And there’s one of Nashville’s more bizarre street-naming anomalies: 23rd Street. Even barely observant Nashvillians know that numbered roads west of the river are “Avenues” and those on the east are “Streets.” Except this one. When the Sylvan Park Land Co. began development in the late 19th century, it was outside of Nashville’s city limits and had its own street-numbering scheme. What is now 39th Avenue was First Street in West Nashville and so on. When it was annexed by the city, Nashville simply added 38 to the street numbers and redesignated them as avenues, leaving the ordinal-plus-street specification to the East Side. Except for 23rd, which remains today. The sidewalks end at 23rd Street, as does the new construction. Turning left on Croley, the homes are older, but the siding is new and kaleidoscopic: a bright-yellow here, a deep-blue there, a lime-green across the street. It’s a sort of plebian analog to Charleston’s so-called Painted Ladies. Other than the rambunctious random siding-color schemes, the houses along Croley are often mirror images of one another, though a few have other architectural distinctives — a midcentury awning, a set of incongruous columns. Some families have extravagantly decorated yards with gaudy statuettes scattered about. It’s rather like a set of twins who assert their individuality with brightly colored sweaters and faddish hairstyles, and it’s a welcome change from the row after row of total carbon copies in the new developments nearby. As Croley crosses Franklin, things abruptly change again, back to the bigger new homes on the parcels near Robertson — what passes as a major thoroughfare here. Dump trucks hauling loads from the riverside quarries rumble past the old Dutch Maid Cleaning sign, the neighborhood’s highest point, and the venerable Robertson Avenue Market. Too exhaustive to be a mere convenience store, it’s a gathering place for this part of West Nashville. The proprietors look out for everyone — once, a cashier told an increasingly impatient line of patrons during the morning rush that he strove to keep his “new and rich and old and poor customers happy.” Market staff has been known to harangue and threaten kids skipping school to hang out at the store. This part of West Nashville is changing, yes, though certainly not to the degree it has across Morrow in The Nations. The knockdowns have come but are still few and far between, as long-timers hold fast to their homes, and newcomers seem satisfied with what’s already here. And with anchors like a spruced-up park and an obstinate cinder-block corner store — not to mention its vigilant and percipient staff — it may well weather any storm that comes. EMAIL EDITOR@NASHVILLESCENE.COM
BRYCE McCLOUD’S ‘COMMUNICATION STATION’ ON LOWER BROADWAY
break two days early. Gov. Bill Lee recommended the state’s schools close through at least the end of the month; MNPS announced it will remain closed through April 3. … That decision was made in large part by Dr. Adrienne Battle, who became the permanent director of schools following a board vote last week. She’d held the interim position since the acrimonious departure of Shawn Joseph in April 2019. … For much of last week, it was, by and large, business as usual on Capitol Hill, as state lawmakers, moments after the governor declared a state of emergency, debated such critical measures as honoring Rush Limbaugh and declaring Tennessee a Second Amendment sanctuary state, whatever that means. Hey, but the medical marijuana seems to be advancing better than ever before. Monday, Lee, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and House Speaker Cameron Sexton said the legislature will
expedite its business, fulfilling its constitutional requirement to pass a budget and then going into recess. … Our own Alejandro Ramirez writes that advocates for the homeless community aim to be “prudent without panic” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though no cases of coronavirus have been found in the local homeless population as of press time, agencies are taking precautions. … New Yorkbased real estate investment firm Somera threw a lifeline to beleaguered Watkins College of Art and Design, offering to buy its property for $17 million with a leaseback provision. The plan would halt the proposed and controversial merger with Belmont University. NASHVILLESCENE.COM/PITHINTHEWIND EMAIL: PITH@NASHVILLESCENE.COM TWEET: @PITHINTHEWIND
NASHVILLE SCENE | MARCH 19 – MARCH 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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IT IS WITH A HEAVY HEART THAT WE MUST PAUSE THE MUSIC IN MUSIC CITY. IN THE WAKE OF THE COVID-19 GLOBAL PANDEMIC AND WITH THE ONGOING UPDATES FROM THE FEDERAL, STATE, AND CITY LEVEL WE ARE PUTTING THE HEALTH OF OUR ARTISTS, CUSTOMERS, EMPLOYEES, AND COMMUNITY FIRST. THEREFORE, WE HAVE MADE THE DIFFICULT DECISION THAT SH UPCOMING SHOWS AT MERCY LOUNGE, CANNERY BALLROOM, AND THE HIGH WATT WILL BE CANCELED OR POSTPONED AT LEAST THROUGH MARCH 30TH. WE WILL BE MONITORING THE SITUATION AND PROVIDING UPDATES ON UPCOMING SHOWS AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE.
3/19
SINEAD O’ CONNOR - SOLD OUT - SIGN UP FOR
3/21
3/19
WE MET AT ACME WITH LINDSEY METSELAAR FEATURING BROOKE ALEXX, CISCO CARTER, ELI MOTYCKA, AND TAYLOR WATSON IN LOUNGE
NASHVILLE’S OWN IN THE LOUNGE FEATURING JADEA KELLY, ZOE SKY JORDAN, ROBBY HECHT, AND EMMA-LEE
3/22
RON ARTIS II & THE TRUTH IN THE LOUNGE
SINEAD O’ CONNOR - SOLD OUT - SIGN
3/28
DAVE SIMONETT (OF TRAMPLED BY TURTLES) WITH OPENER ANDREA VON KAMPEN PRESENTED BY WMOT/ ROOTS RADIO
3/29
THE BADASS & THE BEAUTIFUL: MS. LISA FISCHER
3/29
SCRAPOMATIC FEATURING MIKE MATTISON IN THE LOUNGE
ALREADY BEEN CANCELED, YOU WILL
3/29
WHITE WINES OF THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE TASTING
RECEIVE A REFUND AT YOUR POINT OF
3/30
AL JARDINE’S ENDLESS SUMMER TOUR - ORIGINAL FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE BEACH BOYS
3/31
BRETT DENNEN
3/20 3/20
THE WAIT LIST!
UP FOR THE WAIT LIST!
INEBRIATED SHAKESPEARE PRESENTS: HAMLET IN THE LOUNGE
3/20
VEGAN WINE PAIRING CLASS
3/21
ERIC JOHNSON CLASSICS: PRESENT AND PAST PRESENTED BY WMOT/ ROOTS RADIO - SOLD OUT - SIGN UP
FOR THE WAIT LIST!
3/21
LAUGHS IN THE LOUNGE FEATURING BRAD SATIVA, SCOTT EASON, MARY JAY BERGER, MARK ANUNDSON, ADRIANE THOMPSON, BRIAN COVINGTON
FOR FANS WITH TICKETS THROUGH MARCH 30TH, WE WILL BE IN TOUCH OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS WITH INFORMATION REGARDING RESCHEDULED DATES AND REFUNDS. IF THE SHOW YOU PLANNED TO ATTEND HAS
PU PURCHASE. OUR TEAM IS HERE FOR YOU AND CAN BE REACHED WITH ANY ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AT INFO@MERCYLOUNGE.COM.
ONE CANNERY ROW NASHVILLE, TN 37203 · 615-251-3020 BOOK YOUR EVENT OR PARTY AT ANY OF OUR VENUES EMAIL SPECIALEVENTS@MERCYLOUNGE.COM FOR DETAILS MERCYLOUNGE
@ MERCYLOUNGE
MERCYLOUNGE.COM
INFO@MERCYLOUNGE.COM
nashvillescene.com | MARCH 19 – MARCH 25, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE
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Food N
&
eedless to say, this year’s installment of the Scene’s long-running Food & Drink Issue arrives in … interesting times. Due to concerns over the spread of COVID-19, the Metro Board of Health voted last weekend to declare a public health emergency, with Director of Health Michael Caldwell imposing limits on restaurant capacity, limiting guest counts to 100 and bar service at restaurants to 50 percent capacity, with no standing allowed. Even if dining out is altogether off the table for you personally, you can continue to show your favorite spots support in other ways. Many restaurants remain open for carry-out options, and many sell gift cards. Consider showing your favorite restaurateurs
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Drink Is s u e
and service-industry workers some love as they, like the rest of us, navigate uncertain times. Visit the Scene’s food blog, Bites, for more ideas on how to support the local restaurant community in the coming weeks. In this week’s issue, you’ll find three food stories. In the first, we round up more than 100 dining recommendations from a slew of local chefs. (Keep in mind, some of these spots may be temporarily closed in the coming weeks.) In the second, we explore the ins and outs of competitive cooking — televised and otherwise. And in the third, two of our longtime food writers explore the state of restaurant reviews, “best of” lists and more. Dive in, and stay safe out there.
Marsh House
Nashville Scene | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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Photo: Eric England
The
Food & Drink
Photo: Eric England
Photos: Daniel Meigs
The Chefs’ Guide to Eating in Nashville
Your culinary to-do list just got a lot longer, with 100-plus local chef recommendations By Ashley Brantley
A
sk Nashville chefs where they go to eat, and some common themes will emerge: Have lunch at Arnold’s; go to Nolensville Pike; always get dessert at City House. These are excellent answers of course, but what they aren’t is specific. What exactly do they order at that tiny Nolensville taqueria? Where do they get that picture-perfect bubble tea you see in their feed? Perhaps most crucially, what fried food can you find them eating alone in their car after an 18hour shift? Nashville needs answers to these questions, and for this year’s Food & Drink issue, we got them. Here’s what you can find 16 of Nashville’s best chefs eating, drinking and doing on their days off.
Where’s your favorite place to eat lunch that’s not Arnold’s? Arnold: Red curry at Siam Cuisine or anything at Joey’s House of Pizza. Chauhan: Curry chicken sandwich at Turnip Truck. Coss: Thai Esane. That sausage! Galzin: Marsh House. They do brunch every day, and that includes the raw bar.
Habiger: Baja Burrito is the best. La tinga
Joey’s house of pizza
Chefs and owners surveyed
Kahlil Arnold, Arnold’s Country Kitchen Katie Coss, Husk Maneet Chauhan, Chauhan Ale & Masala House, Chaatable Tony Galzin, Nicky’s Coal Fired Josh Habiger, Bastion Julio Hernandez, Nectar Cantina Charles Hunter III, The Salted Table Julia Jaksic, Cafe Roze Philip Krajeck, Rolf & Daughters, Folk B.J. Lofback, Funk Seoul Brother Nina Singto, Thai Esane Julia Sullivan, Henrietta Red Vivek Surti, Tailor Austin Ray, M.L. Rose, Von Elrod’s (owner) Q Taylor, 8th & Roast, Sinema (partner) Mailea Weger, lou
chicken taco!
nashvillescene.com | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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3/16/20 5:29 PM
Photo: Eric England
Food & Drink
Hunter: The broccoli sandwich at D’Andrews Bakery on Church Street is so good. Broccoli stems, portobello mushrooms, white-cheddar pesto and roasted-tomato mayo on focaccia. Get it toasted.
The Broccoli sandwich at D’Andrews Bakery
Krajeck, Jaksic and Weger: Anything at BokBox. Lofback: It’s hard not to get the burger at Bare Bones Butcher, but the Cuban and
Surti: Thai Esane chicken noodle soup and Sukiyaki. Bare Bones Butcher hot ham or meatball sandwiches. Big Al’s Deli, especially on Thursday, which is “Island Day.” Their okra rice is next-level.
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Hot ham sandwich at bare bones butcher
Photo: Eric England
meatball sandwiches are also mustorders. No one would judge you if you ordered the burger and then a second sandwich on the side.
Nashville Scene | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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Photo: Eric England
Photo: Eric England
Food & Drink
Arnold: El pastor tacos at Los Cantaritos. Freaking amazing.
empanadas at La Cucharita Colombian restaurant
pupusas at pupuseria salvadoreÑa
Jaksic: Bosnian bread at Sulav.
Habiger: Roasted pork banh mi from InterAsian Market & Deli — only available on
Krajeck: Chicken at Tacos y Mariscos El Amigo.
weekends.
Chauhan: Red curry (kang ped) or spicy tom yum soup at Bangkokville. Galzin: The gyro at Kouzina Cafe. It hits all my
Lofback: The churrasco steak sandwich at Subculture Cafe. Perfectly cooked, expertly seasoned. You’ll think about it the next day ... and the day after that.
Hunter: Pupusas from Pupuseria Salvadoreña — extra sauce, extra slaw.
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Singto: Hot pot at Sichuan Hot Pot & Asian Cuisine. Sullivan: Torta asadas at Pupuseria Reina La Bendición. Surti: Sopes at Fonda El Cubilete. It’s technically right off Nolensville, but they make the best sopes I’ve ever had, and the barbacoa is amazing. Don’t skip the madeto-order agua frescas and guava shake.
Taylor: The Peruvian Chicken at Panca Peruvian Restaurant. There’s just something Churrasco steak sandwich at subculture
peruvian chicken at panca peruvian Restaurant
Photo: Eric England
qualifiers: sliced to order from the spit; seared on the griddle; folded (not pocket!) pita; good tzatziki; raw onion and tomato; seasoned french fries; Maria Menounos gyro poster on the wall. For extra points, hit Plaza Mariachi after for a margarita and a game of Guitar Hero.
Hernandez: Empanadas from La Cucharita Colombian Restaurant.
Ray: Quesadilla Fajita Deluxe at Fogatas Authentic Mexican Food.
about the seasoning ...
Photo: Eric England
What’s your favorite single thing on Nolensville Pike?
Nashville Scene | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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What’s your favorite Nashville baked good or dessert?
ham-and-Cheese Croissant at dozen bakery no. 1 at two ten jack
Dozen Bakery was by far the most-given answer to any question on this survey. Order any of the following: Savory croissants (Galzin), in particular the ham-and-cheese (Coss) Chocolate chip cookie (Hunter) Sourdough bread (Ray) Pistachio croissant (Sullivan)
Arnold: The biscuits at Slow Hand Coffee + Bakeshop are spectacular. Chauhan: Five Daughters Bakery is my favorite by far.
Habiger and Weger: Conny & Jonny Doughnuts! Hunter: Miso-fudge pie from Caity Pies or a macaron from D’Andrews.
Photo: Daniel Meigs
Photo: Eric England
Food & Drink
What’s your favorite drink that’s not coffee? Arnold: Anything at Attaboy. Galzin: Milk bubble tea at Royal Boba. Hunter: Dose’s milk tea: Earl Grey steeped with vanilla beans and steamed milk.
Krajeck: Turmeric Tonic from High Garden Tea. Whatever fun wine Tony is pouring at lou. Lofback: Bearded Iris Brewing turned me into an IPA drinker. Double Scatterbrain.
Jaksic: Anything at La Conchita bakery on Krajeck: Coconut pastry at VN Pho & Deli. Lofback: Lisa Marie White’s biscuits are the best in town. Really whatever she’s working on at Biscuit Love is my favorite thing, sight unseen.
Ray: Cucumber-melon high-gravity kombucha by Walker Brothers. Singto: Bubble tea at Top Cold Grill Ice Cream & Tea in Murfreesboro. Sullivan: No. 1 at Two Ten Jack — Zucca amaro, gin, passionfruit, tamarind, lemon.
Surti: Anything Mayme [Gretsch] makes for Utterly Nashville. Taylor: The Pecan Cinnamon Bunz from D’Andrews Bakery. Best in the city.
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milk bubble tea at Royal Boba
Photo: Daniel Meigs
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Nashville Scene | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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Food & Drink
Surti: The pineapple-ginger or pineapplecoconut drinks at Riddim N Spice are
wings at Martin’s bar-b-que
perfect paired with their jerk chicken.
Taylor: Whole Lotta Love Smoothie at Nectar Cantina — peanut butter, banana,
Hot chicken at HAttie B’s
strawberry, blueberry, almond milk, honey.
What’s your favorite chain restaurant or guilty pleasure?
Krajeck: Sperry’s!
Arnold: Superica.
Lofback: I love Chuy’s and Panda Express, but I
Coss: Martin’s Bar-B-Que wings. Galzin: The Vito with hot peppers at Jimmy John’s. Habiger: Chuy’s, specifically the one at Opry Mills. We always sit at the bar, and the people there are just the best.
Hernandez: Waffle House. Hunter: I don’t feel guilty about my need to sit in an empty parking lot to devour some
Popeyes chicken. It’s cheap therapy.
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won’t call them guilty pleasures; I’ll call them, “Shut up man, I’m eating!” Those places have delicious food.
Singto: Red Lobster. Endless shrimp! Sullivan: Sushi at Whole Foods. Surti: J. Alexander’s. I love everything about it — the perfect club sandwich, the ice-cold salad plates. If you order a martini, you get a sidecar in a cognac glass full of ice so it’s chilled until you need it. One of the best service teams in the city.
Weger: Jet’s Pizza! Four-corner butter crust with pepperoni and jalapeños.
Photo: Daniel Meigs
Chauhan: Hattie B’s.
Nashville Scene | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS. FA MILY OW NED A ND OPER ATED SINCE 1887.
Please enjoy responsibly. ©2020 William Grant & Sons, Inc. New York, NY.
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Food & Drink
What’s your favorite non-food-related activity to do on your day off? Arnold: Working out at Trumav or F45 Midtown, especially with Tandy and the crew from City House!
Chauhan: Taking the kids to the Nashville Zoo or the Adventure Science Center. Habiger: Jiu Jitsu at Artista Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Jaksic: Sixty-minute massage at O’Chi Reflexology in Opry Mills. Krajeck: Mountain biking at Percy Warner Park or playing tennis at Shelby Bottoms/ Centennial Sportsplex. Sullivan: Driving to Sewanee for hikes with the dogs at Fiery Gizzard/Foster Falls. Stop for a sandwich at Mountain Goat Market. Surti: Hiking Radnor Lake or hitting a Tuesday night Preds Game. Weger: Monthly massages with Claire of Safe Camp Massage in East Nashville.
What’s the best thing on your menu that people don’t order but they should? Arnold (Arnold’s Country Kitchen): Chicken tamales with salsa verde in cilantro-lime sauce.
Coss (Husk): Beef tartare. It’s one of my favorite things we do with Bear Creek Farm beef, and it’s always evolving.
Galzin (Nicky’s Coal Fired): Pizza with anchovies. They’re little flavor bombs in the best way.
Hunter (The Salted Table): Espresso-rubbed beef tenderloin with cherry gastrique. Clients who try it love it, but “meat and fruit” combinations can be a hard sell.
Jaksic (Cafe Roze): I wish the chicken-liver pâté got ordered more. It’s so delicious!
Krajeck: At Folk it’s Spinach Pizza with a side of anchovies. At Rolf & Daughters, it’s Cara Cara Oranges with green blueberry caper, fermented chili and roasted shrimp oil.
Lofback (Funk Seoul Brother): Summer BBQ Mazeman — brothless ramen with pulled pork, pickled sweet corn and red onions, soy-pickled jalapeños and a sous-vide egg. It’s a perfect spring ramen — kind of like carbonara.
Singto (Thai Esane): Crying Lion: Medium-rare
Photo: Eric England
sizzling steak with broccoli, mushrooms and cilantro sauce.
Beef Tartare at Husk
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Nashville Scene | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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Food & Drink Sullivan (Henrietta Red): Mussels escabeche. Ray: Fried chicken sandwich at M.L. Rose. It’s hard for people to get past the burger section, but they should.
Taylor: Grilled cheese at 8th & Roast. You don’t think of getting grilled cheese at a coffee shop, but we have it, and it’s solid.
What’s Nashville’s bestkept dining secret? Arnold: Any dessert at City House. Rebecca Turshen makes sinfully good ice-cream sandwiches and lemon cake, but everything she makes is incredible. The real secret, though, is that you can buy cakes directly from her.
Chauhan: Over-the-top milkshakes at Legendairy Milkshake Bar. My favorite is the Sweet & Salty Cheesecake. The kids love the Majestic Unicorn.
Galzin: The French Sandwich from the Cocorico Authentic French Cuisine food truck. Fresh baguette, salted butter, Brie cheese and ham. Get it at Richland Park Farmer’s Market on Saturdays.
Habiger: The burger at Redheaded Stranger is the best in Nashville.
Hunter: It’s not much of a secret, but a falafel from King Tut, or pickled okra from Smoke Et Al. Krajeck: Red Perch! Lofback: Fresh & Fresh International Market on Nolensville. The produce is beautiful, the meats are butchered well and my guy Yong is kind and patient when the white guy from Detroit comes in asking for Korean ingredients he can’t pronounce.
Ray: TKO in Inglewood. Sullivan: Green Chili Indian Restaurant in Goodlettsville. Naan, biryani, lamb rogan josh.
Surti: Merengue Cafe in Berry Hill has great Puerto Rican/Cuban food. The Rabbit Hole at Henley is also amazing. Chef Daniel Gorman is a real sleeper talent in Nashville.
Taylor: Tuna appetizer at Kayne Prime. Weger: Steak at Folk. They use Bear Creek Farm dry-aged beef and then age it even longer in-house. They have a limited amount, but it is heaven — especially with a bottle of wine (recommended by Aria) and the mixed greens.
Photo: Daniel Meigs
Email editor@nashvillescene.com
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Burger at Redheaded stranger Nashville Scene | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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www.cocoeventsnashville.com nashvillescene.com | MARCH 19 – MARCH 25, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE
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Photo: Eric England
Food & Drink
Hungry for Competition Local chefs share their thoughts on competitive cooking by Chris Chamberlain
T
here’s an old saying, often attributed to comedian Martin Mull: “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” If you don’t believe that’s a statement about a futile effort, I suggest you watch the gyrations in the front row when Starship plays “We Built This City.” Similarly, there are those who believe that cooking is a creative art — not something to be quantified or ranked via competition. While that’s a noble thought, take a look at your television listings — cooking competitions make up a large portion of the offerings on Food Network, Cooking
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Channel, BBC and even the American legacy networks, thanks to shows like Fox’s Master Chef and Hell’s Kitchen. Off the air, food sport is a big deal, with competitions ranging from multiple certifying bodies sanctioning barbecue contests to mixology competitions that can thrust local bartenders into the national spotlight. Even here at the Scene, we ask readers to pick their favorites in our annual Best of Nashville readers’ poll categories, which include everything from Best Chef and Best Restaurant to more esoteric and specific categories like Best Hot Dog and Best Restaurant in Rutherford County. (Hello, Demos’!) Our yearly Iron Fork chef competition is considered a highlight of the culinary calendar and an honor to win. (Incidentally, this year’s Iron Fork, originally set for March, has been postponed.) But here’s a question: What do the chefs who have actually competed in these televised knife fights really think about their experience? We asked three local favorites to spill the beans on the process of cooking under arbitrary time constraints using un-
Carey Bringle at Peg Leg Porker
familiar ingredients in a foreign kitchen — with a million eyes watching from home. Carey Bringle is best known as the pitmaster at his Peg Leg Porker barbecue joint in the Gulch. Prior to appearing on his first television cooking contest, Bringle had plenty of experience as a competitive barbecue smoker. He even finished third in the Whole Hog category at the prestigious Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. Over the past decade, he has appeared on TLC’s BBQ Pitmasters as well as Food Network’s Chopped: Grill Masters and BBQ Brawl, winning some individual trials along the way, but never an overall competition. (Ask him to tell the story about the perils of garnishing a dish with a raw shrimp head sometime if you want to get him riled up.) Maneet Chauhan is a fixture on televised cooking comps, both as a judge and as a contestant. She has participated in shows like Iron Chef America and its sequel, the creatively named The Next Iron Chef, as well as on Chopped, where she has become one of the show’s most popular judges. In fact, she
was a judge on that show when she met chef Brian Riggenbach, whom she would bring to Nashville to become her chef and partner at The Mockingbird. Arnold Myint has been involved with several local restaurants, including International Market, Cha Chah/blvd, Suzy Wong’s House of Yum and PM, but he’s known nationally for his appearances on Top Chef and Next Food Network Star. He finished in the top four of the latter show, but still has nightmares from his TC experience, during which he won two of the first three competitions but was kicked out in a team comp when he was paired with an ostensible Italian food expert who couldn’t properly cook pasta. Even so, Myint recognizes that it wasn’t real life. “Cooking competitions for TV are quite simply obstacle-based game shows stacked with challenges and demands that are not normal in a functioning daily kitchen,” Myint says. “In my own kitchen, it takes a village to create success, and I utilize the strengths of my team and vendors to produce and execute. In a competition setting, it’s every person for themselves; the atmosphere and
Nashville Scene | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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Food & Drink
Maneet chauhan at Chaatable conditions are unfamiliar and unpredictable. You are a pawn in a produced game based on someone else’s vision. All you really have to rely on are instincts and technique.” Chauhan agrees that the shows aren’t much like real life. “Cooking in competition is completely different from working in your own kitchen,” she says. “It’s a challenge being in a kitchen that you don’t know! New ingredients, a new kitchen, tough conditions. Competition cooking is a true sport. There are some people who are really good at the competitive-sport aspect of things, and a cooking competition is the same thing. A competition show doesn’t reflect your chops as a chef.” Bringle says he ran into some of those uber-competitors. “Some people are very serious on set,” he says. “They have a can’t-lose mentality. That can be good and bad. I always viewed it as something that should be fun, win or lose. I think that the thing that I have taken away from these shows is that it is just TV. You’re not curing cancer! I take the same approach in my restaurant. We like to have fun and create a fun customer experience.”
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All three chefs say appearing on the shows, however stressful, did contribute to advancing their culinary careers. Chauhan has become a national figure, a brand unto herself. “Once you get onto a mainstream channel, people start rooting for you, supporting you and recognizing you,” she says. “It definitely helps advance your career.” Bringle agrees, but with a caveat: “People come in every day to the restaurant and say, ‘I saw you on TV.’ It can be a great trafficdriver for a new or unknown restaurant. These shows can be great for your career most times, unless you act like a jerk on TV. BEWARE THE EDIT. Producers can take snippets and air them completely out of context. Make sure that anything that you say is positive and can’t look bad no matter the context.” Myint expresses ambivalence. “I’m not sure if competition TV helped my career or not,” he says. “I know it opened up many doors that I wanted open but had no clue as to how. I saw an opportunity to generate buzz and visibility for the business that did not cost thousands of dollars — just my time
Arnold Myint at Blvd and willingness to put myself out there. As far as my own career, I am more on the public radar and seem to be taken more seriously in certain circles. That being said, I also don’t think it gave me any clout as a hardcore cook, but it’s definitely provided me many chances to prove that.” All three chefs have competed multiple times, but Myint and Bringle think it may be time to hang up their aprons — at least as far as their TV careers are concerned. “I can’t say I’ll never do it again,” says Myint. “But I think I got what I needed out of being on the contestant side. I can’t compete much better than I already have. I made my point and got my redemption. I much prefer sitting on the judges’ side now.” “At this point in my career, you probably won’t see me on any more competition shows unless I am a judge,” says Bringle. Still, he would suggest the experience to other chefs. “I would absolutely recommend someone do it. It can be great publicity. This business is hard, and the more people recognize your name, face or brand, the more likely they are to come and eat at your place.
I would tell them to have fun and that very few people remember whether you win or lose. They do remember your personality and attitude.” “Everyone needs to push themselves out of their comfort zone, and this is an amazing way to do it,” says Chauhan. “I would suggest that whoever is competing looks at it as a sport and not obsess with winning or losing. Losing does not show your caliber as a chef.” “For me, it was a business decision,” says Myint. “If someone wants to compete, I suggest knowing why they want to do it. They should express to the producers what they want from the experience. In the audition process, you have to be absolutely ridiculous and open, an exaggerated version of yourself. If you don’t get cast, don’t take it personally; they just found a better version of you. (LOL, kidding, not kidding.) Once you’re on the show, remember that it doesn’t matter if you are really good and win or really suck and get kicked off. What matters is that you get out of it what you want and need.” Email editor@nashvillescene.com
Nashville Scene | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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Food & Drink
Critically Speaking
Two longtime Scene food writers on the state of restaurant reviews, ‘best of’ lists and, yes, Yelp By Steve Cavendish and Chris Chamberlain
Steve:
Chris, we’ve got a problem. Over the past 25 years, the journalism industry has cut about two-thirds of its total positions, and one of the biggest areas that’s been hit is food criticism. It used to be that the Scene and The Tennessean both employed full-time critics and, more importantly, covered the costs for them to eat out and report back to readers. The Scene still does restaurant reviews with a mix of staffers and freelancers, although that schedule doesn’t keep up with the pace of restaurants in this town. The Tennessean is just a mess, rarely writing anything critical — although I’d say that Nancy Vienneau’s restaurant pieces are informative, and I believe her when she says something is good. This is at a time when Nashville is at peak restaurant. Don’t you want to be a critic?
Chris:
Not gonna be me. I grew up here, and I’m not going to wear big-ass Ruth Reichl sunglasses as some sort of stupid disguise.
Steve:
Let’s break down why there aren’t more, and how food writers in this town get around being critical. First, for someone like you who freelances for a living, dropping a nuclear bomb on a restaurant is usually not your M.O., but it’s not like you never have a bad meal. You oftentimes just won’t write about that place. And it’s especially hard if you’re paying for the meal yourself.
Chris:
I get paid to write, not for my meals. The responsible move dictated by accepted journalistic standards before sharing a negative review would be return visits, but if I have a crappy $200 meal, I’m not going to shell out another $400 to go back two more times just to talk shit about a place. Still, people who know me can figure out my code when I say something like, “Of all the places in the urban core to find fast-casual chicken sandwiches, this is another one.” If I don’t think a place is any good, more than likely I’m not going to write about it.
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Steve: So the alternative is features? Chris:
I feel like there’s a value to the sort of profiles I like to write. I prefer to wait until a place has been open for a while and talk to the chef and the staff about their philosophies of food and service. What’s working? What are guests loving and ordering over and over again? With so many dining choices in this town, that’s the sort of advice I’d like to read in a story. But that’s not nearly enough. Someone (more than just one) needs to actually hold these restaurants to account, and I feel like the better places crave that sort of critical attention. One, because they want to hear how they’re doing. Two, good chefs and restaurateurs are always striving to get better, so they need to know what to improve on. Three, established spots see the spotlight shine on the newest and shiniest establishments whether or not they’re actually filling some sort of void or improving the overall culinary scene. (I’m looking at you, steakhouses.) Lastly, even some of our most beloved restaurants can grow stale as chefs get more comfortable in their aprons and get married, have kids, basically acquire a life outside their kitchens. They certainly deserve to enjoy the lifestyle of a civilian, but every now and then a revisit from a critic might rekindle some fire or show where a restaurant has backslid a bit.
Steve:
One-hundred percent agree. I get that some restaurants might not want a bad review or even one that gently pushes them to be better. In a competitive landscape, a bad review might be viewed as an economic threat. But writing fairly about both the good and bad parts of a restaurant scene builds trust with readers. The solution is not to do endless “best of” lists and have that substitute for legitimate criticism. When The Tennessean publishes “Nashville’s 25 best restaurants, ranked,” it’s a garbage play for clicks online. Why? Because there’s no systematic approach to writing about restaurants all the time. That list is completely unearned (and sourced in part through Facebook). Also, putting pop-ups alongside barbecue places next to $100plus tasting menus in a list is a disservice. These are distinctly different businesses aimed at different audiences, and yet, there’s Arnold’s next to The Catbird Seat — both great in their own way, but completely incomparable.
Chris:
This takes commitment and dollars from media outlets. And that includes us here at the Scene. Our writers produce entertaining and thoughtful reviews, but there’s just not available financial support to cover all the new and old spots that deserve a review, so we are far
more likely to pick someplace we’re already predisposed to like since we don’t always have the time or dining dollars to make as many visits as we should to get a complete picture. Also, sometimes critics check out spots and correctly determine that it just doesn’t merit a review, positive or negative. Ain’t nobody got time (or money) to do that very often if you only have a budget for something like 15 reviews a year.
Steve:
And I’ll dispel the idea that the Scene is afraid of losing advertisers. I wrote reviews for this publication that cost the Scene money, and the message I got from publishers was always, “As long as it’s fair, write what you want.” It does seem like a lot of what passes for food criticism, particularly from online outlets, are lists. That’s not to say there’s not a place for lists, if it’s more than “these are my five favorite places.”
Chris:
I’m not hating on the chance to enjoy $5 burgers and hot chicken dishes and tacos at restaurants all over town during Scene [insert food type] Week. And it does shine a light on some places that diners might never try without the organized encouragement.
Steve:
Right. It just can’t be all that you do. But substantively, the way readers acquire food information is different now. There are forms of social media that have crept into the review space in some pretty ethically sketchy ways. Charlotte Magazine had a great piece along these lines recently arguing that pay-to-play is a big problem in that world.
Chris:
Don’t get me started on Instagram influencers. Now, I’ve met some lovely people that make a living doing that, but knowing that people actually get paid to show up at a restaurant and take pictures of themselves (with some fanciful unicorn milkshake partially visible in the
background) and then share it with their legion of followers without one word of how the food actually tastes really burns my biscuits. It also makes me really question how marketing budgets are being allocated, but apparently the metrics work out.
Steve:
And that’s where there needs to be a disclaimer that someone was paid to do that. Beyond influencers, what would you tell readers looking for information about where to dine? I’d start by saying that aggregate ratings may be good on places like Open Table or Yelp if a place has been rated a lot, but that individual reviews are worthless.
Chris:
You can depend on some online review sites, but specifically individuals whose opinions seem to jibe often with your own. For example, when I find a liquor store whose single-barrel whiskey picks I really like, I decide that I must have a similar palate with whoever is doing the choosing, so I’m more likely to shop there. Similarly, if “Steve C.” from Nashville writes thoughtful Yelp reviews and tends to like some of the sorts of places that I do, I’m going to click through his profile to see what else he recommends to look for a new hidden gem. I don’t care whether he’s got a Yelp Elite sash that he wears into restaurants, just that he’s reasonable in his opinions.
Steve:
You know who hates the “Yelp Elite” status thingees? Every single restaurant.
Chris:
Even better is to ask friends you trust their opinions or ask chefs and restaurant workers where they’re excited about eating right now. Of course, the absolute solution would be for a few professional reviewers to take up the task locally and for media outlets to support them. But that’s where this all started, wasn’t it? Email editor@nashvillescene.com
Nashville Scene | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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Critics’ Picks e d i t i o n
“Big Art,” Danielle Krysa
s o c i a l - d i s t a n c i n g
[SEASCAPES SELL LIKE HOTCAKES]
Danielle Krysa: Shit Arlo Says
sacrificing vision. The opening reception was slated for Sunday, March 22, but in light of the advice to self-quarantine, the gallery has planned an online-only opening. Follow @modfellows_studio on Instagram for details on when and if the exhibit is on display. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER FILM
Everybody has their own inner bully. Stephen King named his “the boys in the basement,” and imagines them as a rowdy troupe of card-playing neighborhood guys who like to talk shit. Artist Danielle Krysa turned hers into a guy named Arlo. When Arlo says mean things to her — like, “Oh [DON’T EXPLAIN] shit, is this a craft?” — she recognizes it Lady Sings the Blues as simply self-criticism, then turns it into Few American singers have come close something that’s very much a work of art. to matching the emotional potency of Krysa took a similar path when she started Billie Holiday’s voice. She didn’t have the the popular blog The Jealous Curator — she vocal power of some of her contemporaries, used her resentment toward artists with like Ella Fitzerald or Sarah Vaughan. great ideas to create a website that Holiday’s voice sounds almost As a allowed a broader audience reluctant, often just behind the response to the to absorb them. The work beat, but it conveys — and suggested quarantine scheduled to show at arouses — intense feelings. to help slow the spread Modfellows, Shit Arlo Her voice and image are of COVID-19, we’ve changed Says, has been curated legendary, and like that of the focus of our Critics’ Picks section. Rather than pointing by Pam Marlene Taylor most legends, her story is you in the direction of events with just that perspective shrouded in a good amount happening this week in Nashville, in mind: Art can appeal to of mystery and fabrication. here are some activities you can a broad audience without Director Sidney J. Furie’s partake in while you’re at home practicing social distancing.
criticspicks_3-19-20.indd 37
1972 biopic Lady Sings the Blues takes a few narrative liberties with Holiday’s life, and the film clings to the clichéd narrative arc of the musical-biopic genre: the artist’s unhappy childhood, the rise to fame, the surrender to vices, the plummet into desperation, and the comeback. But as Roger Ebert wrote in his 1972 review, Diana Ross proves her acting chops in her depiction of Lady Day. Onstage, Ross as Day provides “the occasion” for seeing the film. Ebert notes that Ross doesn’t try to imitate Holiday, but rather sings in her manner: “There is an uncanny echo, a suggestion, and yet the style is a tribute to Billie Holiday, not an impersonation.” While Lady Sings the Blues focuses almost exploitatively on the suffering Holiday endured, it also celebrates her singular voice. The film was originally scheduled to screen at the Belcourt during the theater’s popular Music City Mondays series. The Belcourt has closed through April 9, but you can stream Lady on YouTube (with Italian subtitles!). ERICA CICCARONE
games
ART
Shit Arlo Says
[POWER TO THE MEEPLES]
Play Some Board Games
I hadn’t played board games regularly since Bill Clinton’s first term, but this past year, my awesome girlfriend and her friends introduced me to a board-game universe that has expanded exponentially. Classics like Clue are still great, but if you and your quarantine buddies are getting tired of them, here are a few favorites among a wealth of choices. In Azul (two to four players, recommended for ages 8 and up), you compete against your fellow mosaic artists for tiles to fill in your pattern. The rules have multiple dimensions to keep your brain engaged, but you can still learn to play in about 10 minutes. Plus, the game pieces are pretty. (See also: the stainedglass artisan game Sagrada.) Looking for a challenge? Try Terraforming Mars (one to five players, ages 12 and up), in which players represent corporations competing to be the first to make the Red Planet habitable. You might need paper for keeping track of bonuses and ways to score victory
nashvillescene.com | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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3/16/20 5:36 PM
critics’ picks
Seven WorldS, one Planet
Truck STop Women
FILM
Scholars say that in times of crisis, we must turn to the past — that’s why Truck Stop Women is the smart choice for waiting out this quarantine. This gem of an exploitation film is straight out of the 1974 bubble — sleazy as shit and yet somehow quaint, like your grandfather’s issue of Playboy. The plot: A toothy mob guy (who looks a little like Elliott Gould if you squint) says “fuhgeddaboudit” a lot while trying to knock off a truck-stop madam with the help of her sociopath daughter. The details don’t matter, but the film’s Pulp Fiction vibes and excess of full-frontal will get you through these dark times. It’s available to stream for free via Amazon Prime, which is a treasure trove of B-movie oddities, if you dig deep enough into its catalog. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER [I DON’T GO DOWN FOR NOBODY]
Build Your own Streaming ScorSeSe Film FeSt
We’re spoiled for choice in the age of innumerable streaming services, and that leads most of us to that all-too-familiar practice — scrolling idly for hours on end through dozens of options, before ultimately landing on a comfort watch like Cheers or Frasier. But with all this newfound couch time on our hands, here’s a thought: Curate your own stay-at-home film festival using the streaming services you’re likely already subscribed to. First up: a quick tour through a half-century of cinema by Martin Scorsese. While the majority of the 77-year-old auteur’s work can be rented or purchased in some capacity, some of his most essential films are available to stream for free right now as long as you have subscriptions to what I refer to as Streaming’s Big Four: Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix and HBO Now. (The Criterion Channel is a must for very serious film buffs, but if you already have that option, you likely don’t need our help when it comes to classic-film curation.) Start with 1972’s Boxcar Bertha, Scorsese’s second film, which is available for free via Amazon Prime. Starring then-couple Barbara Hershey
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D. PATRICK RODGERS
TV
[MY HEAD’S STILL SWIMMIN’]
and David Carradine, Boxcar is one of the finest fugitive films in an era full of them. Then hop over to Netflix for 1980’s Raging Bull (which earned Scorsese his first Best Director Oscar nomination) and 1990’s endlessly rewatchable Goodfellas. Follow that up with 1995’s Casino on Hulu, before hitting HBO Now for 2002’s too-oftenoverlooked Gangs of New York. The GoodfellasCasino-Gangs trifecta of crime films alone makes for a rock-solid marathon, but if you just can’t get enough films about gangsters from the world’s best maker of films about gangsters, bring it on home with last year’s 209-minute masterwork The Irishman on Netflix. And just like that, 15-and-a-half hours of couch time well-spent
[OUR PLANET]
nature documentarieS to Stream in iSolation
Even when the weather is nice and public health experts aren’t imploring us to stay inside, a nature documentary can take you to places you’ve never seen and will likely never be able to go. If you’re like me, these films — which have gotten more mind-blowing by the year as technology allows closer and less disruptive ways of filming wildlife — are intellectually stimulating and spiritually engaging. The natural world is awe-inspiring, exhilarating and just plain weird — and we can see it in ways our grandparents couldn’t fathom. Two recommendations: If you have cable (or access to a boomer with cable), watch BBC America’s Seven Worlds, One Planet immediately. Over seven episodes, each one focusing on a different continent, David Attenborough — the patron saint of wildlife documentaries and an international treasure — narrates never-before-seen footage and behaviors. There’s too much to list here, but did you know that a small group of polar bears has learned how to hunt beluga whales? Option No. 2 is Netflix’s Night on Earth, which is just what it sounds like. You get to watch cheetahs hunt at night thanks to ultra-light-sensitive cameras that make the middle of the African night look like daytime. Attenborough isn’t on narration, but the footage is riveting. STEVEN HALE SPORTS
FILM
points, but the effort is rewarding. If you want to get into the spirit of the moment, there’s Pandemic (two to four players, ages 8 and up), in which players collaborate on research and resource deployment to try to stop the spread of four diseases around the world. STEPHEN TRAGESER
[OLD-TIMERS GAMES]
get Your SportS Fix
March Madness is canceled, like everything else, and for sports fans, it’s a march to madness without the daily fix.
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speed racer Thankfully, in the age of streaming services, it’s easy to relive glorious moments of the past. Pop your favorite team’s name into the old Google bar and watch (potentially pirated) videos of great games of the past. Watch the Music City Miracle on repeat — Kevin Dyson still has something, as Pat Ryan assured us two decades ago. Use a free month of the WWE Network to relive great pro-graps moments and matches you’d forgotten. Mick Foley and The Rock’s empty-arena match from Halftime Heat 1999 seems on-point these days, as does the even more classic Jerry Lawler-Terry Funk empty-arena match from 1981 (available on YouTube if you’ve no desire to give Vince McMahon your credit card information). Netflix and other streaming services offer plenty of documentary choices — The Battered Bastards of Baseball is great, and Palio, the story of Siena, Italy’s, breakneck twice-annual insane horse race is also there on the Big Red N. HBO Now has the excellent and heartbreaking André the Giant doc (titled André the Giant). To misquote Rogers Hornsby: “People ask me what I do in quarantine when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare at the TV and wait for spring.” J.R. LIND [ENUMERATE, DON’T PROCRASTINATE]
Fill Out the Census
It’s a fun little Easter egg in the United States Constitution that Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 created the census. *Extreme Count Von Count voice* “One, Two, Three. Ah Ah Ah!” Did the Founders do this on purpose? Probably not, but it’s fun to think of James Madison as a yuckster. As the endless radio and TV ads have no doubt informed you by now, the census is really important! It determines revenue outlays and legislative districts and so forth. And like voting, jury duty and staying the hell at home For the Duration, it’s a civic duty. The Census Bureau started sending out notices last week, setting a deadline of April 1 (like everything else, this is probably subject to change) to hop online, pop in your secret code and answer the questions about who lives where. And since nobody can go anywhere, the count should be accurate. The whole thing takes 15 minutes, and the mobile site is actually functional. Fill it out now so some poor sap doesn’t have to knock on your door this summer. J.R. LIND [GOTTA GO FAST]
Speed RaceR
In 2008, audiences weren’t quite ready for the ride that Speed Racer would take them on. I wasn’t either — I initially dismissed it as colorful trash. But in the decade since, I’ve changed my tune — and
so has film culture at large. It’s no longer a niche opinion to think that the Wachowskis’ first post-Matrix movie is a certifiable masterpiece. Now, whenever someone asks me what my favorite movie is, my fallback is almost always Speed Racer. Though some would describe it as a live-action adaptation of a canonical anime, Speed Racer is somehow a synthesis of the two forms, more of a flesh-cartoon than anything else. Instead of simply cutting between two frames, the Wachowskis invented an entirely new visual language with this film, weaving images together with wipes that dissolve past and present, memory and reality. Speed Racer belongs so fully to cinema that writing about it is like trying to explain the sensation of speed to someone who has only walked their entire life. Some things you just have to see and feel for yourself. Speed Racer was initially slated to run as a Midnight Movie this weekend at the Belcourt. But in the wake of the Belcourt’s temporary closing (the theater is scheduled to reopen on April 9), you can rent the film via a plethora of streaming services, including iTunes, Google Play and Amazon Prime. NATHAN SMITH podcast
But you can still shop with us!
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critics’ picks
[TURN ON, TUNE IN]
The RewaTchableS
The Ringer has built a small empire of entertaining podcasts about pop culture and sports, and the best one is The Rewatchables, a conversation-based show discussing our favorite movies of the past 50 years. While the people having the discussion often have impressive critical bona fides (Sean Fennessy, Wesley Morris of the NYT, Juliet Litman), the movies are often straight-up popcorn fare: Top Gun, Zodiac, Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump. Frequently hosted by Ringer chief Bill Simmons, the rotating panel runs through most rewatchable moments, best quotes, “half-assed internet research,” casting what-ifs and more. The podcast often gets great guests, with Quentin Tarantino sitting in to talk about Dunkirk and Brian Koppelman (writer of Rounders and Billions) for an epic look at The Godfather, Part II. The best episodes often feature Litman or Amanda Dobbins, who gleefully push back on Simmons’ sometimes frat-boy nature, and the podcast often considers what might be unanswerable questions — like if Richard Gere’s businessman in Pretty Woman is actually a hero, or if the volleyball scene in Top Gun is unintentional homoeroticism. STEVE CAVENDISH
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art
Weather for Art
Karen Seapker’s Circuities is both grounding and transcendent By Cat Acree
42
“Nights in the Swale,” Karen Seapker
I
n the aftermath of Nashville’s March 3 tornado, the serendipity of Karen Seapker’s Circuities cannot be overstated. Her third solo show at Zeitgeist opened only a few days after the overnight storm sliced through Middle Tennessee, rupturing families and homes, and leaving communities vulnerable and fragile, their futures unclear. Seapker’s own studio in East Nashville’s Five Points neighborhood was destroyed, and the works of Circuities are all unbelievably lucky survivors, pulled out of the wreckage by friends and the employees of a nearby Mexican restaurant. Over the days that followed, Nashville became a community of action, showing up all at once, hauling in donations with zero hesitation — as if compassion could undo it all. While many came to the March 7 opening of Circuities to pour even more love into the community (Seapker organized the Artists for Tornado Relief fundraiser for the same evening, with the sales of donated artworks benefiting Gideon’s Army), the exhibit offered those attendees something even closer to home. Viewers found themselves mirrored in Seapker’s paintings: The disco-bright figures, rendered in bizarro, prismatic hypercolor and gleaming brushstrokes, contort themselves in geometric shapes as they attempt to understand their world. Grief happens alone, but Seapker’s subjects have the power to do some heavy lifting. The beings of Circuities come directly from Seapker’s previous solo show, Sentinels, which depicted mothers as monumental guardian-goddesses grasping their children with vast, arcing arms and hands. Seapker describes that earlier Karen Seapker: work as responsive Circuities Zeitgeist Gallery and didactic — she’s check with the gallery never been shy to see if and when about clarifying her the exhibition is on art’s intention, but display Sentinels drove its point home. Following the 2016 presidential election and other personal burdens, Seapker wanted desperately to protect, to calm, and so her surrogate beings and their interior spaces did that for her. With Circuities, those interior spaces are now open to the viewer. Where Seapker’s figures once sought to soothe, here they have begun to abandon their posts, offering themselves up to the inconsistent world,
resist it? Motherhood is a perennial theme in Seapker’s work (the oldest of her two children is about to turn 6), and these lessons of letting go and opening up extend to the mother-child relationship as well. “Nights in the Swale” sees a child gazing up at the moon, leaning against her mother — they are together, but apart. In “Outpost,” a child sleeps in the crook of her mother’s hip, but the mother is looking elsewhere, her giant feet and hands splayed across the bottom of the painting, rooting her so sturdily that she will never falter. And then there is “Opening,” which depicts two intersecting circles that seem like whole worlds overlapping with a rounded body shape. Swooping hands stretch out like palm fronds. We see them again in “Pink,” where they entwine like DNA over a newborn child. This openness feels revelatory. We are called to join. (This call to action goes beyond the show itself: Alongside the paintings grow seedling native plants, to be distributed to locals after the show’s end.) The show’s title emphasizes our abilities to make our own way — we aren’t circular, but our actions can be circuitous. Seapker’s sumptuous colors are just as unexpected. They illuminate a time of day we haven’t seen yet, but is infinitely more intense than we could ever imagine. Similarly, planes of reality seem porous, and forms are evershifting. Consistency is but a dream. “The Gardener,” with its silly-sweet “Mom” tattoo (and the only non-gendered figure in the series), digs its hands into blood-red earth, its fingers turning green as they pass the threshold from aboveground to below. Often when a work seems to coincidentally align with a devastating event, at best the artist seems prescient. At worst, the event is romanticized or minimized. But the themes of Circuities seem amplified: a painful and beautiful relationship with the larger world, an attempt to exist within the cyclical nature of season, and the linear way that humans exist within time, ever creating friction with that cyclical ritual. The tornado came from this world, Seapker’s beings remind us — and so did we. Email arts@nashvillescene.com
allowing their children to experience new opportunities for wonder and surprise. After a natural disaster, the sky can feel uncaring, but Circuities accepts the paradox of nature as a source of both capriciousness and healing. Last spring found Seapker walking a circular path in her garden, seeking inspiration after Sentinels closed, and reaffirming a connection with her environment. Around this same time, Seapker had an imagined conversation with a mother and daughter from Sentinels, a dialogue in which the mother said to the daughter: “We have to go.” The more Seapker walked the circular path, the less the shape seemed to resonate. The circle seemed far from an emblem of the acceptance of the passing of time, of perfection, completion, calmness, and the great cradle of the turning seasons. For Seapker, it was time for action. Within Circuities, we see circles again
and again, and they are never still. Often the circle appears as a moon, bouncing from corner to corner in different paintings, sometimes reflecting back at the viewer an unexpected time of day. A woman may carry this moon-circle on her back (“Outpost”), while other times it seems to have a mind of its own, rolling across splashes of colors (“Churning”). Maybe it’s a crystal ball, offering some clarity from divination (“The Conjurer”), or perhaps it is entirely elusive, as when a woman in dramatic plaid pants draws a circle in the dirt like a long-lost love (“Still”). In the series’ most cathartic piece, “Running Mama,” the moon-circle rests at a woman’s feet as she pummels her body with clenched fists in shades of succulent cherry-red and thick magenta. She is the anti-Vitruvian Man: She isn’t at the center, and she will never sit still. Is she pounding herself into a circle shape, or does she
Nashville Scene | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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At Wilder, artist Benjy Russell imagines a radical queer utopia By Erica Ciccarone
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n the 1967 Star Trek episode “This Side of Paradise,” the crew of the Enterprise beams down to the planet Omicron Ceti III with a grim mission: to catalogue the remains of a civilization that was destroyed by radiation. But what they find is a verdant land that’s humming with life, where everything and everyone is in perfect harmony, and even Spock falls under a spell that renders the usually stoic Vulcan euphoric. In Benjy Russell’s solo exhibition You’re on new bridges made of home (you found the light in a dark poem) at Wilder, the Tennessee artist presents a radical queer utopia that’s at once reverent and playful. Here, ornate floral altars yield magical portals. Advanced lighting techniques create surrealist landscapes and portraits that look plucked You’re on new bridges from dreams. Sex made of home (you workers appear as found the light in a goddesses, and butdark poem) at Wilder terflies mingle on Check with Wilder chainsaws. The into see if and when the exhibition is on stallation has taken display over Wilder’s sleek new townhouse, and it’s the perfect venue for a midcareer retrospective of Russell’s work and a blueprint for a new, awe-inspiring world. The first floor, called “Terra,” is grounded in nature. The exhibition opens with one of Russell’s signature ornate floral sculptures. The piece — sitting atop a clear acrylic pedestal to make it appear like it’s floating — is filmed in place, and the film is projected back onto the sculpture, creating an optical feedback loop, or as Russell says, “projecting the infinite.” Optical illusions are at play in other works on the floor. Photos from Russell’s Hazing the Muse series, made in collaboration with Rya Kleinpeter, show angular sculptures that are suspended over natural elements, like a field of yellow flowers and a wooded lake. By using Hollywood lighting techniques and “old magician’s tricks,” Russell says, he creates a surrealistic effect. In another piece titled “Soft Butch,” Russell lights the mouth of a cave in dusty rose and the exterior in electric blue. A fluorescent sign spelling the piece’s title is mounted on the rock, its reflection streaming toward the camera in the water. Rock and water, blue and pink, masculinity and femininity — the result is cocky and macho, but also feminine, a landscape as electric and gender-bending as Grace Jones. Russell calls the second floor “The Human Condition,” and there he shows stunning nude photographs of friends and sex workers. All are meticulously lit in natural landscapes in the queer enclave where Russell lives in rural Tennessee. These portraits are both tasteful and porny, rendering the subjects as beings elemental to the earth and transcending space and time. Russell began photographing sex workers he knew as a way to help them attract clients. Now
he’s able to pay them to be his subjects, and he redistributes money from the sale of these works to them. The exhibition turns extremely personal — yet evermore universal — on the third floor, which Russell calls “The Theory of Next.” This floor is the most conceptual of the exhibition, as Russell turns to quantum theory to process and learn from his husband’s death. In the master bathroom, Russell has fitted the shower with a largescreen TV that plays “The Passengers,” a trippy short film that he created with the video-artist trio WIFE just months after his husband died. In three striking works on this floor, Russell photographed “altars” that he constructed out West — one in Sedona, Ariz., one on a former Navy port in Los Angeles, and one in the greenhouse where his husband once worked. Sculptures are suspended in earthly landscapes, but they feel more mysterious and monumental than others downstairs. They could be an entry point to some cosmic passageway, beckoning us to explore uncharted dimensions. Like the planet Omicron Ceti III in that old Star Trek episode, You’re on new bridges made of home is seductive and healing, sensual and pulsing with life. The artist’s experiences with hallucinogens inform his theories about quantum mechanics and the afterlife, but the desire to build a different world stems from his experiences growing up queer in a rural area. The journey ends in rebirth — but we won’t spoil how it happens. Russell discussed the exhibition and his work at length with the Scene. See a portion of our discussion below.
On why he’s attracted to portals: I grew up in rural Oklahoma, surrounded by cotton and soy fields and cowboys. I had this wild imagination. I had this need to create a reality that was better than the one that was around me. … When I was 5 and 6, I would get these crazy building-block toys and create these floating cities and fortresses. I’ve always had this need to create a reality that’s a little better, a little heightened. Like the superhero version of what we’ve got. I guess part of it comes from growing up queer in a rural area. Needing more, needing something. On moving to a queer commune in rural Tennessee: I was in L.A. and was on mushrooms, and I got this download that I needed to move to Tennessee. I had never been to Tennessee before. I had been living in L.A. for about four or five years at that point. I called up Rya [Kleinpeter] who was curating this gallery in Berlin at the time, and I was like, “I think we need to move to Tennessee.” … So I literally packed all of our stuff up, drove to Tennessee. ... A guy got a hold of me on [the gay dating site] Manhunt … and was like, “What are you doing here? ... I might have a property for you.” My journey that led me to Tennessee, I call it the four M’s: Magic, manifestation, mushrooms and Manhunt. The community has this intense energy that fucking reached out to me across 1,600 miles and brought me here and changed my life.
On how living in Tennessee has changed him as an artist: Oklahoma is very flat and dry and windy. When I got to Tennessee, everything was green and lush, and there was just water
pouring out of the side of the mountain and birds everywhere. It was the most exotic thing I’d ever seen and it stimulated my brain in these new ways.
“altar 34°50’12.9”N 111°49’18.3”W (DYING PLAYED FORWARD AND THEN IN REVERSE),” BENJY RUSSELL
Reflection Eternal
“clutch’s hormones and benjy’s hiv medds on a mirror,” benjy russell and T Clutch Fleischmann
art
On science fiction: What I love about science fiction is that it’s a way of manifesting a future that you want. If you go back and read science fiction from the ’50s and ’60s or go back and watch Star Trek: The Next Generation, they actively used technology that we didn’t get for 25 or 30 years. Or they’re talking about social paradigms, or they’re talking about concepts that were fiction at the time yet were able to be implemented. I look at it as a way of bringing about a better future. On collaboration: I love collaborating. Especially when you’re working with somebody and you’re obsessed with their work. You’re so inspired. It’s like you magnify each other, and the work is so much better. I think of it as two mirrors looking at each other. They’re just mirrors, but together they’re infinite. … I love tossing ideas around. I’m really good at figuring out how to make things happen. On his education: I have a construction background, so I’m used to building. I’m self-taught. I didn’t go to college, so when I decided I wanted to be a photographer I used my paychecks from these heating and air jobs, and I’d go buy film just to see how my camera works. I thought, “I’ve got to know everything about it so I can know how to manipulate it.” It’s a tool. I also had [to do] a lot of catch-up. I’m 42. I didn’t have college to teach me anything, so I had to spend years first figuring out how to make the art and then years learning from artists I was around what the message had to be, the idea of conceptual photography. … It was like a 20-year program, all while working on heating, air, electrical, plumbing, bartending, carpentry. On redistributing sales to sex workers he photographs: I’m trying to have a conversation around money redistribution as far as artwork and price tags and where that money goes to. … I try to put as much love out there
in the world, and I try to have open conversations with everybody. Usually when I’m doing that work with them, everybody is very excited because they look at the work and they’re like, “This is the most beautiful image I’ve ever had taken of me. I feel seen and actualized in this” — whether that be because they’re trans and they have this beautiful depiction of themselves and how they want to be seen in the world. … Art galleries and artists at certain levels aren’t exactly hurting. It’s a way to actively redistribute money, which is important.
On making art to cope with grief: To be able to take all of that and use the art-making process as a form of therapy, it’s powerful. It’s powerful. And I didn’t even intend for it to be a body of work later, but it ended up [that way]. … It was a way of keeping [my husband] close and the relationship alive, I was able to turn it into dialogue. … I had these really active conversations with him, where I’d talk to him about what’s going on, how the cats are doing, and I asked him questions about where he’s at and what he’s seeing. He is very vocal. Email arts@nashvillescene.com
nashvillescene.com | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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Talking to Madison Smartt Bell about the life and work of novelist Robert Stone By Maria Browning
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n the preface to Child of Light, the biography of novelist Robert Stone, Madison Smartt Bell describes Stone as a man who “confronted the world with the bright, acidic irony of an extraordinarily perceptive, bitterly disappointed idealist.” The book follows Stone from his 1937 birth to a single mother in New York until his death at 77 in his Key West, Fla., home, with his wife Janice by his side. Stone was an admired short-story writer and journalist, but he’s best-known for his eight novels, including 1974’s Dog Soldiers, which won a National Book Award, and 1981’s A Flag for Sunrise, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. His protagonists are often American adventurers and expats drawn toward confrontations with the ugly flipside of exceptionalism. He has been compared to everyone from Melville to Flannery O’Connor. Bell, on the other hand, argues persuasively for
Stone’s unique place in American literature. “Comparisons serve best to set him apart,” Bell writes. “As for his work, there is nothing else quite like it in the entire American canon.” Bell, a Nashville native, answered questions via email.
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didn’t much care about the celebration of his personality. He cared about the celebration of his work quite a bit. So I’m taking the opportunity to do the latter directly; it’s a critical biography in the sense that it does contain detailed discussion of all his novels and many of his stories. It was indeed an interesting life — and a typical American life in the sense of exemplifying our old belief that anybody who tries hard enough (and gets lucky) can rise from the most miserable poverty and deprivation to success and prosperity. Stone in fact performed that maneuver, although not in Horatio Alger style (a comparison I’m sure he would have scorned). In this very general way, he actually did live that version of the American Dream, but he was also intensely, and intelligently, skeptical about it. Every major novel he wrote drills into disillusionment with some phase of American
life in his time.
What are the particular challenges of writing a biography of someone you knew well and admired? I’m not sure I thought about that consciously in the writing. A couple of reviews so far (Harper’s, American Conservative) have noted my lack of distance from the subject and then decided to forgive me for it. (I doubt I’ll be so lucky with everybody.) I think maybe an early conversation with Janice is relevant. I was still considering the project, as was she — I asked her how frank she wanted to be about a couple of dicey topics, and after some deliberation she said she thought Bob would want the whole truth told, and that was what she wanted too. At that point I thought, OK, let’s do it.
Janice Stone’s voice is central in the biography, and she was a central figure in Stone’s career. She dedicated herself to supporting and enabling his work. Could he have been the writer he was without her? No. I don’t think so. I mean, he was the one with the vision and talent, but he was also one of the great procrastinators of all time, and he had a lot of bad habits that would have proved fatal much sooner if not checked. Janice could get him to finish things, and I think he grew to depend on her doing that fairly early in the marriage. Without her, there’d have been a lot less finished work and more than likely a much earlier grave.
Stone once said: “That is my subject. America and Americans.” Do you think anything about our current political and cultural moment would surprise him? The extremism might. Or not. I thought I could see it coming in the 1990s — that the identity politics practiced so vigorously by the left would eventually produce a reactionary, exterminate-the-aliens movement on the right. I would bet Bob saw that in formation too, although we didn’t talk about it. His first novel, A Hall of Mirrors, is seen by a good few readers as predictive of Trumpworld. In the novel’s climax, a white supremacy movement provokes a violent crisis, enabled by under-the-table machinations by a business guy. That episode is fueled by a corruption of the media quite similar to the evolution we’ve seen in our time: from Medal of Freedom winner Rush Limbaugh, through Fox News and the Balkanization of opinion facilitated by the internet, finally producing the hegemony of “alternative facts.” I would say that Stone deduced those mechanisms in that mid1960s novel; they have become much more powerful since. To read an uncut version of this interview — and more local book coverage — please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. EmAil ArTS@nAShvillESCEnE.Com
NASHVILLE SCENE | MARCH 19 – MARCH 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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postponed Amid heightened public health concerns related to the spread of COVID-19, we have made the difficult decision to postpone our Iron Fork event, previously scheduled for Thursday, March 19 to coincide with this week’s annual Food & Drink issue. While this decision comes at a time of universal uncertainty, we take the safety of our community, staff and clients very seriously. We urge everyone to follow the guidelines and protocols put forth by public health officials. We are working to secure a new date in the summer months and will share that as soon as it is confirmed. Current ticket holders will have their tickets transferred to the new date, or provided a refund option, and we will communicate the new date as soon as possible. We are monitoring the situation closely and will release updates on the remainder of our spring and summer events as they are confirmed. We have always and will continue to support our community of restaurants and hospitality workers. Stay connected to our food coverage and our Bites Blog content by subscribing to our newsletters at www.nashvillescene.com/subscribe, and following us @BitesBlog and @NashvilleScene on socials.
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nashvillescene.com | MARCH 19 – MARCH 25, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE
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music
Support Your Local Player Winter releases from local musicians to get you through the live-show drought By Stephen Trageser
Devon Gilfillian, Black Hole Rainbow Rising songwriter and R&B-schooled singer Devon Gilfillian’s debut album draws on sophisticated sounds of ’70s soul as well as contemporary psych rock. The songs cover timeless themes — love, loss, complicated relationships — but feel fresh and new in his capable hands. His exceptional voice might be the first thing you notice, but you’ll stick around for what he has to say.
donors
creative ways to convey dissonance. It’s not just the off-kilter harmonies and mechanical rhythms that push you to the edge of your seat. There’s an intentional looseness to the group’s playing that adds to the unsettling nature of their narratives about trying to get through a chaotic time.
Brian Brown, Journey Brian Brown has been hyping his first full-length, Journey, at live shows and online for a couple of years now, and it’s well worth the wait. As Scene associate editor Alejandro Ramirez points out, it’s both an easy listen and a showcase for strong bars. Brown gives the impression that he’s both eager and well-prepared for the next phase of his career to take off.
Katie Pruitt, Expectations
Rapper and Columbus, Ga., native BEZ made the move to Music City a few years back, and his first project as a local is a great introduction. A lot of anger about injustice and major social problems like cyclical poverty and systemic racism comes through in his rhymes, and he’s a hell of a storyteller. The track “Plotting & Scheming” keeps you on the edge of your seat, while the follow-up “Caprice” begs to be played on a cruise around town with the windows down.
Katie Pruitt’s writing, singing and guitar playing are all extraordinarily rich and vital, and the anticipation was strong for her debut album, Expectations. As she told Scene contributor Brittney McKenna before the release, it was important to make an album that sounded the way she heard the songs in her head. Many of said tunes are vulnerable portrayals of being authentic to herself as a gay woman while evolving and strengthening her relationship with her conservative family. Her decision to enlist a friend with little production experience to produce the record yields a characteristic and compelling blend of rock, soul and folk.
Donors, Donors
Evan P. Donohue, Page of Wands
Donors push at the boundaries of what you typically expect from a band that describes itself as post-punk. Like their self-titled EP from 2018, Donors’ second self-titled effort (released in January) focuses on
Singer, multi-instrumentalist and livesound engineer Evan P. Donohue isn’t prolific, but the quality of his work outweighs any gripes about the quantity. His third full-length, Page of Wands, is full of songs
BEZ, The Music City Triumph
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Photo: Lance Conzett
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ince the start of the month, many Nashville musicians have been placed in a tough spot. First there was the deadly tornado on March 3. In addition to devastating neighborhoods, the storm damaged See links to purchase popular bars, resthese records at taurants and venues nashvillescene.com where locals perform and often also work when they’re not on tour. About a week later, wave after wave of artists, promoters, venue owners and festival organizers began canceling or postponing events and tours as part of a response to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Health care experts say limiting large gatherings is important to slowing down the pandemic and not overwhelming our health care system. But this situation leaves you without shows to see — and in a business where live performance is a critical revenue stream, it leaves musicians short on income. One way you can help is by purchasing artists’ albums and other merch online. Besides, when was the last time you sat down and just listened to a record all the way through? Below, find notes on a handful of outstanding releases that Music City musicians have issued over the past three months, plus a couple that will be out within a week or two. Find links to buy the records at nashvillescene.com.
evan p. donohue
Nashville Scene | march 19 – march 25, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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that showcase both the art and craft of his writing — they’re illuminating, clever and catchy as hell — and blend together Harry Nilsson-esque pop chops and subtly Dead-like psychedelia in unique and delightful ways.
Kyshona, Listen Kyshona’s voice is a mighty instrument, but her new LP Listen is about the power of what you can learn by stepping back and letting someone else have their say. It’s a message that’s especially important in our fractious society. Ace producer Andrija Tokic (who’s worked with Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Josephine Foster and many more) applied a similar logic to his work on the record. Kyshona says Tokic took time to get to know her voice and her interests in folk, rock, gospel and soul, which helped cultivate distinctive arrangements.
Soccer Mommy, Color Theory Soccer Mommy, the dreamy rock project led by songwriter and bandleader Sophie Allison, has long been known for sophisticated takes on the challenges of getting into adulthood with your confidence in yourself intact. Allison & Co.’s new record is organized around processing three very heavy subjects: The blue section focuses on de-
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pression, yellow on illness, and gray on loss. In a press release, Allison says she intended the experience of listening to the album to be like playing a long-lost cassette, and she hit the nail on the head.
Shell of a Shell, Away Team There are many worlds to explore within Shell of a Shell’s first full-length album. The group is skilled at bringing out the emotional nuances of its songs, whether the mode is post-hardcore intensity, melancholy grunge, math-rock complexity or something else entirely. You’ll hear all of that and more in Away Team, an album that sets a high standard for adventurous guitar-centric rock.
Tom Violence, The Widow The sound Tom Violence makes is unrelenting, but far from predictable. On their debut album, The Widow, the quartet takes twists and turns through ominous ambient sections, ferocious hardcore passages and more that can make you feel like you’re being dragged down a dark tunnel. This kind of intense music can sometimes be hard to interpret beyond the visceral impact in a live setting, so the record provides a whole new way to get into the group’s carefully crafted stories of loss and revenge.
Photo: David McClister
Soccer Mommy
Lilly Hiatt
Lilly Hiatt, Walking Proof
Lou Turner, Songs for John Venn
Over the past couple of years, Lilly Hiatt has emerged as one of the finest writers working in the city, as well as one of the best rock bandleaders and frontwomen. Her fourth LP Walking Proof, set for release March 27, rocks and grooves as hard as anything she’s done yet, and the theme running through the songs is openness and acceptance. That applies whether she’s singing to herself, as in the song “Candy Lunch,” or to someone else, as in “Brightest Star.”
Lauren “Lou” Turner — who’s also a poet, radio host and a member of the inventive folk-rock outfit Styrofoam Winos — will release her second solo album, Songs for John Venn, April 3. The record features contributions from an array of fellow locals who stretch the formal and sonic dimensions of rock and pop songs, and Turner’s songs look hopefully at the commonalities between people, seeking out ways that those are bigger than the differences between us. Email music@nashvillescene.com
kyshona
Photo: hannah miller
Photo: steve cross
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3/16/20 4:18 PM
The Spin
To Abide By Steve Cavendish
O
K, let’s say you want to help your tornado-ravaged neighbors by throwing a big concert and giving the money to charities that will help the city rebuild. It’s a very Nashville way of approaching a problem, and one we’ll hopefully see more of once COVID-19 is under control. You can’t just wing it. There are definitely some rules, and if you follow them closely, success can be yours. Case in point: To Nashville, With Love, a benefit March 9 at Marathon Music Works put together by a new group (also called To Nashville, With Love) organized to collect funds for the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee — you can still donate via the Community Foundation’s website. At the gig, an Americana-heavy bill of Nashville stars (both local residents and frequent visitors we’ll call honorary Nashville stars) put on one hell of a show. Rule No. 1: Put up a good number. If you do an all-star showcase, there better be a big number on the end of it to help the recipients. That means getting the stars to donate their performances for free, getting a venue at little or no cost, getting the production folks to donate their time and energy to put it on. That’s an awful lot of free. In the case of To Nashville, With Love, the combination of William Morris Endeavor agents wrangling talent, Lightning 100 promoting and emceeing the show, and stars like Sheryl Crow, Jason Isbell and Brandi Carlile providing the starpower allowed the event to sell out in less than an hour, despite the $75 ticket price. All of the acts committed within 24 hours for a show that was, at the time, five days away. More than $400,000 was raised, including money from sponsors, before anyone had sung a note. That number climbed to more than $500,000 by the time it was over, with simulcasts on WRLT-FM and YouTube acting as a kind of telethon.
Any Way You Feel: Old Crow Medicine Show
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Rule No. 2: Have some built-in crowdpleasing moments. In a nearly four-hour concert with several acts new to much of the audience (Katie Pruitt, Ashley McBryde, Kendell Marvel, Soccer Mommy), it helps to have a few songs guaranteed to stir everyone. Remember, a benefit crowd isn’t really anyone’s audience. Kicking off with Old Crow Medicine Show, a perennial Nashville New Year’s act, is one way to do it — even if they did play “Wagon Wheel.” At some point, Brandi Carlile’s “The Joke” will stop making the hair on the back of my neck stand up, but this was not that day. As she reached the chorus of her opus on marginalization — “I have been to the movies / I’ve seen how it ends / And the joke’s on them” — you could feel the crowd lifting slightly out of their shoes, rising with the break in her voice. Similarly, Isbell never sells “Cover Me Up” short. A tale of love and newfound sobriety, the former Drive-By Trucker sings with a power and ache few can match. The Nashville imagery was not lost on the crowd — “So girl, hang your dress up to dry / We ain’t leaving this room / Till Percy Priest breaks open wide / And the river runs through” — with many having spent volunteer hours cleaning up areas not far from the lake. And Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy” never fails to turn into a sing-along. These kinds of bigger moments gave acts like Aaron Lee Tasjan and McBryde the space to find moments of their own, despite being lesser-known than some of the names at the very top of the marquee. Rule No. 3: Keep it moving. Top-billing acts got three songs, everyone else got two. Otherwise it would have been a 12-hour show with the audience standing on Marathon’s unforgiving concrete floors. God bless the techs who quickly shuffled everyone’s setups on and off the stage. On the video screen between sets, messages from people who couldn’t be there played, including Rocco Grimaldi and Roman Josi of the Predators, Brittany Howard, Travis Denning, Orville Peck, Amanda Shires and more. Rule No. 4: Have an unexpected moment ready to go. Moment, meet Yola. The British-
Photos: lance conzett
music
For a Shook-up WOrld: YOla
Do You Hear What I Hear: Brandi Carlile born singer’s collaborations with Dan Auerbach and Natalie Hemby were very good, but the next two songs brought the biggest roars of the night. It’s not often that someone has the chutzpah to cover a classic soul song as iconic as “You’re All I Need to Get By,” which was recorded by greats including Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin. But Yola crushed it. And then, there was an impromptu near-reunion of The Highwomen, with Yola reprising her verse from “High-
women.” Hearing that gorgeous voice cry “I was a Freedom Rider / When we thought the South had won / Virginia in the spring of ’61” was pure electricity. There were three things I wondered while seeing Yola for the first time. First: What must it be like to sing backing vocals beside her? The always-wonderful Hemby must have felt like she was standing beside the tracks as a train rushed by, shaking the earth. Second: What is it like when everyone on a very talented stage is watching you? As Yola belted out her Highwomen part, there were winners of multiple Grammys and earners of gold records all fixed on her. (Yola has been nominated for multiple Americana awards and Grammys in the past year but has yet to take one home.) Third: I’m not sure if the right analog for Yola is Aretha or Tina Turner. I can’t imagine how good she would be with a full band backing her on “Proud Mary.” Rule No. 5: Send them out on a good note. Joined by Mike Grimes, whose Basement East venue took a direct hit from the tornado, Isbell and many others ripped through Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” which Grimes said was the last song played at his club on the night of the storm. The song gave Isbell a chance to show off his chops with a guitar solo worthy of Young’s jagged riffs. Follow these rules, and you’ve got it made. If relief concerts in the future match the quality of To Nashville, With Love, we’re going to be very entertained, and there’s going to be a ton of money raised for those in need. Email thespin@nashvillescene.com
3/16/20 4:19 PM
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