Nashville Scene 4-30-20 by FW Publishing

APRIL 30–MAY 6, 2020 I VOLUME 39 I NUMBER 13 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE

COVID-19 COVERAGE INSIDE cover_4-30-20.indd 1

YEARS Looking back, a decade after Nashville’s historic flood

ADVOCATES SEEK TO BRING COVID-19 RESOURCES TO IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES PAGE 6 RESTAURATEURS ARE MAKING DIFFICULT DECISIONS IN THE MIDST OF THE PANDEMIC PAGE 16 4/27/20 5:57 PM

MUSIC IS STRENGTH

Watch and Listen This week, we’re spotlighting artists, songs, and moments that underline how music strengthens us. Visit our Watch & Listen page to explore videos and podcast episodes that reveal and express strength.

NASHVILLE SCENE | APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

ABOVE: TANYA TUCKER PHOTO BY EMMA DELEVANTE

Contents

apriL 30, 2020

Lost in Translation .....................................6

Crawl Space: May 2020

City Limits

art

As health officials identify virus disparities, advocates seek to bring resources to immigrant communities

Nashville Gallery Association’s Virtual Art Crawl streams onto YouTube Saturday

By Stephen elliott

Remembering Writer, Photographer and Entrepreneur Thom King ...........................6 King — who founded the alternative magazine Take One in the late ’70s — died Friday at age 65

By Joe nolAn

Books

The Best Literary Citizen

Pith in the Wind .........................................7

J.T. Ellison shares some thoughts on her latest novel, Good Girls Lie

This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog

By FernAndA moore And ChApter 16

10 Years .....................................................8

Back From Oblivion ................................. 20

By Keith A. Gordon

Cover story

Looking back, a decade after Nashville’s historic flood

musiC

By d. pAtriCK rodGerS

With a little help from Scott Avett, Eef Barzelay reinvigorates Clem Snide on Forever Just Beyond

Lessons From the Flood ............................9

By GeoFFrey himeS

How Nashville’s emergency response has evolved in the decade since the Great Flood

this week on the web: Nashville Venues Join National Independent Venue Association The Bledsoe County Prison COVID-19 Outbreak Is One of the Worst in the Country Nashville Leaders Detail Plan to Reopen And Another Thing: Kids in the Hall Did Almost Everything Right

on the Cover:

May 3, 2010 Photo by Eric England

Swing Time .............................................. 21

By J.r. lind

The Wooten Brothers and more to support Rudy’s Jazz Room with Sustain the Swing

A Seat at the Table ................................. 11

By ron Wynn

After the 2010 flood wrecked Tent City, homeless advocates formed Open Table Nashville

Through Lines: Workin’ the System....... 21 Taking a look back at albums that helped define ’70s Nashville

By AleJAndro rAmirez

By edd hurt

The Scene’s live-review column checks out livestreams by Our Native Daughters, R.LUM.R and Country Westerns

Build your own streaming Sofia Coppola film festival, read art books for free online, watch Jason Eskridge’s Sunday Night Soul, sit your kids in front of Broadway Babysitters, dig into Numero Group’s vast catalog, explore American women’s history and more

The Spin ................................................... 22

CritiCs’ piCks

By p.J. Kinzer, Brittney mcKennA And Stephen trAGeSer

fiLm

Primal Stream VI..................................... 24 Exploring some dark and daunting titles now available to stream By JASon ShAWhAn

For Deer Life ............................................ 25

food and drink

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Restaurateurs like Toby Franklin and Edgar Pendley make difficult decisions in the midst of the pandemic By ChriS ChAmBerlAin

Deerskin is a creepy pitch-black comedy that works By Steve eriCKSon

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4/27/20 6:42 PM

PET OF THE WEEK! HI FRIENDS – the name

is Sophie! I am currently living the good life in my foster home and this is what my foster family had to say about me: “Sophie is a sweet and goofy girl! She is very strong but is careful to be gentle when taking treats and doesn’t pull too hard on walks. She would do best in a home without children because she gives it her all when it is time to play or jump on you for cuddles! Sophie is a clever girl who already knows sit, lay down, and shake! She is housebroken and crate trained, and sleeps through the night quietly! Sophie needs to be the only dog in the home and would not do best in an apartment!” If you think you might be interested in meeting me, please visit www.nashvillehumane.org or email nashvillehumaneassociation213@gmail.com for more information! Please allow a minimum of 48 hours for a response*** Call 615.352.1010 or visit nashvillehumane.org Located at 213 Oceola Ave., Nashville, TN 37209

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With feet on the street, we discover Nashville’s own unique beat – one mile at awith time

Walk a

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J.R. Lind

FROM BILL FREEMAN TRUMP ‘SPREADS BAD INFORMATION, SEEDS FALSE HOPE, REIMAGINES SCIENCE’ “Tens of thousands of Americans die; what does the president do?” As Frank Bruni recently wrote in The New York Times: “Spreads bad information. Seeds false hope. Reinvents history, reimagines science, prattles on about his supposed heroism, bellyaches about his self-proclaimed martyrdom and savages anyone who questions his infallibility. In lieu of leadership, grandstanding. In place of empathy, a snit.” In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, an outbreak of ineffable proportions, we look to our government for leadership, hope, empathy and good judgment. We look for leadership on the tough choices we need to make in closing businesses, and why we must stay at home and apart to keep each other safe. Leadership projecting hope and confidence that these steps will slow the spread of the virus and protect us. Leadership showing empathy for those who are most vulnerable. And having the judgment to stick with a plan. Yet President Donald Trump, with self-proclaimed wisdom, suggested that internal use of bleach or disinfectant could be the answer, putting American lives at risk. So alarming were his comments that the makers of Lysol and Dettol issued strong warnings against ingesting the products. The New York Times also reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already seen a spike in cases of exposure to disinfectant. This leaves individuals like Dr. Debbie Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, caught between a rock and a hard place — she’s forced to answer silly questions as to why Trump is recommending we take disinfectant and bask in ultraviolet light! We would be much better served if the president would not play doctor. A simple, “I’m going to let Dr. Birx answer that.” But not Trump! I cannot help but think back to just weeks ago, when Sen. Lamar Alexander had a chance to hold this man accountable during the impeachment trial. Alexander was pivotal in the process and could have swung the vote to allow testimony regarding the president’s actions and behavior. He did nothing. A charitable assessment would be that Alexander might truly have thought Trump had learned his lesson and would emerge chastened from the impeachment process. But this crisis proves the opposite. In addition to making outlandish claims as to what can kill the coronavirus, the president is also steadily sending mixed signals to every state and every American. The president exists in an echo chamber that allows him to believe he is on top of this situation — that he “gets it.” If he “gets it,” why are so many people thoroughly confused as to how we’re going to get through this crisis? Why is the president still touting that “normal life will return” when, according to medical experts, our “normal” may not be “normal” for anytime soon? If he “gets it,” why has he seemingly ignored the guidelines for states to reopen that he instituted? Those guidelines include a required 14-day downward trajectory

in new coronavirus cases or in positive testing, yet the president is pushing states to reopen that haven’t reached those key benchmarks. This includes our neighboring state of Georgia. One day the president was gung-ho for Georgia to reopen, the next he was bashing the state’s governor for opening too soon. One day he’s telling governors he wants them to call the shots, and soon after he’s saying his authority is “total.” Many state leaders have grown sick and tired of the president’s wishywashy approach, and are thus mounting their own defense to the virus, using science and data over politics to govern when they’ll reopen. States including California, Oregon, Washington, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware and New Jersey are coordinating for phased reopenings before the coronavirus wins the battle. Gov. Bill Lee issued his “Tennessee Pledge” designed to reopen as many businesses as possible in 89 of Tennessee’s 95 counties. Lee asks businesses to “pledge” that they will provide safe environments and protect customers’ and their employees’ health. The pledge puts the burden on individual businesses but provides no specific mandates for accountability. Many Tennesseans are concerned that the governor’s call to action comes too soon, citing that federal guidelines necessitate a 14-day downward trend in COVID-19 cases — a benchmark Tennessee hasn’t reached. Mayor John Cooper’s multi-phase, datadriven reopening plan for Metro Nashville is one that provides local residents with a higher degree of confidence. Using data, we’ll have information on trends in testing, cases, health care capacity and personal protective equipment. If new cases mount, we’ll step back a phase, and do so until the virus is less of a threat. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said: “Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a president and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.”

Bill Freeman Bill Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the publishing company that produces the Nashville Scene, Nfocus, the Nashville Post and Home Page Media Group in Williamson County.

Editor-in-Chief D. Patrick Rodgers Senior Editor Dana Kopp Franklin Associate Editor Alejandro Ramirez Arts Editor Laura Hutson Hunter Culture Editor Erica Ciccarone Music and Listings Editor Stephen Trageser Contributing Editors Jack Silverman, Abby White Staff Writers Stephen Elliott, Nancy Floyd, Steven Hale, Kara Hartnett, J.R. Lind, William Williams Contributing Writers Sadaf Ahsan, Radley Balko, Ashley Brantley, Maria Browning, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Lance Conzett, Steve Erickson, Randy Fox, Adam Gold, Seth Graves, Kim Green, Steve Haruch, Geoffrey Himes, Edd Hurt, Jennifer Justus, Christine Kreyling, Katy Lindenmuth, Craig D. Lindsey, Brittney McKenna, Marissa R. Moss, Noel Murray, Joe Nolan, Chris Parton, Betsy Phillips, John Pitcher, Margaret Renkl, Megan Seling, Jason Shawhan, Michael Sicinski, Ashley Spurgeon, Amy Stumpfl, Kay West, Cy Winstanley, Ron Wynn, Charlie Zaillian Editorial Intern Bronte Lebo Art Director Elizabeth Jones Photographers Eric England, Daniel Meigs Graphic Designers Mary Louise Meadors, Tracey Starck Production Coordinator Christie Passarello Circulation Manager Casey Sanders Events and Marketing Director Olivia Moye Events Manager Ali Foley Publisher Mike Smith Advertising Director Daniel Williams Senior Account Executives Maggie Bond, Debbie Deboer, Sue Falls, Michael Jezewski, Carla Mathis, Heather Cantrell Mullins, Stevan Steinhart, Jennifer Trsinar, Keith Wright Account Executive William Shutes Sales Operations Manager Chelon Hill Hasty Account Managers Emma Benjamin, Gary Minnis Special Projects Coordinator Susan Torregrossa President Frank Daniels III Chief Financial Officer Todd Patton Creative Director Heather Pierce IT Director John Schaeffer For advertising info please contact: Daniel Williams at 615-744-3397 FW PUBLISHING LLC Owner Bill Freeman VOICE MEDIA GROUP National Advertising 1-888-278-9866 vmgadvertising.com

Copyright©2020, Nashville Scene. 210 12th Ave. S., Ste. 100, Nashville, TN 37203. Phone: 615-244-7989. Classified: 816-218-6732. The Nashville Scene is published weekly by FW Publishing LLC. The publication is free, one per reader. Removal of more than one paper from any distribution point constitutes theft, and violators are subject to prosecution. Back issues are available at our office. Email: All email addresses consist of the employee’s first initial and last name (no space between) followed by @nashvillescene.com; to reach contributing writers, email editor@nashvillescene.com. Editorial Policy: The Nashville Scene covers news, art and entertainment. In our pages appear divergent views from across the community. Those views do not necessarily represent those of the publishers. Subscriptions: Subscriptions are available at $99 per year for 52 issues. Subscriptions will be posted every Thursday and delivered by third-class mail in usually five to seven days. Please note: Due to the nature of third-class mail and postal regulations, any issue(s) could be delayed by as much as two or three weeks. There will be no refunds issued. Please allow four to six weeks for processing new subscriptions and address changes. Send your check or Visa/MC/AmEx number with expiration date to the above address.

In memory of Jim Ridley, editor 2009-2016

NASHVILLE SCENE | APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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4/27/20 6:34 PM

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city limits

Lost in Translation As health officials identify virus disparities, advocates seek to bring resources to immigrant communities By Stephen Elliott

osa Escobar and Manuel de Jesús Gonzalez Pineda had been together for eight years, though they never formally married. The two Honduran immigrants living in Nashville planned to remedy that with a ceremony in April. But their plan was put on hold when the coronavirus interrupted church services and other large gatherings. Then, they both contracted COVID-19. Manuel, age 41, fell ill and died, leaving behind his common-law wife and their 4-year-old son Jaison. “He was a good husband, a good father to my son,” recalls Escobar in Spanish, using a translator. Manuel guided her in Christian faith too, she says. Gonzalez worked for an excavation company in town. Escobar says she is not aware of anyone from his job or social circles testing positive for the disease, however, so she is unsure how either of them contracted it. When Gonzalez started feeling sick late in March, a clinic did not correctly identify his illness. A few days later his condition had worsened, and an X-ray showed liquid in his lungs. He was directed to Metro General Hospital, where he stayed until his death two weeks later. After Gonzalez checked into the hospital, Escobar would never see her partner alive again. Escobar says she had some trouble getting information about Gonzalez’s condition in part because they were not legally married. She faced even more trouble finding someone who could speak her primary language, Spanish — either at Metro General to discuss her partner’s condition, or in her own interactions with Metro personnel when she tested positive herself. The only time she spoke in Spanish with anyone, she says, is when someone at the hospital called

to tell her Manuel had died. It’s an issue that public health officials and medical providers acknowledge and are seeking to address. After Metro identified a cluster of cases around Antioch, where a disproportionate number of immigrants live, the city said it would team with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition to hire community outreach workers tasked with bridging a communications gap exacerbated by the pandemic. The state has also identified clusters of cases within ethnic groups, and according to health commissioner Lisa Piercey, is working “in very culturally sensitive ways to mitigate any of the issues they may be having.” State health authorities have set up a health disparity task force that is launching a public-service campaign this week targeted at different minority communities around the state. But it’s not just government agencies spreading information about the disease and related resources to communities where English is not the primary language. Veronica Salcedo’s online Spanish-language news broadcasts offer translations of elected officials’ press conferences (Nashville has a separate Spanish-language briefing) and share public health and other information with Nashville’s Spanish speakers. Her site, Nashville Noticias, was also the first to report on Gonzalez’s death. Some of Salcedo’s viewers have expressed hesitance to seek out the city’s free COVID-19 tests due to fears that personnel might ask for immigration documentation. Like Metro officials, Salcedo has sought to make clear that the Metro testing sites do not demand immigration information, and she thinks it’s making a difference — more of her viewers are asking how and where to get tested.

Part of the problem identified by Salcedo and others is that many immigrants work frontline jobs that have not shut down, including in construction and at meatpacking plants like the Tyson facility in Goodlettsville, where at least 120 coronavirus cases have been identified. “We’ve always played this educational and informational role in the community,” says Salcedo, speaking in Spanish and using a translator. “But it certainly heightens during this crisis, as the needs of the community are greater, and the kind of information that they need to receive is greater.” For smaller immigrant and refugee communities, the challenge can be greater, without local news in their primary language or formalized community leaders. One of Nashville’s fastest-growing immigrant populations is made up largely of Congolese refugees. Kagiraneza Nkuyinka, himself a refugee who moved to Nashville in 2012, has taken on an informal leadership role. Nkuyinka is an accountant who previously worked with refugees seeking health care, and he also worked for the U.S. embassy in his home country. Earlier this month, he convened representatives from apartment complexes with Congolese residents on a telephone call to disseminate information about coronavirus and related precautions. He says some Congolese residents have not sought testing because they can’t miss work, as Metro sites are open only on weekdays. He’s also heard fear from those continuing to work in what they consider dangerous conditions.

Franklin in the early ’70s. When we met, he was already a writer and photographer for the ReviewAppeal newspaper in Franklin. His “As Teens Tell It” column was widely read across Williamson County. King, his brother John and Tom Rutherford opened King Brothers Productions, a photography studio, in Franklin in the mid-1970s. During the same period, King formed the local rock band Hardscuffle, and opened one of the first recording studios in Franklin. In 1977, returning to Franklin from school in

Knoxville, King launched Take One, the first Nashvillearea alternative magazine. Take One ran more or less monthly until 1980, covering the city’s arts and music scenes as well as topics like the death penalty, environmental issues and the Gov. Ray Blanton pardon controversy. King later co-founded the short-lived Metro Reader with former Take One editor Daryl Sanders and writer/businessman John Lomax III. King served as the staff photographer for the U.S. Department of Commerce at the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville. Meeting delegates from across the globe, he created laminated pins using colorful stamps from his new acquaintances’ home countries as gifts, an idea that later led to the formation of his company, Kingpins. King continued to write through the ’80s, contributing to The Metro magazine and the Nashville Scene, among other publications. In the late ’90s he published two books on personal relationships via Random House. In the early 2000s, King began working with several prominent Nashvillians in co-writing their memoirs — most notably country music legend Danny Davis of the Nashville Brass, with whom he penned the book Guess Who I Met Today! King wrote or co-wrote a total of 53 books over the course of 25 years.

photo courtesy of john king

Remembering Writer, Photographer and Entrepreneur Thom King King — who founded the alternative magazine Take One in the late ’70s — died Friday at age 65 By Keith A. Gordon

ashville writer, photographer, videographer and entrepreneur Thom King died Friday, April 24, from complications following a heart attack. He was 65. Although not a household name, King was an important contributor to the city’s arts and media communities through the years. Thom was — full disclosure — also a longtime friend of mine. We went to high school together in

rosa Escobar and Manuel de Jesús Gonzalez Pineda with their son

“My people, with little alternatives, they’re stuck in these jobs they have right now,” Nkuyinka says. “There has to be someone to push, a watchdog who is there to remind people that these people are here, [and] they also need some attention and some consideration.” One potential salve for the issue is the work of organizations like Siloam Health, a nonprofit health clinic serving the uninsured. According to organization leaders, 95 percent of their patients are born outside the United States, and 80 percent of patients do not speak English. The clinic set up a “side clinic” in a covered and enclosed space outside its building and has seen at least 16 patients who later tested positive for COVID-19. (Siloam medical director Jim Henderson acknowledges that seeing patients in the partially outdoor space would be more difficult without the moderate temperatures of the past few weeks, and so the organization is talking to contractors about building a more permanent space.) Using interpreters when necessary, providers at the clinic either refer patients to a hospital or send them home with “very strict instructions” about what to watch for, Henderson says. Offering care and COVID-19 education in a patient’s primary language has obvious benefits for the patient, but Siloam also identifies downstream effects. Once a patient leaves the clinic, they become “useful spokespeople in their communities to spread accurate information,” Henderson says. Even before the pandemic descended on the Nashville area, that was part of Siloam’s mission. According to Siloam chief community health officer Amy Richardson, community health workers like those employed by Siloam can serve as a “fire break” against disease spread and other health inequities. “This is a moment in our health care system in the United States that I hope we choose to capitalize on,” Richardson says. “Community health workers really are the front line. They have the trust of the communities they come from and are reaching out to.” Email editor@nashvillescene.com

In recent years, King worked to build a young independent film community in Nashville. With the Nashville Filmmakers Group, he mentored aspiring talents while also shooting “micro-budget” independent films, music videos (notably, videos by Amy Grant and Jamaican reggae legends Morgan Heritage), TV pilots and commercials. Before his heart attack, King traveled to the Philippines with a group of treasure hunters, documenting their efforts to salvage World War II-era gold. Thom King and I were friends, frequent collaborators, and occasional business partners for nearly 48 years. As I’ve dug through several thousand emails we tossed back and forth after I left Nashville in 2006 for New York — sharing stories, book projects, YouTube videos and so on — they’ve shown a talented and creative individual who was glad to share his knowledge and experience with those around him. King left his mark on Nashville, and his humor and creative ambition will be missed. King is survived by his brother, John King, a professor in the United Arab Emirates; two nieces in Tennessee; and numerous cousins in Tennessee, Michigan, Florida, North Carolina and Kentucky. Email editor@nashvillescene.com

Nashville Scene | April 30 – may 6, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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CITY LIMITS

THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG: Gov. Bill Lee said he’s allowing the state’s stay-at-home order to expire May 1, allowing businesses in most of Tennessee to reopen. The 89 counties with health departments operated by the state — all but the four largest of Shelby, Davidson, Knox and Hamilton, along with Sullivan and Madison — saw some nonessential businesses reopen April 27. More than 11,000 Tennesseans were tested for COVID-19 during the statewide drive-through testing spree the weekend of April 18-19, which Lee said set up the ability for a “phased reopen” of the economy. The state will work with the six excluded counties, which operate their own health departments and also represent the highest concentration of COVID-19 cases, to begin their reopening process. … We know what Nashville’s “road map” to reopening looks like, as the city’s coronavirus task force detailed the plan in a press conference April 23. The first phase urges Nashvillians to continue working from home if possible and to wear masks in public places, but allows restaurants, bars and retail stores to reopen, operating at half-capacity. The city can move to each subsequent phase after 14 days of negative or flat growth in COVID-19 diagnoses. Moving through the phases allows establishments to operate at ever-larger capacities and phases in reopening of different types of businesses (to all the increasingly shaggy-haired Nashvillians: Hair salons and barbershops will be allowed to reopen by appointment only starting in Phase 2). Metro Board of Health director Alex Jahangir said the city is currently at a “green light” on most metrics, with one or two at a “yellow light,” despite occasional spikes in new cases, some of which can be attributed to increased testing. If the metrics remain stable, the first phase could begin at the start of May, Jahangir said — but if there is backsliding between now and then, city officials will re-evaluate. … Tennessee’s correctional institutions are still struggling to contain the virus inside prison and jail walls, where social distancing is all but impossible. When Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall was asked whether

he was concerned about the exposure risk inside Nashville’s jails, he didn’t have to stop and think about his response. “I think the answer is yes,” Hall said. There are currently at least 11 inmates and eight DCSO employees who have tested positive for the illness, with more who have symptoms and are awaiting test results. Hall said that 119 inmates are under some level of restriction due to the virus. The sheriff opened the new downtown detention center ahead of schedule for use as a medical ward during the pandemic. Meanwhile, a New York Times analysis showed that Tennessee’s Bledsoe County Correctional Complex is one of the nation’s worst hot spots for the virus. The Tennessee Department of Correction’s most recent figures, updated on April 25, show 576 positive cases at the Pikeville prison, with 56 tests still pending. Nearly 25 percent of the 2,327 prisoners who have been tested there have received positive results. Eight of the 10 clusters identified by the Times as America’s worst are in prisons or jails, the other two being a Smithfield Foods processing facility in Sioux Falls, S.D., and aboard the aircraft carrier USS Teddy Roosevelt, currently alongside the pier in Guam. … There were sports (sort of) for the first time in weeks, as the NFL held its annual draft, albeit remotely with team officials selecting their latest class of rookies via teleconference. Tennessee Titans head coach and future Four Loko spokesmodel Mike Vrabel’s ad hoc war room featured one of his kids dressed as Frozone from The Incredibles and another as Vrabel himself from his Ohio State playing days. The reflection of a third child in a wall mirror led to Vrabel’s Luis Buñuel-esque setup being analyzed like the Zapruder film, and the coach was forced to explain that his son was not, in fact, using the bathroom in the background as the Titans selected University of Georgia offensive lineman Isaiah Wilson with the 29th pick. In addition to Wilson, who at 6-foot-7 and 350 pounds is an absolute unit, the Two-Toners added ball-hawking LSU cornerback Kristian Fulton, the speedy and elusive running back Darrynton Evans out of Appalachian State, highmotor defensive tackle Larrell Murchison from North Carolina State, quirky-throwing quarterback Cole McDonald to satisfy the team’s quota of Hawaii-tied signal callers, and Marshall safety and future special teams superstar (book it) Chris Jackson. … Stay safe, wear a mask, and close the door if you’re in the bathroom while dad is on national television.

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nashvillescene.com | APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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4/27/20 6:48 PM

y May 3, 2010, water had crept up Lower Broadway, covering cars and rushing into buildings, leaving the tops of street signs barely visible. With some areas completely submerged, the streets of downtown Nashville looked like murkier cousins of Venice’s canals. On May 1-2, the Nashville area experienced an unprecedented amount of rainfall. According to the National Weather Service, the city received 13.57 inches of rain, more than doubling the two-day rainfall record established almost 31 years prior. The result was a catastrophic level of flood damage — $2.3 billion in privateproperty damage throughout Tennessee and Kentucky, with 11 deaths in Nashville alone and several more elsewhere in the Midstate. The Cumberland River crested at 52 feet, its various tributaries surging and sending

YEARS Looking back, a decade after Nashville’s historic flood

floodwaters into neighborhoods across the city, from East Nashville to South Nashville, Belle Meade to Bordeaux. The Schermerhorn Symphony Center’s $2.5 million pipe organ was partially submerged, and a pair of Steinway concert grand pianos were destroyed. Floodwaters overflowed a 100-year floodwall and rushed into the Grand Ole Opry House, covering the stage. The Soundcheck Nashville rehearsal and storage facility, record-and-comics store The Great Escape on Charlotte Avenue, and countless other small businesses and homes all sustained significant damage. With certain roadways completely underwater, some Nashvillians found themselves stranded. Others saw their homes completely destroyed. Every Nashvillian was affected. Those of us who lived in Nashville at the time will never forget the incessant rains and the colossal amount of destruction brought

with them. Nor will we forget the valiant volunteerism Nashvillians showcased in the days and weeks following what experts came to call a thousand-year flood — a spirit that we’ve once again seen on display in the wake of the March 3 tornado and the current fallout surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who are new to the city may not recognize the photos here — eerie and alien, they depict a Nashville we hope to never see again. But it’s a time we must never forget, and whose lessons we’ll continue to carry with us. In this week’s issue, we look back at the 2010 flood in two parts: J.R. Lind examines how Nashville’s emergency-response efforts have evolved in the decade since the flood; and Alejandro Ramirez looks at the birth of an organization seeking to help one of Nashville’s most at-risk communities. —D. PATRICK RODGERS

Nashville Scene | April 30 – may 6, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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4/27/20 3:08 PM

The entrance to LP Field on May 3, 2010

Lessons From the Flood How Nashville’s emergency response has evolved in the decade since the Great Flood By J.R. Lind

t is not an exaggeration — in fact, it may even be cliché — to say the flood of May 2010 is the seminal event of the 21st century in Nashville. Perhaps it was even the most seminal event since citycounty consolidation in 1963. The rise of the river, the devastation it left, the rush of volunteers, the citywide fellow feeling that followed and the recovery are tied inexorably — if not in fact, certainly in the version promoted by Official Nashville and the boosterism-industrial complex — to the beginning of the “It City” era. A chug-along midsize city on the cusp of greatness stares down a once-in-a-millenium

natural disaster, and comes out better on the other end. Nashville had faced disaster before: other floods (some even, in a technical sense, worse); tornadoes; even war. But 2010 was different. Tornadoes are high-adrenaline and infamously random. The storm itself is brief, if incomprehensibly destructive, but the recovery can begin nearly as soon as the skies clear. Witness what happened this year: By the time the sun rose on March 3, Nashvillians were already out with chainsaws and trash bags. On the other end of the spectrum: the pandemic. We can see it coming, and though there may be occasional blips and upticks in infections and death, the disaster itself is a long simmer. The damage isn’t nearly as dramatic or tangible as that of a tornado, but the metaphysical destruction is more chronic than acute, going on and on and on. Floods, though, somehow draw from the worst of these two extremes. Floods have a slow but inevitable build. The rains keep falling, the water keeps ris-

Photo: Jude Ferrara

Photo: Sinclair Kelly

Photo: Eric England

ing. Their destruction is no less than a tornado, but has a far larger ambit. There are periods of intense work — remember the sandbagging crews, drawn from the jail? Inmates worked hours on end at the vintage Omohundro Water Treatment Plant to keep fresh water flowing to the city’s homes. Remember the ad hoc sandbaggers at the MetroCenter levee? But there is also the excruciating waiting: Recovery cannot begin until the waters recede. In this way, floods are an epic test of emergency preparedness. Lessons drawn from a flood can be applied to a variety of natural disasters. With Davidson County almost perfectly bifurcated by the Cumberland — its tributary creeks stretching their fingers into every neighborhood — plus the web of springs undergirding nearly every acre, a once-inseveral-lifetimes flood can potentially touch every part of the county in a way a tornado simply cannot. And indeed, that’s what happened in 2010. Even a particularly wicked designer

would have a hard time drawing up an exercise for Nashville’s emergency preparedness apparatus that was more devious than the real-world test our city was forced to take a decade ago.

Tucked away in the recesses of nashville.gov is a 335-page document, produced in July 2011: “SEVERE FLOODING MAY 2010, Disaster Declaration #FEMA-1909-DR, After Action Report/Improvement Plan.” Its cover is a collage of black-and-white memories from the first week of May 2010. There’s a man wiping down a muddy dresser, a line of sandbaggers, then-Mayor Karl Dean in a polo shirt flanked by thenGov. Phil Bredesen in a sport coat (but no green vest). Inside is a recital of nearly every detail from every nook and cranny of the county, and every bureau, agency, commission and department of Metro government. But first, there’s a tick-tock — a nearly minute-byminute breakdown of how things happened, from the first warning of the coming flood

nashvillescene.com | April 30 – may 6, 2020 | Nashville Scene

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on April 29 through the deactivation of the Emergency Operations Center on May 14. There are charts showing how high the water rose. (An interesting and illustrative example: Dry Creek in Edenwold near Rivergate has, as one might guess from its name, no official flood stage; it crested at nearly 14 feet.) There’s an explanation of the 16 “emergency support functions,” laying out which department is in charge of everything from transportation to donations to animal services, and who is expected to offer support to those agencies. But the meat of the report is the breakdown of how all of those departments performed and what they could have done better. Some of the notes are obvious: The fire department, for example, did a lot of work under less-than-ideal conditions, to put it mildly. Altogether, the NFD answered more than 5,300 calls for assistance between May 1 and May 11. The praise for the city’s firefighters, EMTs and paramedics was effusive. (At one point in the document, the emergency workers’ response is favorably compared with the Allies fighting in two major theaters during World War II.) The primary problem as outlined was an inability to resupply the crews when they were on

photo: jude ferrara

a once-in-several-lifetimes flood can potentially touch every part of the county in a way a tornado simply cannot. And indeed, that’s what happened in 2010. site, not an unexpected issue with so many streets blocked. Some of the notes are less predictable. While Metro’s Department of General Services, as indicated by its comprehensive title, is responsible for numerous things, it’s a virtual certainty no one in the city ever thought about the necessity of or the challenges faced by its print-and-copy-services division. Yet it was vital: Reports had to be produced for officials, handouts to flood victims were needed. Deadlines were tight, and copiers had to be relocated — not just to save them from rising waters, but also because Metro had shifted nearly all of its resources to facing the flood. These breakdowns are largely self-assessments, and as anyone who has had to do a self-assessment for an annual employee review knows, it can be difficult. People are often harder on themselves than necessary and

photo: jack Silverman

Photo: Charles Maldonado Photo: Charles Maldonado

Urban Search-andRescue team

Neighbors help residents to dry land on McGinnis Drive in Inglewood

are uncomfortable being too generous with praise, lest they be seen as disingenuous. That’s not to say there aren’t hard truths buried inside. Many departments found that if they had a disaster plan at all, it hadn’t been updated in years. The personnel tasked with coordinating with the city’s hospitals, for example, ran into trouble. Either the contacts were out of date or — because the flood was primarily a weekend event — unavailable with no secondary contacts listed in the binder. A small thing, perhaps, but notable enough that ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic striking the city, the Metro Public Health Department made sure to update that same contact information. On May 4, 2010, NFD Chief Steve Halford called for Metro’s human resources emergency services coordinator to come to the Emergency Operations Center. Halford

wanted to know which departments were shut down, partially staffed or operating at full capacity. The coordinator learned that there was no procedure or requirement that the departments tell H.R. if they are closing or operating at reduced capacity — he had to call every department head to find out, even though many of those department heads were in the EOC and could have offered that information on the front end. Speaking of the EOC, the Office of Emergency Management’s synopsis is more like a novel than a brief list of bullet points. Obviously, the OEM is going to play a critical role in disaster response; it’s the whole raison d’etre for the department. And a major problem? It was crowded at the EOC. “Personnel and vehicle congestion at the EOC will be more effectively checked and managed in future large scale activations,” the report reads. “Without a clear role, some persons appeared regularly and unannounced at the ECC / EOC Compton complex and had free access most of the time, but did not have a discernable and official function. “This caused multiple minor issues with the limited space and increased noise and will be strictly controlled with sign-in procedures and special access entry required to

Nashville Scene | April 30 – may 6, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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photo: jude ferrara

A partially submerged vehicle on Second Avenue North

gain access past Metro property guards.” Furthermore, coordination with the National Weather Service proved difficult, if not impossible. While Nashville is without a doubt the hub of Middle Tennessee, the NWS Forecast Office in Old Hickory must provide services to the entire Grand Division. “Communications with the local office of the National Weather Service was [sic] exceptional until the flood situation became a 72-hour, regional disaster,” the report reads. “This situation soon caused limited availability of their key expertise to Metro Government decision makers. The same can be said of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Phone calls and voice mails were an inadequate form of communication most of the time. Critical information was often not shared and confirmed amongst the NWS, USACE and local government officials, as it should have been. Major flooding events in the future necessitate OEM to change its activation procedures and require attendance in the Metro EOC of high level personnel from both of these agencies to be able to communicate, in person with key local decision makers.” Indeed, in the months after the flood, Metro, the Army Corps of Engineers and the NWS signed a memorandum of understanding promising attendance from the federal agencies during a meteorological disaster. Some departments were faced with the destruction of their offices altogether, notably what was then the Metropolitan Transit Authority (now WeGo). MTA’s major facility on Nestor Street was among the first in the city to be inundated. MTA’s disaster solution, thus, was relatively straightforward: Move to higher ground.

The flood, in a way perhaps no other type of disaster could have, identified critical shortcomings in how Metro handles disasters of all types. It demonstrated the need for the city to be able to broadcast information on its own, without relying on the federal Emergency Alert System — a capability it now has, and one that has improved greatly in the past decade as the city continues to update its siren system. Shortcomings in the various memoranda and the oodles of other legalese that govern operations in such disasters were not identified until they were actually implemented.

No disaster response is perfect, as every event is different, presenting challenges that couldn’t possibly be predicted. The goal is to respond efficiently to the foreseeable, and adapt to respond to the unforeseeable as effectively as possible. It’s like being graded on a constantly changing curve: Was it better than the last event? Hopefully. Was it as good as it could have been? Almost certainly not. In a year or so, Nashville will produce a document similar to the one it published in July 2011. In fact, it will probably produce two — one each for the tornado and COVID-19. Departments will have to answer tough questions and proffer solutions. They’ll note how things went compared to 2010. Ideally, any shortfalls will be addressed, because when the next disaster strikes, someone will ask: Did we really learn anything from 2020? Email editor@nashvillescene.com

Photo: lindsey krinks

Davidson County’s satellite cities — Belle Meade, Berry Hill, Forest Hills, Goodlettsville and Oak Hill — were not then signatories to the county’s hazard mitigation plan; that has since been rectified. Shelter operations were a major complaint in the review of the flood. Who was in charge? How would people get there? How would they be accounted for? The services within the shelters provided by various Metro departments — health, social services and the EMA itself — were not coordinated, nor were they coordinated with nongovernmental organizations like the Red Cross. That resulted in, at best, duplication, and at worst, people falling through the cracks at a most trying time. All the tabletop exercises and drills that the city has run in the decade since the flood can go only so far to test the limits of the system. Only real-world events can truly demonstrate how much was learned, and Nashville has been hit with a brutal one-two punch in the past six weeks. While the community response to the March 3 tornado — so overwhelming that Hands On Nashville’s volunteer sign-up web page crashed before 9 a.m. — was similar to that of 2010 (if not larger in part because the city has grown by nearly 70,000 people in the past decade), Metro’s response was far less frazzled than in 2010. Take shelters, for instance. Within hours of the tornado crossing the county, temporary shelters were operational. By the afternoon of March 3, three permanent shelters were ready for occupation, with personnel already on site to coordinate recovery for everything from clean-up to warm meals to looking after pets. When COVID came to town, Metro already had plans for shelters for the homeless — a particularly hard-struck population during the flood, given the proximity of so many camps to the river. Communication both within Metro government and from it to the people was often chaotic during the flood. Improvements have come, not just because of technological upgrades, but because the plan now recognizes the importance of disseminating accurate and useful information quickly, if only to fight rumors. This was a particularly difficult situation during the flood, and the hardwon lesson’s aftermath can be seen with the daily briefings by the mayor and top health officials during the ongoing pandemic.

A Seat at the Table After the 2010 flood wrecked Tent City, homeless advocates formed Open Table Nashville By Alejandro Ramirez

efore the flood, Tent City was the largest settlement of people experiencing homelessness in Nashville, seeing about 80 to 140 residents at a time, plus their pets. But in 2010, Nashville’s historic flood hit and washed it all away. With more than 100 people displaced from Tent City, five ministers and theologians who had been working with its residents led the effort to find them a new site. Out of this post-disaster scramble, they formed Open Table Nashville, a nonprofit dedicated to — in the organization’s own words — disrupting the cycle of poverty. “There was a real need for a homeless outreach group that could be on the ground, in close relationship with people who are on the streets,” says Lindsey Krinks, co-founder of the nonprofit and its current interim co-director. Before the flood, there was already tension between Tent City and Metro government, which had made attempts to close down the camp. After the flood cleared the site, Metro condemned the land, saying it was uninhabitable — upsetting both its former residents and their advocates. Returning to Tent City wasn’t an option, so advocates found themselves leading the campers through a series of new temporary locations. First it was an 18-day stay at a Red Cross shelter at Lipscomb University. Later, car magnate Lee Beaman donated land in Antioch, which became a new campsite for about 40 former members of Tent City. That setup lasted a little more than a month — Antioch locals lodged complaints, soon forcing the campers off the site. So they found a new location: the five-bedroom parsonage of Hobson United Methodist Church. At this point, some Tent City campers had left to join other sites, and others had found housing. About 17 people moved into what was called the Hobson Home, and over the course of two years, most of them found housing. By September, Krinks says: “The five of us who are really journeying with the residents realized, you know, we were working 60, 70, sometimes 80 hours a week. It was just constant … and we realized that we had already started something. We just needed to name it.” They decided to call their new organization Open Table Nashville. “We really wanted to offer our people a place at the table instead of just crumbs from the table,” says Krinks. “Having a place at the table is about justice and equity. Having crumbs from the table is charity.” Since forming in 2010, the nonprofit has been involved in housing and homeless outreach efforts. They bring food boxes to homeless camps, help people experiencing homelessness apply for housing and urge Metro officials to push for better conditions. “We’ve been called agitators before, and that’s OK

with me,” says co-founder Ingrid McIntyre. When a man named James Fulmer died on the steps of Crystal Fountain Church in East Nashville in January 2013, Open Table Nashville marched through the streets with a prop coffin to demand the city do more to address the need for emergency cold-weather shelters. Open Table had been running “ad hoc” winter shelters, says Krinks, but they needed more resources. In 2016, Metro Social Services began to open temporary overflow shelters for cold winter nights. The nonprofit also clashed several times with the city over the fate of the Fort Negley campsite, another tent settlement. Metro closed down the settlement in 2016. Even so, Krinks says Open Table Nashville changed the conversation around homelessness through years of defending the site, and that the city is no longer as quick to shut down camps. Metro also now has liaisons in the homeless community through its Homeless Impact Division. “We’ve really argued that instead of homelessness being a criminal issue, homelessness is a social issue,” says Krinks. “It’s an economic issue. It’s a public health issue. It’s not a crime to be without housing.” Krinks says campsites are still located in floodprone areas, as well as near railroad tracks and industrial sites. The tornado that rocked Nashville on March 3 also displaced residents of one camp under the Jefferson Street Bridge, and ruined buildings near another campsite under a different section of the bridge. Outreach efforts have continued in the wake of the tornado, but the COVID-19 pandemic has complicated matters. The organization is still delivering food boxes and helping folks find housing, all with social distancing practices in mind. The pandemic has also delayed a project that the founders have been dreaming of since Tent City flooded all those years ago: a community of micro homes for medical respite located at Glencliff United Methodist Church. McIntyre, a pastor at the church, is overseeing the effort through a sort of spinoff nonprofit. She says donations to the project have been delayed to address the COVID-19 response. The timing is unfortunate — after all, it’d be easier to practice social distancing in a micro home than at a shelter or on the streets. McIntyre says the current COVID-19 pandemic emphasizes a truth that advocates and medical professionals have been stressing for years: Housing is vital to health care. “The answer is always housing,” says McIntyre. “After the tornado, people said, ‘What can we do?’ It’s housing.” The Village at Glencliff would offer space for up to 22 individuals or couples recovering from medical issues, and would also serve as temporary housing for people searching for new homes. “They can stay [here] until their doctor says they’re ready,” says McIntyre. “And then until we get them into permanent housing, and they’ll never have to go back out on the street again.” The goal is to end the cycle of homlessness and poverty, says McIntyre. That’s also the central mission of Open Table Nashville. “It’s not just another nonprofit,” says Krinks. “It’s a way of being in the community, and it’s a radical belief that we can end homelessness if we were to actually prioritize what we need to as a city, as a country.” Email editor@nashvillescene.com

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NASHVILLE SCENE | APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

Critics’ Picks S O C I A L

D IST A N C I N G

E D ITI O N

[SUMMER OF 85]

Watch The 85 South Show on YouTube

In just a short amount of time, the three men who stand front and center in The 85 South Show — comedians Karlous Miller, Chico Bean and DC Young Fly — have built a nice little indie business for themselves amusing folks from coast to coast, just by shooting the shit. All three of them are veterans of the MTV sketch-comedy show Nick Cannon Presents: Wild ’n Out, and the trio has brought the show on the road, performing everything from impromptu skits and song parodies to loose strands from their respective stand-up acts. The show they’ve created is best described as a smorgasbord of ghetto hilarity. Needless to say, they’re not on tour now. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find them on YouTube — or via 85southshow.com — where you can watch episode upon episode of these cats acting like damn fools. CRAIG D. LINDSEY [DIG DEEP]

Read Art Books for Free Online

There’s no time like the present to go down a rabbit hole of obscure research and call it “being productive.” That’s especially true if you’re into art museum libraries, which have several options for online browsing. First, dig into the Getty Virtual Library. I love an art-historical niche, and the book Incendiary Art, which is filled with depictions of fireworks from early modern Europe, is right up my alley. There are more than 300 volumes to read and download at the Getty, all for free — visit getty.edu/publications/virtuallibrary. An equally impressive collection of art-history tomes is available through archive.org, which has made available everything ever published by the Guggenheim Museum at archive.org/details/guggenheimmuseum — I could spend hours poring over the book covers alone. An out-of-print catalog of the Guggenheim exhibit Rrose Is a Rrose Is a Rrose: Gender Performance in

Photography hooked me with a cover photo of trans pioneer Claude Cahun, who in 1928 looked impossibly contemporary and cool. The book features essays and photos by luminaries like Robert Mapplethorpe, Nan Goldin and Brassaï, as well as a handful of lesser-known artists whose work you’re going to love, I can already tell. And the whole collection is available to browse with an interface that feels much more like you’re paging through a real book than just scrolling on the internet. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER [IMAGINARY BASEBALL LEAGUE]

Watch Ken Burns’ Baseball on PBS or Amazon Prime

go about your day, is no substitute for live baseball, it at least temporarily re-creates the ambience. The film is deliberately paced to mirror the rhythms of a ballgame, and its wealth of stories and insights about our national pastime — as well as the people who’ve played it through the years — is simultaneously calming and edifying. If nothing else, I guarantee it will clear up any lingering confusion you might have about Jackie versus The Babe. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN MUSIC

Each week for the past month-and-ahalf, I’ve suggested a different filmmaker or actor around whom to build your very own streaming film festival — from Martin Scorsese and Bong Joon-ho to Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nicolas Cage and beyond. For this, our seventh week, we’re going to scale back just a bit and pick a director with a smaller but nevertheless intriguing catalog: Sofia Coppola. The 48-year-old writerdirector — a cousin of the aforementioned Cage, as it happens — appeared as an actor in several films throughout her childhood and young adulthood, including a half-dozen of her father Francis Ford Coppola’s movies (among them all three installments of the Godfather series, playing a different role in each). But for the purposes of our film fest, let’s kick it off with Sofia Coppola’s 1999 feature debut, an adaptation of author Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides (available to stream on Crackle, and for $3 rental on Amazon Prime). That was the director’s first of several collaborations with her muse Kirsten Dunst, and a dark if impressive debut effort. Next, cue up 2003’s Lost in Translation, Coppola’s best film, and the one for which she received three Oscar nominations (she won Best Original Screenplay). That one’s available for $4 via Amazon Prime, YouTube and iTunes, and features an all-time if understated performance from Bill Murray. From there, pick one of Coppola’s three mid-career efforts: 2006’s anachronistic-by-design, Dunst-starring and largely dismissed Marie Antoinette (free on Crackle, $3 on Amazon Prime); 2010’s Stephen Dorff-featuring portrait of celebrity ennui Somewhere ($4 on Prime, YouTube and iTunes); or 2013’s satirical The Bling Ring (ditto), which is based on the true story of a crew of celebrityrobbing teens. Bring it home with Coppola’s 2017 remake of the 1971 Civil War drama The Beguiled, which is available for $4 on Prime and YouTube. As Scene contributor Steve Erickson put it in his review, that film “recreates — or possibly just creates — a world

steeped in rigor and ritual far different from our own.” D. PATRICK RODGERS

Build Your Own Streaming Sofia Coppola Film Festival

COMEDY

[SUNTORY TIME!]

ART

FILM

The Virgin Suicides

[SOUL OF THE CITY]

Recently, a young Jeopardy! contestant Jason Eskridge’s Sunday Night was asked to name the ball player who Soul broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947, and On top of his extraordinary skill answered “Who is Babe Ruth?” (This was as a singer, songwriter and multion April 15, no less — Jackie Robinson instrumentalist, Jason Eskridge has Day.) If I were Alex Trebek, I would’ve done Music City an awesome service by sentenced her to an immediate viewing of helping bring together our soul and R&B Ken Burns’ Baseball in its 19-hour entirety. communities. Sunday Night Soul, the Of course, as a fan, I wouldn’t consider showcase Eskridge has booked at East watching Baseball much of a punishment. Nashville club The 5 Spot since 2014, is a Right now, with the delayed 2020 big-league showcase for a stunning variety of both season looking increasingly likely to be local and touring talent. It’s also a reminder outright canceled, the ambitious 1994 of Nashville’s long history with this music nine-parter — streaming for free on the — both the thriving black cultural center PBS app and on Amazon Prime — is more in North Nashville that was destroyed by like a godsend. In it, Burns seeks to tell the the construction of I-40 in the 1960s and the complete story of the game from potential for Nashville to support so the 1870s to the 1990s, making much music of so many different Editor’s Note: the case that baseball history kinds. During the COVID-19 As a response to Metro’s is American history, and pandemic, Sunday Night stay-at-home order to help gently philosophizing on Soul has moved to a weekly slow the spread of COVID-19, its superiority to football online format, streaming we’ve changed the focus of our Critics’ Picks section. Rather than and other clock-based live from Eskridge’s East pointing you in the direction of sports. The early chapters Side home from 7-9 p.m. events happening this week in (dubbed “innings,” on Sunday nights. He has Nashville, here are some activities natch) drag a little, but a modest-size practice you can partake in while you’re at home practicing social the penultimate “Inning 8,” space that allows him to distancing. which chronicles the heady have a guest or two over and 1960s and ’70s, could easily be maintain a safe distance of at its own stand-alone documentary. least six feet; recent guests have And while putting Baseball on in full, included fellow singers and songsmiths tuning in and out at your leisure as you Kyshona, Damien Horne and Matty

nashvillescene.com | april 30 – May 6, 2020 | Nashville Scene

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critics’ picks A Division of The Heritage Foundation of Williamson County

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Ride. Keep an eye on the Sunday Night Soul Facebook page, where the streams happen and new guests are announced.

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DEBORAH ALLEN

Thursday, August 6

Saturday, August 15

2020-21 PERFORMING ARTS SEASON FEATURING

GREAT PERFORMANCES, CELEBRATION OF DANCE & FAMILY SPOTLIGHT SERIES

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A women’s column featuring a rotating cast of contributors

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Classes start May 26

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dig into numero group’S VaSt Catalog

If you have a second for some philosophy, consider the depth-vs.-breadth argument that’s animated music writing for decades. If you believe in a canon, you might think the very idea of local musicians imitating, say, James Brown or The Who, is absurd. That’s why I love the long-running Chicago archival label Numero Group, which has assembled a vast collection of obscurities, blatant imitations and moments of brilliance — complete with photos and liner notes. Listening to what the label unearths, you begin to understand how local scenes hook up with big ones. The label is currently streaming a cargo ship full of work by great unknowns like singer Priscilla Quimby, whose 1975 song “With All Hands” achieves the trick of combining Sandy Denny and circa-1969 Procol Harum in a beautiful three-minute track. That’s what I call depth, and their samplers in genres like yacht and privatepress folk are unparalleled. The physical CDs and LPs are cool, too. I love the liners, graphics and music on Numero releases like 2006’s Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies From the Canyon, where you’ll find Quimby’s masterpiece. Numero’s aesthetic makes a case for the small-scale, the flawed and the personal. We need that kind of breadth these days. EDD HURT

Mini Metro is a seamless and elegant game experience. Each level is a simply rendered map of a real-world city — London, Hong Kong, Cairo, etc. — upon which a medley of shapes appears. As the city expands, it’s your job as a virtual planner to literally connect the dots and build a transit grid by drawing lines between different hubs. Mini Metro is pleasing as a relatively intuitive puzzle, but in a time when our society’s leaders are floundering to serve us and failing to provide any kind of security or stability, it offers a very compelling fantasy: that somebody’s actually in charge and trying to meet the needs of the population. It’s also available on Nintendo Switch and Android, or on iPhone for $3.99. NATHAN SMITH MUsiC

Saturday, July 25

BRIDGES & BACKROADS ACOUSTIC TOUR Thursday, July 23

Friday, July 17

Sit Your KidS in Front oF BroadwaY BaBYSitterS

Sometimes parents just have to choose their battles. But when you simply can’t take another episode of Daniel Tiger or PAW Patrol, Broadway Babysitters has got you covered. Originally established as a creative child care resource for families in New York City, Broadway Babysitters Playhouse now offers virtual creativity courses featuring favorite theater performers such as Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; Guys and Dolls) and Sierra Boggess (The Little Mermaid; The Phantom of the Opera). There are Broadway dance parties and story times for little ones, as well as Q&A options for middle school, high school and college students. There are even “Elder Events,” designed to engage and entertain older adults and those in nursing homes. Most classes are pay-what-you-can, with a suggested donation of $10. And funds go to help support the Parent Artist Advocacy League (PAAL) COVID Relief Fund. Visit broadwaybabysitters.com to learn more.

MUsiC

HOT TUNA (ELECTRIC)

SANDI PATTY

JOHN FORD COLEY, BILLY DEAN & TOM WURTH

gaMing

THE ISAACS

Saturday, July 11

AN INTIMATE NIGHT OF SONGS & STORIES WITH

[WHEN THE STARS COME OUT… AT HOME]

[I LIKE TO STAY HOME]

taKe a deep diVe into r. SteVie moore’S Catalog

If you’re feeling stir-crazy, take a tip from a pro: Nashville legend R. Stevie Moore. Since 1969, the not-incorrectly-selfproclaimed Godfather of Home Recording has released hundreds of albums, the vast majority of which were made at home. (His home was in Nashville until he moved to New Jersey in the late 1970s, and he returned here in 2010.) Moore has incorporated a kaleidoscopic variety of sounds and textures into his work, though the common threads are his wry, self-deprecating wit and his mastery of pop songcraft — whether he’s using pop techniques or contravening them. Think of the inventive absurdity of Frank Zappa paired with the musicality of The Beatles or The Beach Boys, and … well, you’re getting a little bit of the picture. The vastness of Moore’s catalog can make it daunting to dive in, but thankfully there’s Bandcamp — just pick a release and stream, and if you like what you hear, buy it. You could do worse for a starting point than Let’s!, a compilation released in December. You could also go straight to the classics, like Moore’s best-known LP Phonography (1976), 1978’s Sheetrock or 1986’s Glad Music, which includes what could be the song of the moment, “I Like to Stay Home.” Cool Daddio, a long-awaited documentary film about Moore, screened at film festivals in 2019, but sadly isn’t available to stream just yet. STEPHEN TRAGESER

[CITY PLANNING]

plaY Mini Metro on Your phone

In spare moments over the course of the past several weeks — late hours when I can’t sleep, or while I’m waiting in line outside a grocery store that’s down to 10 people inside at a time — I’ve been occupying my idle mind with the puzzlebased video game Mini Metro on my iPhone. Apple’s App Store is overwhelmed with buggy and badly designed distractions, but

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STEPHEN TRAGESER

[NAH, IMA STAY]

attend a Virtual Yoga ClaSS with Kali Yuga Yoga

Seeing as how we’ve all been lacking access to our gyms for weeks now, many of us may be slacking on our workout routines. But fear not: Local yoga studios have outsmarted the limits of social distancing to bring virtual workouts right to your living room. Among my favorites of the local

NASHVILLE SCENE | APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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4/27/20 3:48 PM

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history

ALEXANDRA DEMARCO [INDEPENDENT STUDY]

ExplorE AmEricAn WomEn’s History

With so much time on your hands — and technology at your fingertips — there’s no better time to take a deep dive into a subject that demands study. This week, I recommend a self-directed course in American women’s history. Here are some places to start. Abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth is best known for her speech “Ain’t I a Woman?,” which according to some sources she delivered at the 1851 Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. Truth was also a trailblazing photographer who used the medium in her activism, taking selfportraits and mounting them on cardstock. A shrewd businesswoman, she copyrighted her own image and used profits from the sales of her photos to fund her speaking tours. You can buy the ebook (or order the hardcover edition) of Enduring Truths: Sojourner’s Shadows and Substance by Darcy Grimaldo Grigsby, which showcases her collection and describes its impact. Truth was part of the first wave of suffragists, and another generation of women built on her work and agitated successfully for the right to vote. They are well-chronicled in Elaine Weiss’ book The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote, which is available to rent as an audiobook and ebook from the Nashville Public Library. Here, Weiss chronicles summer 1920, when the “suffs” and the “antis” descended upon Nashville

to fight it out as our state legislature cast the deciding vote for federal ratification. The book is a great read, and it doesn’t gloss over the racism in the suffrage movement — many white leaders refused to press the need for black women to also be guaranteed enfranchisement. The same can be said for the new Hulu series Mrs. America, which tracks the Equal Rights Amendment through the eyes of the awful Phyllis Schlafly (Cate Blanchett), plus Shirley Chisholm (Uzo Aduba), Gloria Steinem (Rose Byrne) and more. The show accomplishes a difficult balancing act, depicting vastly different perspectives without falling prey to bothsidesism. Bring your studies into the present day with the podcast Call Your Girlfriend. Hosts Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman discuss contemporary culture and politics with whip-smart clarity, and they invite guests to speak on everything from transgender activism to the fat-positive movement, maternal mortality and more. Sow and Friedman are also hella funny, and they balance often serious subject matter with a sense of levity that makes you feel like they’re your best friends. ERICA CICCARONE FiLM

offerings are those from Kali Yuga Yoga, a studio located in East Nashville, which are arranged for both time-specific and nontime-specific classes. Before the pandemic hit, the studio was already preparing to add virtual classes to its repertoire as a way to help yogis connect with their practice outside of the studio. Although Kali Yuga’s plans to fully establish a virtual studio were not completed before the coronavirus struck, the studio has quickly adjusted to the circumstances. Livestreamed classes are held three times each day. Participants should register for a class at least 30 minutes prior to the class time. These classes can be accessed through Kali Yuga Yoga’s website or app, and Zoom video software is required to access the courses. Virtual classes on demand can be purchased through the website or app. The studio’s YouTube channel also has several free yoga videos. For more information, visit Kali Yuga Yoga’s website, kaliyugayoga.com.

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DEsign your oWn ExpErimEntAl Film FEst

Avant-garde and experimental film are usually thought of as foreboding and difficult, if not literally inaccessible, viewable only in art galleries and festivals. But there’s actually a great deal of avantgarde cinema available to view for free online — YouTube uploads might not be the same as museum-preserved 16 mm prints, but given the current state of the world it will have to do. As a form, abstract filmmaking contains multitudes, and can be as playful and humorous as it is heady and serious. As evidence, I’d offer filmmakers Jodie Mack and Michael Robinson, whose bodies of work are almost entirely available on Vimeo. Both specialize in eyecatching and inventive short films: Mack makes delightful animations out of found objects, from intricate textiles to junkshop bric-a-brac, while Robinson remixes pop-culture ephemera like Full House to reveal the crystalized emotion within. I’d also recommend the work of legendary artist Stan Brakhage, available on YouTube, who often manipulated film stock directly to create moving tapestries of color and texture. NATHAN SMITH

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nashvillescene.com | APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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4/27/20 3:48 PM

food and drink

Restaurateurs like Toby Franklin and Edgar Pendley make difficult decisions in the midst of the pandemic By Chris Chamberlain

n March 22, Mayor John Cooper issued his Safer at Home directive, which included a ban on dining in restaurants. In response, eateries all over town frantically pivoted to carryout and delivery models, taking advantage of existing employees and menus to create a new paradigm for their businesses. But several notable restaurant projects were still in the infancy of their operations, and their owners were forced to make difficult decisions about whether to continue moving forward, or to drop back and punt. Chef Sean Brock’s elevated ode to beloved gas-station food, Joyland, had already seen its opening delayed due to the March 3 tornado. But he still plunged ahead with his tight menu of burgers, biscuits and chicken on a stick. The simple offering lends itself well to carryout, so patrons were able to order Brock’s food without adding too many complications for the kitchen staff. However, two other restaurants found

themselves in an unenviable position: deciding whether to open their doors after long periods of preparation that certainly did not take the possibility of a pandemic into account. In the case of Atlanta restaurateur Ford Fry’s three-restaurant complex planned for 1400 Adams St. in Germantown, the opening date had already been announced for March 30 after more than two years of expectations and planning. “It’s been a saga,” says Toby Franklin, partner and COO of Fry’s Rocket Farm Restaurants group. “It took so long due to construction issues, and because we were in a historic building, which required more permitting. We had completed hiring and had oriented 97 people to start training on March 16. On March 17, we decided not to open.” Edgar Pendley is best known for his work as a chef at local restaurants like Urban Grub and Ellington’s Mid Way Bar & Grill at the Fairlane Hotel. But recently, he’d been spending more time managing his restaurant-equipment sales operation.

1400 Adams St.

“I pretty much got out of the business altogether about two years ago when I had a child,” Pendley says. “Then one night I stopped by Five Points Pizza to pick up a couple of pizzas and a four-pack of beer, and it cost about a hundred bucks. I said to myself, ‘The only way I’ll ever get back into this would be for pizza and beer!’ Then the guys who owned Nectar: Urban Cantina told me they were thinking about opening a pizza and beer place, and we started talking.” Pendley partnered with Hunter Hakansan and Bruce Fields in what would become TennFold Brewing, a pizzeria/brewery at 2408 Lebanon Pike in Donelson. “I grew up out here,” says Pendley of Donelson. “This whole area is the next big thing in town, and they already knew the neighborhood, so it seemed like a good idea.” TennFold features a small seven-barrel brewhouse and a 10foot wood oven and rotary deck oven to cook Pendley’s menu of innovative pizzas and chicken dishes. But Murphy’s Law seemed to be in effect from the get-go. “The tornado set us back,” says Pendley. “We had planned to open on March 4, but we had no power for a couple of days, and we didn’t have enough staff to open. We decided to go out into the neighborhood to see who we could help while we reassessed the opening, and ended up spending time cleaning up Holly Street.” When Pendley’s staff was able to reassemble and the power came back on, Tenn-

Fold was ready to open up for business. But then more bad news came. “They shut down Broadway,” Pendley says, “and I started making some phone calls and told people, ‘This thing is coming for us! It’s going to be a thing in 72 hours.’ And unfortunately I was right.” Franklin had already shut down most of Rocket Farm’s locations in Charlotte, N.C., Atlanta and Houston, but was moving forward with a to-go model in eight of their 18 restaurants — until the government advised against gatherings of more than 10 people. “We were moving employees around from location to location, but we decided that it just wasn’t responsible,” explains Franklin. “We chose to shut everything down and quarantine everyone for 14 days before we could reopen with siloed teams at our TexMex locations so there would be no chance of spreading it around.” The choice of which Rocket Farm concepts to move forward with was made easier due to the fact that Tex-Mex tends to be conducive to carryout. Eventually Franklin and Fry reopened their Nashville outpost of Superica in the Gulch, but for now, they decided not to move forward with The Optimist, which had been planned for Germantown. “It’s a sustainable seafood concept that depends on the very freshest ingredients,” explains Franklin. “It doesn’t travel, so it’s just not conducive for to-go or delivery without health concerns. So we

Photo: Daniel Meigs

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Nashville Scene | April 30 – may 6, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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4/27/20 5:36 PM

Edgar Pendley

didn’t think it was responsible.” Pendley knew that his pizza and beer concept had a much better shot at success under these trying circumstances. “Pizza travels with a certain degree of mediocrity,” he says playfully. “People have an expectation of that, and I can’t imagine how it would have worked out with another model. At least here we’ve made some changes to improve our product for delivery. I knew that fresh basil turns black in the box, so we’ve developed this amazing basil oil for our margherita pie. We still need a ‘wow’ factor. We don’t want to be Little Caesars. We want it to be a savored item, not just a pizza.” Pendley has taken advantage of the circumstances to improve his kitchen operations. “We’re going to grow into it,” he says. “This model has allowed us to do this because we’re not getting pounded during opening. It’s allowed me to take the time to be objective when I see things coming through the pass and make changes. Day one and day four were so different, and I’m OK with how all this is going. It will make us better and stronger on the other side, but it was an absolute Hail Mary. We were almost

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Photos: Daniel Meigs

food and drink

tennfold down to the last penny. It could have gone either way.” Franklin is also optimistic about the future, but he has 1,390 employees to worry about. “We didn’t lay anyone off,” he says. “We decided to treat it as an FMLA [Family and Medical Leave Act] qualifying event and put our employees on unpaid protective leave so that they could apply for unemployment, and so we could still maintain benefits for many people.” Rocket Farm has been able to take care of its employees in other ways as well, bringing back some of its hourly employees to join salaried management working in the kitchens of the group’s eight carryout operations. The company has also created an employee relief fund and a program of “family care packages.” “Once a week, furloughed employees can swing by to pick up food supplies and prepared meals for the week,” Franklin explains. Pendley has been taking care of more than just his own staff: He’s been offering free cheese pizzas to displaced hospitality workers from all over town. “We’re making 50 pies a day Tuesday through Thursday,

and it’s also been a good way to keep our cooks consistently busy during slow times,” he says. “Everybody who works in a kitchen knows that the slow times are your worst times.” He’s also begun to offer some grocery staples as part of TennFold’s carryout menu as a service. “We’re not trying to make money on it. We’re just trying to keep people from going to the store.” Pendley sees sea changes coming to the restaurant industry whenever the pandemic releases its hold. “I’m 35, not far removed from being a line cook myself,” he says. “The days where I was paying $18 an hour for a line cook are going to be over. We’re going to make less money, so I can’t pay as much money. I’d like to see people more appreciative of their jobs, and we’re all going through this together. The best we can hope for is a good, solid job where you can get a paycheck.” Franklin had just gone through the process of hiring staff in what was Nashville’s extremely competitive labor market, and he hopes he can retain many of them when The Optimist eventually opens alongside its partner concepts — cocktail lounge Le

Loup and Star Rover Sound, Fry’s planned honky-tonk/taqueria concept. “We’ve been staying in touch with our Nashville employees,” says Franklin. “We message frequently with emails and newsletters, and we plan on opening with our original plan intact. Our hires are great people, curious and so fun!” When asked about the labor situation going forward, Franklin responds: “I really hope it comes back and is equally as challenging as before, because that kind of means that our industry is coming back strong. Restaurateurs are bound by a common passion for what we do. None of us wants to see another restaurant close. When someone is successful, we all celebrate, and when someone closes, we are all truly saddened. I hope things turn back to the way it was. There was so much energy, so much passion. The independent restaurateurs were really gaining traction, which is where all the innovation is going to happen. To see that potentially falter and return to chains would be very sad for our industry.” Email arts@nashvillescene.com

4/27/20 5:36 PM

art

Crawl Space: May 2020 Nashville Gallery Association’s Virtual Art Crawl streams onto YouTube Saturday

N “hop scotch,” Omari Booker

ashville’s art scene has canceled its First Saturday arts events and openings for the second month in a row, as galleries and other venues continue to honor Metro’s Safer at Home order. Of course, most art crawlers aren’t anxious to browse galleries, eat at food trucks or catch a live music performance on Fifth Avenue downtown or in Wedgewood-Houston until it’s reasonably safe to do so. But what about the cost of canceled cultural events, the strain on communities that are unable to commune, and a marketplace that’s almost entirely embedded in a social scene? The Nashville Gallery Association has had an “Avengers assemble!” moment, uniting a phalanx of art spots from all over the city in an effort to give Nashville its monthly cultural fix despite the limits of social distancing. This Saturday, participating galleries will share a YouTube video link with their mailing lists and on social media. The video will give viewers a chance to tour the spaces and displays of participating gal-

pockets of real passion at Channel to Channel

art_4-30-20.indd 18

leries for a virtual re-creation of the crawl experience. Visual art has proven very difficult to translate to strictly digital presentations, but I appreciate the cooperation and creativity this new strategy evinces. That said, the best First Saturdays — IRL or on screen — are always indebted to killer curatorial programming. Refresh your WiFi connection and check out these highlights, which will surely be mentioned in the comment section this Saturday. I love the title of Channel to Channel’s Pockets of Real Passion exhibition. Nobody likes put-on passion, and I’m intrigued at how this display of 2D art has been installed directly on top of artist and gallery curator Dustin Hedrick’s Cutting Edge red-tape-on-blue-walls-and-floor mural installation, which opened back in February. The gallery’s press release calls this new show an extension of Hedrick’s work, and it features a super selection of gallery artists — including Omari Booker, who’s showing works from his ongoing Red Line series, and Eric Mack, whose gorgeous infrastructural abstractions always reward deep inspection. It’ll be interesting to see how these

“botanical space,” harry underwood

By Joe Nolan

Neon Believer at Julia martin Gallery works translate to video, but I expect Frances Berry’s iconic, spray-painted Hooray Face series to leap from the screen. The show also includes Jessica Gatlin’s impressive monoprints and Ridge McLeod’s abstract multimedia paintings. Follow the gallery on Instagram — it’s @channeltochannel. David Lusk Gallery will reveal a new exhibition by sculptor Alex Lockwood. Still Life is a collection of floral displays crafted from wire and shotgun shells. I dig Lockwood’s transforming of spent ammunition into imitations of Tennessee sunflowers, pussy willows and stalks of wheat, and they put me in mind of photographer Bernie Boston’s iconic “Flower Power” image of a protester placing a carnation in the barrel of a soldier’s rifle during the 1967 March on the Pentagon. I’m also anxious to see how the YouTube stream will capture the exhibition’s display in David Lusk’s front window, which is in the style of a florist’s shop or a roadside flower cart. Follow @davidluskgallery on Instagram to find out. Painter Harry Underwood’s Neon Believer will make its entrance during Julia Martin Gallery’s section of Saturday’s video crawl. Underwood’s fantastic nostalgia-delic narratives marry muted palettes and postcard aesthetics with textual musings that propose philosophical questions about contemporary living. There are topical political messages here, but Underwood’s best works read like evergreen reports from an alternative American timeline that stretches between a visionary utopia and a pop-cultural netherworld. Follow Julia Martin Gallery on Instagram at @juliamartingallery. Unrequited Leisure has been presenting lots of digital works on screens since it moved to its new digs at The Packing Plant in Wedgewood-Houston, and I’m looking for this exhibition to play very well with the YouTube format. Future-Framed Works offers a range of moving images exploring the body, popular culture and the blurry line that separates real and virtual experiences. Artists include Liat

Berdugo, Gabriella Torres-Ferrer, Rebecca Forstater and Bahareh Khoshooee. Follow Unrequited Leisure on Instagram at @unrequitedleisure. East Nashville’s Red Arrow Gallery is putting on a massive group show by a sprawling roster featuring almost 20 gallery artists. Online in Home includes works by Rick Borg, Nuveen Barwari, Bethany Carlson Coffin, Matt Christy, Paul Collins, Margie Criner, Marlos E’van, Lindsy Davis, Georganna Greene, Jodi Hays, John Paul Kesling, Desmond Lewis, Daniel Holland, Duncan McDaniel, Dana Oldfather, Julian Rogers, Pam Marlene Taylor, Tara Walters and yours truly. Follow Red Arrow on Instagram — it’s @theredarrowgallery. S\AMPLE DATA is an appropriately technological-sounding title for Tiffany Calvert and Josh Azzarella’s exhibition at Tinney Contemporary. Lots of contemporary art is artabout-art. It’s a postmodern game that can be played well or badly, but more broadly based conceptual work always stands out in contrast. Calvert and Azzarella’s work grapples with art history, but it’s also a deep dive into an anthropological exploration of technology and its capacity for reframing our perceptions of the past. Calvert’s paintings on digital prints of Dutch masterpieces offer art-historical out-of-body experiences, and Azzarella’s video installation, 3D prints and a scale model of the monolith from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey all point to the role that images play in memory-making. Follow Tinney on Instagram at @tinneycontemporary. Modfellow Studio’s ongoing display of Danielle Krysa’s mixed-media collages, Shit Arlo Says, will also be a part of Saturday’s video crawl, along with Chauvet Art’s display of Denise Stewart-Sanabria’s delectable food paintings, Edible Dramas: Indulgent Art to Expose the Human Appetite. Zeitgeist Gallery will continue its Circuities exhibition by painter Karen Seapker. Follow each of these galleries — @modfellows_studio, @chauvet.art and @zeitgeist. Email arts@nasvhillescene.com

4/27/20 12:42 PM

Books

The BesT LiTerary CiTizen

J.T. Ellison shares some thoughts on her latest novel, Good Girls Lie By Fernanda Moore

uthor J.T. Ellison is a force to reckon with. She blogs, records podcasts and writes a weekly newsletter complete with recipes and book recommendations. With fellow Nashville author Mary Laura Philpott, Ellison co-hosts the Emmy Award-winning A Word on Words, a Nashville Public Television program featuring authors and their books. She’s also established her own publishing house (Two Tales Press), founded a wine-review website called The Wine Vixen, and — though where she finds the time, nobody knows — written and co-written more than 20 novels, many of them bestsellers, that have been published in 28 countries and 16 languages. Ellison’s latest, Good Girls Lie, unfurls within the gates of Goode Academy, an elite girls’ boarding school in rural Virginia. The school is a hotbed of hormones and social rivalry, with skeletons in its closets and secrets in its past, and the story opens, Good Girls lie dramatically, with By J.T. Ellison a corpse. A student Mira Books 464 pagEs, $27.99 dressed in graduation robes, her face mangled, hangs from the school’s locked iron gates. Is she a murder victim? Did she commit suicide? Is she a sociopath brought to justice? Ellison answered questions via email.

You’re a prolific writer with a number of side projects that must take up a lot of your time. While you’re juggling everything, are you also planning the book that comes next? How far in advance do you start thinking about new characters and plots? Funny you should ask this. As we speak, I’m a little more than halfway on my next novel, and last night the spark of an idea, what I want to do next, hit me. When I was writing a series, it was easy to be thinking a book or two ahead. With standalones, though, so much depends on the character, and the plot follows. If I’m lucky, I start developing characters at least a few months before I sit down to think about how to tell their story. That spark from last night won’t be explored in depth for at least four or five months, but I’ll open a file now so I have a place to leave any ideas, notes or other sundries as they pop up until I’m ready to get writing.

In a note at the end of Good Girls Lie, you write that Goode Academy was inspired by your alma mater, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College. Was there a particular reason you chose to set the book’s action in a boarding school, rather than in a college? There was, and it was done on purpose. My main character, Ash Carlisle, is recently orphaned in a terrible murder-suicide and has traveled from her home in Oxford, England, to attend Goode. She’s been sent there, her parents are gone, and she has no recourse other than the school. If she were older, college-age,

While the Scene is covering COVID-19, you have US covered.

she would have more choices. She could get a job, travel, choose another college. But as a teenager she’s stuck. Because of her age, her choices have been stripped from her. Plus, when things start going south, she doesn’t have the means to leave. She’s trapped on the mountain with these murderous young women.

A friend in Nashville, when she heard I was reading your latest, described you as “the best literary citizen.” You’re an unfailing champion of other writers, which is really lovely. Can you talk a little about the literary communities you’re part of and what they mean to you? That is the highest compliment, thank you! I’ve been so blessed by the writing community. From day one, I’ve been lifted up — by bookstores, by librarians, by readers, by publishers — but most importantly, by other writers. Authors I’d read for years happily endorsed my debut novel, and that paved the way into the literary world for me. Others sat me down and explained how the industry works, how the nitty-gritty of sales and marketing and publicity and distribution works. And more have talked me through my career’s life changes, bolstering, advising, cheering me on. I try to do the same, reach back down the ladder. I’ve been on group blogs, participated in group marketing teams, traveled with other authors before that was a common practice. I fully believe there is room for all of us in the market, especially our female thriller and suspense authors, who sometimes get lost in the shuffle. A rising tide lifts all boats — that’s how I look at this industry. We are stronger together. Another adage I took away from my college experience. To read an extended version of this interview — and more local book coverage — please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. EMAIl ARts@NAsHvIllEsCENE.CoM

thank you to our nurses, doctors, medical personnel and support staff on the front lines helping keep us safe!

nashvillescene.com | APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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4/27/20 12:43 PM

music

Back From Oblivion

Eef Barzelay

With a little help from Scott Avett, Eef Barzelay reinvigorates Clem Snide on Forever Just Beyond By Geoffrey Himes

Photo: Crackerfarm

ef Barzelay has seen many of the highs and lows that a music career can provide. Clem Snide, the indie-rock band he founded in 1991, signed a major-label contract with Sire, recorded the theme song for a season of the NBC comedy Ed, performed on Late Night With Conan O’Brien and received praise from critics near and far. None of that, however, translated into real money, and the group was dropped by labels, abandoned by managers and torn by internal dissension. The nadir for Barzelay came when the Nashville resident had to file for bankruptcy in 2011. By 2016, Barzelay was contemplating waving the white flag and taking a day job to support his family. That’s when a fan from the band’s still-loyal network of supporters sent him a video of Scott Avett singing a Clem Snide song during the encore of an Avett Brothers show. Another fan sent an interview with Avett praising Clem Snide’s music. Barzelay reached out to Avett through management, and soon the two men were trading emails, and then song ideas. Just when Barzelay was falling off the cliff, Avett tossed out a rope of encouragement. The result is the new Clem Snide album, Forever Just Beyond, produced and co-written by Avett. Also featured on the record are The Avett Brothers’ drummer and cellist as well as Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor. But the sound is classic Clem Snide: Barzelay’s quirky voice singing contrarian lyrics about pop culture and philosophical assumptions, all set to luscious chamber-pop music, full of sharp-hooked melodies and pillowy harmonies. “The bankruptcy was a kind of death,” Barzelay says over the phone from his car. He’s parked at Edwin Warner Park, his daily escape from coronavirus isolation. “This record is me trying to express my quest to start over. My mother died at 58 from cancer, and that showed me you can’t bring anything with you. That let me know that material things aren’t important; what’s important is what people refer to as ‘spiritual.’ I just turned 50. Your pain is a gift. If you look at it that way, you’ve cracked the code. If you don’t just say you’re grateful for your pain, but are really grateful, you’ve won. It’s hard, but it’s not supposed to be easy. Maybe this pandemic deepens that.” In 2016, long before Avett met Barzelay, Avett stumbled onto the Clem Snide catalog through the Jason Molina station on Pandora. He’d heard the name before, but not the music. Once Avett listened to the band, their music immediately struck him as some of the most appealing he’d heard in years. “I just dove in and devoured the whole catalog,” Avett recalls, calling from his home in North Carolina. “[Barzelay’s voice]

Forever Just Beyond out via Ramseur and Thirty Tigers

felt like my voice — not that it sounds like mine, just that I shared it. The vulnerability was there. It sounded like spiritual music that couldn’t be binned in a record store, because it transcended all categories. If I’m getting way into somebody, geeking out on their music, that seeps into my own writing, all those inflections and phrasing.” After exchanging some songs over the internet, the two met in person at Avett’s studio. It turned out that their shared sensibilities meshed even better than expected. “We had a shorthand communication right off the bat, so that told me a lot,” Avett says. “There’s not a lot to be said when two musicians know what they’re there for. We talk a lot more when we get into the trenches about Christian mysticism and non-Christian mysticism. What started happening was the songs took on the voice of a character that was not exclusively him or me. Even if he wrote all the lyrics, the song wouldn’t have happened if not for those discussions.” The album’s opening track is “Roger Ebert.” It’s the latest Clem Snide song about a pop-culture figure, following takes on Corey Feldman, J.D. Salinger, Joan Jett and Enrique Iglesias. (The band’s name is taken from a character introduced as “a professional asshole” in William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch.) The song opens gently with Avett’s piano and Mike Marsh’s mallet drumming. “Did you know these were Roger Ebert’s dying words?” Barzelay croons in a low tenor. Joe Kwon’s cello enters and Barzelay adds, “It’s all an elaborate hoax.” “Roger Ebert saw behind the veil right before he was dying,” Barzelay says. “The implication is that this life is the dream and upon death you awaken to the true reality. I come from a very secular world, so it feels strange to hear myself talking this way. I’m only trying to write a good song, so anything that helps me align with that energy is a good thing.”

The lyrics come from the dying film critic’s final words to his wife, as she recounted in a later interview. Ebert was saying that our daily preoccupations are merely a distraction that keep us from the more crucial concerns of human existence. “There is a vastness that cannot be contained,” Barzelay sings, “or described as a thought in the flesh of our brain.” And that vastness is suggested by the way the lulling melody keeps expanding in harmonies added by the cello, Avett’s backing vocal and Barzelay’s slow-motion guitar solo. The prominent role of the cello on this album brings Clem Snide back to the sound of its first four albums, released between 1998 and 2003, when Jason Glasser was the resident cellist and arranger. Avett argues that the cello can be as effective as a country string-band instrument as an orchestral instrument. Clem Snide started in Boston as a punk band, but by the time they were roommates in Queens, Barzelay and Glasser had developed an utterly beguiling chamber-pop sound that stood out in turn-of-the-century indie rock. Maybe if the sale of Sire Records hadn’t happened just as the band’s album was coming out, maybe if their 2001 tour hadn’t been sabotaged by 9/11, maybe if Glasser hadn’t moved to France in frustration, they might have achieved the renown the critics were predicting. “If you’re seeing a band at a club with more than two people onstage and the club isn’t sold out,” Barzelay points out, “the band’s not making much money. I had the publishing deal because I wrote all the songs, so I had this revenue stream that no one else in the group had. That broke up our band the same way it broke up The Go-Go’s. We ended up as a power trio traveling in a minivan and staying in one motel room. There was never a moment when I felt we’d made it. People wrote some cool stories

about us, and people came to see us, but we were always trapped in the indie ghetto.” Barzelay moved to Nashville in 2009. In the wake of his bankruptcy, he offered to write a song for any fan who would pony up $200 (later $300). A person would email the sentiments to be included in the song, and Barzelay would translate them into lyrics and melody, record the results and email the finished song back. “It had a Cyrano de Bergerac quality to it,” he says, “because eight out of 10 times, one-half of a couple wanted me to write a love song for the other half. It wasn’t like cowriting in Nashville, which hasn’t worked for me. What made this different was these people were speaking from their hearts. If they’re writing a song for the wife, there’s a sincere emotional energy in it, and that’s what you need for a song. I’d recommend it to other songwriters. You’d think you’d be using up your supply of songs, but in fact I wrote more of my own songs.” An echo of those Cyrano songs can be heard on “The True Shape of Your Heart” from the new album. The narrator pledges himself to his lover, promising to stay with her through times of “the dark shade of fear” as well as times of “the bright shade of grace.” Evoking those inevitable seasons in every person’s life are the world-weary sighs of Barzelay’s lead vocal and the highpitched oohs of Avett’s harmony. “We were talking whether this should be an Eef Barzelay record or an ‘Eef Barzelay and Scott Avett’ record,” Avett says. “It seemed to me like a follow-up to Girls Come First, the 2015 record he did pretty much by himself — the first of his records that I heard. I said, ‘If that was a Clem Snide record, this one should be a Clem Snide record.’ I was just giddy about the idea that I could be in Clem Snide for a minute.” Email music@nashvillescene.com

Nashville Scene | April 30 – may 6, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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music

Swing Time

The Wooten Brothers and more to support Rudy’s Jazz Room with Sustain the Swing By Ron Wynn

Streaming Saturday, May 2, at facebook.com/rudysjazzroom Rudy’s jazz Room Dudley, who play Rudy’s often. The husband-and-wife duo of Greg Bryant and Dara Tucker, who also frequently played Rudy’s until they moved to New York City at the beginning of the year, will also play. The plight of Rudy’s reflects how difficult recent weeks have been in the world of jazz — a music of great cultural significance that can be challenging to sustain economically. April is Jazz Appreciation Month, and it’s hard to imagine a gloomier one. Several greats have died, including reed player Giuseppi Logan and bassist Henry Grimes, free-jazz instrumentalists who returned to the limelight in recent years after long absences. Both died from complications of COVID-19. The fallout from shelter-in-place orders has legendary sites like New York’s Village Vanguard facing possible extinction. Sustain the Swing, at least, will be a bright spot for area fans who haven’t had a chance to hear or see much live jazz in weeks. Charney says he’s hopeful the club can survive and eventually bounce back, but acknowledges that it’s going to take some time.

Photo: Daniel Meigs

everal of Music City’s finest musicians are uniting to help raise funds for our prime jazz establishment, Rudy’s Jazz Room. Sustain the Swing, a two-hour streaming event combining live and prerecorded music performances, is set for 7 p.m. Saturday, May 2, via Rudy’s Facebook page. The COVID-19 pandemic has been vicious and brutal in many ways. In addition to the virus’s global death toll, there’s been a huge negative impact on the entertainment industry as music venues, including Rudy’s, have had to shut down on what’s hopefully a temporary basis. But as has always been the case, the music’s players and advocates are resilient. Like many clubs, Rudy’s has mounted a GoFundMe campaign to help with its expenses and offer assistance for staff and musicians. All money collected during Sustain the Swing will contribute to the fund. “We’re in a difficult spot, as are all the small clubs across the city,” Rudy’s cofounder Adam Charney tells the Scene. “We’re fighting for our existence. We were among the first places to close, and we’ll be last to reopen, and then we’ll have rules that will greatly govern our chance for survival. But we’re very excited about this event. We’ve had so many musicians contact us and ask, ‘What can we do to help?’ ” The Wooten Brothers, whose late brother Rudy is the club’s namesake, are the headliners and will be the only musicians performing from the venue. Greg Pogue, host of Nashville Jazz on Acme Radio, will serve as the event’s emcee. While the lineup was still being finalized at press time, other artists who have confirmed their participation include pianists Jody Nardone and Bruce

the wooten brothers “We definitely hope to get things back going soon, but we know that there’s probably going to be some restrictions in place we’ll have to work around,” says Charney. “We certainly want to keep Rudy’s going as a

place for great jazz, and we’re hoping the jazz community and everyone who values good music will check out this event.” Email music@nashvillescene.com

Through Lines: Workin’ the System

Taking a look back at albums that helped define ’70s Nashville By Edd Hurt *Editor’s note: While social distancing to limit the spread of COVID-19 means that venues and record stores are closed to the public, we’re taking a look back at records that help tell the story of the evolving music scene in Music City, one decade at a time. It’s an occasional series that we’re calling Through Lines.

ike the rest of the pop-music universe, Nashville in the 1970s experienced a post-Bob Dylan sugar high. In Nashville, the period between Dylan’s 1966 Blonde

on Blonde and director Robert Altman’s 1975 takedown of the politics of country music, Nashville, saw the rise of outlaw country and the apotheosis of studio-system country. Listening to rock and country records cut in Nashville between 1969 and 1979, you hear how progressive musicians tried to adapt to the world outside Davidson County. Following Dylan’s example, a huge number of artists came to town to record in the ’70s. Studios like Madison’s long-running Cinderella Sound facilitated fascinating albums by visiting rock-world figures as unlikely as Steve Miller, Salloom-Sinclair and Joy of Cooking. On the other hand, country’s studio system

produced great music in the ’70s, as you can hear in Charlie Rich, countrypolitan legend Billy Sherrill’s work with George Boss Man (Epic, 1970) Jones, Charlie Rich and Tammy Wynette. The aforementioned Sherrill, who produced several To that end, here’s a look at eight albums — rock, of Rich’s ’70s records, doesn’t lay any goop on Rich’s pop, soul and country — that exemplify the reach of in-the-pocket grooves on Boss Man. Sherrill made ’70s Nashville. I recommend every one of them, countrypolitan for listeners who pondered their and there’s more where they came from. fates in suburban enclaves, which means Many are available to stream online, but his penchant for strings and background see if you can’t find a physical copy singers could lead to ghastly results. Seek out these LPs online via your favorite record store. Boss Man peaks with Rich’s “Memphis from your favorite Happy hunting. and Arkansas Bridge,” one of his greatrecord store est moments.

nashvillescene.com | April 30 – may 6, 2020 | Nashville Scene

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MUSIC JACK NITZSCHE, Jack Nitzsche (recorded in 1974; released as part of Three Piece Suite: The Reprise Recordings, 1971-1974, Rhino Handmade, 2001) Recorded at Cinderella Sound, Nitzsche’s projected solo album lay in the vaults until it appeared on Three Piece Suite. It’s a collection of elusive miniatures by a shape-shifting master of pop. “Lower California” and “Who Say What to Who” evoke The Beach Boys circa Friends. ANDY FAIRWEATHER LOW, Spider Jiving (A&M, 1974) After enjoying pop success in British group The Amen Corner, the Welsh-born Andy Fairweather Low made four superb folk-rock-power-pop albums between 1974 and 1980. Spider Jiving was tracked in San Francisco and completed with overdubs in Nashville. Low used A-list Music City session cats like Charlie McCoy and Kenneth Buttrey on the record. Low’s songs — check out “Drowning on Dry Land” — are funny, fatalistic and chock-full of Low’s signature guitar licks. JAMES TALLEY, Tryin’ Like the Devil (Capitol, 1976) James Talley’s 1975 full-length Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money, but We Sure Got a Lot of Love made his reputation as a stringently populist exponent of modernized Western swing. The follow-up, Tryin’ Like the Devil, is just as strong. Talley brings his leftish analysis of country’s populism to bear on the record’s brilliant “Are They Gonna Make Us Outlaws Again.” GEORGE JONES, Alone Again (Epic, 1976) If many of Jones’ numerous albums are inconsistent, Alone Again stands as one of his definitive statements. Jones and Earl Montgomery wrote the record’s first two tracks, “A Drunk Can’t Be a Man” and “Ain’t Nobody Gonna Miss Me.” Like the rest of Alone, these performances represent some of his finest singing, and the songwriting fleshes out his persona. GARY STEWART, Your Place or Mine (RCA Victor, 1977) The Kentucky-born Stewart, who died in 2003, is a special case in country history. He worked within the studio system as an outlaw, and Your Place, produced by Roy Dea, is state-of-the-art mainstream country that rocks so hard it starts to fray around the edges. Stewart’s post-rockabilly vocals work perfectly with Dea’s aural exactitude, and Stewart nails great songs by Guy Clark and Rodney Crowell. ANN SEXTON, The Beginning (Sound Stage 7, 1977) Nashville had dipped its toe into soul and R&B in the ’60s and ’70s, with singers like Clifford Curry, Paul Kelly and Freddie North hitting the charts. The South Carolina-born Ann Sexton, who began recording in Nashville in the early ’70s, shines on this disco-soul album, which includes songwriting credits by Curry. TAMMY WYNETTE, Womanhood (Epic, 1978) By the end of the decade, the old country music formulas were losing their potency. Still, this Sherrill production stands as one of Wynette’s best. Bobby Braddock’s title track is avant-rock-Christian country, and Wynette and Sherrill get thematic on Womanhood. It includes three sharp songs about, of all things, songwriting — in particular, “50 Words or Less” is a mind-boggling achievement. Wynette sings soulfully, and Sherrill applies his goop with a light touch. EMAIL MUSIC@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

THE SPIN

IN MY ROOM: R.LUM.R

STREAM WEAVER BY P.J. KINZER, BRITTNEY McKENNA AND STEPHEN TRAGESER

ne of the silver linings of shows moving online is their ability to bring together artists who are spread far apart — very far apart, in the case of the April 22 livestream from Our Native Daughters. The group is made up of four black women who are masters of string-band music, and one of its members, Rhiannon Giddens, is sheltering in place in Ireland. Giddens and bandmates Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell and Amythyst Kiah played a twohour set as part of the Shut In and Sing concert series, a virtual festival that runs daily via streaming platform StageIt. According to festival co-founder Kelly McCartney, this show was the festival’s biggest success so far, with nearly a thousand tickets sold for the mid-afternoon performance. As each artist was in a different location, they took turns playing in half-hour increments. Giddens kicked off the proceedings with a seven-song set that was a testament to the wide range of her virtuosic talent. She opened with “Georgie Buck,” which she learned from fiddler Joe Thompson during her time with the Carolina Chocolate Drops. McCalla performed next, and her set included songs from the band’s acclaimed 2019 debut album Songs of Our Native Daughters. A highlight was a moving performance of the album’s “I Knew I Could Fly,” which she wrote with Russell. Russell, too, incorporated songs from the album, including the powerful closer “You’re Not Alone,” which she introduced by nodding to the struggles many are facing during the pandemic. “And you are not [alone],” said Russell at the end of the song. “I have to take a breath. I’ve been getting very emotional watching my sisters, who I miss so much. The sisterhood of Our Native Daughters has been incredibly empowering for me.” She also hinted at work on a new solo album, which we’ll hopefully hear tunes from soon. Kiah concluded the show, streaming from her home in Johnson City, Tenn. She moved effortlessly between guitar and banjo, with one standout from her set a fiery solo banjo take on the band’s “Polly Ann’s Hammer.” Kiah also announced plans for a solo album, titled Wary and Strange. You couldn’t hear the applause, but the requests for more in the comment panel suggested it would’ve been intense. “This honestly is one of the first days I’ve actually felt like singing in a while,” said R.LUM.R, seated behind the mic in his East Nashville home studio on April 23, acoustic guitar in hand. “I think what’s important right now is saying things that people are really feeling. People are feeling a lot of isolation and depression and loneliness, and fear about what their future’s going to look like. And what touring is going to look like, at least in my industry.” The outstanding R&B-schooled singer and songwriter, born Reggie Williams, did

about as much good as a person can with his performance, which was part of the Scene’s No-Contact Shows series. On one hand, he was using this time to raise money for the COVID-19 relief fund launched by health care-focused nonprofit MusiCares. Throughout his hourlong set, Williams frequently paused to thank viewers for their donations and play their requests. Even if he hadn’t practiced the requested song, he applied his effortless falsetto and underrated guitar skills to as much of it as he knew. The other thing Williams was doing to help was, of course, playing his songs. His lyrics take nuanced and innovative approaches to a wide range of emotional experiences, which is something extremely useful in a time when it’s easy to have a lot of conflicting emotions. One of the most timely examples was his closing number, “Surfacing.” The song, the title track from his 2019 debut LP, looks at how trying to adjust to a new situation can leave a person feeling lost and overwhelmed. When Williams wrote it, he might have been referring to the struggle to mesh regular life with the demands of being a professional musician, but the sentiment certainly applies to our unsettled situation, as he sings: “Trying to stay afloat and not look down / Don’t know what I’ll see / But anytime my feet can’t touch the ground / I start panicking.” Two months out from the release of their self-titled debut album on June 26, local philosophically inclined rockers Country Westerns would ordinarily be gearing up for a summer of cheap beers and van life while touring to promote the LP. Though Country Westerns is their first album as a band, the trio’s members are all veteran musicians. Singer-guitarist Joey Plunket led JP5, among other bands (he also co-owns two East Nashville establishments, Duke’s and Babo), while Brian Kotzur also played drums in Silver Jews, and bassist Sabrina Rush has played

violin with Louisville group State Champion. Of course, with the COVID-19 pandemic, circumstances are far from ordinary, even for experienced players. Still, Country Westerns are doing the best they can to build enthusiasm for the record without the ability to tour, and they got another solid opportunity on April 25. The group’s label — Fat Possum Records out of Oxford, Miss. — and the A/V crew at Brooklyn venue Baby’s All Right (whose online show platform is called Baby TV) put on a Fat Possum showcase with artists streaming from their homes across the country. When the camera cut away to a white Nashville garage, the audience got a peek into what it must be like at a Country Westerns rehearsal. Well, with the exception of a thing that’s typical right now, but far from normal: a tape measure on the floor, left open to make sure each player stayed at least six feet from the other two. We went into the show already impressed by the three songs that have been released from the album, and weren’t disappointed by the live presentation. Each tune came across like a love song to the pre-Nevermind college radio of Teenage Fanclub, The Replacements and the Lemonheads, infused with down-to-earth lyricism you could trace to John Prine and maybe John Mellencamp. The whole package rang out in shimmering clouds from Plunket’s recently acquired Fender Stratocaster XII, and was tethered to the ground by the phenomenal rhythm section. It wasn’t overly tight, though. As if to remind us that it was still a live event, the band signed off before discovering that they had three minutes of their allotted time left. Before the feed switched over to the chill prog-R&B of Los Angeles’ Cassowary, Country Westerns left the audience with a snippet of another song called “TV Lights.” EMAIL THESPIN@NASHVILLESCENE.COM

BOTH KINDS OF MUSIC: COUNTRY WESTERNS

NASHVILLE SCENE | APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

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Join the Scene as we take you behind the virtual bar! Follow along as we work with some of the best bartenders in town to show you how to make craft cocktails from the comfort of your home! Try new recipes and tip your virtual bartenders, and support our hospitality industry! Subscribe to our Morsel Code newsletter for your first look at the recipe videos and follow @NashvilleScene for more! NashvilleScene.com/Subscribe

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nashvillescene.com | APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

film

Primal Stream VI

Exploring some dark and daunting titles now available to stream By Jason Shawhan

The Osterman Weekend on Hoopla Sam Peckinpah crafted his final film from the peaks and valleys of a staggering cocaine habit and a career’s worth of paranoia. Adapted from a Robert Ludlum bestseller, 1983’s The Osterman Weekend is a right-wing deep-state narrative enamored of spies, secret communists, shifting definitions of what Good Americans are supposed to be, blackmail, and coldblooded murder. What should just be an annual gathering of a group of friends and family instead includes everyone plotting against everyone else, with governments (all of them) behind everything, and the only beacon of sensibility and grace is Meg Foster — and she’s got a crossbow. This is a paranoid magnum opus: violent, cruel, inconsistent, reactionary and a fitting capper to one of the wildest lives Hollywood ever saw. With Rutger Hauer, John Hurt and Craig T. Nelson (the latter with a signifier of a mustache).

Note: Do not let the use of “In the Hall of the Mountain King” (the “Bad to the Bone” or “Mony Mony” of classical music in coming attractions) in the trailer for It’s a Disaster dissuade you. This 2012 dark (very, very dark) comedy may look like one of those dime-a-dozen indie films where a bunch of friends and acquaintances get together to talk about their feelings, but it finds a place that punches right through the viewer’s sense of security/ironic distance/ layers of shielding built up over decades of disappointment with human behavior. This movie’s ending is going to be too much for many, if not most. It’s a Disaster isn’t an easy recommendation — none of this week’s selections are — but it is a testament to the human spirit’s ability to determine when it’s fucking had enough. With America Ferrera and Julia Stiles.

In My Room, preorder via Grasshopper Film

the osterman weekend

his week, for the sixth installment of my streamingrecommendation column, we’re going to dig into a different mental space. There is nothing family-friendly here. No pleasant animations, no music documentaries to keep the spirits up, no monster movies or sexy shockers. This week, we’re going to examine films that address some of the issues we’re all facing during the quarantine, as well as films that look at the people elected to advocate for our best interests. This crop of movies gets dark, and frank, and confrontational — and catharsis is good for the soul, though obviously your emotional mileage may vary. This week gets intense. If you’re looking for something a little lighter, check this space in any of the past five issues of the Scene.

It’s a Disaster on Amazon Prime

the living end

’90s with this righteously angry broadside. The Living End takes on an indifferent (at best) society and malicious government that had turned their backs on a plague killing thousands of people worldwide. Long before pre-exposure prophylaxis or protease inhibitors — when AIDS was, for all intents and purposes, a death sentence — two young gay men are diagnosed with HIV and find themselves on an out-of-control, Godardian murderscape. Sexy and shocking with a killer soundtrack (all hallmarks of Araki’s work to this day) and the rawest rage, this film remains essential. Perfect for a quarantine breakfast of beer and Barbie cereal.

Subtle but very sure of itself, In My Room from German writer-director Ulrich Köhler is all about having to manage solitude when what 1984’s Night of the Comet calls “the burden of society” is bearing down upon you at all times. Armin (Hans Löw) is a cameraman who wakes up and finds himself alone in the world. All around him are the remnants of other lives, but there are no other people. Just plants, animals and infrastructure. So he has to build something for himself — some sort of purpose-driven existence. To say any more about the plot would spoil some of the genuine narrative pleasures it holds. It’s very funny, though deeply serious, and while it pecks around at sci-fi and horror genre trappings, it never follows those particular paths. It also contains the single most upsetting image you’re going to see outside of the news this year — not malicious, but emblematic of unnecessary suffering, and how helpless we are in the face of such a thing. When I saw In My Room at the end of 2018, I said, “It traps the zeitgeist and pokes it mercilessly with sticks.” Despite doing everything I could to get anyone to show this film locally, here we are. Distributor Grasshopper Film is preparing a DVD release and streaming options, given this

superb film’s quiet relevance. Also, respect to any film that uses Pet Shop Boys’ “Later Tonight” as a requiem for society.

Vitalina Varela via Grasshopper Film and the Belcourt Opening virtually as part of the new pivot that’s been allowing independent theaters all over the country to continue sharing new arthouse releases, Vitalina Varela is the latest from Portuguese director Pedro Costa (best known locally for the triumphant 2007 Nashville Film Festival screening of Colossal Youth), and it is a work of staggering beauty. Any filmmaker should take the two hours and change to watch this film in the darkest possible space — no windows, no phones, no LEDs — and see the visual potential of contemporary digital cinematography. Costa and his cinematographer Leonardo Simões are alchemists with light, using it to map out physical space and define the performers in a way that feels like some sort of trespass. We are so used to how traditional media defines the way we see people and places that when you are shown something new, it threatens to short-circuit your aesthetics completely. And that’s just on the visual level. Titular star/subject/co-writer Vitalina Varela (she has appeared in several of Costa’s other films) has come to Portugal from the coastal community of Cape Verde to metabolize the legacy of the husband who abandoned her years before. Around her are the places and people haunted by absence, in the grip of memory, and custom, and how things were. Spiritual crisis abounds. And cumulatively, the experience of this film is equal parts autofiction and liturgy. It’s the kind of experience that we rely on movie theaters for, and since that’s just not an option right now, it’s something we can take shelter in and draw strength from. This is not an easy watch, because Costa’s cinema is built on spending time in the skin of a contemplated life. If you can give two hours of your existence to a dark room and sincere thought, there’s nothing more essential available right now. Email arts@nashvillescene.com

The Living End on Kanopy Long before he softened some of his edges (his 2018 TV series for Starz, Now Apocalypse, being one of the unheralded masterpieces of the early Trump years) and refined his focus, Gregg Araki hit the

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Deerskin is a creepy pitchblack comedy that works By Steve erickSon

rench director Quentin Dupieux’s absurdist conceptual comedies, like Rubber and Wrong, have found an international cult audience. When he first started making films in 2002, he was better known for producing dance music under the name Mr. Oizo, but his commitment to cinema proved to be more than mere hobbyism. His latest film, Deerskin, cuts deeper than his usual goofs. He has described it as his first realistic film. On the surface, Dupieux’s claim is an odd one. After all, Deerskin is about a man, Georges (Jean Dujardin), who buys a deerskin jacket and becomes pathologiDeerskin cally obsessed with NR, 77 miNutes; iN FReNch with eNglish it — to the point that subtitles he wants to elimiAvAilAble to stReAm nate every other viA belcouRt.oRg begiNNiNg FRidAy, mAy 1 jacket from the planet, ultimately becoming a serial killer to execute his plan. But if comedy lies in playing out ridiculous scenarios with a straight face, as video essayist Renegade Cut has recently argued, Deerskin succeeds at it. Dujardin’s performance shows no signs of irony; there’s no smirking. Dupieux’s direction treats the narrative at face value, never indulging in stylistic excess. Everyone digs wholeheartedly into the film, as bizarre as its concept is. Deerskin opens with a brief scene featuring young people who approach the camera to say, “I swear I will never wear another jacket as long as I live.” They then throw piles of jackets in a car trunk. As Georges looks at himself in his car windshield, attentive viewers will notice that he seems much more interested in his clothes than his looks. He tries to flush his jacket down the toilet, going on to buy a deerskin one. He begins to

hallucinate that it talks to him, and around the same time, he decides that he wants to become a filmmaker. His plan is aided by his encounter with Denise (Adèle Haenel), a friendly bartender who also works as a film editor. On the outs with his wife, Georges struggles with poverty. Deerskin works on two levels: as a hilarious and creepy pitch-black comedy, and also as a film rich in allegorical meaning. It carefully plots out Georges’ startling descent into violence, which is tied to his narcissism. To him, looking good has nothing to do with his own body — with his dad bod and graying beard, Dujardin is handsome but certainly looks his age. His self-image depends on the products he buys. Fashion becomes a zero-sum game, wherein if anyone else can buy the same jacket — or even any other kind of jacket — he loses. Despite some major aesthetic and tonal differences, Deerskin pursues a nightmarish vision of violence in France’s backwaters — a universe away from Parisian glamour — that recalls New French Extremity horror films like Sombre. The film’s colors are muted earth tones, taking inspiration from Georges’ jacket. Unlike the goofy gore in early Dupieux films, Deerskin’s sense of humor does not detract from the impact of its violence. Instead, the deadpan way in which the film manages to swerve from comedy to gore makes the latter all the more disturbing. You might giggle when Georges’ jacket talks to him, but he has no idea how dangerous his behavior has become. It’s impossible to draw the line between ordinary narcissism and the process of becoming a serial killer. That raises questions about the impact of more socially acceptable forms of narcissism. Dupieux does not spare himself from critique — there are plenty of parallels between Georges’ filmmaking and his own (not to mention the physical similarities between the character and the director). But Denise’s ambitions eventually stake a claim on Georges’ self-obsessed world, suggesting an escape route. The story of Deerskin may be absurd, but it signifies very real traps that ensnare, just like the deer who are turned into jackets. Email arts@nashvillEscEnE.com

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nashvillescene.com | APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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4/27/20 3:47 PM

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NASHVILLE SCENE | APRIL 30 – MAY 6, 2020 | nashvillescene.com

crossword EditEd by Will Shortz Across 1

Amount to make do with

Teleprompter user

Late surrealist Turner

second person

country singer carly

Mercury or sun, e.g.

Volume 1, Number 1 and others

reprobate

common man’s name from Hebrew

some diplomats working in N.Y.c.

Mercury or Venus, e.g.

___ Lobos

something to chew on

Bronze Age fertility deity

___ Pass (means of foreign travel)

smack

Mercury or Earth, e.g.

“Yikes!”

Invented

Liquid absorbed by surrounding soil

“Bill ___ saves the World”

shots fired?

Mercury or Mars, e.g.

ITV spot

Handel’s “___ for st. cecilia’s Day”

72 things in this puzzle

carson city’s lake

Lightly burned

Mercury or saturn, e.g.

Deep down

Vegas casino with the Penn & Teller Theater

Kennington cricket ground, with “the” Waged a long campaign against Place for a slop bucket

slip up

sporty 1980s Pontiac

LEGALS

25 30

BRETT ALEXANDER WARD, INDU ROSE NALINI WARD AND BINDHU ABRAHAM

31 34

50 54

51 55

65 PUzzLE BY ALEX EATON-SALNERS

Patches (up)

so to speak

Braces

DoWN

Novelist seton

Gets in the neighborhood of “Let’s go!,” in spanish

Within bounds

Must

current event?

Unconscious assimilation

subject of the 2006 biography “Escape!”

Hearts, but not minds

It’s a job

Little dog

They go into battle at the sides of cavalrymen

capture

submit

___ of Providence (image on a dollar bill)

___ Age (late 19th century)

Parent’s admonition

sound in a circus act

Buzz

Poppy products

NBc Nightly News anchor before Brian Williams

Upgrade to a box, perhaps

Wiimote batteries

only movie for which John Wayne won an oscar

striped and spotted felines

Lives

Highest-grossing movie of 1986

Not hold back

Positive

Uncovered

only performer with a speaking part in 1976’s “silent Movie”

slender Japanese mushroom

Bit of Wall st. news

In this cause it appearing to the satisfaction of the Court that the defendant ABRAHAM SCHARIA is a non-resident of the State of Tennessee, so that the ordinary process of this court cannot be served upon ABRAHAM SCHARIA is, therefore, herby required to appear before the Clerk of the Chancery Court of Williamson County, at her office in Franklin, Tennessee on or before the 31st day of May, 2020 and make defense to the bill filed against ABRAHAM SCHARIA by BRETT ALEXANDER WARD, INDU ROSE NALINI WARD AND BINDHU ABRAHAM or otherwise the allegations of said bill will be taken for confessed, and the cause set for hearing ex parte as to April 30, 2020. It is further ordered that a copy of this notice be published for four consecutive weeks beginning on April 9, 2020 in the Nashville Scene, a newspaper published in Franklin, Tennessee. Elaine Beeler, Clerk Deputy Clerk Date: April 2, 2020

VANEZZA SAENZ Attorney for Plaintiff

C A S T

E M I R

P A N E

E V A N

N O R M

D O D G E

I D I O T

S O L O S

S E A L C R N E I D C E S C R T O R L F

EARN YOUR HS DIPLOMA TODAY For more info call 1.800.470.4723 Or visit our website: www.diplomaathome.com

S T A R E D S H O R T C U T

H U M I D

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SICK OF SOUS VIDE?

NashvilleScene.com

2000

EMPLOYMENT

A G O G

P O O H B R E H A T O R E D N Y T S O O T O B R N I O E E M

E B B N C L A D T O M T R O B A L L P I B O X L L O W E E F E T C F L A E A S T L T L H C T R L A W O O N O K R S S U E

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NSC 4/9, 4/16, 4/23, 4/30/20

General/Operations Manager needed at Brill Enterprises LLC in Madison, TN. Must have 2 yrs mgmt and operations exp including site inspection, code compliance, & general construction project mgmt. Must be avail to work at all company job sites in the Middle TN area. Fax resumes to 770-579-1763. EOE.

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE I M A C

SERVICES

ABRAHAM SCHARIA

40 42

3000

vs.

Non-Resident Notice Chancery Court Docket No. 2326A

910

No. 0326

S W E E T D A T A

Lead Systems Analysts – Merchandising. Analyze and define IT merchandising systems, processes, and user needs for a major retailer. Employer: Tractor Supply Company. Location: Brentwood, TN. Multiple openings. To apply, mail resumes (no calls/e-mails) to P. Hatcher, 5401 Virginia Way, Brentwood, TN 37027 and reference job code 0209. Data Analytics Scientist. Manipulate large amounts of data for statistical modeling and graphic analysis using computers. Employer: PIC USA, Inc. Location: Hendersonville, TN. To apply, mail CV (no e-mails or calls) to Karla Herring, 100 Bluegrass Commons Blvd., Ste. 2200, Hendersonville, TN 37075.

V D A Y

Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 9,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/ crosswords ($39.95 a year). Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay.

Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/ studentcrosswords.

Senior Systems Analysts – IT Merchandising. Analyze and define a major retailer’s merchandising business processes and related applications. Employer: Tractor Supply Company. Location: Brentwood, TN. Multiple openings. To apply, mail resume (no calls/emails) to P. Hatcher, 5401 Virginia Way, Brentwood, TN 37027, and reference job code 0299.

4000

BUY-SELL-TRADE 2007 Saturn Vue vin # 5GZCZ33D37S847899 AUCTION 5/14/2020 at 10:00 am 3561 Dickerson Pk Nashville TN. 37207.

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YOUR TICKET TO SHOWS...

REVIEWED nashvillescene.com/music/spin

nashvillescene.com | APRIL 30 - MAY 6, 2020 | NASHVILLE SCENE

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4/27/20 1:21 PM

NowWe Serving Regret That We Need to Featuring

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