MAY 14–20, 2020 I VOLUME 39 I NUMBER 15 I NASHVILLESCENE.COM I FREE
COVID-19 COVERAGE INSIDE METRO STICKS WITH HOMELESS SHELTERS DESPITE CALLS FOR MORE OPTIONS PAGE 6
LOCAL INITIATIVES ARE KEEPING OLDER ADULTS CONNECTED WHILE SHELTERING IN PLACE PAGE 20
THE A look at takeout and delivery options from some of Nashville’s best restaurants, bars and farms cover_5-14-20.indd 1
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NASHVILLE SCENE | MAY 14 – MAY 20, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
above:
Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter photo: leonard kamsler
from the leonard kamsler collection at the country music hall of fame and museum
Contents
may 14, 2020
6
21
On Hold .......................................................6
Totally Wired
City Limits
art
Gov. Bill Lee’s voucher program declared unconstitutional as legal battle gets underway
An outstanding exhibition of video art arrives right on time
By Stephen elliott
By lAurA hutSon hunter
Room to Work With ...................................6 Metro sticks with homeless shelters despite calls for more options By AlejAndro rAmirez
Pith in the Wind .........................................7 This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog
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22
Books
A Merry Mess Blue Marlin is a rollicking road trip through author Lee Smith’s own fictional history By tinA ChAmBerS And ChApter 16
Cover story
the takeout Guide
Go Big, Then Go Home ..............................8 Four top-shelf places to score Nashville’s best to-go cocktails
23
musiC
Come Together ........................................ 23
By AShley BrAntley
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit get deep beneath the skin on Reunions
Good to Go ............................................... 10
By Steven hAle
From Jamaican and Mexican to burgers and ice cream, here are some of the best takeout and delivery options in the city
Depth of Field .......................................... 24 On Songs I Can’t Live Without, Marshall Chapman immerses herself in others’ tunes
By AShley BrAntley, Steve CAvendiSh, ChriS ChAmBerlAin, mArgAret littmAn And d. pAtriCk rodgerS
By edd hurt
Support Your Local Growers! ................. 14 Here are a dozen restaurants and farms offering local produce, meat and pantry items
The Scene’s live-review column checks out livestreams by Brian Brown and Tim Gent, Becca Mancari and more
By jennifer juStuS
By Brittney mckennA, Stephen trAgeSer And ChArlie zAilliAn
Whither Nashville Restaurants .............. 15 As a phased reopening begins, diners will have some decisions to make By ChriS ChAmBerlAin
this week on the web: Little Richard Has Died TBI Investigating Man’s Death Days After Nashville Arrest Monell’s Owner Assesses the Challenges Facing the Reopening Restaurant Industry Shop Hop: Support Local Businesses Owned by POC Right Now on the Cover:
Mas Tacos Por Favor Photo by Daniel Meigs
The Spin ................................................... 24
26 FiLm
Primal Stream VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
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Imaginative sci-fi, an Altman classic and more, now available to stream
CritiCs’ piCks Watch The Booksellers, get into entomology, watch Verzuz beat battles on Instagram Live, check out new comedy specials on Netflix, watch a Politics and Prose event, curate a Broadway birthday playlist, watch Chef V’s cooking videos and more
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By jASon ShAwhAn
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NEW YORK TIMES CrossWorD
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marketpLaCe
CuLture
Say Hello in There Two local initiatives are keeping older adults connected while sheltering in place By eriCA CiCCArone
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FROM BILL FREEMAN ‘NASHVILLE STRONG’ DEFINES OUR COMMUNITY SPIRIT There have been some remarkable local efforts to help each other during this pandemic — all worthy of our attention, appreciation and imitation. From the smallest canned-good donation to the largest financial contributions, we are showing the world our generosity and heart through these many gestures of kindness. Gov. Bill Lee, ignoring the controversy he stirred, allowed some businesses across the state to reopen on May 1 — but Metro remained closed, and Nashvillians stepped up to provide aid, comfort and support to their neighbors. Some of Tennessee’s political leaders have taken many steps to keep us safe and bolster our economy, but more awe-inspiring are the efforts of individual Tennesseans. The United Way of Greater Nashville served as the collection and distribution hub for a $3.6 million fund that grew wildly in just a few weeks, from the donations of prominent Nashville families, local companies and anonymous individuals. Funds have already been distributed to groups like the Interfaith Dental Clinic (which provides dental care to underserved patients), One Generation Away (which provides foodstuffs to people in need) and Operation Stand Down, the veterans services group that works to provide assistance with employment, training and homelessness outreach. Impressive! Our stay-at-home directive has impacted a number of nonprofit groups directly, eliminating their ability to help others as they normally do. Even so, they have adapted and found novel ways to help each other. A perfect example is Senior Ride Nashville, a ride-sharing program for Nashville’s older residents that provides volunteer-powered transportation to any destination, with the most frequented destinations being doctor’s appointments and the grocery store. Established in 2017, Senior Ride Nashville has provided more than 10,000 trips to the more than 360 seniors who have enrolled since launching. Though unable to provide transportation right now with the stay-at-home directive still in effect, the organization’s 115 dedicated volunteers still call their riders twice a week to check-in. They also deliver groceries to those who are in need, in large part through the outreach efforts of The Store, Brad and Kimberly Williams Paisley’s heartfelt and practical initiative to provide food with a side of dignity for those in need. Also supported by Kimberly Williams Paisley — as well as Bobby Bones and
Jake Owen — is Aaron McGill’s team at Only One Tailoring, who are sewing masks that meet CDC guidelines and donating them to medical professionals in our area. Donations enable mask production and provide income to tailors who would otherwise be without work. The COVID Help Nashville Facebook group — led by Sarah Townsend Smith — encourages people to check on their neighbors. It has now morphed into a wellcoordinated effort among volunteers who provide groceries and supplies to those in high-risk groups or who fear leaving their homes. The Good Wood Nashville sign company offers “Nashville Strong” signs, and for every sign purchased, half of the profit is donated to the small business of your choice. During one two-week period the company was able to donate $17,000 to small businesses in our area. And recently, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame’s Tennessean of the Year, Dolly Parton, donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University for COVID-19 research assistance. That’s not surprising, as Dolly often leads the way with her generosity, and always sets a fine example for all. Taylor Swift showed support by offering assistance to a number of companies and individuals hit hard by the pandemic, including the staff and owners at beloved local record store Grimey’s New & Preloved Music. Our best-known residents are helping the best they can. But residents of all stripes — whether they have one dollar or 1 million to give — are showing why Nashville is a special place, from the makeshift food boxes in our neighbors’ yards to setting up “bear hunts” so children can walk with their families and look for the stuffed animals peeking from the windows. These small gestures of kindness and community spirit touch us all. Nashville has long been called the “biggest small town” in America. We are making that statement truer with every kind gesture. We will endure this virus and its widespread impact, and we will grow stronger as individuals, as families and as a community. “Nashville Strong” is more than a hashtag. As Dolly Parton has said, “Storms make trees take deeper roots.”
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
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HOME. AUTO. LIFE. BIZ.
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just two counties for a policy that they were not willing to inflict on the rest of the state, of course means you have to go to court and enforce your rights,” Nashville Mayor John Cooper said. It’s not the end of the story, though. Lee’s administration quickly pledged to appeal the decision, and did so late last week. The litigation will continue before the Tennessee Court of Appeals and, perhaps down the line, the Tennessee Supreme Court. But the local court’s decision threw a wrench in Lee’s plan to launch the program a full year before required by statute. The governor wanted the signature accomplishment from his first year in office to be operational in time for students enrolling in the fall of this year — rather than in 2021, as allowed by the legislation. To accomplish that, according to statements by litigants during the court proceedings, students would need to be accepted into the ESA program and enrolled at their new private schools by around June 15, in part so that the new schools could hire enough teachers and otherwise prepare for new students. Defendants in the case — separately representing the state and interested parents and private schools — argue
that dragging the proceedings beyond that deadline would do irreparable harm to students who would miss out on the opportunity for the forthcoming school year. Davidson and Shelby counties, though, argue that the deadline is self-imposed and that the students have other options — like magnet and charter schools — if they are unhappy with their zoned schools. Until and unless a higher court overturns the Davidson County chancellor’s ruling, the state remains enjoined from implementing the program, right as the Department of Education would otherwise be processing applications in time for fall enrollment. Lee caused a stir the day after the ruling when he encouraged parents to still apply. Martin said she thought the governor was not prepared for the media question about her ruling. She ordered the Department of Education to make clear on its website that the program was not actively processing applications and that parents should consider other options for the upcoming school year. The state’s lawyers argue that education falls within the legislature’s purview and thus the law cannot violate the state constitution’s Home Rule Amendment. Largely left out of the proceedings is the debate over school choice as policy. Cooper echoed most leaders in Nashville and Memphis when he called vouchers bad public policy, but Lee and his Republican allies continue to evangelize for the idea’s efficacy — at least in Nashville and Memphis. That support could be tested, however, when the legislature returns to Nashville in June. Lee decided to keep first-year funding for the voucher program in an emergency budget hurriedly passed in March despite cutting planned raises for public school teachers and making about $1 billion in other cuts. The House and Senate are expected to make further adjustments to the budget upon their return, and the ESA program could be on the chopping block, at least for the upcoming year. As House Republican Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison told The Tennessean, “Bring your popcorn.” Email Editor@nashvillEscEnE.com
showed up to our normal night of shelter and put them in an extended-stay hotel,” says Brown. “We did not have a plan for it. We didn’t know how long it was going to be. We didn’t know how long we were going to be able to pay for it. But what we did know is … that putting people in a setting with a lot of other people would be a really good way for them to catch the coronavirus.” Some launchPad guests even found housing while staying in the motel, allowing newer guests to take their rooms. As of press time, launchPad’s motel stays are slated to end by may 15. People experiencing homelessness are at high risk for exposure to the novel coronavirus. They may have to choose between staying outside or in a camp, or finding a bed in shelter without a space to self-isolate. nashville has opened up temporary homeless shelters to help alleviate shelter congestion, especially at the nashville rescue mission. Currently, metro operates a tiered shelter system at The Fairgrounds nashville made up of three facilities: one for healthy guests, one for those awaiting CoVid-19 test results, and one for people who test positive. in April, 19 guests at the fairgrounds tested positive for the novel coronavirus, as did 88 guests at the nashville
rescue mission. All were moved to the fairgrounds’ “sick shelter,” as it’s known. After the first four fairgrounds guests tested positive for CoVid-19, advocates at open Table nashville, a nonprofit that works with the homeless, criticized metro’s shelter system. “For over a month, open Table nashville and other advocates have been vocal about our concerns that the shelters at the Fairgrounds are not following CdC guidelines and FemA recommendations,” said open Table in a statement at the time. “These guidelines state that non-congregate facilities like motels, hotels, and dorms should be used for people who are symptomatic, awaiting testing, positive for CoVid-19, and at high risk. metro has continued to operate congregate shelters with little transparency about what protocols and procedures they are using to keep people safe.” dr. Sheryl B. Fleisch is the medical director of Vanderbilt University’s Homeless Health Services Program. Fleisch says that in an emergency like this, it’s important to ease the burden on shelter systems and follow guidelines from the Centers for disease Control, but that officials should also aim to create permanent
Gov. Bill Lee’s voucher program declared unconstitutional as legal battle gets underway By STePHen ellioTT
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ashville and Memphis threatened legal action before the bill was signed into law. But that did not stop Gov. Bill Lee, who — with an assist from Republican leaders in the House and Senate — pushed through his plan for education savings accounts. The ESA program would give qualifying students in Davidson and Shelby counties more than $7,000 in public school money to spend on private-school tuition and other costs. Lee’s plan originally would have applied to five counties, but it was whittled down to appease skeptical lawmakers — the crux of what the two counties left in the final version argue is unfair and unconstitutional treatment. Now, more than a year after the Tennessee General Assembly approved the plan, the state’s two most populous counties emerged victorious after the opening salvo in the legal battle over the voucher program. Davidson County Chancellor Anne Martin ruled Lee’s program unconstitutional because it targeted the two counties, and she ordered implementation to stop. “The way that it was enacted, targeting
Room to WoRk With Metro sticks with homeless shelters despite calls for more options By AlejAndro rAmirez
Save the dishwashing for later. Visit nashvillescene.com for our daily takeout picks. 6
I
n early march, it became clear that the CoVid-19 pandemic would soon hit nashville. The service providers at launchPad, an organization that helps homeless youth ages 18 to 24, took a look at their shelter facilities and decided their guests would be safer somewhere else. “We just looked around at our own space … we got mattresses on the floor and everybody’s sharing a couple of bathrooms,” says Ty Brown, executive director of the nonprofit. rather than grouping 20 guests into a shared space as they usually do, launchPad organizers instead secured a few motel rooms for them, including one for on-site staff. “We had decided we were going to take whoever
NASHVILLE SCENE | MAY 14 – MAY 20, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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CITY LIMITS
THIS WEEK ON OUR NEWS AND POLITICS BLOG: Nashville slowly unlatched the door to reopening the city May 11 after the mayor’s Coronavirus Task Force announced various metrics were moving appropriately to ease into phase one. The first reopening phase allows retail shops and restaurants to operate at half-capacity, among other things. “Ideally it would be disappearing, but no one thinks that will happen until there’s a vaccine,” Mayor John Cooper said of COVID-19. Health officials said that both increased testing capacity — Tennessee is one of just seven states a Harvard study found was doing enough testing — and case clusters at homeless shelters and meatpacking plants contributed to a late increase in case growth. Other disease-related metrics like hospital capacity and disease doubling, say the experts, have improved enough to trigger the first phase of reopening. “We are looking at multiple metrics and not just one to see how well we are managing the disease,” task force chair Alex Jahangir said. The full four-phase reopening plan laid out by the task force will take eight weeks to work through, provided there’s no backsliding. … In the days before Cooper announced the slow return to normalcy, a clutch of Lower Broadway bar owners (notably, Tootsie’s and Rippy’s impresario Steve Smith), musicians and workers staged a protest of the ongoing citywide shutdown. Also making an appearance at the gathering: Metro Councilmember At-Large Steve Glover, who took the chance to blast Cooper’s recent budget proposal, which includes a proposed property tax increase to offset revenue losses related to COVID-19 business closures. Glover proposed a property tax increase of his own in 2019. … A 67-year-old incarcerated at the CoreCivicoperated Trousdale Turner Correctional Center died after testing positive for COVID-19. The Tennessee Department of Correction said a medical examiner will determine the cause of death. The deceased man was transported on April 25 to
available the fairgrounds became the best option. “The fairgrounds is Metro Nashville Property and the combined expo buildings are more than 100,000 square feet of space,” the response continued. “It allows for quarantining and providing a safe environment for our clients. The Fairgrounds will continue to be used as a shelter and we have other options to add more capacity if it is needed.” Dr. Alex Jahangir, director of Metro’s Coronavirus Task Force, also said in a press conference that the fairgrounds shelter, which hosts roughly 200 guests, is not congregate sheltering. People who are in the sick shelter are under an enforceable quarantine, which was highlighted when a fairgrounds guest who had tested positive for COVID-19 was arrested last week after escaping the quarantined shelter. The Tennessean reports that the man was the first person in the city arrested for leaving quarantine. The Continuum of Care Homelessness Planning Council was to meet Wednesday morning, after this article went to press. It represents the council’s first meeting since the pandemic began.
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a hospital where he was tested for COVID-19, the department said. After news broke of a massive outbreak at the Trousdale County facility infecting more than half the prison’s population, Gov. Bill Lee announced that all state prisoners and correctional staff would be tested. State officials have been slow to increase testing at the state’s prisons, despite calls for mass testing from advocates and public health experts. … At the request of District Attorney General Glenn Funk, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the death of a man who died after he was arrested by Metro Nashville police. According to an arrest report, Gabriel Hines (42) and two other men were arrested Feb. 4 at a West Nashville construction site. Hines was charged with felony theft, misdemeanor drug possession, unlawful use of drug paraphernalia, criminal trespassing and failure to be booked on a previous citation arrest. Five days later, Hines died at General Hospital. An autopsy is still pending (the medical examiner’s office says that due to lower staffing, autopsies are running more slowly than usual during the pandemic), but at least one of the men arrested with Hines said officers were violent with Hines during the arrest. An internal investigation cleared the officers, but Funk asked for the TBI inquiry nonetheless. Hines’ attorney told the Scene that when she met with him, Hines was clearly suffering and coughed up blood-flecked phlegm. … Middle Tennessee was hit with Blackberry Winter as a diving jet stream brought near-freezing temperatures to the area. As J.R. Lind wrote, Blackberry Winter is one of six so-called Little Winters (Locust, Redbud, Dogwood, Whippoorwill and Linsey-Woolsey or Cotton Britches are the others), the names of which date back to time immemorial and recollect the days when people gauged the weather by nature rather than computers. Neither our modern understanding of weather patterns nor increasing global temperatures have done much to stave off the Little Winters, which still tie themselves to the natural signs our forebears recognized, and our 21st-century desire to know and control everything often precludes our ability to simply exist with nature. NASHVILLESCENE.COM/PITHINTHEWIND EMAIL: PITH@NASHVILLESCENE.COM TWEET: @PITHINTHEWIND
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supportive housing solutions. “We are currently meeting minimum CDC standards, and [those] CDC requirements also include pushing for other ways to protect and serve individuals who experience homelessness,” says Fleisch. “And I think there are other creative ways we can do this.” For example, Fleisch points to gaps in recuperative care, which can provide temporary residence for homeless patients recovering from a hospital stay — she says these programs are currently unable to accept new individuals because they’re at capacity. Other cities like Los Angeles have established shelter systems, but have also established hotel and motel voucher programs to help homeless individuals find spaces to self-isolate. Memphis also secured 60 hotel rooms for people experiencing homelessness. In response to an email from the Scene asking whether Metro has considered vouchers, the Office of Emergency Management replied: “When the COVID19 task force started preparing for housing our homeless population we had a number of options on the table. One of those was possibly hotel rooms. However, as we looked at the best way to ensure we could provide a sustainable shelter with resources
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GUIDE A look at takeout and delivery options from some of Nashville’s best restaurants, bars and farms
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n Monday, the city entered the first phase of its limited-reopening plan. That means Nashville restaurants are now permitted to reopen at half-capacity and with COVID-19 symptom screening and protective equipment for employees. Some establishments opted to institute the mandated restrictions and reopen right away. Many, however, didn’t. With the country, the state and indeed the city still very much in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic, many Nashvillians — restaurateurs and diners alike — aren’t comfortable diving back into dine-in service just yet. And that’s why The Takeout Guide is here. In this week’s four-part cover package, our writers explore some of the best food and drink still available for pickup and delivery, from to-go cocktails and meals to CSAs and more. Of course, our roundup here is far from comprehensive. Visit our food blog, Bites (nashvillescene.com/food-drink/bites), for many more daily takeout picks as well as our ongoing list of restaurants open for carryout and delivery. And of course, be sure to check in with restaurants directly, as many of the takeout options you’ll find here are subject to change. D. PATRICK RODGERS
Nashville’s best to-go cocktails By Ashley Brantley
C
ontext is crucial for cocktails. No matter how well you make a martini at home, it’s not going to be better than the one you’d have, say, at Sperry’s. There it would have been made by a bartender who’s got twice your life experience and triple your skill, and there’s no substitute for either. We go out to drink and dine for a reason, and it’s not just because we’re too lazy to stock our own bars. Cocktails are communal, and the best ones give you a sense of place — whether it’s where you are, or where you want to be. As the city begins to reopen, we’ll get that back, piece by piece. But there’s no reason we have to wait around empty-handed. Two months ago, to-go cocktails didn’t
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exist in Nashville. Today I’d put ours up against any in the country. Bartenders are turning it out with celery bitters and sesame-infused tequila and a bunch of other odd, awesome stuff you’d never have the time, skill or inclination to make yourself. Plus, there’s just something that feels illicit and contemplative about sharing a scotch slushy on your porch and discussing how the hell anyone makes that work. Enjoy it while you can.
Attaboy at Lakeside Lounge
The current iteration of Attaboy is a 180 from its no-menu premise. The cocktail menu they’re serving out of Lakeside Lounge is currently available Fridays and Saturdays from 2 to 8 p.m., takeout or delivery. It includes a murderers’ row of classics (Negroni, Old Fashioned, gimlet) along with stranger stuff that is just very, very Attaboy. A good example is the Second Serve, made with sherry, lime soda and Amaro Montenegro — an Italian spirit distilled from roughly a billion botanicals including vanilla, orange and eucalyptus. It was first made in Bologna in 1885 and it’s named after
attaboy at Lakeside Lounge
Photo: Daniel Meigs
Go Big, Then Go Home Four top-shelf places to score
Nashville Scene | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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The TAKEOUT GUIDE weirdest ingredient my bartender told me about: red wine. Whatever its composition, this stuff is so savory and loaded with umami that the taste buds on the back of your tongue will prick up thinking about it later, and that’s the Pavlovian response all bloodys should inspire. On the sweet side, try the Run It Through the Garden, made with vodka, citrus, parsnip, kale and beet. Yes, those ingredients sound more smoothie than cocktail, but the weirder a drink sounds, the better it’s likely to be — and that’s the case here. The acidity makes it bright, while the vegetables make it full-bodied in a way that typically comes together only in savory drinks. Mother’s Ruin is currently open for takeout every day from noon to 9 p.m.
Photo: Daniel Meigs
Old Glory
the fox bar & cocktail club a princess (Elena of Montenegro), so you know that shit is fancy. They pair that with crisp white fino sherry, and you finish it at home with a splash of lime soda, an orange garnish and an oversized ice cube, all of which are provided. All fizzed up, it’s got the brightness of a Porto tonico and the herbaceousness of an Aperol spritz, and you will want to drink 10. (Don’t. No one is taking you to the hospital right now.) Then there are the slushies. The beauty of booze is that it doesn’t fully freeze, so these will stay slushy in your freezer for a while. The Spicy Canary — tequila, lime, mango puree — is the consummate fruity frozen margarita, but the Penichillin is the real dark horse. It’s made with scotch, lemon, honey and ginger, and I ordered it out of morbid curiosity, partially expecting it to make me puke. It was fantastic — sweet, sour and strong, like a Dark and Stormy that has seen a few things. All I had to do was stir and add a tiny umbrella (also provided), and I was mentally beach-bound. Bonus: You can email the bartenders and customize your order if you’re a real pain in the ass and none of the 14 cocktails online suits you.
lemon stock, celery bitters and beet juice — was a blood-red, earthy suckerpunch, and I miss it dearly. Luckily, May 2020 is made with some of the same stuff, plus Pimm’s, gin, strawberry and ginger beer, and there’s no way that’s bad.
Mother’s Ruin
Before quarantine, brunch at Mother’s Ruin taught me two things: 1) Old Bay waffle fries are this generation’s bar nuts; and 2) bloody marys always taste better when
someone else makes them. A house mix with 37 ingredients — none of which you had to squeeze, grate or shake yourself — is a different kind of satisfying, especially when you can’t put your finger on the “secret ingredient.” At Mother’s Ruin, it could be anything: juice (tomato, pickle, lemon, lime), sauce (Worcestershire, Cholula, Sriracha, horseradish) or seasoning (Old Bay, celery salt, sugar, black pepper), all of which are in the recipe. But I like to believe the bloody mary’s power comes from the
This Edgehill bar was early to the takeout party, and a few of the drinks they launched with are iconic enough to bear repeating. Old Glory serves the Green Thumb, made with gin, citrus, arugula, snap peas and yellow Chartreuse (a milder, sweeter version of its green sibling). Zingy and verdant, the cocktail tastes like a sprawling English garden in a glass. There’s also the Stoner Fruit Fizz, made with tequila, apricot, citrus and Vietnamese preserved plum, which gives the cocktail a sour-salty undertone. The most interesting drink from Old Glory is the Proper Martini. Made with Fords Gin, everything-bagel seasoning and creamcheese-washed vermouth, it’s a collaboration with (the finally reopened!) Proper Bagel. Think of the best gin martini you’ve had, but more robust, and with blue cheese flavor infused throughout. The caperberry garnish is provided, so all you have to do is chill and pour for an instant hit of the martini-fueled civility we’ve all been missing. Email editor@nashvillescene.com
When it comes to carryout cocktails, always order one of something you can’t make at home. The Fox’s $9 happy hour is a good place to start pairing things you know (rum, sparkling wine) with things you don’t (citric acid, mint gomme). Those four ingredients make up The Fox’s Fancy Mojito on Tap — something that’s at once familiar and new. Another stunner is the Amber Wave, made with tequila, sparkling wine, Aperol and prickly pear liqueur. To that they add lemon stock, black-pepper tincture and cucumber bitters, which creates a spritz-meets-margarita vibe with a peppery bite. Freshness is fundamental at The Fox, so my favorite cocktail of quarantine is already gone. The April 2020 — gin, rum, amaro,
Mother’s Ruin
Photos: Eric England
The Fox Bar & Cocktail Club
Old glory
nashvillescene.com | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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to burgers and ice cream, here are some of the best takeout and delivery options in the city By Ashley Brantley, Steve Cavendish, Chris Chamberlain, Margaret Littman and D. Patrick Rodgers
Jamaicaway Midtown 615-678-4031
What’s the first thing you think of when you think Jamaicaway? Jerk chicken? Rice and peas? Johnny cakes? All are good thoughts, but if every dish you love there has “curry” or “chicken” in the name, you’ve got more to explore. Start with eggplant Parmesan, which is not a typo. Jerk-grilled eggplant is a Jamaican staple, but oldfashioned eggplant Parm with a side of fried plantains? Harder to find. Jamaicaway’s hits all the high points. Fresh eggplant is seasoned, battered and deep-fried, topped with their zingy tomato sauce and draped with Parmesan cheese that’s broiled to pullapart perfection. The box is huge, costs less than $10 and comes with two sides. I go with their not-too-stewed green beans and cheesy mashed potatoes, which are quite simply some of the best potatoes I’ve had. It’s not surprising that owners Ouida and David Bradshaw have mastered all things Southern in addition to all things Jamaican (and at least one thing Italian). It’s been 20 years since they moved to Nashville from Boston, and 17 since they started a business around their piquant, succulent jerk chicken, which is smoked and slathered in sauce that’s the perfect mix of peppery heat and brown-sugar sweetness. There’s a reason it’s most people’s go-to — as is the curried goat, which is locally farmed, marinated and stewed until it falls off the bone. Their curries are mild enough for kids, though the goat itself might be a harder sell. It shouldn’t be — it’s meaty without being gamy, and its rich brown sauce has serious mashed-potatoes-and-gravy vibes. I’m not going to tell you how to raise your children, but if you tell them this is meat, gravy and rice (which it is), 90 percent of ’em won’t
BRANTLEY
Mas Tacos Por Favor 615-543-6271
Some restaurants are such heavyweights we forget to call them out. We wonder, “How could anyone forget Mas Tacos?” The fact is they couldn’t, of course, and they still kick ass! Honestly? They might kick even more ass now because: 1) to-go margaritas, and 2) Venmo. That’s right — all it took was a minor worldwide pandemic for your cashless Mas Tacos dreams to come true. When ordering, you know what to do. Mas Tacos Por Favor (that’s the full name) is a Mexican joint, and the Scene has written about them no less than 241 times in their decade-plus East Nashville tenure. It can be tricky to find the full menu online, but owner Teresa Mason regularly updates the Mas Tacos Instagram page (@mastacos), so keep an eye on that. I’m a carnivore, and until recently, I had no clue I was missing out on one of the most satisfying, umami-packed items on the menu: quinoa-and-sweet potato tacos. Quinoa and sweet potato are folded into fresh, warm tortillas and topped with sour cream, shaved cabbage and tomatillo salsa. The tacos are earthy, crunchy and rich, with a refreshing zing from the salsa. They make a perfect balance for the pulled-pork tacos, which you really should revisit if you haven’t in a while. Succulent braised pork, piquant tomatillo, crisp cabbage and onion, spicy yogurt — tantalizing and timeless. To wash it all down, you have options. Check their Instagram to find out about the agua fresca, margarita and sangria of the day. One day it might be pineapple agua fresca and a piña margarita; the next it could
Photo: Eric England
Good to Go From Jamaican and Mexican
know the difference. Another great call is the roti, a dahl-infused wrap filled with curried chicken, goat or vegetables. I’d go with the latter for the big chunks of sweet, savory carrots alone. The brown stew chicken is also excellent, particularly bone-in and ordered spicy. To finish, it’s got to be the earthy, nutty carrot cake with cream-cheese frosting. Next on my roster: ackee and saltfish, made from salted cod and the tropical West African ackee fruit. If the Bradshaws can execute eggplant Parm as flawlessly as they do, I can’t wait to see what they do with Jamaica’s national dish. Order takeout from their Midtown location, or get it delivered. ASHLEY
ETC.
MAS TACOS POR FAVOR
Photo: Daniel Meigs
The TAKEOUT GUIDE
be hibiscus sangria and watermelon agua fresca. What’s guaranteed is that it’s all good. Mas Tacos is also good for your iced coffee fix, and they can whip up virgin margaritas. Tip: Ask them to pack your drinks without ice so you can stash a couple in your fridge for later. Finally, specials. Mas is still turning out hand-rolled tamales on Wednesday and pickled-cactus-and-chorizo tacos on Thursdays, so don’t sleep on the dailies. They’re also throwing in some new, truly obscene things like Sonoran dogs, typically a go-to at Mason’s other spot, Wilburn Street Tavern: all-beef, bacon-wrapped, bean-smothered hot dogs topped with pico de gallo. If you’re looking to shuffle off this mortal coil fast, that’s the meal you want to do it with. And I know it’s been said 30,000 times, but get the tortilla soup. Yes, the pozole is amazing, and I dig it deeply, but we are in peak Chicken Soup End Times right now. You need this. And if you can get home without taking a swig of the perfect chicken broth out of the styrofoam cup, you are a better man than I.
ASHLEY BRANTLEY
etc.
JAMAICAWAY MIDTOWN
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Photo: Daniel Meigs
615-988-0332
Imagine if you could get beloved Nashville chef Deb Paquette to cook dinner for you and your family. Well, you don’t have to imagine it, because she’s been working out of the kitchen at her Green Hills restaurant etc. to help develop and cook special prixfixe dinner menus for either two or four people. Plus, beer and wine options can be added to your order for a complete dining experience. Just ahead of press time, etc. announced that it will be opening its dining room at halfcapacity on Thursday, May 14. But the great to-go options remain. The menu items you can choose from are a “greatest hits” from both etc. and Paquette’s other spot Etch, so
Nashville Scene | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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The TAKEOUT GUIDE tures all the usual taqueria suspects: tortas, tacos, quesadillas. But the pollo entero — a whole grilled chicken served with tortillas, rice, beans, fried onions, grilled peppers, lettuce and pico de gallo — is the reigning champ of the Lindo menu. Even if you have a partner to take on the whole shebang with you, you’ll likely still have leftovers. Feel free to wimp out and go with the half-order, medio pollo. The whole bird is $13.25, and the half is $8. As I’ve noted in the past, it’s some of the most flavorful, moist, wellprepared chicken I’ve ever tasted, imbued with smoky flavor thanks to being cooked in Lindo’s outdoor barrel grill. The staff is always sweet and accommodating, so I have to insist that if you hit up Lindo with a call-ahead order, you plunk down a hefty tip once you show up to collect your meal. (All of us who are able to do so are overtipping our friends and neighbors in the service industry throughout this crisis, yes?) Long live Lindo. D. PATRICK RODGERS
Dozen Bakery Photo: Daniel Meigs
615-712-8150 BURGER UP 12SOUTH
Rosie’s Twin Kegs 615-832-3167
Part of the joy of a good local joint is how it connects with the neighborhood around it. Twin Kegs has always been a quality dive bar with an excellent burger, but when Tia Mirenda bought it in 2017 and made it Rosie’s Twin Kegs, the place went from good to great. Mirenda is a former bartender at the place and owner of a food truck, and she’s succeeded in turning out legitimately great bar food. The burgers are still the star of the menu — the best, in my opinion, is the mushroom-and-Swiss, but there’s bound to be something you love from the 10 or so offerings. But the specials really stand out: fish-and-chips on Fridays or meatball subs on Mondays, for example. Check with their Facebook page (facebook.com/Twin.Kegs) to find gems like brownie kits with ice cream and house-made chocolate sauce or, my favorite, pans of take-and-bake ziti (beef or cheese) that are perfect for our current situation. STEVE CAVENDISH
Burger Up 12South 615-279-3767
The East Side location of Burger Up sustained a great deal of damage in the March 3 tornado — but that’s also where we find this pick’s silver lining. Burger Up’s 12South outpost is up and running, and there’s never been a better time to support them. Eight hours a day, seven days a week, you can order delivery through multiple services, or carryout at burger-up.com or by calling. I’d recommend the latter so you can take advantage of the restaurant’s current on-point growler game. Grab a 32-ouncer of beer or wine (if you’ve never had “growled” wine, it is the way to go because you get more and it keeps well) or batched 12South lemonade (basil simple syrup, lemon vodka and white wine — best of all worlds). For food, it’s all about balance, so grab a Caesar salad and then destroy all your nutritious karma with a chili-
cheese burger. Between the spicy queso, fried jalapeño and sambal sour cream, it’s a great way to get your roommate to stay socially distant from you in your own house for a few hours. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Tacos y Mariscos Lindo Mexico 615-865-2646
We’ve written on more than one occasion about Tacos y Mariscos Lindo Mexico, but guess what. I’m here to write about the glorious Madison taqueria once again, because it is still the purveyor of one of my favorite meals in the city — its magnificent pollo asado al carbon. Lindo is situated on Gallatin Pike just a little north of McGaugh’s Donuts and Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge (two other essential Madison spots). Just before press time, the Lindo folks confirmed that they’re reopening for dine-in this week, though the carryout option remains. The menu fea-
TACOS Y MARISCOS LINDO MEXICO
Kien Giang
615-353-1250 Photo: Eric England
really it’s like getting to enjoy two restaurants at the same time! Pick one appetizer or salad per person, (and yes, that cauliflower is on the menu!) plus an entrée from a list of four choices with the options of add-ons like a comforting broccoli with bacon-and-cheese sauce, chicken tortilla soup or desserts from the talented pastry staff. Check out the full menu online via etc.restaurant, call in your order in advance and let them know when you’ll arrive so that they will have your meal bagged and ready to be deposited in your front seat. Patrons must be 21 or older to pick up if there’s wine or beer in the order, so don’t send your newly licensed teen out on this particular errand. Never has such at-home elegance been this simple! If you’re lucky, maybe Deb will even make an appearance for your carside delivery. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
Food writers can be so superficial. We write about the way things look on the outside — e.g., golden french fries — when the important thing is underneath the surface. Take the croissants at Dozen, for example. Yes, the outside of it is a deep brown, indicating the caramelization on the surface giving it a deep flavor, but inside, check out all of that nothingness. Break open a perfect croissant and you’ll find giant holes. That means it was made right — it was proofed correctly, and all of those layers of buttery goodness rose correctly. Those holes mean flavor. Cut open a croissant from a certain national bakery chain — we’ll call it Schmanera to protect the guilty — and you’ll find a perfectly uniform inside … and a complete lack of flavor. The same thing is true with baguettes. Cut a cross-section and you’ll find gaping spaces where the proper alchemy of yeast, water and a little bit of salt have combined to create flavor. If you find a perfectly uniform interior that looks like white bread, I’m willing to bet it sucks. You’re better off eating nothing. Fortunately, some of the best bread in the city is back as Dozen has set up an online ordering (dozen-bakery.com) and curbside delivery system for all of your carbohydrate needs. Once home, I like the baguettes sliced longwise, buttered and toasted and then piled high with prosciutto, but they’re perfect in almost any application. Though their prepared sandwiches are absent, Dozen has most of the rest of their baked goods available again, including take-and-bake pot pies, cookies, sweet pies and croissants. If you enjoy toast for breakfast, make sure to pick up a loaf of the oatmeal sandwich bread, which is just about perfect broiled to a crisp and slathered with jam (blackberry if you’ve got it). Or just buy a loaf just to stick your nose in it — I can’t imagine anything smelling more like heaven. STEVE CAVENDISH
People don’t often think of pho as takeout food. The big bowl, the chopsticks, the soup spoon — you need these things to make the experience come to life. But guess what: You can get all those things for less than $20
nashvillescene.com | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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The TAKEOUT GUIDE
615-228-4864
Ever since the duo of Hal Holden-Bache and Cara Graham opened Lockeland Table a little more than seven years ago, it’s been a neighborhood favorite and one of the best restaurants in the city. I’ve been a big fan of their Community Hour menu for years, and “General Hal’s Wings” are a star. More Southeast Asia than Western New York, these wings have a sweet side with a pleasant heat to them. The peanuts on top are a nice bit of crunch, and the dish is a good value at a dozen wings for $12. Lockeland has a number of family meals available as well, including braised short-rib beef stroganoff and grilled pork loins, both with sides. They’ll even sell you whole bottles of wine. STEVE CAVENDISH
Miel
615-298-3663
Real-life happy hour seems so decadent right now. Sitting at a candlelit bar, snacking on olives, sipping a proper Manhattan and talking to someone you don’t share a bathroom with? It sounds obscene. Thanks to Miel’s refined takeout menu, we can do the next-best thing at home. So throw on some jazz and some pants that zip, because we’re classing up the joint! Start by ordering a quart of Miel’s smoked short-rib-onion soup — a beef bomb
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LOCKELAND TABLE
in the best way. Fire up some votives, and unscrew your teeny Mason-jar cocktail. The aforementioned Manhattan is perfect and comes with tart brandied cherries to help you play the part. Dip into the roasted chickpea hummus with fresh-baked bread before soaking in the luxury that is Miel’s cured fatty salmon. Served with preserved green tomato, peppery greens and briny salmon roe, every bite features a little pop of the ocean. For the main event, I will never not recommend the pork shoulder with Parisienne gnocchi, mozzarella and jus. It’s fancy, rich and comforting — so basically the Jane Fonda of dinner. Dessert has to be honey cake with apple butter, which, just this once, you must plate in your classiest crock. You know the one: the off-registry, hand-washonly, begonia-patterned thing your hateful cousin Beth gave you for your wedding. Using extravagant things for no reason will do wonders for your dignity. And if it doesn’t, throwing that shit in the dishwasher definitely will. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
the closest Nashville gets to having our own Bill Murray — is just whipped cream on the banana pudding. Arnold’s has made the decision to reopen for dine-in, but they’ll still be offering carryout options as well. Start your order with a family meal. For $54, pick two sides and a meat. I go with brisket, simmered low and slow, in a salty, luscious gravy. Once refrigerated, the liquid becomes solid, which is a key indicator it’s been made with the most important ingredient: love. (I’m kidding; the ingredient is fat.) Add smoky green beans, creamy mac-and-cheese and cornbread or rolls, and you’ve got a meal that will easily feed four. If you’re a pro, tack on a pie for $21 and a serving of something fried that you can tear into in the car. (The fried pork chop will light up every pleasure center in your brain.) Whatever you choose, rest assured you won’t be hungry for 48 hours. You can order Arnold’s delivery online, but I’d call in carryout orders so you can ask after the sides ’n’ “frieds” of the day. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Arnold’s Country Kitchen
Until recently, the only bad thing I could say about Henley was that I had to put on pants to eat their food. No more. Now that they’re in the takeout/delivery game, you can enjoy chef Daniel Scott Gorman’s food while wearing whatever you want. (Or nothing at all; I don’t know how you quarantine.) Start with the ham and Southern green spring rolls made with Bear Creek Farm tasso, which earn you a bonus Local Love Point for Middle Tennessee businesses. Served with hot vinegar aioli, the crunchy, porky rolls are balanced by tart, bright greens to create supreme comfort food. For the main event, blow it out with duck and dumplings: duck confit and Parisian gnocchi served with roasted carrots, parsnips and beech mushrooms. They’re rich, savory and satisfying — it’s worth walking an extra lap around the neighborhood to burn it off. With all the things COVID-19 has taken away, Henley-at-home is one small but significant thing we’ve been given. Check out their menu at henleynashville.com. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Carniceria y Taqueria Don Juan 615-833-1690
You have to find happiness wherever you can in this world, particularly now. Me? I find it in tacos, and there are none better in the city than those at Don Juan on Nolensville Road. It’s been a favorite for years, in no small part because of the tacos’ simplicity: tortilla, onion, protein, cheese if you want it. They come with a jalapeño crema that will light you up if you’re not careful. I usually get chicken, but they’ve got everything from standards like barbacoa (beef) and pastor (spicy pork) to tongue and stomach. The chicharron versions are outstanding. If you’re in need of something else — gorditas, burritos, quesadillas — they’ve got those too, but at $1.50 per taco, you will never find a better value. Unlike other Nolensville Road places that recently had to adapt to a takeout-only world, Don Juan has always been a walk-up/drive-thru place, so it’s perfect for right now. STEVE CAVENDISH
Capitol Grille 615-244-3121
One restaurant-defining soup in town is what attracted me to the carryout menu from the Capitol Grille at the Hermitage Hotel. Even as the restaurant has opted to
615-256-4455
Arnold’s is all-time. Everyone knows it. It’s such a universal truth that we started this year’s Chefs Survey by asking local pros what their favorite lunch is excluding Arnold’s, because we feared we’d get 15 of the same answers otherwise. (Check out the survey in the March 19 issue of the Scene.) So why, you ask, are we profiling them as a carryout pick? Simple: COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t give a shit whether you’re a fledgling food truck, a neighborhood mainstay or a 10-seat bar with the fanciest tasting menu in town. In fact, many of Nashville’s most successful restaurants are struggling too, because they pay high rents, employ dozens of people and are doing everything humanly possible not to leave those people high and dry. Arnold’s is just such a place. The fact that it’s helmed by Kahlil Arnold — a gregarious dude who’s
CARNICERIA Y TAQUERIA DON JUAN
Photo: Eric England
Lockeland Table
615-340-6378
Photo: Eric England
at K&S World Market, which is conveniently located 100 yards from Kien Giang. (When you walk into K&S, go left to the very last aisle and you’ll hit the Asian kitchen-utensil motherlode.) Now that you’ve got your tools, you’re ready to pho, and you’re in the best place in town to do it. Next door to K&S there’s Miss Saigon, which delivers, and across Charlotte Pike, there’s the excellent VN Pho & Deli, where you can also score a delicious barbecue pork banh mi. But my true north for Nashville pho has always been Kien Giang. I’ve been getting it to go for years, so I know they do it all right. The box of ingredients is perfect, packed with chewy rice noodles, juicy chicken or rare beef, fragrant Thai basil, crunchy bean sprouts, thinly sliced white onion, scallions, lime and the all-important hoisin sauce that gives the broth a killer umami boost. And speaking of broth and perfection, Kien Giang’s truly is — clean, aromatic, savory and just a touch sweet. It’s always piping hot, too, which makes putting together the picture-perfect bowl a snap at home. If you’re in the mood for something spicy, try the Bún bò Huế. The Vietnamese beef noodle soup is salty, laced with lemongrass, and seriously hot, so it’s not for the faint of heart. The chả giò, or summer rolls, are also a must. The golden deep-fried Vietnamese egg rolls are stuffed with ground pork, shrimp, shredded carrots and bean thread noodles. They’re served with a sweet fishsauce based dip that’s even more delicious with a squirt of Sriracha. Kien Giang is oldschool — it’s cash-only and requires some Yelp sleuthing to see the full menu — but these small inconveniences will quickly fade away when you’re sipping on that bodyand-soul warming broth in your PJs. Kien Giang is open daily except Mondays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Call to order. ASHLEY BRANTLEY
Henley
Nashville Scene | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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CAPITOL GRILLE resume dine-in services, they’re offering a full complement of à la carte items off their regular menu for takeout, including their sweet onion bisque with an adorable miniature grilled brie sandwich plus bacon and chives, an item that never falls off their seasonal food offering. As with Midtown’s lemon-artichoke soup, I can’t visit without ordering that item! In addition to the regular menu offerings, the Capitol Grille is whipping up daily thematic family-style meals to go on a rotating basis. Monday is vegan-centric, filled with expertly prepared veggie dishes like citrus-roasted beets and lemon thyme tofu “scallops.” Tuesday is a highclass taco night, Wednesday features pasta dishes, Thursday is for barbecue, and Saturday is a classic surf-and-turf meal with tenderloin and shrimp-and-grits. But Friday night is the real highlight for me, an evening of “Capitol Grille Favorites” featuring the sweet onion bisque, their version of Nashville hot chicken, red-skin mashed potatoes, collard greens and coconut cake. Priced between $85-$90 and sized to feed a family of four, this is some high-tone dining at a reasonable price, plus they’re offering 15 percent off many of their bottles of wine with the order of a family meal. CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
Riddim N Spice 615-953-7121
I’ve been meaning to write about Riddim N Spice for a while now, because as soon as I heard that Kamal Kalokoh along with his brother Rashean Conaway were opening their own Caribbean restaurant at 2116 Meharry
Blvd., I knew it had to be good. I was confident because the brothers come from the family tree of the above-mentioned Jamaicaway — where Ouida Bradshaw has been delighting Nashville diners with her take on the cuisine for years, and the Riddim N Spice food truck has already earned a vaunted reputation for cooking some darned fine food. Then when I went for my first visit, I was surprised how convenient the restaurant is, located just a minute off the Jefferson Street exit of I-40 and blessed with a huge parking lot behind the building. Ordering and eating there is really convenient as well, with a tight menu of proteins and bowls cooked with Caribbean spices. There’s also an admirable amount of vegetarian and vegan dishes available, ranging from BBQ jerk jackfruit to several traditional rice and bean dishes. Diners have their choice of spice levels with most main dishes, which I can tell you from personal experience ratchet up pretty quickly once you go past level 2 on their four-alarm scale. During the COVID-19 crisis, they switched to a carryout model, which fits their menu quite well. You can choose from build-your-own bowl options with choices of proteins like honey jerk chicken (which just so happens to be one of my girlfriend’s pet names for me), smoked lamb, curry shrimp or vegan proteins. Available toppings include black beans, sweet ’n’ tangy peppers, charred corn, queso and a few other options, and you can add up to four of them on top of your bowl for no additional charge. The chicken plates are also a great deal, with a half-bird going for just $12 including two sides. For even more convenience, pick
Photo: Eric England
Photo: Eric England
The TAKEOUT GUIDE
PIED PIPER Creamery between their Quarantine Meal Deals, including a “Quarantine N Chill,” which feeds two people, or a family pack to take care of up to five hungry diners. Add on some of the delicious rum punch or cucumber-lime gin made with house-squeezed juices, and you’ll feel like you’re on a vacation in Trinidad!
CHRIS CHAMBERLAIN
Pied Piper Creamery 615-227-4114
Luckily for us, Jenny Piper — Ice Cream Mogul at Pied Piper Creamery — recently started an ice cream social of sorts, offering pickup and delivery. Pied Piper was shuttered for a long stretch after the March 3 tornado. While the beloved East Nashville creamery on 11th Street had relatively minor structural damage, it had major electrical damage, and Piper is waiting to hear when that will be repaired. She hadn’t yet hired her summer scoop crew when the tornado and COVID-19 hit, but she had two year-round staffers who missed making ice cream. (As is the case with many area businesses, Pied Piper’s wholesale orders disappeared as restaurants temporarily shuttered.) She and her crew had previously been cooking out of Citizen Kitchens in East Nashville, so they decided to fire up the freezer and start making treats available to us in our homes. Pied Piper posts the daily flavors (usually around eight) on their Facebook page. Just as in the shop, they’ll rotate, with classics and some well-loved favorites, such as Trailer Trash and Toffee Loaded Coffee. Dairy-free options are coming this week. Pick either three quarts ($32) or six pints
($36) and have them delivered or pick them up yourself at Citizen Market (don’t forget to tip). In theory, the delivery radius is 10 miles, but Piper has taken a few larger orders to home-owner associations further afield. “Sort of like an ice cream CSA,” she says. Such group orders are welcome. Deliveries take place noon-7 p.m. daily. Flavors are limited, so if you see what you want posted, text (615-618-1552) or email (piedpipercreamery@gmail.com) Piper and ask her to put aside your order for later in the day (not that there’s anything wrong with ice cream in the middle of the day). Orders come with sugar cones, bowls, spoons, and sprinkles, all packed in a decorated party bag that Piper draws herself. Pay via Venmo (@Jenny-Piper) and the ice cream is on your porch, contactless and ready to eat. On a recent order, I went with basics — chocolate, vanilla and peanut butter chocolate — thinking I would use these essentials as ingredients. I used end-of-their-usefullife strawberries to make a strawberry milkshake and then I re-created a familyfavorite date shake using crystals from Shields Date Garden. Finally, I just ate peanut butter chocolate ice cream on a cone, chocolate sprinkles optional ... you don’t really need me to give you serving suggestions for ice cream, do you? At first Piper was calling the to-go packages “Birthday in a Bag,” but she switched to “Survival Kit” realizing people wanted a quarantine pick-me-up even if they didn’t have a birthday to celebrate. Call it “Tuesday,” just order some ice cream. MARGARET LITTMAN
email editor@nashvillescene.com
nashvillescene.com | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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The TAKEOUT GUIDE
Support Your Local Growers! Here are a dozen restaurants
and farms offering local produce, meat and pantry items
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o doubt the COVID-19 crisis has exposed vulnerabilities in our food system — treatment of workers in meat plants, as well as illnesses among farm and plant workers leading to cracks in the food supply chain. While these issues expose an ecosystem that was already fragile even before COVID-19, they also highlight the benefits of cultivating a strong local food system. Worries over food supply and shopping safely have led to more gardening and a resurgence in community-supported agriculture, which puts the customer closer to her local farmer. Restaurants, which depend on different supply chains than big-box grocery stores, have helped shorten the chain by acting as markets to sell local produce and pantry items, giving us access that some larger supermarkets lack. By selling market goods alongside prepared to-go meals, restaurants support the local food system and their favorite farmers and producers while also pulling in much-needed additional revenue. While the following list isn’t comprehensive, and offerings change often, we’re highlighting some alternative ways to shop — from traditional CSA shares still available to online farm marketplaces and creative restaurants offerings. Here’s hoping the blurring of bright lines that previously existed in our food system can lead to better roads along a more direct path.
Order from restaurants offering local produce along with to-go meals Biscuit Love
Going beyond its popular biscuit sandwiches and bananas Foster oatmeal, Biscuit Love also sells Bear Creek Farm sausage and ground beef on its site. Also available are Tennessee Real dairy products, Willow Farm eggs and pantry items like flour, yeast and Biscuit Love jams, bloody mary mix and Love Dust seasonings.
Cafe Roze
Remember when The New York Times wrote about all the bodegas in East Nashville, and we were like, what? Well, Cafe Roze chef-owner Julia Jaksic has given us something resembling a really nice one, offering Bloomsbury Farms produce like Swiss chard, strawberries and herbs, along with dry goods like Mr. Aaron’s Goods pastas and meats from Porter Road Butcher. Of course, you can also pick up prepared to-go foods in the form of daily family dinner
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Photo: Daniel Meigs
By Jennifer Justus
Growing together specials (like giant meatballs, cheesy garlic bread and Italian chopped salad) and cafe favorites off the regular menu.
Folk / Rolf and Daughters
as at Richland Park Farmer’s Market on Saturdays.
S.E. Daugherty & Sons
East Nashville’s Folk and its sister restaurant Rolf and Daughters in Germantown always give us something fresh — like a collaboration with Third Man Records adding vinyl to your food orders, or mystery wines in various price ranges. When picking up a mushroom pizza from Folk, why not add a couple Bear Creek Farm steaks to throw on the grill later, along with Rocky Glade Farm greens, Southland Farms strawberries when available and eggs from Jolly Barnyard.
S.E. Daugherty & Sons’ CSA shares remain available — full shares (May to October), summer shares (June to August) and fall shares (August to October), with a variety of pickup locations around town. (The spring shares recently sold out.) The farm also offers online ordering and delivery in a 30-mile radius around Nashville. Products vary, from farm produce to pantry items like Loveless Cafe biscuit mix and KLD Farm and Smokin’ Oats meats as well as Virgin Bay fish.
The Party Line /Henrietta Red
Growing Together
Chef Julia Sullivan of Henrietta Red and The Party Line brings it every time with her creativity and smart professionalism. The Party Line menu, post-shelter-in-place, includes family meals for the week — which might mean chicken tetrazzini, green salad with coconut milk green goddess, and tahini chocolate rice crispy treats. Shoppers can also add pantry items and CSA boxes — five to seven local seasonal produce items, and local sourdough bread from Ornette. There’s a Breakfast Box with Gifford’s Bacon, pancake mix, eggs, Crema coffee and fresh fruit. There’s also a link for a cooking lesson via Sullivan’s series “Henrietta at Home.” The Party Line even has you covered with cake mix boxes for scratch baking, not to mention extras like fresh-cut flowers and specially baked dog treats. Keep an eye on Henrietta Red as well, as Sullivan & Co. say they plan to start offering to-go and pantry items.
Buy from farms that sell mostly produce Bells Bend Farms
This farm has a sold-out CSA, but they’ve launched an online market due to COVID-19. Customers can sign up to receive a weekly list of vegetables to be harvested for making selections. Pickups happen at the farm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays, as well
This collective of farmers — new Americans from Bhutan and Burma — has sold out of its spring CSA, but customers will have the option to sign up for fall shares later this summer. In the meantime, Growing Together has launched an online marketplace allowing shoppers the option to order what they want for the week (like Nepali mustard greens, bok choy, daikon radish and kohlrabi) and pick it up on Saturdays at The Nashville Food Project headquarters in West Nashville.
Rocky Glade
While their CSA is sold out (they’re adding fall and winter CSAs with sign-ups in July), the folks at Rocky Glade have added an on-farm pickup option. Customers can place an order online (strawberries when available!) and pick up on Saturdays between 9 and 11 a.m. As the owners write about the drive to their property in Eagleville: “You might even get to see a cow or two!”
Buy directly from local farms that specialize in raising animals Bear Creek Farm
Bear Creek Farm relied heavily on restaurant sales for its high-quality meats until COVID-19. In the absence of that revenue, Bear Creek launched a weekly pop-up store
at its Thompson’s Station farm. Watch the farm’s Instagram account (@bearcreekfarm) for updates on offerings — such as a “Grill Box” including 2 pounds of ground beef, two dry-aged ribeyes, two dry-aged New York strips and two dry-aged French steaks, all for $100. Customers can email to reserve an order or shop à la carte when they arrive. Also look for them at the Franklin Farmers Market.
Wedge Oak Farm
Karen Overton’s Wedge Oak Farm has been in her family since 1904, when her great-grandparents purchased the land. She raises chickens and ducks for eggs and poultry, pork, beef and lamb for meat, all of which is available through a CSA in three- and six-month increments as well as an online marketplace and at Richland Park and East Nashville farmers markets. Peruse for treasures and you’ll find stock, sausages, duck-liver mousse and much more.
Check out farm-store hybrids and hubs The Old School Farm
Bells Bend nonprofit The Old School grows produce and provides employment to individuals of all abilities. Now, in lieu of the farm’s restaurant, an online farm market sells Old School eggs, KLD meats, farm produce and farm-made products like hot cross buns, chess pie and sourdough pizza dough. Order online anytime, with pickups at the farm — just a short drive west on Ashland City Highway — on Wednesdays (1-4 p.m.) and Saturdays (1-6 p.m.).
Nashville Grown
This nonprofit food hub has connected many farmers to restaurants with wholesale orders over the years. But thanks to COVID-19, Nashville Grown has opened business to retail customers by offering $45 farm bags of assorted local produce and goods such as locally grown kale, lettuces, mushrooms, Amish white cheddar, bacon, eggs and Village Bakery breads. Email editor@nashvillescene.com
Nashville Scene | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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The TAKEOUT GUIDE
Whither Nashville Restaurants As a phased reopening begins, diners will have some decisions to make
L
et’s do a little thought experiment together, shall we? Close your eyes and think of your favorite restaurant — the one you miss the most — and what you’ll order as soon as you feel safe to sit down in its dining room again. Got one? Now open your eyes, and … poof! The COVID-19 pandemic is gone. Everyone has been vaccinated or acquired immunity — except for the anti-vaxxers, who have mysteriously disappeared like characters from The Leftovers — while you were in your cogitative state. In this fantasy fast-forward, new Tennessee Gov. Randy McNally (see what we did there?) has declared that restaurants are now free to operate at full capacity again — thus ending the charade that they could somehow manage to survive financially when Payroll Protection Plan guidelines require adding 100 percent of employees back to the payroll, but government guidelines allow half as many patrons as usual to dine at a time. All restaurant workers must wear personal protective equipment, making tasting the food they’re cooking problematic, but we’ll figure that out somehow. Just as restaurateurs have had to make many difficult choices during the course of the pandemic and resulting interruption of their business (and they’ll still have many more to make), diners will also have to face some decisions as we figure out what the restaurant business looks like on the other side of this thing. Below are some thoughts to chew on while we contemplate what the next steps might be.
Will carryout/delivery still be a bigger part of your dining experience?
The trend toward enjoying restaurant food at home was already growing before government guidelines made it mandatory. Fast-food joints already had a handle on the process, evidenced by the continued success of chains like Sonic and the hypersonic efficiency of Chick-fil-A’s drive-thru business. Forward-thinking restaurateurs were already recognizing the predilection of many of their younger customers — customers who preferred grabbing their food to-go or taking advantage of delivery services to stay home and binge-watch their favorite shows. All over the country, new virtual restaurants called “ghost kitchens” have been popping up, sometimes operating different takeout/delivery concepts based around specific foods like burgers or pizza, all out of a single kitchen without any sort of dining room attached. As Nashville restaurants pivoted to off-premise dining models, some really embraced the new reality and perfected the
Photo: Daniel Meigs
By Chris Chamberlain
Cafe Roze process of preparing and delivering food with little or no human contact. Menus have been tightened to facilitate ease of ordering and preparation, and “family meals” are now a major part of many restaurants’ offerings. Will diners continue to avail themselves of these opportunities, and will carryout become important incremental revenue in addition to regular dining-room service after restaurants open up again? Only time will tell.
Will you continue to cook more meals at home even after your favorite restaurants have fully reopened?
While social media used to be filled with diners’ photos of amazing dishes cooked by professionals, now you’re more likely to scroll through the timeline and see homemade bread and inventive uses of okra that was salvaged from deep within someone’s freezer. Many people have embraced cooking for their families at home during the pandemic, turning it into almost a patriotic act combined with the sort of self-expression that is still Instagrammable. This is in spite of the fact that staple kitchen ingredients have often been hard to come by. Let’s pour one out for all those blameless soon-to-be-neglected sourdough starters that are certain to be the final casualties of the COVID-19 epidemic when their owners stop feeding them.
Will you make dining decisions based on how restaurants treated their employees?
You could call Nashville “the world’s biggest small town.” We are indeed a very close-knit community where people know who the good bosses are and who laid off their entire staff with a note taped to the front door of their restaurant. In the rush to reopen, there may very well be a period like football free agency, during which the more coveted employees choose where they want to hang their aprons based on how owners treated their former workers. Going forward, restaurants will also need to maintain focus on the safety of their employees as much as their patrons. And we’ll be watching — you can bet on that!
Will you remember/care about which chain restaurants tried to make PPP claims? Whether they ended up keeping the
money or not, there will probably be some pushback on bigger restaurants that jumped to the front of the line for Payroll Protection Plan payments, severely stretching the definition of “small business.” J. Alexander’s Holdings busted through the $10 million cap by applying separately for its flagship restaurant chain as well as for its subsidiary Stoney River Steakhouse and Grill. Other chains with Nashville locations — like Shake Shack, Ruth’s Chris and Potbelly — also suffered from bad publicity once their applications were revealed. All four corporations subsequently announced they would return the funds, but it remains to be seen whether the dining public will be left with a bad taste in their mouths.
emptying their larders of food and supplies during a lengthy shutdown. Now add in this complication: The crisis began just as many farmers were making planting decisions for the year, and ranchers were planning spring breeding. Now there are stories of livestock being slaughtered to avoid the expense of feeding them during these times of uncertainty, as well as farmers leaving crops to rot in the fields, plowing under their rows or just not planting at all. The same food supply chain that provides inventory for grocery stores also sells to restaurants, and that system is at best extremely delicate, if not broken. Hang on to those dried beans you bought but haven’t figured out how to cook yet.
Will you be willing to pay more for your food now that you understand how close to the bone restaurants run their operations?
Will your attitudes toward downtown celebrity restaurants, conventioneers and various tourist activities change once you realize how much impact they have on the city’s finances?
Hopefully consumers are now more aware of the razor-thin profit margin that restaurants operate on, most returning 90 percent or more of their revenue to their restaurants and the community in staff salary, rent, taxes and payments to their food and beverage purveyors. With little or no safety net to survive extraordinary circumstances like these, the current restaurant model has been exposed as untenable based on current pricing levels. The “New Normal” may include changes such as more limited menus, higher prices and changes to the traditional tipping system that has created pay inequalities between serving and kitchen staff. Even as diners also suffer through record unemployment and battered savings accounts, they’d best be prepared to dig a little deeper in their pockets for restaurant meals going forward.
Will you want to know more about the farmers/ purveyors who provide food to restaurants now that the delicate nature of the nation’s food supply chain has been exposed? Remember how hard it was to find some items at the very beginning of the state and citywide stay-at-home orders, as grocery shoppers hoarded paper goods, meat and produce? Imagine what that will be like when all the restaurants in the nation try to reopen at essentially the same time after
Whether or not you ever dined at “Ol’ Kid Red Rock’s 32 Bridge Good Time Riviera Underground Whiskey Row House + Rooftop Bar,” it has become apparent how critical tourist dollars have been to maintaining Nashville’s white-hot economic boom over the past few years. While building the Music City Center was definitely a risky $600 million-plus gamble coming out of the 2008 recession, it has paid off in the form of hundreds of thousands of visitors spending their money for food, drink and lodging. Nashvillians are already facing the difficulty of Mayor John Cooper’s proposed property tax increase as the result of our precarious Metro financial situation, and if the tourists don’t “come back soon, y’all,” it’s only going to get worse. So even if you don’t want to actually hug a conventioneer the next time you see somebody with a plastic badge hanging around their neck strolling around downtown, you might want to at least thank them for coming. It’s going to take a concerted communal effort to revive our restaurant and hospitality industry after we emerge from the CoronaDome, and there are still more questions than answers at this point. How diners answer these questions will be crucial as to whether next year’s headline is “Wither Nashville Restaurants.” Email editor@nashvillescene.com
nashvillescene.com | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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NASHVILLE SCENE | MAY 14 – MAY 20, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
Critics’ Picks D IST A N C I N G
E D ITI O N
ride your bike
There are few things I love more than learning about a subculture I know nothing about. Model trains? Check out the article “The Great Model Train Robbery” by Austin Carr, published last year in Bloomberg Businessweek. Rare feather collecting? Read The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson. Taxidermy? Watch Erin Derham’s documentary Stuffed, which you can rent on iTunes for $4.99. I recently had the opportunity to learn about rare book collectors by renting The Booksellers via the Belcourt’s site. Directed by D.W. Young, the documentary dives into the world of New York City’s antiquarian booksellers — what drives them, what moves them, and what challenges they face as the industry changes. Young takes us through the stacks of Midtown’s Argosy Book Store, the East Village’s Strand Bookstore and the annual Antiquarian Book Fair, but the most beguiling destinations are the archives of private collectors. One dealer’s New Jersey warehouse houses 300,000 books, plus random ephemera like taxidermied seagulls. Another’s cramped book nook includes a set of volumes about the history of the Catacombs of Paris — the set is so
heavy that he has never moved it from its spot on the shelf. While many are obsessed with first editions, others seek books that are inscribed with personal notes or show evidence of being read and loved. One collector seeks out early hip-hop journalism that was never digitized. Another shows off a book that contains the preserved fur of a wooly mammoth. With commentary from authors such as Fran Lebowitz, Susan Orlean and Kevin Young, The Booksellers explores how the books landscape has changed over the past 20 years, and why books are still vital. Visit belcourt.org to purchase a stream of the film, with half the proceeds going toward the theater itself. ERICA CICCARONE [STRAIGHT BUGGIN’]
Get Into Entomology
There is more biodiversity under a rock in your backyard than there is in the Amazon rainforest. OK, that’s not true. It is true, however, that beneath our feet — and in the miasma that swirls around our heads — is a treasure trove of buzzing wonders without which there would be no other life. Pulitzer Prize winner E.O. Wilson is perhaps the world’s most famous entomologist (technically, he’s a myrmecologist — an ant expert), and he once noted that if every get into entomology
human disappeared from the earth, the planet would simply revert to the state in which it existed several hundred thousand years ago, but if insects were to disappear, everything else would die within a few months. It doesn’t require a once-in-ageneration brain (or once-in-a-generation eyesight; Wilson lost his right eye in a fishing accident when he was young, but his left eye developed 20/10 vision) to appreciate the creepy-crawlies that make our world go. Wonder at the honeybees and their cartographic choreography. Wonder too at their cousins, the bumblebees — mini blimps whose flying confounds scientists. Watch the ants do the drilling that would make a Marine green with envy. Be as calm as the mantis, as still as a phasmid. Be not afraid of the wasp or the hornet (be a little afraid). Watch the butterflies float and the water striders flit. Wish on a ladybug, sing with the crickets. Grab a little net, if you wish, and a magnifying glass (careful not to burn our three-sectioned friends!) and a field guide to learn more. Or simply watch and ask, whaur ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie?
certain producers have under their belts, and the banter between songs adds context to how these hits got made, and how a long time ago these artists were all hungry upand-comers taking inspiration from each other. That strength does emphasize that the series caters to a nostalgic crowd, whether they came up in the ’90s or the Aughts. It’s also a dude-heavy lineup, lacking women until Erykah Badu and Jill Scott faced off in the most recent entry. All that said, as a boom-bap fan, my favorite of the bunch is DJ Premier vs. RZA. Fans of 2000s radio hits will delight in T-Pain’s bout with Lil Jon, and those looking for R&B will dig Babyface and Teddy Riley’s rematch. These sessions are still available online, so take a listen and enjoy — debating the winners is totally optional. ALEJANDRO RAMIREZ SPORTS
Watch The Booksellers via the Belcourt
[I WANT TO RIDE MY BICYCLE!]
Ride Your Bike With Tips From Walk Bike Nashville
There are many conflicting messages out there right now: Stick to a routine! Try something new! Stay active! Practice stillness! Eat better! Eat comfort foods! My J.R. LIND take: There are no rules anymore. But riding my bike makes me feel like I’m back in The [SCRATCH AN ITCH] World, and the forward momentum Watch Verzuz Beat Battles of even a brief ride jolts me on Instagram Live Editor’s Note: As out of depression. The When megaproducers a response to Metro’s advocacy group Walk Bike Timbaland and Swizz Beats stay-at-home order to help Nashville offers a bevy of hopped onto Instagram for slow the spread of COVID-19, resources on its website, a friendly beat-spinning we’ve changed the focus of our Critics’ Picks section. Rather than walkbikenashville.org. competition focused on pointing you in the direction of Check out a Q&A with their respective catalogs events happening this week in Mindy Johnson, a member of hits, they kicked off a Nashville, here are some activities of the organization’s board series of shows that have you can partake in while you’re at home practicing social and a registered nurse, who been providing hip-hop distancing. provides some solid advice heads with plenty of music for biking during a pandemic: as well as fodder for debates. stay six feet apart from everyone, Now called Verzuz, these Saturday including other cyclists; avoid high-touch night battles pit legendary producers surfaces like benches, poles and ledges; (and at times, songwriters) head to head, wash your hands before and after; try not to and while they’re dubbed battles, there’s touch your face; and if you’re experiencing actually a lot of respect between the titans symptoms, stay home. Metro has restricted who show up. The list of names includes social gatherings, so it’s best to take to the the RZA, DJ Premier, The-Dream, Scott streets alone. Stick to low-traffic areas with Storch and Mannie Fresh. It’s also a vivid plenty of shoulder room. Walk Bike offers reminder of just how many rap classics MUSIC
[BIBLIOPHILIA]
bugs
FILM
the booksellers
nashvillescene.com | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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Photo: Eric England
S O C I A L
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critics’ picks
Watch ‘The Rug Really Ties the Zoom Together: Adam on the Coens’
MUSIC
[HEADS UP]
Take a Deep Dive Into the Grateful Dead on the Internet Archive
Since 1996, the nonprofit Internet Archive has been working toward a noble (if somewhat Sisyphean) goal: “Our mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge.” That means storing and organizing a massive quantity of books, software, television broadcasts, entire websites and more, all available for free. Among the offerings are thousands of hours of live music, and that includes
We count: First time voters what’s likely the most thorough assembly of digitized Grateful Dead concert tapes. Throughout its run from 1965-1995, the archetypal jam band encouraged fans to tape its shows, and since the Internet Archive’s curated collection was launched in 2004, it has amassed more than 14,500 recordings (frequently multiple tapes of the same show). Sound quality varies, but is often quite good — there are even some Betty Boards, the unofficial name for superb soundboard recordings mixed by engineer Betty Cantor-Jackson. If you’ve been curious about the singular, wideranging American musical institution that is the Dead, or have just been curious as to what Deadheads are so excited about, you can trace the group’s evolution by picking out shows from different years from the archive. One place to start is with some Nashville dates: Compare the partial recording of the Oct. 21, 1972, show at Vanderbilt to the two 1978 shows at Municipal Auditorium (April 22 and Dec. 16). Six years of touring and absorbing more influences sharpens and focuses the band a bit for the ’78 shows, but there’s a different kind of exploratory energy in the ’72 show that also tells an important part of the band’s story. There’s lots more Dead to uncover in the archive, and plenty else besides. Pro tip: Seek out Nashville shows by the delightfully warped rock band Ween from 1996 at 328 Performance Hall and 2018 at the Ryman. Those gigs featured The Shit Creek Boys, some of the A-list Nashville session players who performed on Ween’s beloved album 12 Golden Country Greats. STEPHEN TRAGESER
where the Shellac and Big Black main man, Electrical owner and analog guru’s cult following has gathered online since the late ’90s. An industrious, passionate gang of music nerds, the EA faithful get together semiregularly for weekend-long fests dubbed “PRF BBQs” in Chicago, Louisville and other noise- and math-rockfriendly cities. Another PRF pastime is its monthly covers series on Bandcamp. Each month, all are encouraged to record and upload a cover of a song by a specific influential artist or group. At the end of the month there is a public vote, and the winner gets to choose the next artist in the series. We’re not just talking Nirvana, the Pixies and Jesus Lizard here — March’s subject was Dolly Parton, April was Low and this month it’s The Magnetic Fields. With no shortage of time (but little structure) for practicing music at home right now, why not take a fave tune from 69 Love Songs or elsewhere in the Stephin Merritt songbook and make a home-recording project of it? Even if the Fields’ erudite indie pop isn’t your thing, it’s fun to dig into the tribute series’ archive and hear so many different interpretations of familiar songs from veteran musicians and novices alike — no
Albini fanboy or fangirl card required. Visit prfmonthlytributeseries.bandcamp. com to listen to covers, and join the corresponding Facebook group (tinyurl. com/prftributeseries) for instructions on how to submit your own. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN COMEDY
Over the course of 36 years and roughly two-dozen films, brothers Joel and Ethan Coen have forged one of the most diverse and celebrated catalogs in the history of American cinema. Just ask Adam Nayman, author of 2018’s The Coen Brothers: This Book Really Ties the Films Together, who will deliver a pay-what-you-can Zoom lecture on May 19 by the name of “The Rug Really Ties the Zoom Together: Adam on the Coens.” For an idea of the kind of analysis you can expect, cue up “The Coen Brothers’ Circular Filmography,” an 11-minute video by Nayman for the Toronto International Film Festival’s TIFF Originals YouTube channel. In the video, the critic and author explores the concept of the circle — both as a design principal and in terms of narrative structure — in Coen Brothers movies, from The Hudsucker Proxy’s hula hoop and No Country for Old Men’s fateful quarter to the looping narratives of Miller’s Crossing, Inside Llewyn Davis, The Big Lebowski and beyond. It’s real film-nerd catnip, and for Tuesday’s lecture Nayman promises to use “a series of clips to examine aspects of the brothers’ cinema,” with a Q&A to follow. Plus, 100 percent of proceeds from donations for the webinar will go toward a grief and anxiety counseling organization that is serving families in Toronto during the pandemic. Just RSVP via Eventbrite. And while you’re at it, revisit a couple of choice selections from the Coens’ filmography to get in the mood. While my personal favorites are Fargo, Raising Arizona and the aforementioned No Country (all of which are available for rental via Amazon Prime for $3 or $4), you can’t really go wrong with any of it, from 1984’s Blood Simple to 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. 7-9 p.m. Tuesday, May 19 D. PATRICK RODGERS
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“My Existence is Political,“ Beizar Aradini Poem by Drenusha Kolshi with translation by Mimoza Kolshi
[REINVENTING THE WHEEL]
MUSIC
FILM
a list of cycle-worthy routes. (We suggest staying out of crowded parks, however — looking at you, Shelby Bottoms Greenway.) Metro recently announced its Slower Streets program, and 4.5 miles of road will be closed to through traffic — but open to local traffic and deliveries — to encourage walking and biking at a safe distance. Learn more at nashville.gov/public-works. If your bike hasn’t seen the light of day in recent years, Walk Bike Nashville also offers tips on readying it for the road again. Don’t have a bike? Local shops like Halcyon Bike Shop and Green Fleet Bikes are still open, though with reduced hours and new social distancing procedures. Check the Walk Bike directory to research the best local spot, and give ’em a call. ERICA CICCARONE
[HE LOVES EVERYTHING]
Check Out New Comedy Specials on Netflix
Just when I’m beginning to think it’s time to trim down my collection of streaming services (is 12 too many?), Netflix pulls me back in with the promise of a new Patton Oswalt stand-up special. No trailer was available at press time, but Variety reports that in I Love Everything (dropping May 19), Oswalt explores “the hilarities of embracing his 50s, including how attending his daughter’s second-grade art show cost him the opportunity to board the Millennium Falcon, and the trials and errors of buying a house.” Sounds … boring? But it likely won’t be — Oswalt’s a master. Whether he’s talking about fatherhood, Star Wars or our president looking like “a scrotum dipped in Cheeto dust,” Oswalt has a knack for weaving both profound and mundane experiences into a tapestry that
[PREMIERE ROCK]
Submit a Song to Steve Albini’s PRF Monthly Covers Challenge
The message board for Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studio is nicknamed the PRF, or “Premiere Rock Forum.” It’s
Patton Oswalt in I love EVerything
Nashville Scene | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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critics’ picks
ART
MEGAN SELING [cOUNTiNG eXeRcise]
Visit the Frist Virtually to see We Count: First time Voters
FOOD & DRINK
The Frist is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s ratification with We Count, an exhibition that was originally intended for its Conte Community Gallery, featuring work by five Nashville-based artists who made works about the various ways Nashvillians experience the voting process. The exhibit moved online, but it’s strong enough — and the Frist has made enough resources accessible online — to warrant attention. Artists Beizar Aradini, M Kelley, Jerry Bedor Phillips, Thaxton Waters II and Donna Woodley each met with community members to discuss their perspectives on voting, and then created works to represent those conversations. It’s a dynamic exhibit — Aradini created an embroidered portrait of a refugee friend whose experience in Kosovo highlights the importance of civil freedom, and Woodley made paintings of an elderly Nashville native who has missed only a single election since she was 18 years old. Kelley’s contributions are particularly striking — a set of four fabric flags that represent “the journey of reentry” for formerly incarcerated felons with suspended voting rights. Each artwork in We Count, along with videos of the artists speaking about their work, a virtual tour, and tons of historical contextualization, are available to view now at fristartmuseum.org. LAURA HUTSON HUNTER [ONliNe eaTiNG]
Watch cheF V’s cooking Videos
A few weeks ago, something mesmerizing popped up in my Instagram stories. Vasisht Ramasubramanian — say that a few times and you’ll know why people call him Chef V — started making cooking videos as a way to break the quarantine boredom. He was trained at the CIA (the culinary institute, not the spy agency), so his technique is evident when you see things like perfectly diced carrots. There are videos for perfect surf-and-turf as well as Indian fare like chickpea masala and baingan bharta (eggplant) and even chicken tikka masala. A veteran of Chauhan Ale & Masala House, The Hook and Barcelona, Chef V says he had never done much with social media before the pandemic besides posting pictures of his family. (He and his wife Ali have an adorable 2-year old.) But when he started playing with the tools in IG stories, he was fascinated. Sometimes his content comes from simple matters, like cleaning out the pantry — a deliciouslooking pozole came from one raid — and other times it’s a request from the family, like Thai red curry with chicken. While his day job as a corporate chef consultant is on
hold, we get pictures of perfect omelettes and garlicky naan. These videos are a great bit of inspiration to cook outside your comfort zone. He’s absolutely worth a follow — find him on Instagram at @chefvram.
BOOKS
STEVE CAVENDISH
A Division of The Heritage Foundation of Williamson County
(615) 538-2076 • WWW.FRANKLINTHEATRE.COM •419 MAIN STREET, FRANKLIN, TN 37064
ARTS SEASON NEW! 2020-21 PERFORMING SEPTEMBER 2020 - APRIL 2021
[BOOKs aND sMaRT PeOPle]
Watch a Politics and Prose eVent
Two fantastic local bookstores, The Bookshop and Parnassus, have kept Nashville’s book supply flowing thanks to their online shops, stellar recommendations and curated reading lists. But both shops, understandably, had to clear their calendars once COVID-19 hit, and if you’re anything like me, you’re missing the live reading events that bookstores usually host. The good news is that D.C.-based bookshop Politics and Prose is here for you. The shop has managed to shift its live programming online, and its calendar is packed with appearances from notable authors, politicians and celebrities who discuss books and topics that feel especially relevant and vital right now. On May 18, political commentator and former South Carolina state representative Bakari Sellers will discuss his new memoir, My Vanishing Country, with special guest Kamala Harris and moderator Tiffany Cross. On May 19, author Stephanie Danler will discuss Stray, the story about both her and her parents’ struggles with addiction, with author and actor Jamie Lee Curtis. And June brings Nothing Is Wrong and Here Is Why author Alexandra Petri with beloved New Yorker TV critic Emily Nussbaum. Most events are “ticketed” and require purchasing the book from the Politics and Prose website at least 24 hours in advance. Visit politics-prose.com for information. MEGAN SELING THEATER
is hilarious and relatable, even if you’re not a 51-year-old white dad. And speaking of brilliant, thoughtful comics who aren’t afraid to call bullshit on the systemic issues plaguing our society, Hannah Gadsby is also releasing a new Netflix special this month. Douglas — the highly anticipated follow-up to Gadsby’s Emmy-winning and 100-percent-fresh-on-Rotten Tomatoes special Nanette — will premiere May 26. OK, Netflix, I’ll keep you. For now.
GREAT PERFORMANCES SERIES
CELEBRATION OF DANCE SERIES
FAMILY SPOTLIGHT SERIES
FOR ALL FT LIVE & PERFORMING ARTS SEASON EVENTS VISIT FRANKLINTHEATRE.COM
THE SPIN
[MaKe a liTTle MUsic]
curate a BroadWay Birthday Playlist
Despite some technical glitches, the star-studded livestream event “Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration” proved to be a huge success — not only honoring the genius of composer Stephen Sondheim, but also reminding us of the resilience of Broadway performers. And while you can still check out the virtual concert on broadway.com’s YouTube channel, why not create your own playlist, honoring notable Broadway birthdays for the month of May? You might start with iconic performances from Idina Menzel (May 30), who made her Broadway debut with Rent and went on to win a Tony for her work as Elphaba in Wicked, before deciding to “Let It Go” in the Disney animated film Frozen. Adam Jacobs (May 17) made his name with big shows like Les Misérables and Mamma Mia! before originating the title role in Aladdin. And Sierra Boggess (May 20) is best known for her work in The Phantom of the Opera and The Little Mermaid. Other big May birthdays include Kate Baldwin (May 2), who earned Tony nominations for Finian’s Rainbow and Hello, Dolly!; Phillipa Soo (May 31), of Hamilton fame; and Irving Berlin (May 11), whose contributions to Broadway, film and the Great American Songbook are legendary. AMY STUMPFL
YOUR TICKET TO SHOWS...
REVIEWED nashvillescene.com/music/spin
MAY 14 MAY 20,2,2020 1 ––Month 2015|| NASHVILLE nashvillescene.com| |Month nashvillescene.com NashvilleSCENE sceNe
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5/11/20 4:44 PM
culture
Say Hello in There Two local initiatives are keeping older adults connected while sheltering in place
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n Feb. 28, Aireka Harvell and her family celebrated the 90th birthday of her grandmother, Vastia Beard, whom Harvell affectionately calls Granny Poo. Beard, says Harvell, is the backbone of the family — and she’s very funny. “She’s the grandmother who you wanted to spend the night with,” says Harvell. “It didn’t matter if you stayed at Granny Poo’s house for a week because it felt like home.” Days after Granny Poo’s birthday, as cases of the novel coronavirus in the U.S. increased, Harvell sent a group text to her family. “Hey,” she wrote. “We need to quarantine Granny. Nobody go see her until we know what this is.” Then, Harvell says: “It just made me think, ‘OK, if I’m this worried about my grandmother, what about the other seniors who don’t have family here? How are they eating? How are they being taken care of?’ We just started mobilizing to make sure that seniors were OK.” Harvell started a Facebook group to organize volunteers to buy and deliver groceries to older adults who were sheltering in place. The group, Nashville Seniors Grocery Runs, quickly gained roughly 100 members, and Harvell had her hands full performing background checks on volunteers and matching them with those in need of food. A mother of four, Harvell owns an entrepreneurassistance startup called Nodat. She’s aiding some small businesses in applying for SBA loans and figuring out how to stay afloat during the economic crisis. Eager to connect with more seniors, Harvell reached out to Vice Mayor Jim Shulman, who is also the director of the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability. Shulman suggested they partner on a small program that TCAD already had in place. Care Through Conversation matches older adults and caregivers with volunteers for telephone check-ins.
Volunteers make regular calls to older adults to find out how they’re doing and what they need. The volunteers report to TCAD, where staffers conduct an assessment and provide resources to those in need. But the calls began filling another need during the pandemic — companionship. Since older adults are particularly vulnerable to contracting the coronavirus — and because they often have underlying health issues that can cause complications if they do contract the virus — they face additional hardships when sheltering in place. Senior centers are closed, and retirement centers are unable to allow visitors. Without their regular social interactions, seniors can feel isolated and forgotten. “We do expect and are seeing, at least in the people that we’re serving, increased feelings of social isolation and loneliness,” says Sarah Elliott, the Tennessee dementia services coordinator at TCAD. “Another thing that is particular to the older adult population is that as we’re seeing phased plans here locally in Nashville and also at the state level … it’s being recommended through the CDC and others that [older adults] stay home and continue to self-isolate and only go out for essential activities, even though other age groups are able to go back out. They could potentially be experiencing feelings of social isolation and loneliness longer than other individuals who are starting to phase back in.” TCAD has added 700 new volunteers to its ranks in the Care Through Conversation program, as well as its meal-delivery and food-box-packaging program. Harvell calls three older adults per week — in addition to her regular check-ins with Granny Poo — and she says one of her charges has no family in Nashville. Another lives with his son and grandson. She looks forward to taking them out to lunch when the pandemic passes. “I personally have received a lot of feedback from the older adults in the program who I’ve been talking to about what a bless-
Photo: Eric England
By Erica Ciccarone
Aireka Harvell ing it is,” says Elliott. “They say they feel really comforted that someone’s checking on them to see if they need anything, but also feel really comforted by the conversation, that they have someone to talk to.” But it’s not the only initiative that’s connecting volunteers to older adults. In March, Gallatin Senior Citizen’s Center requested that the Greater Nashville Regional Council send over some cards for its members, who could no longer use the facility. GNRC began to reach out to other centers and retirement communities across the state. So far, 200 volunteers have sent over 2,000 letters. Volunteers have the option to include their address so recipients can write back. “It’s very important to connect them, sending them some joy,” says Rebecca Nofi, the GNRC volunteer coordinator. “A lot of people have been sending them artwork and beautiful handmade cards. I think it’s definitely brought some cheer. It’s not going to
solve all the issues, but it’s a way to connect a little bit.” These initiatives are also showing civic leaders that such services would benefit older adults in general. Harvell agrees. “It’s not just about COVID,” Harvell says. “It’s about making sure that they feel connected from here on out. This needs to be something that senior citizens have access to, to stay connected to our community, because they are the foundation. They helped build this place. They need to be taken care of, so I would love to see this continue and grow.” To volunteer with Caring Through Conversation, or to receive services yourself, visit tn.gov/aging or call 615-253-4307. To volunteer with GNRC, visit gnrc.org/volunteer. Visit the Nashville Seniors Grocery Runs Facebook group to work with Harvell to get essential items to older adults. Email arts@nashvillescene.com
Letter writers for GNRC
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Nashville Scene | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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art
Totally Wired
An outstanding exhibition of video art arrives right on time By Laura Hutson Hunter
“Isn’t the World Just a Great Big Pyramid Scheme?,” Gabriella Torres-Ferrer
“Internet Aerobics,” Liat Berdugo
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ot everyone finds it helpful to point out the silver linings to a global pandemic. People have less bandwidth for frivolous pleasures, even though you’d think there would be more time for Future Framed Works unrequitedleisure.com/online everything. So if I say it’s the perfect time for Unrequited Leisure’s online exhibition, it’s not because art is here to deliver us from the collective episode of The Twilight Zone we’re all stuck in. It’s because Future Framed Works showcases the best ways that art is constantly adapting and evolving, pushing imagination and expectations. The exhibition takes the form of a dedicated website, and hosts four video works by four artists — Liat Berdugo, Gabriella Torres-Ferrer, Rebecca Forstater and Bahareh Khoshooee — that are loosely based on performances in online spaces. The exhibition statement says it’s experimental, but that’s not to say it’s unthoughtful or carelessly conceived. Berdugo’s “Internet Aerobics” is a 20-minute video that apes the corny aesthetic of late-’80s and early-’90s aerobics videos, but is also a strangely sweet ode to the online age. Three women in hyperlinkblue leg-warmers and sweatbands perform choreographed routines to songs about the internet, like Le Tigre’s “Get Off the Internet.” It’s a joke that should overstay its welcome after about two minutes, but thanks to the artist’s dedication to detail — the ethernet cables the performers use as exercise props, the canned applause between tracks, the bland computer-lab setting — it works. Berdugo, who is based in Oakland, Calif., has performed the piece as a participatory event in recent years, leading groups of people through the motions of internet adoration via cardio. It’s tongue-in-cheek and campy, but also enthusiastic about the very thing it makes fun of — both aerobics and online culture. The lightheartedness makes it an ideal point of entry for a show of video art that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Torres-Ferrer’s interactive piece is the exhibition’s highlight, even though you have to navigate away from Unrequited Leisure’s website to fully access it. The piece, titled “Isn’t the World Just a Great Big Pyramid Scheme?,” is what I imagine the internet would look like in a dream. Vaguely sexy but also bland and nonsensical, it’s seductive in a way that reminds me of a phrase a friend once used to describe a downbeat ambient song: “suicide beige.” In her artist’s statement, Torres-Ferrer calls the piece “a commercial web détournement,” and the interface encourages you to explore the surface of the website like a creepy internet stalker. There’s a Winamp music player that plays atonal noise, empty corpo-
rate-speak like “bypass the classic power contra-power strategy,” and intentional misspellings that bring to mind glitchy auto-translation apps. If Torres-Ferrer’s piece feels like a dream about the internet, Forstater’s “There’s Enough for Everybody” feels like a dream about QVC. Forstater creates a lo-fi version of deepfake technology by wearing silicone masks of cast members of The Real Housewives of New York City, then running them through a Snapchat face-swapping filter with a photo of the cast member’s face. She talks about making chicken Parm with a rubbery, unmoving facial expression and a thick Long Island accent, and it makes me never want to eat anything ever again. It’s a bizarre dive into the uncanny plasticity of reality television and social media, and I almost wish I knew more about the Real
Housewives franchise, just so I could soak in the references. “MaxMotives” is one of a series of works by Khoshooee, a New York-based artist from Tehran who went to art school in Tampa, Fla. She references that confluence of cities in her art with an interest in diaspora culture and fragmentation. Khoshooee’s contribution to Future Framed Works is the first episode in a fictitious reality show in which her virtual alter egos discuss a new baby. One alter ego has an on-camera interview that mimics the “confessional” trope of reality TV, and speaks in Farsi with subtitles running beneath her. The mundanity of her words — “If I’m being honest with you, I think this baby, um, is my baby” — is set against the extravagant aesthetics of cyberspace. It’s Big Brother filtered through New Wave futurism, at once
boring and visually rich, and it’s a perfect fit for an exhibition about the uncanny and the mundane. The entire exhibit feels extremely cohesive, which is mostly due to the curatorial acumen of gallery directors Chalet Comellas Baker and Clinton Sleeper, but also because the web design is structured to tie each video together. Each piece appears on the same static-filled surface with the same floating blue squares that travel across the videos as they play. It’s slightly annoying, but it’s such a confident addition that it reads as visionary. In the world of digital art exhibitions — which is the only kind of art exhibition we really have right now — style isn’t separate from substance. There is no simulacrum when “online-only” is all there is. Email arts@nashvillescene.com
nashvillescene.com | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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5/11/20 5:01 PM
books
While the Scene is covering COVID-19, you have US covered.
A Merry Mess
Blue Marlin is a rollicking road trip through author Lee Smith’s own fictional history By Tina ChamBers
T
he latest offering from iconic Southern writer Lee Smith is Blue Marlin, a sweet and funny novella loosely based on her family history. Smith says in an afterword, “Of all the stories I’ve ever written, this one is dearest to me, capturing the essence of my own childhood.” Before readers finish the first paragraph, it will be evident that they are in the hands of a master storyteller. Narrator Jenny Dale begins with a bombshell: “In 1958, when my father had his famous affair with Carroll Byrd, I knew it before anybody. … Before, I’d been just any old thirteen-year-old girl on a bike. Now, I was a girl whose father was having an affair — a tragic girl, a dramatic girl. A girl with a burning secret. Everything was different.” Independent and brash, Jenny is entertaining company and a faithful witness to the painful events transpiring in the lives of her parents. A late-in-life addition to her family, Jenny worships her beautiful yet superficial mother and her hyper-responsible, hard-working father. Her most important goals in life are to become a writer and to hit puberty: “I was simply dying to get Blue Marlin my period, grow By Lee Smith breasts, turn into BLair 136 pageS, $15.95 a sexpot and do as
it.” In the meantime, she lies, steals, spies on everyone she knows, breaks things when she’s angry and even stoops to lacing her abrasive grandmother’s tapioca pudding with talcum powder. In short, she’s a hoot. As she rides her bike around her small Virginia town, Jenny keeps detailed notes in a Davy Crockett spiral notebook of all she observes for future use in her career as a novelist. It’s on one of her spying trips that she discovers her father’s infidelity. When, through no fault of her own, the truth is suddenly revealed to the whole town, chaos ensues and Jenny is shipped off to stay with relatives for a time. She is later retrieved and “treated” to a trip to Key West, Fla., with her very-much-estranged parents as they attempt to repair their marriage. Jenny tries to take a long view of her troubles: I saw myself as an island with time stretching out before me and behind me, all around me like a deep lake, mysterious and never-ending, like Lake Nantahala, where I lost my ring, where a person might lose anything. This precarious view made everything that happened to me seem very, very important. I had to see as much as I could see, learn as much as I could learn, feel as much as I could feel. I had to live like crazy all the time, an attitude that would get me into lots of trouble later.
much damage as Mama, who had broken every heart in Charleston and had a charm bracelet made out of fraternity pins to prove
That attitude also makes for great storytelling possibilities, and here Smith pulls out all the stops, as Jenny’s experiences run the gamut from living with holy-roller cousins in South Carolina — where she discovers love in a bomb shelter — to meeting teenage Cuban strippers and Hollywood movie stars on the streets of Key West. It’s a rollicking road trip, a merry mess, and in this author’s capable hands, also a poignant story of loss and forgiveness. As Smith considers the ways in which her story is true and the ways in which it is not, she admits: “During a lifetime of writing, I have always felt that I can tell the truth better in fiction than nonfiction. Real life is often chaotic, mysterious, unfathomable. But in fiction, you can … instill some sort of order to create meaning, so that the story will make sense — where real life so often does not.” For 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!
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music
Come Together Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit get deep beneath the skin on Reunions By Steven Hale
photo: ALYSSE GAFKJEN
A
conversation with Jason Isbell in These Times starts out pretty much like a conversation with anyone else: with a heavierReunions out May than-normal 15 via Southeastern “How are Records you?” He thinks his wife — fiddler, singer-songwriter and member of The Highwomen Amanda Shires — might’ve had a run-in with COVID-19 a couple months ago. She came down with something, anyway, after the two returned from a trip to Hawaii and Japan earlier this year. But now things in his orbit are mostly fine. “I’m not terribly worried about the folks in our house,” says Isbell. “But yeah, as soon as you start looking outside your own driveway it gets pretty bleak.” Long after Isbell is gone, a significant part of his legacy as a songwriter will be his ability and willingness to write with honesty and insight — in songs that are memoir, short fiction or who the hell cares? — about both sides of that borderline. The knowledge that one might be able to make things some semblance of all right by locking the front door and shutting out the smoke from a world on fire provides the tension for the opening song of his new record, Reunions. The nearlyseven-minute slow-burner “What’ve I Done to Help,” which features backing vocals from David Crosby, is a meditation on apathy and inaction with the title serving as a mantra. If the vocal hook sounds familiar, it did to Isbell, too. He told Rolling Stone last month that, after trying to rearrange the song in the studio to make it sound less like Michael Kiwanuka’s “One More Night,” he gave up. He got in touch with Kiwanuka and credited him on the song. Isbell has been trying to help where he can. His new record comes out on Friday, but you might already have it. He offered Reunions one week early to fans who preordered it through independent record stores, which are fighting to survive the pandemic. If you did that, then you already know that it represents a turning of the page from the triptych of records — 2013’s Southeastern, 2015’s Something More Than Free and 2017’s The Nashville Sound — that helped him build a fan base that can pack out the Ryman for a seven-night stand. Much ado has already been made about the ghosts on the record, and it has an ethereal sound to match that recurring lyrical theme. If Southeastern often sounded like a man playing guitar in the corner of his
we started playing it live, our daughter Mercy noticed that riff. She was like, ‘I’ve heard that song before!’ ” The album represents a new sound for Isbell and his band — he says they spent a lot more time on production this time around and that his longtime collaborator, producer Dave Cobb, drove himself crazy poring over every bar of the record while mixing it. Even so, fans will recognize the touching of certain familiar bases. “Running With Our Eyes Closed” views a longtime romantic relationship through precise metaphors, while “It Gets Easier” addresses sobriety, albeit more explicitly than Isbell has before. Like The Nashville Sound, Reunions ends with a song dedicated to Mercy, and if wedding receptions are able to happen this fall, then the new tune “Letting You Go” is sure to be played at some. Isbell’s signature gift is conjuring scenes of happiness and beauty that are shrouded in sadness and grief. If you go to one of his concerts, it’s true, you will likely see some people crying. But if you think it’s just because he writes “sad songs,” you’re not listening closely enough. Even “Elephant,” the Southeastern track that is as utterly devastating as any song released this century, contains life-giving images like this: “But I’d sing her classic country songs / And she’d get high and sing along.” These moments appear on Reunions too, reverberating like good memories surrounded by more painful ones. In “Dreamsicle,” a youngster is living through their parents’ divorce. As the adolescent narrator is enjoying “a Dreamsicle on a summer night in a folding lawn chair,” a storm of strife swirls around them. The warmth of the happy moments, rather than the surrounding sadness, offers a way into this story. The way Isbell can gently navigate this territory is what compels us to listen to his songs again and again, likely as not while weeping during a morning commute or in a pew at the Mother Church. “You choose to go back to the Dreamsicle and the beauty of the summer night,” Isbell says, “and then once you’re there, then you can look around and remember the things that weren’t great.” Seeing Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit in the flesh is essential to understanding the relationship between Isbell and his dedicated fan base. A reunion of that sort, where the new songs will be inducted properly into the canon, is on hold until it’s safe to do so. But while we have to stay home, we can listen closely to the stories on the album and let them take us somewhere else. Email music@nashvillescene.com
home, Reunions sounds like a band playing at dusk in a big open barn — something like the inner jacket photo on Neil Young’s Harvest, maybe. “The music that I listened to growing up, and especially the stuff that was on the radio in the ’80s when I was a kid, it transported you to a place,” Isbell says. “We weren’t necessarily trying to re-create any of the sounds or any of the methods that they were using then, but the thing that we did want to re-create was that sort of transportation.” The first song Isbell wrote for the album is one he didn’t initially think would make the cut. “Only Children” is a haunting and beautiful dream-like rendering of young artists who still believe that dreams are only plans that haven’t yet come to fruition. Largely based on a recently departed friend from Isbell’s formative years, the song was written while Isbell and Shires were on vacation with friends in Greece, doing something similar to the characters in the song — exchanging notes on creative projects still in progress. But the sound of the record started to come together in Isbell’s mind later. “I think the one that really, for me, sort of signified a direction was ‘Overseas,’ and that was the next one that I wrote,” he says. “I wrote that when I got back home. I felt like it sort of led me on a path, at least sonically.” Written from the perspective of someone who is separated from their spouse amid political turmoil, “Overseas” is one of the
record’s standout tracks, a midtempo rocker that features Isbell wielding his words and his guitar like freshly sharpened knives. The song starts with one of the best quatrains he’s ever written, a glimpse of a novel I am now desperate to read: “This used to be a ghost town / But even the ghosts got out / And the sound of the highway died / There’s ashes in the swimming pool.” In place of a vocal hook, the song is anchored by a guitar riff as good as any Isbell’s ever created, a throwback that would not sound out of place were it being played by Tom Petty. “It took me a couple of days of just tweaking it a little bit at a time, and I know that everybody in the house could hear me working on it in the bedroom,” he says. “Then when
nashvillescene.com | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | Nashville Scene
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5/11/20 6:26 PM
music
Depth of Field
The Spin Rest Stops on the Information Superhighway
On Songs I Can’t Live Without, Marshall Chapman immerses herself in others’ tunes
By Brittney McKenna, Stephen Trageser and Charlie Zaillian
By Edd Hurt
P
I
called the legendary Nashville singer, songwriter and rock ’n’ roller Marshall Chapman on the phone, and merged onto the highway of her mind. It was an easy move, because Chapman is a world-class raconteur. In her rounded, comSongs I Can’t Live manding South CaroWithout out May 15 via lina drawl, Chapman Tall Girl Records tells me about traveling down Tennessee back roads with novelist William Gay, and recalls meeting Cowboy Jack Clement in Nashville in 1968. It’s legendary stuff, but Chapman has done the work that backs it up. In Nashville in the 1970s, Chapman learned songwriting in a vigorous milieu that proved perfect for the education of a bluff, funny practitioner of the art. Like Clement and the late John Prine, Chapman is a master of simplicity, and a great songwriter. I caught up with Chapman, who is 71, at her Nashville home in April. On Friday, she’s releasing a new, Nashville-recorded full-length, Songs I Can’t Live Without, which finds her covering material by the likes of Leonard Cohen and Bob Seger. Her first album in seven years, Songs is an elegant holding pattern that offers listeners a glimpse into Chapman’s sensibility. On Songs, Chapman ruminates over the material, supported by Neilson Hubbard’s minimalist production. The album works, but the pair of performances I saw Chapman give in April at Springwater were just as effective. At the venerable dive bar — where she began a weekly residency in December 2019 that has since become a livestream concert that benefits the venue’s employees — Chapman sat barefoot on the stage and accompanied herself on guitar. She brought a deft touch to songs that have become classics, like “Why Can’t I Be Like Other Girls” and “Goodbye Forever.” They sounded wise, sturdy and worthy of infinite reinterpretation. The sets summed up Nashville singersongwriterdom, but they also illustrated Chapman’s easeful performing style. “I was like, ‘Gidget goes to Nashville and gets a record deal’ — that’s the story of my life,” Chapman tells me. She was born in Spartanburg, S.C., in 1949 and moved to Nashville in 1967 to attend Vanderbilt University. Along the way, she says, folk guitarist Norman Blake gave her tips on Travis picking — a guitar technique made popular by country artist Merle Travis — in 1965. She signed to Epic Records in 1976, and released her debut full-length Me, I’m Feelin’ Free, the following year. The followup, 1978’s Jaded Virgin, and 1979’s Marshall got good reviews in the rock press, but Chapman never quite broke through. Looking back at her major label work, Chapman turns reflective. “I had zero control on the first two albums, and the third one, I really wanted to play
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rock ’n’ roll,” she says. “Back then, you either had to be country, or you had to be rock ’n’ roll. Making records was really painful back then, because I did not know how to get what I was hearing and feeling.” I first heard Chapman’s Epic albums around 1980, and I recall being impressed by her songwriting, which I connected to the work of New Wave artists like Nick Lowe and Chrissie Hynde. Sonically, the records sounded conservative in the era of Lowe and The Pretenders, which meant they didn’t register as strongly as they could have. After leaving Epic in 1980, Chapman regrouped. Star country outfit Sawyer Brown took “Betty’s Bein’ Bad” into the charts in 1985, resulting in a nice payday for the songwriter. The canned Nashville rock of her Epic albums didn’t obscure the quality of her songs, but she had needed something different — and more contemporary — all along. She got it on 1995’s It’s About Time..., recorded live at the Tennessee State Prison for Women. The playing of her band, which included guitarists Eddie Angel and James Hollihan, combines the approaches of Rockpile and Tom Petty. It’s the ideal setting for Chapman songs like the Chuck Berry-style rocker “Bizzy Bizzy Bizzy.” It’s About Time… serves as the ideal introduction to Chapman’s art, right down to the subtle drive of her band and her first-rate singing. Still, she proved herself a superb record-maker on her 2013 full-length Blaze of Glory, which may be her finest studio album to date. She duets with fellow Nashville tunesmith Todd Snider on the record’s “Love in the Wind,” and “Let’s Make Waves,” a co-write with Shannon Wright, is both silly and dead serious. Produced by Chapman and Michael Utley, Blaze of Glory registers as country music, but Chapman’s concept also makes room for Americana. As on Songs I Can’t Live Without, Chapman gets tactful backing on Blaze from Music City ax man Will Kimbrough,
who helps define the performances. She shines on The Delmore Brothers’ “Blues Stay Away From Me,” and she turns Hoagy Carmichael and Ned Washington’s “Nearness of You” to her own purposes. Chapman’s songwriting is pared down and highly effective throughout Blaze of Glory. On Songs, it’s her actorly instincts that come through most strongly on the material she’s chosen to interpret. The song selections aren’t surprising, but her hushed reading of Bobby Charles’ “Tennessee Blues” adds new levels of complexity to a great song. Meanwhile, Chapman revisits her roots in classic rock on her versions of Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page” and J.J. Cale’s “After Midnight.” As she tells me, she wasn’t pleased with the studio rock of Jaded Virgin, which may be her least effective record to date. You can hear how her record-making abilities have evolved by comparing that album’s somewhat sterile version of “Turn the Page” to the superb version included on Songs. “I didn’t listen to Jaded Virgin for 25 years, because I hated it,” Chapman says. “It took me till I was 60 years old to just have the confidence and the experience to make records.” Songs is an effective collection of covers, with rough edges left intact. Chapman slides through Cohen’s “Tower of Song” with style. Similarly, she turns seemingly banal material like Otis Blackwell and Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel” into stripped-down music that transcends nostalgia. I enjoy hearing her interpretations of rock and pop standards, but Chapman has the smarts to sing almost anything. Given a more detailed aural depth of field than Hubbard provides on Songs, Chapman could make an interpretive record on the order of, say, Marianne Faithfull’s 2008 Easy Come Easy Go: 12 Songs for Music Lovers. “I’ve always felt like a stranger in a strange land in Nashville,” Chapman says, “even though I adore Nashville now.” Email music@nashvillescene.com
art of what it will take to make it through the COVID-19 pandemic with your spirit in good shape is keeping your eyes on the prize. One thing we can look forward to when things get back to normal: a ton of new music from Heaven Honey, aka Jordan Gomes-Kuehner and her band. Thursday evening, she played an installment of the Scene’s No-Contact Shows livestream series, and most of the tunes she performed have yet to be released. Gomes-Kuehner, who made the move to Music City from Indiana in 2019, brought with her a rich voice and incisive, subtle songs that in many cases focus on people having a difficult time connecting with one another. She’s formed a band that’s adept at creating a lush, brooding landscape for those songs, and they’ve put on a slew of well-received shows around town. Though the coronavirus has made it unsafe for Heaven Honey to play together, Gomes-Kuehner picked up where the band left off with an assist from outstanding guitarist Josh Halper, from whose driveway the duo recorded their performance. As birds sang from nearby trees and diaphanous melodies shimmered from Halper’s amplifier, Gomes-Kuehner kicked off the set with a very new Mazzy Star-esque tune called “I Wanna Be Your Man.” They followed that with “Tomorrow I’ll Try,” which landed on digital platforms a few hours after the stream wrapped, and “Total Abandon,” a February single with a unique perspective on toxic masculinity. Then came a cover of “Lonely Girls,” a song from Lucinda Williams’ 2001 LP Essence. Gomes-Kuehner and Halper savored each measure of the song and its stellar economy of language. “I miss my band,” said Gomes-Kuehner as the pair got ready to end the set with “Nothing at All.” The tune is another asyet-unreleased Heaven Honey original, a slightly country-flavored song about feelings that linger when you wish they wouldn’t. “But that’s OK — it’s good to miss things, because then you won’t take them for granted whenever you have the opportunity to enjoy them again.” Friday afternoon, Becca Mancari shared a special treat: not a livestream, but a livein-studio performance filmed at her home in Madison with a couple of friends. One of those friends is Juan Solorzano, a nimble guitarist who uses effects and a variety of performance techniques to make extraordinary sounds, and who’s been collaborating with Mancari for the better part of a decade. The pair played “Hunter” and “First Time,” the two songs released so far from Mancari’s second LP The Greatest Part (out June 26 via Captured Tracks), as well as songs from her 2017 debut album Good Woman, plus “Annie,” a
Nashville Scene | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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MUSIC GENTLEMEN’S QUARANTINE: TIM GENT
A LITTLE HELP: BECCA MANCARI,JUAN SOLORZANO AND BRITTANY HOWARD song that isn’t on either record. Though the two albums sound very different, Mancari’s nuanced writing about navigating complex emotional territory is the thread that ties all of her work together. “I don’t know how you feel out there in the virtual world, but I hope you feel a little more connected to me, because I think this is all we get for a little while,” Mancari said near the end of the performance. “I can’t wait till we get to come back out.” If you need any more convincing to get excited about Mancari’s work, you can take the word of another of her friends who dropped in just before the end of the video. Brittany Howard, leader of Alabama Shakes and Mancari’s bandmate in Bermuda Triangle, appeared from behind the camera, revealing herself as the engineer for the session and offering a heartfelt endorsement of The Greatest Part. A little later on Friday, local rap aces Brian Brown and Tim Gent performed live from the top floor of the temporarily shuttered Acme Feed & Seed as part of Acme Radio Live’s Social Distancing Sessions. Joined by producer and musician A.B. Eastwood on DJ duty, each served a fresh, compelling set. Brown took the stage first, playing for almost an hour and focusing on his most recent project: his debut full-length Journey, which he released in January. He dedicated the Journey song “Flava,” an outstanding showcase for his athletic rhyming ability, to Ahmaud Arbery, a black man killed by two white men in February while he was jogging. “That incident down in Georgia,” Brown said. “Fuck all that. We need justice. There’s no other way for me to say that. … This song, I’m doing this for him. Rest in peace to him. Peace and blessings to his family. That shit is wild. It’s crazy that even in this time we still have to deal with that. That says a lot. I’m about sick of it, and I hope somebody out there is, too.” Early in his set, Gent addressed the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, “This corona got everybody down, man, but when it’s over we
gonna bounce right back.” His set featured old favorites and new music, including a new song, “A New Day.” Gent described the tune as “an emotional piece” for him, “about the real stuff we go through day to day.” The track, which has an airy hook built atop jazzy guitar riffs, finds Gent getting vulnerable, sharing difficulties from his past to encourage others to keep going. Gent also noted that he’s going to drop a new single, “Look and Live,” on May 15. He also hinted at a new EP coming soon, on a date TBA. The strength of the two MCs is always encouraging, but it’s especially so in a time when questions loom about what the future of the music business — and everything else — is going to look like. Like other musicians and music-biz folks abiding by the stay-at-home order, local musician, promoter, documentarian and longtime Scene freelance contributor Seth Graves has adapted, staging online events like Saturday’s 12-Hour LiveDream Extended Release. The streaming fest ran from noon to midnight, and 15 experimental electronic musicians, who either are Nashvillians or have strong local ties, shared fully or partly improvised pieces they’ve been working on during quarantine. The idea: Come and go as you wish, but take some time to fully immerse yourself in the tones and textures. The experience can feel something not unlike lucid dreaming. (Especially if you’ve been having trouble sleeping.) Standout sets included the gorgeously warped down-tempo soundscapes of patchbay pro Kim Rueger, alias Belly Full of Stars; Michael Hix, who crafted micro-symphonies from an assortment of keyboards laid out across his living room floor, flanked by houseplants and beams of light from outside; and Eve Maret, whose fluid modular-synth trilling seemed to stretch and twist time. Ryan Norris’ late-night Coupler set had an organic, off-the-cuff feel to it, with friend and collaborator Michael Albert sitting in on live piano, a programmed bossa nova beat keeping the pulse, and a nocturnal eeriness hovering over it all. Last year, Coupler took its live score of the Japanese silent gangster movie Dragnet Girl on the road, and from the sound of this set Norris is raring to do his next soundtrack. Odds are strong that the next 12-Hour LiveDream — a solid primer on the small, dedicated and oft-overlooked experimental music community in our backyard — is already in the pipeline, too. EMAIL THESPIN@NASHVILLESCENE.COM
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film
Primal Stream VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan Imaginative sci-fi, an Altman classic and more, now available to stream By Jason Shawhan
the long goodbye
jupiter ascending
W
hen I have to go out into public spaces and I see folks without masks, there are two distinct explanations: Not everyone has a mask due to economic imbalance/ opportunity; and some people are determined not to wear them because they are obstinate assholes who think they know better. I’m going to give people the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s because they haven’t been able to get masks rather than assuming they’re awful and just don’t care. Anyway, here’s the eighth installment of my ongoing series of things to watch. Check this space in past issues for more recommendations.
Jupiter Ascending on Netflix Jupiter Ascending is a dizzying marvel of imaginative space opera from Chicago’s reigning visionaries. What Lana and Lilly Wachowski do with this glitzy, bonkers, shimmering fantasy is blend together a secret princess fairy tale (this actually makes for a great double feature with The Princess and the Frog, now on Disney+ and Netflix), a family-succession soap opera, a political drama about an intergalactic empire built on human life, and all manner of alien creatures having laser fights — and it all fits together perfectly. Jupiter Ascending is a buffet of cinematic pleasure, like all of the Wachowskis’ efforts. In a just world, this is the film that Eddie Redmayne won his Oscar for. As it is, you get Channing Tatum as a genetically modified angel-werewolf warrior, Mila Kunis as a maid-turned-queen, so many amazing costume and spacecraft designs, and hench-dragons battling across the sky with supersoldiers on rocket skates. Did you know that bees don’t lie?
to the sands of time, even omitted from would-be think pieces about late-’80s/ early-’90s Hollywood having no idea what to do with Whoopi Goldberg. The 1988 film was directed by volatile treasure Rip Torn, written by Harry Nilsson (!) and Terry Southern (!!), and features Whoopi in close to a one-woman show (there are a few onescene cameos throughout, including Elliott Gould and Hervé Villechaize, because why not) as an out-of-work actress slipping into madness, clinging to her phone as her only link to the outside world. So let’s just call it relatable. If you’ve grown to love films like O.C. and Stiggs (a near-masterpiece) or The Whoopee Boys (hell on earth for many), this is for you.
Aliens (the extended version) on HBO Now and Hulu Aliens is a beloved classic, and anyone who still believes in physical media can tell you about its longer special-edition version, in print in some capacity since 1992 but not available in any legal virtual
aliens
The Telephone on Tubi and Amazon Prime The Telephone is one of those films maudits that was spoken of in joking terms for a year or so and then was lost
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spaces for many years. That changes now. Those additional 17 minutes do some emotional labor on the backstories of icon Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver got an Oscar nomination for this performance), the ultratragic Jorden family, the Hadley’s Hope colony on Acheron/LV-426, and some Colonial Marine technology. And while the extra material blunts the laser-sharp focus of the film’s theatrical cut, it gives so much more texture and theme to what all unfolds. Sadly, every HD version of this film has been scrubbed of all film grain, leaving waxy abstractions of the camera negative; if there’s any justice, someone can do a restoration of that first 1992 CAV LaserDisc release of this cut, which was of such pronounced grain structure that it buffeted the emotions like a sandstorm. And if Disney is going to start letting alternate cuts breathe in digital spaces, let’s have that vastly superior Alien3 Assembly Cut work its way out into the streaming world — the physical releases have done reputation rehab on that troubled film since 2003.
Curse of the Blair Witch on Tubi and Vudu This 45-minute “documentary” aired initially in 1999 on the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) to promote the then-imminent theatrical release of The Blair Witch Project. Thanks to the film’s (at that point in time) unprecedented and innovative internet marketing, audiences opened up
their unquestioning hearts to found-footage cinema in a way that every studio and a significant percentage of filmmakers have been trying to duplicate for the intervening couple of decades. This is the wind-up for the feature’s pitch, and they work masterfully together, building on the plausible threads of folk horror that entwine all American tragedies.
The Long Goodbye on Hoopla and Amazon Prime Coming from right smack-dab in the middle of Robert Altman’s unequaled early’70s streak of masterworks (M.A.S.H., Brewster McCloud, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, California Split, Thieves Like Us and Nashville) is his modern-day Phillip Marlowe film, putting Elliott Gould in the central role as a private detective trying to solve a vicious murder. A perfect pairing with Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice, this is a shambling mystery that never lets go of the viewer. It’s one of the most essential portraits of Los Angeles ever put on film, and it detonates the form of the detective story even as it never escapes the unspoken moral boundaries that uphold the traditions of the genre. This is mordantly funny and deeply upsetting, and if you’re looking for a way into the expansive oeuvre of Robert Altman, this is a great place to start.
Southland Tales on Mubi and Pluto Sprawling, chaotic, stuffed to the gills with unexpected character actors and filled with apocalyptic mayhem, 2006’s Southland Tales had a vision of where America was headed. Whatever you’ve heard about it, or even if you were one of the few folks who watched this epic the first time around, this labyrinthine dive into a proto-fascist sci-fi hellscape — in which Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson represents the hopes of industry for a New World Order — hits way too close to real life to be dismissed without some thought. Bereft of the Nikos Kazantzakismeets-John Hughes majesty of Donnie Darko, this is a singular object that will get taught in history classes about just what the hell happened to the United States in the first quarter of the 21st century (assuming society hangs around long enough for the luxury of retrospective). This is a must for anyone who’s been grooving on The Midnight Gospel on Netflix as of late. Teen horniness is not a crime. Email arts@nashvillescene.com
Nashville Scene | may 14 – may 20, 2020 | nashvillescene.com
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soul singer Gray
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cartoonist Hollander
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ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE M A P O R E I C E BUCK O K A R SINGLE T O I S A O N B C T A K E R O T S N O
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With feet on the street, we discover Nashville’s own unique beat – one mile at awith time
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