Saturday Night Live’s James Austin Johnson — hometown boy made good BY SEAN
L. MALONEY
The Book of JAMES
NEWS
Trump Forges Cryptocurrency Alliance in Nashville
Crypto herd falls in line behind Trump at Bitcoin2024 address BY ELI MOTYCKA
Pith in the Wind
This week on the Scene’s news and politics blog
The Last Single-Family House in the Murphy Addition
The first of Nashville’s turn-of-the-century streetcar suburbs is lost to history — but one home tells its story BY ALEX PEMBERTON
Legendary Local Restaurateur Randy Rayburn Dies at 74
The larger-than-life figure behind Sunset Grill and Midtown Cafe died Thursday BY KAY WEST
COVER STORY
The Book of James Saturday Night Live’s James Austin Johnson — hometown boy made good BY SEAN L. MALONEY
CRITICS’ PICKS
Juan Wauters, Nashville Accordion Society, Far Out Free Fest, Tate McRae and more
FOOD AND DRINK
Eatz Meets West
Family-run restaurant Middle Eatz brings Yemeni food to Nashville BY
What Businesses Will Survive in Our Brave New World?
I recently stayed in a motel that had an A.I. desk clerk. Sadly, I am not kidding. BY CHRIS CROFTON
Crawl Space: Museum-Approved Street Art and a Revitalized Arcade
A community art project at The Packing Plant leads our picks for August Art Crawl highlights BY JOE
NOLAN
The Unmatched Strength of Womanhood With Daughters of Chaos, Jen Fawkes spins a fiercely feminist tale centered in 19th-century Nashville BY SARA BETH WEST; CHAPTER16.ORG
MUSIC
Chew on This DIY venue The Mouthhole continues to play a vital part in Nashville’s music ecosystem BY KELSEY BEYELER
Time in Place
Jessica Pratt stretches out on Here in the Pitch BY JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT
The Spin
The Scene’s live-review column checks out Charley Crockett at the Ryman and Jack White at American Legion Post 82 BY RON WYNN AND LOGAN BUTTS
FILM
Irish Rogues
Just like Kneecap the band, Kneecap the movie is lowbrow brattiness BY CRAIG D. LINDSEY
NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD AND THIS MODERN WORLD MARKETPLACE
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James Austin Johnson at Percy Priest Dam • PHOTO BY ANGELINA CASTILLO
WHO WE ARE
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ENJOYING: Swirl cone with sprinkles from Bobbie’s Dairy Dip
WITNESS HISTORY
Cliffie Stone played this unusual triple-neck guitar on Hometown Jamboree, a show he created and hosted that played a pivotal role in California’s thriving postwar country music scene.
From the exhibit Sing Me Back Home: Folk Roots to the Present
way late play date: csi. friday, august 9. 7pm–10pm.
a mystery is unfolding at the science center. Tennessee bureau of investigation and expert cocktail makers (Rosemary & Beauty Queen) are both lined up. now, all we need is you.
TRUMP FORGES CRYPTOCURRENCY ALLIANCE IN
NASHVILLE Crypto herd falls in line behind Trump at Bitcoin2024 address
BY ELI MOTYCKA
TWO THINGS MATTERED inside Bitcoin2024, the premier international cryptocurrency conference hosted at Music City Center by Nashville’s Bitcoin Magazine over the weekend.
The first was a five-digit number illuminated under a geodesic dome made to look like the surface of the moon. In early February, Bitcoin’s dollar value settled above $60,000, about 10 times its value in 2019. This number sheds and gains full percentage points during a typical week. Many conference-goers — the true Bitcoin faithful, bought-in financially and emotionally — didn’t need the ticker to quote the asset’s market value with almost hourly precision.
A snaking queue into the Nakamoto Stage, a limited-capacity hall hosting the event’s main speakers, was the second. At points during Bitcoin2024’s three full days, the line captured attendees for more than an hour, forcing a train that wound its way through the expo hall’s booths, art gallery and broadcast stages. Daily lineups of big names like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Anthony Scaramucci and super-investor Michael Saylor generated constant demand. While some fed-up patrons defected to nearby TVs streaming the speakers’ addresses, the queue became a visual representation of Bitcoiners’ core ethic: Hold the line. The greatest riches are yet to come. Holding — or “HODL”-ing in cryptospeak — has the practical benefit of suppressing supply, creating upward pressure on Bitcoin’s total value. It also blesses Bitcoiners with an emotional sense of solidarity.
Republicans came to Nashville for both. Just a few years ago, former President Donald Trump dismissed the cryptocurrency as a “scam” and a threat to the dollar; in May, his campaign launched an aggressive pivot toward Bitcoin with overtures and policy promises amid the asset’s moment of historic wealth. A dedicated media ecosystem, led by the glossy Bitcoin Magazine and driven by charismatic independent influencers trained to interpret current events in the light most favorable to Bitcoin prices, has immediately oriented around a Trump victory.
“Bitcoin stands for freedom, sovereignty and independence from government,” said Trump during his Saturday afternoon address in downtown Nashville. “The Biden-Harris administration’s repression of Bitcoin and crypto is wrong, and it’s very bad for our country. It’s really quite un-American.”
In his speech, Trump promised to fire SEC chair Gary Gensler, establish a presidential crypto advisory committee and expand the United States’ Bitcoin holdings. A cursory understanding of macroeconomics (and a Trump opinion as recently as
2021) acknowledges that, as currencies, Bitcoin and the dollar compete directly. Bitcoiners openly “declare war” on the dollar, which is perhaps the most recognizable symbol of American power across the globe. A slipping dollar — which has ceded ground in recent decades, though it remains the world’s reserve currency — strengthens Bitcoin and spells chaos for the American economy. But such a fundamental contradiction would kill the vibes. Trump instead proclaimed America as the future crypto capital of the world.
Four Republican U.S. senators — Tennessee’s Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn, Wyoming’s Cynthia Lummis and South Carolina’s Tim Scott — vamped the party’s Bitcoin embrace throughout the weekend. They all took shots at Democrats, who have not communicated a party position on crypto. This silence has allowed the GOP to negatively message Democrats to Bitcoiners via examples like Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s proposed crypto regulations against money laundering. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, twins who got rich on early ties to Facebook, have rallied followers against Kamala Harris by casting her non-stance on Bitcoin as a cold shoulder to crypto. Trump attacked both Warren and Harris in his address Saturday.
Rod Roudi, a prominent local Bitcoin enthusiast behind the Hillsboro Village meetup space Bitcoin Park, interviewed Hagerty on the Nakamoto Stage Friday afternoon.
“We have to win in November,” said Roudi to thunderous applause. “November, we win. We got the House, the Senate, the presidency — what else is on the agenda?”
Hagerty is among the GOP’s less practiced messengers. Unlike Blackburn, he avoids culture-war mud and minimizes media appearances. On Friday, Hagerty ended his spot 10 minutes early, walking briskly offstage and out of the spotlight. His brief remarks revealed Bitcoin as an ideal justification for the GOP’s lucrative addiction to resource consumption. Crypto “mining,” the raw computing process underpinning Bitcoin circulation, creates a voracious appetite for electricity, which, Hagerty explained, justifies expanding Tennessee’s electric grid.
“The Bitcoin miners are tremendous customers for those who want to build out the electric
grid,” said Hagerty. “We want to build our grid out aggressively here in Tennessee. Bitcoin miners are coming to Tennessee. They’re setting up operations — frankly they do it in rural areas that have lost jobs to offshoring, things of that nature. It’s been good for our local economies.”
Abundant water and affordable electricity remain competitive advantages for Tennessee. Both enable industrial-scale computer processing and have attracted mining operations across the state. For some, the churning computer farms evoke a dystopian future that directly converts natural resources into profit for absentee owners. Environmentalists already call foul on TVA’s carbon-spewing energy portfolio and protest crypto’s unnecessary burden on the state’s fragile power infrastructure.
While Hagerty sees a lucrative industry opportunity, neither he nor any member of his family owns Bitcoin — “I got a lot of grief from my family, but I don’t want that kind of headache when I’m making policy,” he told the Scene in the convention hallway. Blackburn’s support, though, may be just that simple: Her son Chad, another featured conference speaker, has publicly claimed deep personal investment in Bitcoin and Bitcoin-related business ventures.
Two years ago, the excited buzz around Bitcoin Park was that Nashville would soon ascend as America’s Bitcoin capital. At the time, the Scene spoke with new residents who cited state lawmakers’ hostility to COVID restrictions as proof of Tennessee’s commitment to “personal sovereignty” and “freedom” — important buzzwords at the heart of Bitcoin culture that mask the community’s pathological aversion to authority. Mining hubs, two supportive senators, a raucous Bitcoin2024, blessings from Trump and a growing international reputation has solidified Nashville as the Bitcoin gold standard. ▼
During a tense meeting last week, the Metro Nashville Public Schools board denied five charter applications from schools that had already been denied previously this year. Board chair and District 2 representative Rachael Anne Elrod highlighted concerns raised by the applications and the district review team. Elrod shut down negative comments made by attendees and subsequently ordered security to remove disruptive audience members. The charter schools can appeal to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.
A viral video of neo-Nazis harassing Black children with racist insults in downtown Nashville has sparked outrage from residents and public officials alike. State Reps. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and G.A. Hardaway (D-Memphis) called for answers from police and legislative action. “[Police] did not check on the safety of our babies — that is unacceptable, that is shameful,” Jones said. “Unfortunately, I’m not surprised,” Hardaway said. “There’s a climate that’s been created by the vitriolic dialogue that’s gone on in the political arena in particular, and we’ve got to tone it down.”
Mayor Freddie O’Connell announced Friday that the Metro Nashville Police Department has appointed cold-case homicide detective Mike Roland to look into the integration-era bombings of Hattie Cotton Elementary School, the Jewish Community Center and civil rights leader Z. Alexander Looby’s home. “Each [bombing] was chronicled in Betsy Phillips’ new book Dynamite Nashville. … I’ve asked the Metro Department of Law to work with the Metro Public Records Commission on recommendations for improvements in records retention so important records are not lost to future generations.”
Speaking of author and Scene contributor Betsy Phillips, this week she delves into the hypocrisy of U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett’s “DEI hire” comments. “She checks all the boxes,” the Knoxville Republican recently said of Vice President Kamala Harris. “She’ll say she’s of Indian descent one day, then she’ll say she’s of Black descent. It’s just box-checking.” Writes Phillips: “Folks like Burchett claim elevating people based on race or gender leads to mediocrity; folks like me point out that Burchett himself came up in a system where he was elevated because of his race and gender, and that his long history suggests he’s pretty damn mediocre.”
THE LAST SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSE IN THE MURPHY ADDITION
The first of Nashville’s turn-of-the-century streetcar suburbs is lost to history — but one home tells its story
BY ALEX PEMBERTON
IT’S DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE that the area east of Centennial Park — bookended by hospitals and filled with medical offices and surface parking lots — was once, for a fleeting moment, the finest residential section in Nashville. Only a few hints remain.
One remnant sits at 317 21st Ave. N. — but it too requires a sort of architectural X-ray vision to see its former splendor through the patina. Parking lots sit at its shoulders as the skeleton of a multilevel medical office building rises behind. It is not the only old house in the district — there are a handful strewn about, often grander and with more exquisite brick facades — but 317 21st is the only one that has not been converted into professional offices or some other modern use.
It is the Last Single-Family House in the Murphy Addition — and in its twilight, it tells the story of how other streetcar suburbs survived.
A REFUGE FROM THE SLUMS
The Murphy Addition was the first of Nashville’s splendid, turn-of-the-century streetcar suburbs. The electric streetcar, innovations in finance and public infrastructure drew many of Nashville’s elite families out of the inner city. Top-tier status was short-lived — within a decade of the Murphy Addition’s 1902 groundbreaking, competing developers had begun work on the even more exclusive enclaves of Richland and Belle Meade — but it remained protected by restrictive covenants that barred commercial uses, cheap construction and Black occupancy.
The boom of exclusive streetcar suburb development was driven by elite flight from the inner city and its growing slums. After the Civil War, Black people newly freed from enslavement streamed into the city and settled alongside Irish immigrant laborers in dense slums — tenements mixed with saloons, brothels, factories, merchants and other commercial uses around railroad tracks and low-lying, flood-prone land. By the 1880s, the Irish had begun to assimilate and ascend to the middle class, and the slums were increasingly left to Black residents alone.
The city’s health department in 1899 reported that disease and “the high death rate among the colored people is due to ... improvidence, ignorance, lamentable neglect of personal cleanliness ... [and] marked racial susceptibility to all forms of tubercular disease.” Police cracked down on vice in slum areas like Black Bottom, disproportionately arresting Black Nashvillians at the behest of “City Beautiful advocates anxious to clean up the area [and] white property owners fretting about depressed land values” — a push that culminated in 1909 with a bond issue to clear the worst part of Black Bottom with construction of the Shelby Street Bridge.
A MAP OF MORALS
City Beautiful advocates and business progressives also made genuine physical improvements to combat slum conditions — even as they dovetailed with Jim Crow laws, the religious fervor of moral reform and a broader segregationist trend. A sewer system was laid, though most families couldn’t afford to hook up to it. A building code was implemented in 1909 and expanded into a 236-page document declared “the best in the United States” by 1916.
These efforts built the coalition for city zoning — joined by Nashville real estate interests, the chamber of commerce and suburban homeowners — with heavy promotion as early as 1918. A 1928 Tennessean editorial made the case: “City zoning and a proper scheme for city development will prevent the tragedy of property value declines through shifting and changing populations. … It is the purpose of those who advocate zoning bills to make a situation of this kind virtually impossible.”
When a permanent zoning plan was presented in January 1933, its engineer explained, “Residential neighborhoods will not be invaded by ill-suited uses which so blight the areas surrounding as to cause drastic lowering in the values and character of the neighborhoods and the moral problems which arise from the types of inhabitants which move into such areas.”
Over the prior half-century, “moral problems” had become associated almost exclusively with Blackness, and the affliction of immorality was transferred to whites only through interracial contacts. White notions of morality were tied to the “types of inhabitants” of mixed-use and mixed-race neighborhoods, and not merely to the actions of individuals.
This context is critical to understanding how commercial uses located along major streets could present an existential crisis for entire
neighborhoods. The acute problems caused by commercial encroachment — traffic, noise, odors — would be felt most immediately by those next-door, and not at all by those further down the block. But the depreciation of nextdoor homes due to those nuisances would invite lower-class occupants — often Black — who were willing to endure inconveniences to live in an otherwise desirable district, thus setting off a chain of flight and blight that would spread throughout the entire neighborhood.
Zoning was the tool to stop it.
THE ZONE OF INTEREST
As the years wore on, new suburbs were developed, slums expanded, and the Murphy Addition lost its luster. The threat of “shifting and changing populations” had come to its residents’ doorsteps. By the time a zoning ordinance was proposed, a Black enclave had grown on the other side of Charlotte Avenue — the northern bounds of the Murphy Addition — and Black Nashvillians had followed commercial expansion from downtown right up to the eastern boundary at 20th Avenue North.
More than 200 citizens attended the public hearing of the zoning ordinance on July 11, 1933. More than half were residents of one small neighborhood: the Murphy Addition. Homeowners noted that the deed restrictions that had protected their neighborhood from commercial uses — and Black occupancy — were soon to expire, and they “wanted them perpetuated.”
Residents of the Murphy Addition protested a handful of commercial classifications along the borders of the neighborhood. Each protest was successful — a protection not granted to Black neighborhoods
A decade of public statements from homeowners and zoning proponents — and half a century of racist associations between Black res-
idence, mixed uses and blight — were distilled in one public hearing. The white, higher-class residents of the Murphy Addition leveraged immense political capital to protect their property values, with the public police power and a new zoning code to stand in for the private covenants that had maintained exclusivity.
THE MURPHY SUBTRACTION
But the color lines that surrounded and defined the Murphy Addition did not hold. By the 1950s, classified ads for real estate in the Murphy Addition were led with all-capital letters: “COLORED.”
As the neighborhood began to transition racially, the protection of white property with zoning was no longer paramount — the entire neighborhood was soon rezoned to commercial to absorb the pressure of hospital expansion.
References to the Murphy Addition disappeared from Nashville newspapers by the 1960s. As with many other neighborhoods, including its neighbor to the north, the Murphy Addition’s identity and residential character were contingent on its status as a white enclave. The house at 317 21st Ave. N. stands as a remnant of this history, never wavering from its original single-family residential use. Whether it remains this way for many more years or will soon be demolished, the themes it has witnessed continue to be replayed.
The Metro zoning code still cites the protection of morals among its purposes. Commercial encroachment continues to be a top target of homeowner activism. Zoning decisions remain deferential to neighborhood protests, with little separation between public powers and private covenants
These themes survive because every other streetcar suburb prominent in the period of early zoning has survived — only the Murphy Addition is lost to history. ▼
317 21ST AVE. N.
PHOTO: ERIC ENGLAND
LEGENDARY LOCAL RESTAURATEUR RANDY RAYBURN DIES AT 74
The larger-than-life figure behind Sunset Grill and Midtown Cafe died Thursday BY
KAY WEST
RANDY RAYBURN WAS man. Can you help us with this project? you donate to this cause?
six in the private room and sneak my guests in through the kitchen?
a second chance?
News of the legendary, standard-setting restaurateur’s sudden death Thursday afternoon spread like wildfire through every segment of the Nashville community. So quickly that by the time the CEO of one company texted another, by the time a former mayor texted a former congressman, by the time a server texted a chef, by the time a student of the Randy Rayburn School of Culinary Arts texted an instructor, by the time a record label head texted the executive director of an arts organization — “Have you heard?” — the reply was almost unanimously and simply “Randy.”
ect. NFL? Yes! Hell yes, said Rayburn. Music City Center? He listened to the naysayers, then shut them down and pushed ahead. He gave his name, time and talents to elevate the culinary program at Nashville State. Beyond the flash, he led or worked side by side with grassroots efforts to feed the food insecure in the community, and get people back on their feet after flood, fire and profound loss. He said yes over and over and over again.
One of the many times I wrote about him, I said that in his career, “Randy Rayburn has fired, hired or fed everybody in Nashville.” He cherished the description.
That was back in the early ’90s — when Nashville was still a big small town — in a story about Sunset Grill, the restaurant he opened in 1990. The impact Sunset had on the dining scene and the entire community cannot be overstated. It introduced California cuisine, Paul Harmon’s art, late-night dining, endless wine lists and elevated nachos. It was the scene to see and be seen, the place where countless clients were wooed, introductions made, alliances brokered, deals struck. Had a giant sinkhole suddenly swallowed Sunset’s dining room, Metro, Capitol Hill, downtown business and Music Row would have come to halt.
Like every successful independent restaurateur, Rayburn — whose path to Sunset included stints at the Opryland Hotel, F. Scott’s and Third Coast — was always, without fail, in the house.
That included purchasing the 10-year-old Midtown Cafe from a colleague in 1997. When Sunset closed in 2015, he moved his base of operations there, seamlessly ushering in the power-breakfast-and-business-lunch crowd, then slipping out to spend evenings with his beloved sons Duke and Dean. He came to fatherhood late in life, and as with everything else he did, he embraced it fully, often saying he just wished he had done it sooner.
Social media sites are awash with bereaved, heartbroken, poignant tributes to Randy, the man raised on a farm in Milan, Tenn., who earned status as a one-name institution and was on a first-name basis with thousands.
Rayburn understood that possibility and achievement are woven with hospitality and generosity. For all who remember Nashville as a big small town, it is inconceivable that Randy Rayburn will not be at a host stand, a board table or elbow-deep in the mix. Those today drawn to Nashville — a big small city with unlimited aspirations — have him to thank for opening the door and saying, “Welcome, come in, join us at the table.” ▼
RANDY RAYBURN PHOTO: DANIEL MEIGS
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The Book of JAMES
Saturday Night Live’s
James Austin Johnson — hometown boy made good BY SEAN L. MALONEY
James Austin Johnson Aug. 2-4 at Zanies
JAMES AUSTIN JOHNSON is having a great summer. The Nashville native is home from New York City, on break from Saturday Night Live — the cultural institution where he’s a writer and cast member. He’s also on screens everywhere, lending his voice to Inside Out 2, the biggest movie of the year and animation studio Pixar’s highest-grossing film of all time. On the weekends he’s touring the country with SNL co-stars Devon Walker and Andrew Dismukes. Ahead of his three-night stand at Zanies this weekend, Johnson takes the Scene on a deep dive into the journey that took him from “Christian dork” to an actor inching ever closer to being ready for prime time.
But first, the important stuff.
“I bought a truck yesterday, and I’m doing the first round of recycling that I promised I would do as soon as I got a truck,” Johnson tells the Scene. “Because not having a truck was the excuse for not hauling anything, which was a good excuse to not haul anything.”
The truck is his fourth Ranger, a replacement for the one he sold as he left L.A. in 2021 to join SNL’s 47th season in New York City. Johnson was raised in the middle-class suburbs of Davidson County, and so his current trappings of success — a car so sensible they’ll never make them again, a special-edition Nintendo 64 he really wanted as a kid — are a reflection of the same bright-eyed open-mic regular the Scene met a dozen years ago, in a smoky bar named Spanky’s behind the Walmart on Nolensville Road.
Even when Johnson was a college kid, it was clear he loved the work — the process of creating comedy, the grind and the churn that polished jokes. He’s got that always on quality that makes even the most mundane comments feel like the seeds of a bit. Like a drummer tapping out rudiments on his leg or songwriter half-humming an unfinished melody, Johnson is constantly tinkering at the technical minutiae of his craft. To be fair, it was a weird trait then, but it makes total sense now.
When he moved to L.A. and started landing film roles like “Studio Assistant at Action Western” in the Coen brothers’ Hail Caesar! those who knew him in Nashville were not surprised. He was always pleasant to share a stage with, a good hang in those awkward anxious moments before showtime and a supportive audience member when the mic wasn’t his. He was a cool co-worker even if we were all just working for a can of Fresca (the top prize at Spanky’s weekly show). He was totally the dude you want around during the hurry-up-and-wait moments.
“I bought a house out near my parents as soon as I had two nickels to rub together,” he says. “Because my wife loves Nashville and I love Nashville. And now that we live in New York, it’s kind of so easy to get to Nashville from New York.”
Johnson went viral at the height of the pandemic with a series of gleefully absurd impressions of then-President Donald Trump, recorded on break from a gig folding T-shirts in an L.A. warehouse. Johnson’s hyper-citational pop-culture logorrhea would connect with fans on both sides of the aisle, eventually landing him in front of SNL creator Lorne Michaels — and then on
“I’m at home,” Johnson tells the Scene. “I am loving life. … I mean, it’s a cool town full of cool people, and I just love getting to thread that needle, because it [puts] me as a comedian in a sweet spot where I think about my background as a super-conservative Christian kid and then who I am today, which is an artist who’s out there in the big city.”
TVs everywhere.
It is an impression with pathos, an impression that finds silliness in a strange and sinister character. Johnson artfully deconstructs narratives around Trump, both conservative and liberal, and rebuilds them as goofy stream-of-consciousness diatribes, finding the center by going all the way out there. The humor is steeped in the weird cultural milieu that comes from being from a blue city in a red state, a blue kid in a red community.
“I’m a Davidson County girl,” Johnson explains. “I was born at Baptist Hospital, and I was raised five minutes from downtown. I grew up acting in Baptist propaganda for Lifeway Christian Resources, for the Southern Baptist Convention. … I acted in [Lifeway videos] as a child and as a teenager. And then I was in some indie Christian films in my early 20s as well.”
It’s an odd start for a Hollywood success story, but it goes a long way in illustrating Johnson’s artistic drive from a young age. He might have had Hollywood dreams, but he had only Nashville resources, and in those days Nashville’s film industry resources were scant. But those were the make-your-own-fun years in Music City, and the dearth of mainstream productions would prove no hindrance to the creative and motivated.
IT’S THE SECOND WEEK OF JULY, and Johnson is back in Nashville after a weekend performing in Chicago — four shows in two days. He was at The Basement East the night after, opening for fellow SNL cast member Sarah Sherman. In true Nashville style, he’s home at the beginning of the week, playing shows on the weekend and cramming as much dad stuff — doctor’s appointments, grandparent visits — as he can into the time he’s got before returning to New York and Saturday Night Live’s 50th season.
“I’m at home,” Johnson tells the Scene. “I am loving life. … I mean, it’s a cool town full of cool people, and I just love getting to thread that needle, because it [puts] me as a comedian in a sweet spot where I think about my background as a super-conservative Christian kid and then who I am today, which is an artist who’s out there in the big city.”
“When I was coming up, it just didn’t feel like there was a path,” he says. “This was pre-podcasting, and so many of the lanes in stand-up felt just kind of frozen in time. I knew I wasn’t going to be [Southern comedian and regional legend] Killer Beaz, and I knew I wasn’t going to be a guitar comic or something like that. So I looked around, and I just kind of felt like I was a little bit impatient about what my path could be.”
That path, which started with his parents driving him to classes and auditions, would span nearly two decades and countless miles of travel across the Midstate. The path would include time with the pioneering local comedy crew Corporate Juggernaut, who brought in then-up-and-coming comics like Pete Holmes and Kyle Kinane and made Nashville a stop on the alt-comedy circuit.
The path would eventually include TV commercials and animation, unfruitful development deals and temp jobs. The path would take him some distance — both physical and philosophical — from the conservative educational mecca of Murfreesboro Pike where he grew up.
“My dad still works at Trevecca [Nazarene University],” Johnson tells the Scene. “My grandpa was president of Trevecca. My dad and mom met at orientation at Trevecca. My oldest brother went to Trevecca. My middle brother went to Trevecca. Both of them met their wives at Trevecca. I spent every afternoon and evening running around under the bleachers at Trevecca basketball games because my mom worked in the concession stand, my dad did the P.A. And then I went to Trevecca.
“So God bless my parents,” he continues. “They’ve always supported me, even though
PHOTO: ANGELINA CASTILLO
they may not have seen what I saw. They may not have had the vision that I had, but my sweet dad, he drove me out to L.A. for my final semester of college, and I’ll always be fully indebted to them for the support that they could give.”
But before L.A., Johnson met his first agent, took his first acting classes and made his earliest short films thanks to church friend Daniel Page. Page’s father Greg Page was co-creator of Snowbird, Nashville’s legendary WSMV cartoon avatar of snow day dreams. (If you’re new here, ask a local.) Through Page, Johnson met Janet Ivey, children’s acting advocate and star of NPT’s Janet’s Planet series, at Franklin’s Boiler Room Theatre. Johnson performed his earliest stand-up set at Ivey’s kids’ comedy night. From there he signed with his first agent, entering the world of inspirational cinema and the Erwin brothers, Vacation Bible School’s answer to the Safdies. The film, 2012’s October Baby, would open to terrible reviews and kickstart a new era of Christ-sploitation cinema.
“And I don’t harbor any ill will toward any of the people that I was in Christian entertainment or conservative entertainment with, it’s not my mission in life,” explains Johnson. “I was like, ‘You know what? I respect these people too much to continue to halfheartedly be a part of what they’re trying to accomplish.’ I don’t really make stuff like that anymore, but to be 21 and be in a theatrically released movie that opened number 8 in the country, that’s not an experience that a lot of Nashville actors really get to have.
“I mean, every Nashville audition was, ‘We need a hot, ripped, 6’5”, all-American stud to sweep Miranda Lambert off her feet,’” he continues. “And I was never going to be that guy.”
Johnson — who describes his his political views as “liberal, commie, whatever bad thing an evangelical firebrand wants to call me” and who will sprinkle conversations with little nuggets of pro-worker, pro-diversity sentiments — is quick to admit that he’s “very lucky” he had that “Christian fear of everything baked into me, because it did kind of keep me from doing stupid stuff from time to time.” It’s a personal history that provided him with ample material, relatable and renewable, a wellspring of people and practices that could use a gentle ribbing.
Take for instance “Lake Beach,” Johnson’s SNL music video with Bridgestone-headliner-slash-Nashville homie Nate Bargatze and omnipresent dad-rocker Dave Grohl. The idea started as a 10-minute bit of absurdist bro-country about telling Johnson’s uncle about Howard Zinn at a lake beach — but it worked its way through the gauntlet of writers and performers to become a taut sociological study of a uniquely landlocked social scene.
“Lake Beach” is a tableau that will be familiar to anybody who’s ever spent an afternoon kneedeep in brown water, beer in hand. And in true Music City fashion, if you can attend a freshwater social event without getting the hook from “Lake Beach” stuck in your head, you probably haven’t heard the song. It’s the sort of song that couldn’t be made by anyone but a dyed-in-thewool local. It’s the sort of creative collaboration this town was built on, only this time it’s live
from New York rather than an office on the Row.
“I was at Be Your Own Pet shows in high school,” says Johnson. “Just thinking, ‘What if I was a cool Nashville person? What if I was someone who cool people wanted to come see?’ And I was like, ‘Oh man, that’ll never happen. I’m too much of a Christian dork.’”
The Scene catches up with Johnson again a little later in July. This time he’s on a quick run to the West Coast — two nights in San Francisco, a night in Portland, a night in Seattle and a night in L.A. It’s a Wednesday afternoon and Johnson, whose demeanor and visual aesthetic could definitely land him the role as “Young Kurt Wagner” in Lambchop, the Band: The Movie, is out there thrifting.
“We’re in Seattle today and just kind of bopping around to thrift stores while we gear up for the show,” says Johnson. “This tour with Devon and Andrew was all about the hangs. It was all about hanging out and less about whatever [booking] was the most profitable.”
Johnson may have found coastal success, but his approach to handling it is rooted very much in Middle Tennessee. He admits that his spending decisions are still influenced by “Dave Ramsey Christian financial management tapes” and that he has “gotten really hardcore into late-period Bob Dylan.” He loves buying merch from restaurants and stores, clothes with names and logos. His vibe is more dad in the Kumon parking lot than late-night TV star. It’s a style that’s as studied as it is effortless.
“The Nashville that I experienced — from the ground up — was the culture of players, the culture of the people in the band,” Johnson explains. “I knew people whose dads were touring musicians or session musicians or engineers or songwriters, and these were silent family people. These were moms and dads, and they were just shredders and you didn’t know it.
“That’s something that I really love about [Nashville],” he continues. “It is as accepted as sunrise and sunset that a pudgy dad that you’ve shared three words with could also sit down and just demolish [Vince Gill’s] ‘Oklahoma Borderline.’”
Johnson’s drive and Nashville’s ever-persistent compulsion to put on a show would keep him busy — and his parents driving — from his first improv class forward. He was writing plays in middle school drama club, performing five shows a year through high school. He did regional theater. He did community theater. But opportunities for comedy were scarce and seemingly unattainable without leaving Trevecca-approved spaces.
“There were lots of things to fear about my college environment related to stand-up, so I really didn’t tell people that I was doing stand-up,” he says. “I didn’t tell my parents, I didn’t tell my friends. I would just kind of disappear. There were bars where I learned how to sneak in the back door and hope not to get carded. I did that a lot. I did a lot of sneaking in through the patio, ordering a Pepsi and just hoping not to get kicked out before my set.
“What a turbulent little time sneaking around just trying to do literally the stupidest
one-liners of all time and be accepted as a stand-up comedian,” he continues. “It took me time to learn how to perform at a place, it took living life, it took moving away, and it took having loved, having lost love, et cetera.”
These days Johnson gets to walk in the front door. He probably doesn’t even get asked for ID. He’s been accepted and celebrated, critiqued and analyzed, taking all the jabs and pokes and high-fives that come from performing with one of mass media’s most recognizable organizations. He’s a target of right-wing ire and left-wing consternation, but also embraced and appreciated by both camps. He is aiming for a very silly center, and he seems to be hitting the bull’s-eye. That’s the gig, after all.
“Half my act is talking about how weird the culture I come from looks to me,” says Johnson, who has a young son. “You have children, and then you just look at your own life differently, and you look at how you were raised differently,
your relationship to your grandparents, your parents, your great-grandparents, it all changes because you think about the good things that you got from a place that maybe you spent your whole adolescence resenting. Your relationship to all that changes.”
Johnson is an artist who loves the process, the moving targets and the constant change that keep the work engaging. As we talk about what the future holds, his excitement for the work comes to the fore. The challenge of writing for an entire country, of finding the common thread that makes people laugh across cultural and political lines, is what keeps his creative fire stoked.
“I’m just trying to be someone who is a vessel of love, as corny as that fucking is. I’m trying to make people laugh. I’m trying to help people fall asleep. That’s my job as a late-night sketch comedian. I’m trying to help you fall asleep in a spicy world.” ▼
PHOTOS: ANGELINA CASTILLO
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THURSDAY / 8.1
THURSDAY, AUGUST 1
MUSIC
[NOT JOHN WATERS] JUAN WAUTERS W/ANNIE WILLIAMS
Uruguayan-born singer-songwriter Juan Wauters, who’s been based in New York City for the past two decades and change, has an approachable, plainspoken charm to his songs. “L.A. has so many people living on the street, they don’t have a bathroom,” he laments in “P.O.V.,” the lead song from last year’s Limbo EP. “Where do you think they’re going? … It’s a real shame. It’s one of the richest cities in the world.” In another artist’s hands, “P.O.V.” — as well as “Millionaire,” another 2023 Wauters tune that functions as an indictment of socioeconomic inequality — might come off as cynical, or even a clumsy attempt at humor. But Wauters’ work always feels deeply earnest, like he’s having a heartfelt conversation with the listener over strummed acoustic chords and pleasant indie-rock arrangements. On Thursday at The Blue Room, he’ll be joined by Nashville’s own Annie Williams, a brilliant artist in her own right whose latest album Visitor was recently described by Scene music editor Stephen Trageser as “filled with rich harmonies and a dance between electronic and acoustic elements.”
D. PATRICK RODGERS
7 P.M. AT THE BLUE ROOM AT THIRD MAN RECORDS
623 SEVENTH AVE. S.
MUSIC
[MAKING SWEET MEMORIES] VINCE GILL
Vince Gill’s the type of entertainer who can hold his own on virtually any stage. One night he may be playing with the Eagles, harmonizing alongside Don Henley or singing Randy Meisner’s lead vocal on “Take It to the Limit” (which he does regularly). The next night, he could be inducting Patty Loveless into the Country Music Hall of Fame (which he did in 2023). And while maybe these things didn’t happen on back-to-back nights … you get the idea. Gill’s a hitmaking country singer and guitarist who could fill a semi-truck with the accolades he’s earned since scoring his first chart-topper in the early ’90s. (The song? “I Still Believe in You.”) Today he’s an omnipresent figure in Music City, often showing up at benefit concerts, one-night tributes and memorial services to sing a few songs and share a timely story. And on four upcoming nights, you can see him do that for a few hours — at the Ryman, no less. Sign me up. As for who’ll show up to sing with him? I can’t wait to find out.
MATTHEW LEIMKUEHLER
AUG.
116
THEATER
[IT’S ALIVE!]
ALIVE WORLD PREMIERE
The Kindling Arts Festival may have already wrapped its annual celebration of avant-garde artists and performances, but there’s one last treat in store for local theater lovers — the world premiere of ALIVE, which opens Thursday at Darkhorse Theater. Presented in partnership with Woven Theatre Company and penned by queer playwright Andrew Newton, this heartfelt new comedy follows Bobby, a 30-yearold gay man, as he struggles to work through a messy breakup — “with the help of some very opinionated talking plants.” It’s a whimsical but thoughtful piece that takes on complicated themes of isolation, identity, mental health and more. Directed by Kindling favorite Madeleine Hicks (Potty Mouth; The Cackleberry County Fair), the cast features playwright Newton in the role of Bobby, along with Jordan Allen Miller, Will Henke, Blake Holliday, Mileah Linley and Lila Toshiko. ALIVE is being presented as a “postscript” to the 2024 Kindling Arts Festival, and regular festival pass holders may receive complimentary admission. Tickets must be reserved in advance. AMY STUMPFL
AUG. 1-3 AT THE DARKHORSE THEATER 4610 CHARLOTTE AVE.
NASHVILLE ACCORDION SOCIETY
Across the street from the glitz and glamour of the Grand Ole Opry House, a quite different type of concert series takes place on the first Thursday of every month. Over the past four years, the Nashville Accordion Society has been gathering in celebration of all things button box live from Opry Mills’ Bavarian Bierhaus. Each meetup showcases some of the finest accordionists from Music City and beyond, such as Opry regular and multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Rory Hoffman. Performers choose from their favorite classics, such as German polkas, French, Italian and American standards, Cajun music, Mexican mariachi, novelty tunes, pop hits and much more. As the world’s unofficial accordion ambassador “Weird” Al Yankovic once said, “An accordion is a terrible thing to waste.” Here’s an opportunity to get out the old squeeze box and share a few tunes — and maybe a few steins of German lager — with fellow enthusiasts. JASON VERSTEGEN
6 P.M. AT BAVARIAN BIERHAUS
121 OPRY MILLS DRIVE
[THE BUG IS BACK]
THEATER
THE THEATER BUG: YOU’RE STILL HERE
Over the years, The Theater Bug has taken on a wide range of tough issues, from bullying and trans youth to mental health, depression and even suicide. Beginning Thursday, this extraordinary youth arts program is back at it with You’re Still Here. Penned by the Bug’s esteemed artistic director Cori Anne Laemmel, the play centers on Mia, a bright young woman who’s recently lost her father, as she navigates a complicated relationship with grief. It’s a thoughtful drama, to be sure. But what makes Laemmel’s script particularly unique is that “Grief” is personified — a flesh-and-blood character who never leaves Mia’s side. First presented in 2018, it’s a beautiful exploration of loss and sorrow that manages to weave plenty of truth, humor and heart into the mix. Laemmel directs a really polished youth cast here, along with local professionals such as Dee Hammonds, Christopher R.C. Bosen and Bakari Jamal King.
AMY STUMPFL
AUG. 1-4 AT OZ ARTS
6172 COCKRILL BEND CIRCLE
BOOKS [READING RAINBOW]
RAINBOW ROWELL: SLOW DANCE
To middle school girls in 2013, Rainbow Rowell was famous for her young adult romances. Her books — including Eleanor & Park, Fangirl and Carry On — deal with fan culture, first love and teenage struggles like social anxiety and body-image issues. These novels lived in lockers and lunchrooms, scarcely returning to library shelves before being checked out again by the next wide-eyed reader. If you were one of those girls a decade ago, Rainbow Rowell’s work has grown up with you. She’ll be at the main branch of the Nashville Public Library on Thursday to discuss her brandnew adult novel, Slow Dance. Set in the nostalgic
’90s, the book follows former best friends who have a chance encounter 14 years after high school. The official summary describes it as “the story of two kids who fell in love before they knew enough about love to recognize it.” If you ever longed after Simon Snow, Rainbow Rowell’s ready to meet you where you are now. She’ll be in conversation with local author Jeff Zentner at the Parnassus-hosted event, and tickets include a signed copy of Slow Dance. Rowell will be personalizing books after the event, and guests are allowed to bring one book from home to have signed in addition to the newest release, so dig through your teenage possessions and grab your old favorite to bring along.
HANNAH CRON
6:30 P.M. AT THE NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY 615 CHURCH ST.
[CHILDREN OF THE SUMMER’S END]
MUSIC
FAR OUT FREE FEST
Even when you confine it to one discipline like music or film, “psychedelic” can mean so many things. Far Out, which comes back for its seventh go-round since its inaugural run in 2017, is determined to celebrate as many of those as possible. The saga begins Thursday night with the Far Out Film Festival, which this year heads to The Backlot. Among an array of short films, check out the world premiere of “The New Way Program” by The Dead Center director Billy Senese. There will also be a musical performance by multidisciplinary artist and electronically enhanced master of (ominous) moods The Borderlander. Friday and Saturday, the Music and Market portion of the fest descends upon Vinyl Tap with performances by tons of local talent, including electronic musician and movement artist HR Lexy and truly far-out improv ensemble In Place Quartet. Among the touring guests are Carbondale, Ill.’s long-running group Hans Predator — whose three releases from 2023 vary from spokenword nightmare fuel to groovy garage-psych to what sounds basically like thrash metal — and Knoxville’s Crystal Shrine, which is the instrumental guitar-focused project of Those Darlins co-founder Kelley Anderson. Keep an eye on @faroutnashville on Instagram for updates and ticketing and schedule announcements.
STEPHEN TRAGESER
AUG. 1 AT THE BACKLOT (1015 W. KIRKLAND AVE.)
AUG. 2-3 AT VINYL TAP (2038 GREENWOOD AVE.)
FRIDAY
/ 8.2
[REALITY BITES]
MUSIC
A GIANT DOG
I try to be a good neighbor, but there are a few records I can’t help but blast as loud as my car stereo will go. Several of those are by Austin, Texas, rock ’n’ roll heroes A Giant Dog, who released Bite last year. Following Fight, Bone, Pile and Toy, it’s their fifth LP of originals since 2012 and first since 2017. (The run was broken up by a 2019 full-length tribute to Arcade Fire’s The Neon Bible.) I was definitely not expecting to hear a string section and synths when I put on Bite, but these elements are adding to what the
band does — celebrating the glorious mess that life can be through a marriage of lung-rattling hardcore punk and eminently whistle-worthy pop — rather than really changing it. Bite takes a bit of a different tack from previous entries in the AGD catalog, but it fits perfectly: It’s a concept album about the tug-of-war between the desire to escape the vastly imperfect world we live in and being uncomfortable with artificial simulations, well-crafted and pleasing though they may be. You don’t need any of that information to enjoy their legendary live show, though, in which singer Sabrina Ellis channels a million megawatts of angst, frustration, hope and lust through their corporeal being while the snare-tight band shreds on. STEPHEN TRAGESER
8 P.M. AT THE COBRA 2511 GALLATIN AVE.
FILM
[I’M 18 AND I CAN SAY ‘SCREW’ YOU] MIDNIGHT MOVIE: SLC PUNK!
James Merendino’s comedy-drama SLC Punk! had a profound impact on me as a teen. Was a rant from the film’s lead character Stevo (Matthew Lillard) about “fascism” and “selling out” directed at his parents (McNally Sagal and the legendary Christopher McDonald) a peculiar choice for my sophomore theater class monologue? Yes. Was I — a 15-year-old flirting with punk as both a musical genre and a philosophy despite being ensconced in the privilege of white suburbia — the perfect young thespian to deliver it? Also yes, especially considering the fact that my drama teacher made me replace the curse words with PG-13 alternatives. While SLC Punk! — set in the middle of the Reagan era and released late in the Clinton era — is hardly a cinematic masterpiece, it does indeed capture the angst of being a slightly weird teenager in conservative America. It also features some lasting moments, from Lillard’s outrageous blue mohawk during the aforementioned rant to a scene in which another punk teen (Devon Sawa) loses his mind on 100 hits of acid. It’s a fun, nostalgic offering for a Belcourt Midnight Movie, perfectly paired with Saturday night’s (in my humble opinion, significantly better) Green Room. As the great Roger Ebert once wrote, the film’s “message isn’t ‘live this way,’ but ‘look at the way you live.’”
D. PATRICK RODGERS
MIDNIGHT AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
FILM [SHINING STAR SHELLEY] MUSIC CITY MONDAYS: THE SHINING
The Shining is still, for my money, the scariest movie ever made. And that’s not (solely, at least) because I watched it for the first time at way too young an age. Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 masterwork is an exercise in how to effectively pull off a slow-burn horror movie — a feat that is harder than it seems. Kubrick sets the spooky atmosphere immediately; beginning with the iconic opening credit sequence, something just feels off during Jack Torrance and his family’s stay at the Overlook Hotel. Led by a powerhouse Jack Nicholson performance, an underrated Shelley Duvall turn and those terrifying twins,
The Shining scares me just as much today as it did 30 years ago. The Belcourt is screening it for a second time this year following Duvall’s passing last month. LOGAN BUTTS
AUG. 2 & 5 AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
SATURDAY / 8.3
[WICKED WITCHES]
THEATER
GINNA CLAIRE MASON & TEAL
WICKS: PINK GOES GOOD WITH GREEN
It’s been more than 20 years since Wicked first premiered at the Gershwin Theatre, but the musical phenomenon continues to work its magic with a delightful Stephen Schwartz score and clever book by Winnie Holzman. This weekend, fans can get the inside scoop on what it’s like to play one of the Wicked witches, as Studio Tenn and TPAC’s Cabaret Experience returns with Pink Goes Good With Green. This unique cabaret offering features Nashville’s own Ginna Claire Mason (who just recently wrapped up a multiyear run as Glinda on Broadway and toured nationally with the show in 2018) and Teal Wicks (who made her Broadway debut as Elphaba after playing the role to great acclaim in both the Los Angeles and San Francisco companies). It’s sure to be a great evening of stories and songs. Audiences will want to keep an eye out for the Cabaret Experience’s final installment on Aug. 17: Broadway My Way, starring Alton Fitzgerald White (Disney’s The Lion King; Ragtime). AMY STUMPFL
7:30 P.M. AT TPAC’S JOHNSON THEATER 505 DEADERICK ST.
[GET OUT ALIVE]
FILM
MIDNIGHT MOVIE: GREEN ROOM
Panic attacks, a sense of all-consuming dread, violent skinheads and telling neo-Nazis to fuck off. No, this isn’t an AI-generated word web of the most discussed subjects on social media over the past month; these are all key items in the 2016 horror-thriller Green Room Jeremy Saulnier, known for claustrophobic indie white-knucklers, turned his anxiety dial all the way up for this one. Green Room centers on a struggling punk band that becomes trapped in a grungy venue full of neo-Nazis following a gig in a rural area of the Pacific Northwest. The crew, led by the late Anton Yelchin in the final film released before his untimely death, has to find a way out of this hate-filled hellscape before they reach a gruesome end. Any squeamish viewers should not apply. LOGAN BUTTS MIDNIGHT AT THE BELCOURT 2102 BELCOURT AVE.
[TILL YOU DROP]
SHOPPING
NASHVILLE VINTAGE MARKET
If you’ve been wanting to revamp your wardrobe, check out Nashville’s Vintage Market. It’s the perfect spot to find unique treasures that you won’t see anywhere else — think retro clothes, classic vinyl records, funky home decor and much more. Plus it’s a
AUGUST 2
RIVERSIDE FISH FRY WITH CHARLES WIGG WALKER
AUGUST 6
FOLK IMPLOSION
AUGUST 10
EAST NASHVILLE FACEBOOK PAGE: THE MUSICAL
OCTOBER 4
RANDALL BRAMBLETT BAND WITH TOM BUKOVAC
AUGUST 1, 2, 3 & 4
VINCE GILL
AUGUST 15
CONCERT FOR CUMBERLAND HEIGHTS WITH CHARLES KELLEY, BOB DIPIERO, VICTORIA SHAW, RANDY MONTANA, DYLAN ALTMAN, THE WARREN BROTHERS, ERIC PASLAY, ERNEST AND MORE
AUGUST 17
FUTUREBIRDS
WITH SAM EVIAN
AUGUST 25
JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS WITH KARLEY SCOTT COLLINS
AUGUST 29
TERRI CLARK WITH JENNA LAMASTER
AUGUST 31
SQUEEZE
NOVEMBER 20
DEREK HOUGH ON SALE FRIDAY AT 10 AM
great way to support local vendors and score some epic deals. If you’re new to the Music City antique and flea market game, there are a few markets in town worth adding to your calendar, and this is one of them. The Nashville Flea Market has been displaying collector’s items and treasure since they began their vintage-themed marketing in 1969. Beat the heat while checking out this beautiful indoor market and grab a bite or beverage (boozy or not boozy) from more than a dozen food trucks. Whether you’re hunting for a statement piece for your room or just want to browse and soak in the vibes, the Vintage Market is where it’s at. JAYME FOLTZ
NOON AT THE FAIRGROUNDS NASHVILLE
625 SMITH AVE.
FILM [IT’S A MADHOUSE] WEEKEND CLASSICS: HOUSE
punk sound revives a similar ballistic noise to legendary East London punkers The Restarts. Dogpile, one of Nashville’s hardest-working mosh units, will kick the night off. P.J. KINZER
8 P.M. AT COBRA
2511 GALLATIN AVE.
MUSIC
[EVERYBODY’S TONKIN’ AT ME] ROBERT’S WESTERN WORLD: CELEBRATING 25 YEARS WITH JESSELEE JONES
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UPCOMING EVENTS
PARNASSUSBOOKS.NET/EVENT FOR TICKETS & UPDATES
6:30PM
RAINBOW ROWELL
THURSDAY, AUGUST 1
with JEFF ZENTNER at NASHVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY Slow Dance
10:30AM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 3
SATURDAY STORYTIME
with EMILY MORROW at PARNASSUS Little Helper, Big Imagination
10:30AM
6:30PM
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10
SATURDAY STORYTIME with ANNE BUCKLE at PARNASSUS Firefly
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14
ADAM ROSENBAUM with JKRISTIN O'DONNELL TUBB at PARNASSUS The Ghost Rules
SATURDAY, AUGUST 17 ALL DAY!
BOOKSTORE ROMANCE DAY at PARNASSUS
An all day celebration of the Romance genre! Visit parnassusbooks.net/event for full schedule FRIDAY, AUGUST 23
6:30PM
3900 Hillsboro Pike Suite 14 | Nashville, TN 37215 (615) 953-2243 Shop online at parnassusbooks.net
JODI PICOULT with HANNAH WHITTEN at BELMONT UNIVERSITY By Any Other Name parnassusbooks parnassusbooksnashville parnassusbooks parnassusbooks1
According to my Letterboxd diary, the first time I saw House was eight years ago — and I haven’t seen anything that batshit since. Nobuhiko Ôbayashi’s tongue-in-cheek horror show/acid trip/fever dream/what-the-hell-ever from 1977 comes out the gate balls-to-the-wall insane and never lets up. What’s even crazier is that it didn’t get a proper theatrical rollout around these parts until 2010, before The Criterion Criterion dropped it on DVD. It does seem like the sort of chaotic, you-gotta-seethis-shit curio that cult-movie lovers have been passing around bootlegged VHS copies of for decades. Although this film was destined to be a midnight movie staple (New York Times critic Manohla Dargis called it “a film made for latenight screening and screaming”), the Belcourt will be providing reasonable evening screenings (shown in glorious 35 mm!) this weekend. Here’s hoping Nashville musician/designer Sam Smith will be around for at least one of them — after all, he’s the artist behind the Criterion cover art that’s so synonymous with the film that it became a T-shirt. CRAIG D. LINDSEY
AUGUST 3-4 AT THE BELCOURT
2102 BELCOURT AVE.
MONDAY / 8.5
MUSIC
[THE MUSCLES FROM BRUSSELS] DIRECT THREAT WITH INSTRUCTOR, WREKT AND DOGPILE
Denver might be 5,000 feet above sea level, but the Mile High City has become the hub of the American underground. The mountain town is now one of the nation’s hottest breeding grounds for acts creating the freshest punk, death metal and thrash. Direct Threat is one of Denver’s finest, releasing their “Endless Siege” 7-inch at the end of May via London hardcore label Quality Control. The fierce riffs and barked vocals will scratch the itch of any fan of early Agnostic Front, Iron Cross or 86 Mentality. Brussels, Belgium’s mighty Instructor — on tour with Direct Threat this summer— alternates between a high-energy pace, ironclad breakdowns and guitar solos. Wrekt has been pogoing all over Music City for several years now. The local foursome’s bristles-and-studs
Over the past three decades and change, Robert’s Western World has become an institution: The Lower Broadway honky-tonk played a big role in the revival of the district as a destination in the mid-1990s. While Lower Broad itself may have grown a little too much for some tastes, most folks seem to agree that Robert’s remains one of the few places to enjoy outstanding live old-school country music (in addition to drinks and food like Robert’s famous fried bologna sandwich) without feeling like you wandered into Drunk Disneyland. On Monday, Robert’s celebrates 25 years under the stewardship of JesseLee Jones with a block party stretching between Fourth Avenue and Rep. John Lewis Way and covering two stages. The phenomenal house bands at Robert’s — including The Cowpokes, The Don Kelley Band and Jones’ own ensemble Brazilbilly — will take part; among an array of special features in store is a Don Kelley Band Guitarists’ Reunion, with past players including Guthrie Trapp, J.D. Simo, Daniel Donato and studio legend Brent Mason. Heaps of guests are set to join in, like The Del McCoury Band, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, and Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson. A slew of guest singers are also on the docket, including Chuck Mead and Nikki Lane (sitting in with Sarah Gayle Meech and the Meech Boys), Carlene Carter (appearing with The Wendy Newcomer Band) and Brennen Leigh and Riders in the Sky’s Ranger Doug (singing with John England and the Western Swingers). There will also be a steel guitar showcase, dubbed “Wanted for Steelin’,” saluting the venue’s roots as the former home of the Sho-Bud Steel Guitar Company; among other players, Tommy Hannum, Pete Finney and Lynn Owsley will take part. STEPHEN TRAGESER
10 A.M.-11 P.M. ON LOWER BROADWAY
TUESDAY / 8.6
MUSIC
[BIG BOYS DON’T CRY] 10CC
The years immediately after the 1970
breakup of The Beatles saw the release of several albums that were basically Beatles records recorded by other people. These include Harry Nilsson’s Nilsson Schmilsson, Big Star’s #1 Record and 10cc’s self-titled 1973 debut album. 10cc had deep roots in the British Invasion — Graham Gouldman had written hit tunes for The Yardbirds and The Hollies, while Eric Stewart had delivered The Mindbenders’ 1965 single “A Groovy Kind of Love” in a distinctly McCartneyesque style. After delving into bubblegum music with American producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffry Katz on the 1969 Ohio Express single “Sausalito (Is the Place to Go),” 10cc set out on their own post-British Invasion path. For my money, their first two albums make the best case for their genius. They fold and stretch Beatlesstyle pop on 1974’s Sheet Music, which sports a satire titled “The Worst Band in the World” and another tune, “Somewhere in Hollywood,” that mentions Norman Mailer, Jean Harlow and Lassie. The band’s use of tape loops and stacked vocals on 1975’s “I’m Not in Love” marks 10cc as savvy experimentalists — one of the song’s indelible hooks features Kathy Redfern, who was a secretary working at the studio where they cut it, whispering “Big boys don’t cry.” Their current tour includes Gouldman along with a crack band that will play the repertoire. 10cc scored hits until 1978, when they released the reggaeflavored “Dreadlock Holiday.” Robin Taylor Zander, who is the son of Cheap Trick singer Robin Zander, opens. EDD HURT
8 P.M. AT BROOKLYN BOWL
925 THIRD AVE. N.
[LOOK
MUSIC
UP] TATE McRAE
If you think most internet pop stars are better heard through a phone screen rather than on a stage, you’re not alone. However, if you haven’t heard, So You Think You Can Dance finalist turned pop icon Tate McRae is collecting troves of pop music enthusiasts and social media scrollers under the stage lights on her Think Later World Tour. Since releasing a 2022 debut album that navigated heartbreak and self-worth, McRae has shed her image as a sappy, lovesick teenager. Her sophomore album Think Later quickly put her back on the charts, this time with a taste for man-eating vengeance. Her earwormy hit “Greedy” became a top contender for the most overplayed song on social media in 2023, and I couldn’t even be mad when it ambushed me every time I opened an app. After her performance at Marathon Music Works last September, McRae is quickly moving up the Nashville music venue food chain —
TATE McRAE
an accurate screen-to-stage depiction of her skyrocketing popularity. McRae fans, aka the “Tater-Tots” (one of the best fandom names ever, in my opinion), can bask in her Y2K-reminiscent pop glory at Ascend Amphitheater on Tuesday. Support is from Presley Regier. BAILEY BRANTINGHAM
dingy and beat-driven. They’re currently touring in support of their new album, Walk Thru Me, still haunting suburban girls to this day. TOBY ROSE
7 P.M. AT RIVERSIDE REVIVAL
1600 RIVERSIDE DRIVE
8 P.M. AT ASCEND AMPHITHEATER
310 FIRST AVE. S.
FILM [DESPICABLY FUN] MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU
I know what you’re probably thinking — a Critic’s Pick about the fifth Despicable Me spinoff that came out two years ago? And you’re right! It sounds crazy. But I’m here to tell you this movie is great. I was a part of the target demographic when the original film came out, so I carry a certain fondness for those linguistically challenged, yellow blobby guys and their banana-crazed antics. But The Rise of Gru is not your average Minion motion picture. This installment throws it back to the 1970s to show a young Gru (hilariously still voiced by Steve Carell) take on a team of supervillains called the Vicious 6 after he steals their magical Zodiac in an audition gone wrong. Ousted and aging former member of this evil dream team Wild Knuckles — played by the late, great Alan Arkin in his final film released in his lifetime — forms a reluctant alliance with our pint-sized protagonist, and comedic chaos ensues. Kids will love the movie, and even the crabbiest of adults will get a kick out of the fabulous soundtrack. With artists like Brittany Howard, St. Vincent, BROCKHAMPTON and Thundercat covering classic ’70s hits and an original collaboration between Diana Ross and Tame Impala, the groovy tunes will be sure to have fans of all ages dancing in their seats. I unironically listen to the soundtrack album all the time, and I’m not even embarrassed about it. If you need to get your kids or your adult roommates out of the house, take them to a Regal theater to see this movie for $1. Just hearing Julie Andrews voice Gru’s cranky mom is worth the price of admission, guaranteed.
HANNAH CRON
AUG. 6-7 AT REGAL CINEMAS
MUSIC
[WALK ON THE WILD SIDE] FOLK IMPLOSION
WEDNESDAY / 8.7
FILM [AND
I’M LINK]
QUEER QLASSICS: HAIRSPRAY (2007)
The plight of Hairspray is an interesting one. First it was iconic writer-director John Waters’ legendary 1988 cult favorite. Then it became a Broadway musical in 2003. In 2007, it became a movie again — this time based on the stage version that was based on the original movie, losing some raunchiness along the way. The 1988 film (also previously shown on the Belcourt screen) featured trailblazing drag queen Divine, so the film has queer history that makes it a fit for the latest iteration of the Queer Qlassics series. John Travolta is extremely entertaining as Edna Turnblad (the character first played by Divine), but the perfect casting goes beyond Travolta with the incredibly meta teenheartthrob-playing-teen-heartthrob moment of Zac Efron as Link Larkin. Elijah Kelley dancing as Seaweed J. Stubbs is enough to actually make a person faint. Then there’s my favorite version of Amanda Bynes as Penny Pingleton, and Nikki Blonsky nailing her first movie in the lead role. Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer and Queen Latifah are in this movie too! I bought merch for this film from Claire’s in 2007, but now I know just what a significant film this is. Can we do the choreography? HANNAH HERNER
8 P.M. AT THE BELCOURT
2102 BELCOURT AVE.
COMEDY [SHE’S A RICH GIRL] LEAH RUDICK
There was no better form of birth control in the ’90s than watching Kids. Written by off-and-on Nashvillian Harmony Korine, the indie film about a pack of disaffected teenagers meandering through the streets of New York City — doing drugs, drinking 40s and having unprotected, HIV-spreading sex — was horrifying to a girl living in the ’burbs who was doing absolutely none of those things. But the soundtrack was exquisite. Released in 1995 — a golden year for soundtracks — the standout song was “Natural One” by Folk Implosion. Folk Implosion, the side project of Lou Barlow from Sebadoh, contributed a handful of songs to the movie. Each created drama through restraint, a perfectly balanced blend of funk drive and psychedelic drift. The group went on to release a 1999 album One Part Lullaby that was equally as
It’s difficult to categorize the humor of Leah Rudick. The comic/actor/writer has an arsenal of jokes that take a lot of different forms. Watching her Spiraling special, available on Apple TV+, you get a glimpse of a woman who has found laughter in her own anxieties and frustrations. She frequently references the shattering of her sheltered Ohio-girl life after moving to New York City. Her viral “Wealthy Woman” character is a hilarious critique of the unrelatable lives of the rich, reaching new eyes constantly on all the major social media channels. Her work draws laughter from a place of universal empathy, while still showing a high-minded creativity in the way that Rudick crafts a joke. But a warning for the bashful fans: Don’t sit too close. A quick YouTube search will lead you to lots of instances where she singles out audience members to talk to in her act. P.J. KINZER
7 P.M. AT ZANIES
2025 EIGHTH AVE. S.
EATZ MEETS WEST
Family-run restaurant Middle Eatz brings Yemeni food to Nashville
BY KELSEY BEYELER
THE OWNERS OF Middle Eatz are as mindful of hospitality as they are of the quality of their food. Nestled in a strip mall on the corner of Harding Place and Nolensville Road, Middle Eatz showcases a cuisine not strongly represented in Nashville’s food scene: Yemeni food.
Open since November, the restaurant has already generated a strong menu and a loyal customer base, both of which are bound to grow in the years ahead. Its menu is both focused and expansive, featuring assorted offerings including shawarmas, kebabs, samboosas, soups and more. All the meat served in Middle Eatz is halal.
A great place to start would be the chicken or lamb mendi. Served after hours of preparation, this classic Yemeni dish includes slow-roasted, smoked and delicately spiced meat. While the lamb mendi’s availability varies, the chicken
mendi is always available and always delicious. The supple, fall-off-the bone leg meat pairs beautifully with rice, lemon, sumac onion and a spicy sahowka sauce (think salsa but with Yemeni spices). The rice is a triumph, cooked underneath the chicken in a tiered system so it can catch all the flavorful drippings, which imparts a beautiful orange-and-yellow tint to some of the grains. The selta (often spelled “saltah” elsewhere), the national dish of Yemen, is a rich stew featuring beef simmered in a broth, or maraq, made from pulverized charred onions; this adds complex flavor and a dark color. The selta also includes chopped potatoes, herbs and a whipped fenugreek topping to lighten up the incredibly savory broth. Mix in the sahowka sauce to add spice.
For optimal menu exploration, consider or-
dering a platter. The Sayyid Platter, for example, includes lamb kebabs flanked with chicken and steak shawarma, charred vegetables, rice and bread. Bigger groups might want to take on the Royal Feast, featuring four servings apiece of kebabs, chicken mendi and samboosas, plus six pieces of falafel, two servings of hummus and sahowka sauce, all arranged over a bed of rice.
To balance the savory flavors of the menu offerings, you could order a homemade “refresher” beverage: crisp mint lime, sour peach or the frothy, sweet mango drink with Vimto. The restaurant also offers a variety of teas, and we’re told they’ll soon have Arabic and Yemeni coffee. The stellar dessert lineup includes bak-noli: Flaky, buttery filo is wrapped around sweet, earthy pistachio cream and topped with crushed pistachios for even more of a nutty
crunch — the result is a master class in marrying flavors and textures.
A family-run restaurant, Middle Eatz is owned and operated by 10 siblings and their orbit of close friends and extended family. While the Mohsin siblings are new to the restaurant business, they’re very accustomed to serving food. They grew up in California helping their parents host countless houseguests looking for Middle Eastern and Yemeni cuisine.
“At the time it was annoying,” says sibling
PHOTOS:
CHICKEN MENDI
SELTA
Gabriel, who tells the Scene they often had to stop playing to help prepare food for a hungry passerby. “Now somehow it’s turned into something that we enjoy doing.”
Their family history lives in the food they serve. The selta and samboosa recipes come from their mother, while other menu items have changed over time, evolving with tastes they picked up from California, including Western and Hispanic food influences.
As is custom in Yemeni culture and the home they grew up in, the Mohsin siblings are extremely dedicated to the art of hospitality. They frequently check on and converse with guests, happily and thoroughly answering any questions diners present. They also donate leftover food to local mosques or people who need it.
The dining room is designed to accommodate guests seeking a quick casual bite or a place to settle in for a lavish feast with friends and family. It’s adorned with massive photos depicting lush Middle Eastern landscapes, and shimmering gold tiles stand out among archways that line the walls. While one side of the restaurant features standard booths, the other
side features shorter booths covered in a beautiful blue textile imported from Yemen meant to emulate sitting on the floor, as is custom in Middle Eastern dining.
Every detail of the restaurant, from the dining room to the desserts, has been painstakingly worked out among the siblings. The falafel, for example, took a whole summer to develop. The
Join us for an elevated brunch experience: Saturday and Sunday 9am-2pm $32/person includes one Mimosa Bottomless Mimosas $30 (max 2 hrs)
BAK-NOLI
COOKIE BUTTER CHEESECAKE
WHAT BUSINESSES WILL SURVIVE IN OUR BRAVE NEW WORLD?
I recently stayed in a motel that had an A.I. desk clerk. Sadly, I am not kidding. BY
CHRIS CROFTON
In 2014, comedian, musician, podcaster and Nashvillian Chris Crofton asked the Scene for an advice column, so we gave him one. Crowning himself the “Advice King,” Crofton shares his hardwon wisdom with whoever seeks it. Follow Crofton on Twitter and Instagram (@thecroftonshow), and check out his The Advice King Anthology and Cold Brew Got Me Like podcast. To submit a question for the Advice King, email bestofbread@gmail.com.
Dear Advice King, What sort of businesses will survive the New World Order? Looking for a career change. Thanks!
—Joan in Los Angeles
THE ONLY BUSINESSES THAT APPEAR TO BE THRIVING AT THE MOMENT ARE CORPORATE TACO STANDS. EXCEPT THEY’RE NOT STANDS — “STAND” IMPLIES FUN. THEY ARE TACO “BUILDINGS.”
term? Then they vomit in our 2011 Nissan Sentras, and — instead of apologizing — slur something about how they are helping the economy. As the last one staggers away, he (J.D. Vance?) hisses back at us that we should read Atlas Shrugged
The second and final New World Order will be the same as the one I just mentioned, except artificial intelligence will do all the delivering and, erm, “ridesharing.” And that’s not all. It’ll even do the motel managing. That’s right. Including the night shift.
Hi Joan! Full disclosure: I happen to know this “Joan.” She works in the music business. So do I! Or I did. Or I do? It’s hard to call it a “business” these days. “Business” usually implies wages/ hours/company picnics/sack races. Imagine an indie-rock company picnic: Everybody getting there late, smoking, looking at their phones, leaving early — zero sack races. Also: cowboy outfits, cocaine — no food. And man, anyone who can afford to do cocaine and not eat sure as hell ain’t no cowboy. Cowboys eat beans every chance they get! Drink horrible coffee — no lattes. Poisonous snakes? Yes. Guitar pedals? No. Shitting outside? Yes. Sack races? Occasionally. For years, it was standard practice in the music industry for the record company to own an artist’s “masters” (the master tapes of their recordings). In retrospect, that seems deranged. But even the saddest, most fucked-over musicians of the 1960s through the 1990s could never have imagined that one day all those masters would be handed to some Swedish guy so he could “stream” them. This admittedly non-musical Swede (Spotify founder Daniel Ek) ends up with $5 billion. The musicians themselves end up delivering him lunch. Diabolical. Dare I say, THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS. Sorry. That’s the last time anybody is allowed to use that phrase.
OK, so the music business is out. We haven’t even gotten the full “New World Order” treatment yet, and musicians have already been defunded. “DEFUND THE MUSICIANS.” That doesn’t sound right. But that’s what happened.
Joan, there will be two New World Orders. I call the first one “New World: Ordering.” We are in its nascent stage now. The rich people stay home, poke listlessly at their laptops and have everything delivered to them. The rest of us become a permanent underclass of delivery drivers.
If the rich people decide to leave their compounds, we drive them around so they can get drunk. I believe “rideshare” is the Orwellian
I don’t know about you, Joan, but I don’t want to live in a world where I can’t be a musician or a night-shift motel manager. Those are the only two things I ever wanted to be since I was a little kid!
I mentioned motel managers because I recently stayed in a motel that had an A.I. desk clerk. Sadly, I am not kidding. There was a TV monitor behind the front desk instead of a person. A very nice fake lady appeared on the screen. She said, “May I help you?” Fun fact: She does not require a paycheck. Think about that. Think about it again.
The only businesses that appear to be thriving at the moment are corporate taco stands. Except they’re not stands — “stand” implies fun. They are taco “buildings.” Imagine the aesthetic of a WeWork space, or a boutique hotel lobby, or a CrossFit gym, or an Airbnb, or an Oracle employee’s $800,000 condo — except it serves tacos. The name is written in a fun font on the outside — “LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE TACOS.” Inside, QR codes, industrial picnic tables, underpaid employees and “tacos” full of ingredients that venture capitalists think are groundbreaking: hot chicken, tofu, Cap’n Crunch, Zoloft, etc. “We’re disruptors! We’re disrupting tacos!” Real advice? Stop eating corporate tacos. Don’t park anywhere that asks for your email address. Love your neighbor. Hang in there. ▼
TROLLS: Save the Humans
Six gigantic sculptural trolls by prominent Denmark-based recycle artist Thomas Dambo take up residence at Cheekwood to share messages of stewardship and sustainability. Reserve tickets at cheekwood.org
AUGUST 20
DAVE
SEPTEMBER 7
JULIAN LAGE
SPEAK
SEPTEMBER 19
THE JERRY DOUGLAS BAND WITH SUPPORTING ARTIST CRIS JACOBS
OCTOBER 11
THE
DECEMBER 1
OCIE ELLIOTT
TICKETS ON SALE
MUSEUM-APPROVED STREET ART AND A REVITALIZED ARCADE
A community art project at The Packing Plant leads our picks for August Art Crawl highlights
BY JOE NOLAN
I’VE HEARD IT SAID that after the Fourth of July, summer’s already over. But no matter what school schedules might say, or how packed the back-to-school displays are at Target, the late-evening sun and I are still convinced it’s summertime. August’s First Saturday event is, appropriately, packed with fleeting displays. See ’em while you can.
WEDGEWOOD-HOUSTON
The Frist’s ¡Printing the Revolution! exhibition traces the development of Chicano printing arts from the Mexican American civil rights movements and publications of the 1960s and 1970s to more contemporary developments in this tradition of activist art and publishing. In case you were worried that the exhibition might be mired in the past with no current street cred to show, think again. MNPS Teacher of the Year, Paragon Mills Elementary’s own Bobbilyn Negrón, worked with the exhibition’s organizers to create a community art project resulting in the wheatpaste poster bombing of the 185 Alley Gallery behind The Packing Plant. Hat-tip to the Frist for being hip enough to support exhibitions in funky alleys.
➡
DETAILS: See the artworks on the walls outside The Packing Plant, 507 Hagan St.
EAST NASHVILLE
I was confused by the first episode of Nashville Hot Summer, which debuted at Red Arrow’s temporary outpost at The Arcade in June. The autumnal palettes and solemn expressions found in many of the works didn’t seem to have any relation to the easy joy of the warm weather months. Painter Danielle Winger had to do most of the heavy lifting of delivering on
the sexy vibrance of the show’s title. The Superman-ice-cream landscape in her oil-on-canvas painting “Warmth” was just what I needed to snap out of the summertime sadness. Luckily, Nashville Hot Summer Part 2 is much more onbrand for this series that debuted in a different form at Red Arrow’s East Nashville headquarters last summer. I gave that show a Best of Nashville nod, and I love how the series plays off of the summer gallery tradition that finds curators indulging broad displays of works from across their rosters in hopes of luring gallerygoers through their doors, out of all that sunshine and fresh air. I generally hate themed shows, but here the theme elevates evergreen gallery marketing into a sexy Southern garden party during summer dress season. I was really looking forward to this year’s iteration, but I had to wait for this second chapter to get my sunshine dopamine release. This exhibition includes 17 artists, with standout works from John Paul Kesling, Jean Nagai, Julian Rogers, Katie Hector, Brianna Bass and Johnson Ocheja.
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DETAILS: Nashville Hot Summer Part 2 debuts across two venues this Saturday night: at Red Arrow in East Nashville, and at Suite 63 and Suite 64 in the upper level of The Arcade downtown. Opening receptions are 6-9 p.m.
DOWNTOWN
Arcade Arts’ Art Between the Avenues summer art happenings had downtown full of the old-school Art Crawl feels at last month’s First Saturday events. Gallerygoers cycled between opening receptions at The Browsing Room at Downtown Presbyterian Church, the commercial galleries along Fifth Avenue and the pop-up shows at the
newly renovated Arcade. The artist-led gallery spaces at The Arcade were the dynamo at the center of the original Downtown Art Crawl. The monthly events put Nashville’s contemporary art scene on the map for locals and tourists alike, and having The Arcade back in the art crawl mix has been heavy on vibes even if the displays are a mixed bag. The Arcade pop-ups will be open for one last First Saturday reception this week, and the shows will run through the end of August.
Don’t miss the exhibition at Galerie Tangerine’s pop-up at Suite 65 in the Arcade. Like many who’ve come before them, GT embraces the abbreviated dimensions of The Arcade’s upstairs spaces, and the results are something I’m calling “cozy maximalism,” or maybe “extreme salon.” It’s a fun display full of colorful works including even more eye-catching paintings from John Paul Kesling and a new illuminated work from Todd Greene, whose symbol-filled abstract paintings are lately transforming into light installations.
Sam Dunson’s painted pillows at TSU’s Hiram Van Gordon Gallery’s space at The Arcade are on the don’t miss list for gallerygoers this Saturday night. Dunson combines materials with colorful designs and varied textures, and decorates them with painted text and Afrofuturist portraits of interstellar skateboarders, interdimensional graffiti artists and DJs on Mars.
Evan Roosevelt Brown transforms his Arcade space into a mini movie theater, decorated by original artist-made lobby posters, featuring the narrative-defying film titles included in his thoughtful selection of original experimental shorts. We’re just a couple of weeks away from the Defy Film Festival’s celebration of way-out films, and this collection of a half-dozen artistic
short videos is required viewing for Nashville cinephiles with eyes for poetic editing. Brown cut his teeth curating NKA Gallery in North Nashville. His In Short, I Would Like to Say installation finds him creating an immersive environment in a challenging footprint, and demonstrating that his eye for talented filmmakers is at least as strong as his eye for talented gallery artists. I’d love to see Brown doing more film-forward curating and programming beyond this Arcade project. Stop here and sit in the dark this weekend. Enjoy short selections from LeXander Bryant, $eck, taylor D. bee and more.
➡DETAILS: Arcade opening receptions are 6-9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3 ▼
GALERIE TANGERINE’S POP-UP AT ARCADE ARTS’ ART BETWEEN THE AVENUES
BOBBILYN NEGRÓN WORKING WITH A PARTICIPANT OF THE WHEATPASTE POSTER PROJECT FOR 185 ALLEY GALLERY
POSTERS CREATED FOR THE 185 ALLEY GALLERY PROJECT
Name: LUCILLE Age: 2yrs
Weight: 59 lbs
Bio: Mama Lucille had 8 newborn puppies in May, so spent the first weeks in our care being a rockstar
mom! Now that all of her puppies have been adopted, it’s time for her to find the family she deserves!
Lucille’s current Foster said she is loving, intelligent, and loyal. She loves to cuddle, spend time in the backyard, and play with her favorite toys. Now that she’s retired from motherhood, she’s able to be the spoiled pup she’s always deserved to be. That means peanut butter, rides in the car, snuggling on the couch, and outdoor adventures with her humans. Lucille is also potty trained and learning how to use a crate! Nashville Humane Association is teaming up with North Shore Animal League America to celebrate DOGust 1st®, the official birthday for all rescue dogs and Lucille would LOVE to celebrate DOGust 1st in her furever home!
Are you ready to open your heart and home to this deserving pup? Head to our website and inquire about her today. Our team will be happy to connect you with Lucille to ensure you meet this loving girl! We must warn you though... you might just fall in love!
Call 615.352.1010 or visit nashvillehumane.org
Located at 213 Oceola Ave., Nashville, TN 37209
Adopt. Bark. Meow. Microchip. Neuter. Spay.
THE UNMATCHED STRENGTH OF WOMANHOOD
With Daughters of Chaos, Jen Fawkes spins a fiercely feminist tale centered in 19th-century Nashville
BY SARA BETH WEST
PERHAPS ALL WRITERS of fiction have experienced the particular thrill of coming across a bit of history or a casual mention of some peculiar event, and suddenly they know: A story will be born out of that moment. Such is the case with Jen Fawkes and her latest, Daughters of Chaos, which finds its center in Civil War-era Nashville and the decision to protect Union soldiers against syphilis by removing all “public women” — prostitutes — from the city by way of riverboat. In truth, this moment in 1863 is only a part of the magical and mysterious story Fawkes spins here, one that delves into issues of identity, sexuality and power, all focused on a most remarkable woman — Sylvie.
When twins Silas and Sylvie are born, their mother Brigitte dies in childbirth, leaving them to be raised by their father and older sister Marina. Years later, when Sylvie brings her own twins into the world (named after their grandmother and aunt), she too holds them briefly before bidding them farewell. But this time the mother survives, sending her daughters to be adopted by a nearby couple with a farm and none of the baggage of Sylvie’s past.
SIP & STROLL: SHOP LATE THURSDAYS WHERE UPSCALE MEETS SMALL TOWN CHARM
Sylvie needs to tell the story of her past, to tell of the years she spent in Nashville during the war, and Daughters of Chaos is framed as a letter to young Brigitte and Marina, though she admits, “Maybe I’ll give it to the girls. Maybe I won’t, but I plan to write the whole damn thing down.” On its own, this synopsis might intrigue, and there would be plenty to populate its pages: love and loss, grief and war, turmoil and joy. These things are the stuff of any life, and they are present in Sylvie’s tale as well.
But Daughters of Chaos is not content to tell only one human story. Fawkes has assembled a collection of tales, a chorus of women’s stories that include a lost play by Aristophanes, an ancient cult of women who can change their shape at will and, of course, the stories of those public women. It is a complex story that manages an impressive balancing act, keeping readers poised between the real and the unreal with notable continuity throughout this fiercely feminist novel.
To properly tell her story, Sylvie gathers what she calls an “archive of evidence,” including “newspaper clippings, correspondence, a child’s charcoal and pastel drawings. An antique playscript that rightly belongs in the Smithsonian. A red clothbound book, published in 1828, about the Venetian poet Gaia Valentino. Volumes 3, 6, 8 ,9, 11, 14, and 21 of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (eighth edition).” These elements lend an air of researched authenticity to Fawkes’ elaborate
story, and for those readers skilled in the practice of suspending disbelief, the novel will work perfectly, casting its spell and transporting them into a fully realized world, rich with fantastic detail and the grounding layers of history.
Despite the many narrative threads employed, Daughters of Chaos maintains a persuasive throughline, insisting on the unmatched strength of womanhood and the power that resides in a willingness to change. In one of the excerpts on Valentino’s life, we read:
“To be a woman,” Francesca said as she taught her changeling how to disguise herself — how to dress and plait her hair, how to perfume and adorn her body, “is to change. From girl to maid, from bride to mother, from matron to crone. Such mutability is thought by the male of the species to be a failing, so we’ve been relegated to the shadows.
“But woman is the universe. We are the cosmos. We are the landscape. We’re the forest, the bear, the mountain, the beehive, the sea. And it is our ability to change, to adapt, to wear a series of faces that gives us our strength, that enables us — in spite of how we’re fettered by society — not only to survive but to prevail.”
And woman does prevail in Daughters of Chaos, though in a manner that might surprise, or even possibly disappoint, readers who were
expecting a certain kind of triumph. Still, it is a story full of wisdom and strength, even as it focuses on uncertainties.
In her author’s note, Fawkes explains her moment of inspiration and the intense bouts of research and writing that followed. She argues, “Who better to comb through the extant record — through the stories selected and arranged by those in power — and breathe life into these lost circumstances than a writer of fiction?” Clearly Fawkes knows the power of a good story and of the imaginative hope that lives within each person’s life, an idea brought vividly to life in Daughters of Chaos
For more local book coverage, please visit Chapter16.org, an online publication of Humanities Tennessee. ▼
Daughters of Chaos
By
Jen
Fawkes
Harry N. Abrams
288 pages, $27
A Good Fit. A Great Future.
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nscc.edu/academics
THE MOTHER HIPS + PAUL MCDONALD & THE MOURNING DOVES
WMOT Roots Radio Presents Finally Friday featuring JULIE LAVERY, DANIEL NUNNELEE & HIGHWAY NATIVES
JIMMY HALL and THE PRISONERS OF LOVE featuring KENNY GREENBERG with JACK RUCH
Backstage Nashville! Daytime Hit Songwriters Show featuring HEIDI NEWFIELD, JIM BEAVERS, RAY STEPHENSON and OLD HICKORY
HIPPIES & COWBOYS with REVELRY THE TIME JUMPERS
STRUNG LIKE A HORSE JAMIE FLOYD with RICK BRANTLEY + Special Guests PIA TOSCANO, JAKE HOOT, LUCIE SILVAS, SINCLAIR, TY HERNDON, JIM BRICKMAN, WRABEL + More special Guests!
”The Rhyme and The Reason on 3rd” Experience the stories behind Nashville’s biggest hits performed by the Songwriters who created them” featuring MARLA CANNON-GOODMAN, MATRACA BERG & DEANA CARTER with EMMA ZINCK + AVA PAIGE
90's hits live! sean mcconnell w/ verygently anime rave grunge night 11 the juliana theory w/ the unlikely candidates gable price & friends w/ carver commodore qdp perpetual groove eley w/ marisa maino & sayak das a tribute to led zeppelin angie mcmahon w/ mimi gilbert orville peck w/ reyna roberts, fancy hagood & alexia noelle paris
TUCKER BAND FEATURING CHRIS HENNSESSE, JAMEY JOHNSON, DRAKE WHITE & MORE! 8/29 BUTCH WALKER WITH TYLER BOONE SOLD OUT!
preston james ft. sj mcdonald (7pm) texas string assembly w/ johnny gates (9pm)
& ned henry (7pm) highway natives (9pm) valentine saloon w/ dixie dragster
MUSIC
CHEW ON THIS
DIY venue The Mouthhole continues to play a vital part in Nashville’s music ecosystem
BY KELSEY BEYELER
FOR MORE THAN a decade, something extraordinary has been bubbling ominously in a dank Nashville basement. Along with friend Michael Sadler, brothers Zac and Travis Caffrey have created a space for musicians and artists of all ages, backgrounds and tastes to connect and experiment in a relaxed atmosphere that embraces eccentricity: their DIY venue The Mouthhole.
There’s never a cost to enter, but there is usually some kind of running bit based on the night’s theme. Though they play elsewhere, the residents’ musical acts often serve as (literal) house bands: Travis Caffrey and Sadler make up abrasive, sardonic avant-rock duo The Chewers, while Zac Caffrey often appears in his ape mask, performing out-of-this-world industrially inclined electronic music as Chop Chop Chang.
On July 26 and 27, the space and its denizens marked a milestone with Fest(er) X, the 10th edition of their annual two-day music showcase. “Everybody who performed at Fest(er) gets a big X!” shouted Zac during a brief pause in the revelry, commanding the crowd to cross our arms. He and fellow emcee Sadler also prompted a round of giant X’s in honor of everyone who attended.
Following Caroline Red’s energetic pop-centric set, Ziona Riley cast a spell with her melodic post-folk tunes. Shortly, Riley was back onstage with art-punk outfit Heinous Orca, alongside sisters Isabel and Laura Solomon and Austin Hoke. Emphasizing the communal atmosphere, no sooner had Hoke left the stage than he returned with his cello, adding an ethereal edginess to Chop Chop Chang (which on Saturday was dubbed “Chop Chop Cello”). The Chewers put an exclamation point on the live-music portion of the festivities.
Despite the noise of the concert and the dozens of people in attendance, The Mouthhole was virtually imperceptible from the street leading up to it. A few signs direct guests to the basement, which is filled with a decade’s worth of ephemera and tchotchkes. There’s artwork on display throughout the house, and chalk doodles cover the walls. Fake spiderwebs are draped over a chandelier; real spiderwebs intertwine with string lights that probably don’t work. By the end of the night, the floor in the performance space was covered in glitter — Fest(er) tradition calls for willing participants to partake in a glitter bombing.
Though gatherings at The Mouthhole feel organic, they are intentional. In an interview with all three residents prior to Fest(er) X, Sadler explains that he and Travis Caffrey met as theater students in West Virginia. Having arrived in Nashville separately in the early 2010s, the three sought out a house that would be suitable for hosting informal shows, hoping to make friends and attract fellow artsy weirdos. They make an
effort to greet everyone (especially newcomers) attending one of their concerts, comedy shows, plays, visual art exhibits, movies or karaoke nights — or whatever else they and their ever-widening circle of friends come up with. Zac never intended to perform live, but his friends and the welcoming environment coaxed him to the stage. Sadler and the Caffreys are proud to note that bands have played their first show at The Mouthhole and gone on to bigger rooms. The space has also hosted the trio’s collective favorite musician, country-leaning experimental songsmith Johnny Dowd — a show Travis describes as a “spiritual moment.”
In a setting like this, some chaos is inevitable. Having a single bathroom has led to some plumbing mishaps. There have been two minor thefts of note: Zac’s ape mask vanished but reappeared with an apology letter, while a metal goat lawn ornament is still missing. (Those who dwell in The Mouthhole still hope the perpetrator will bring it back.)
By and large, the intimate atmosphere fosters comradery and respect for the space. In 11 years of rowdy shows, they’ve come close to kicking out a guest “maybe once,” but so far still haven’t had to. Despite a few suspicious glances from maintenance staff, they’ve never discussed their artistic endeavors with their landlord. Should that conversation arise, they have an honest answer: They’re just throwing huge house parties. This explanation placated a performing rights organization that once demanded payment for songs played between sets.
“I tried to explain to several people, ‘This is the basement of my house, and no money is exchanging hands, and there’s really no reason for you to have any concern,’” Sadler recalls. “I think they finally got the picture.”
The group is well aware of the risks of hosting house shows, including getting evicted. In the early days of The Mouthhole, they published their address, but stopped after a 2016 fire at Oakland, Calif., DIY artist collective Ghost Ship
tragically killed 36 people, prompting a nationwide crackdown by local governments on vital community arts spaces. The Mouthhole also put shows on pause for about six months after the Ghost Ship fire, but cautiously ramped them up again; COVID lockdown forced another hiatus.
Around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, it was time for the traditional post-Fest(er) karaoke. Sadler gave a kind of benediction: “The Mouthhole sometimes closes, but it always reopens.”
Sleek, high-fidelity listening rooms that can accommodate several hundred people play a role in our city’s musical ecosystem. But just as much, or even more, it needs places that foster a nonjudgmental creative atmosphere — true Petri dishes for art and community. Recent studies back up what people in and around Nashville music have said for years: The way the city has grown has made it harder for independent venues of any kind to stay afloat. The Mouthhole keeps coming back, and that’s a blessing for Nashville. ▼
FROM LEFT: ZAC CAFFREY, MICHAEL SADLER AND TRAVIS CAFFREY AT THE MOUTHHOLE
PHOTOS: ANGELINA CASTILLO
Follow @themouthhole on Instagram for show information
TIME IN PLACE
Jessica Pratt stretches out on Here in the Pitch
BY JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT
OVER THE PAST 12 YEARS, Jessica Pratt has released a succession of whispery, understated lo-fi albums. Discussions around the Los Angeles folk veteran’s artistry occasionally loop her into the freak-folk movement alongside the likes of Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and others who make experimental takes on traditional folk music.
Here in the Pitch, Pratt’s fourth album overall and first since 2018, is her most lush yet. It sucks you in with its atmospheric blend of influences as she unabashedly toes the line between avantgarde folk and classic pop sounds. Though she sings in a higher register, her vocal tone and delivery conjure divinely feminine singers like Françoise Hardy. Her intricate vocal arrangements gesture toward the freaky father of folkpop, Harry Nilsson. In the instrumental realm, jangly Pet Sounds-inspired glockenspiel meets the spacious drums you hear on The Velvet Underground’s self-titled LP, all blending into a sound that’s nostalgic but never derivative.
When you go back further in Pratt’s catalog, it becomes obvious that her sound has always lived in this space; this evolution feels as if she’s just unpacked more of her things into it. The writing and recording process began during COVID lockdown and continued afterward — a period characterized by too much time and too much space. So, many artists released records during pandemic lockdown or quickly after, eager to get back to touring. Released in May, Here in the Pitch arrives after that hump, perhaps to its own benefit.
“I feel like the songs make sense together as a cohesive document of the timeframe that
I was making it,” says Pratt. “It was a strange time, I suppose. It was a time of a lot of dead air, which was probably a benefit — or a curse. When there’s too much open time, you can feel sort of awash. There was certainly some of that. … There were no immediate deadlines. Nothing felt pressing. In a way that might have let me stretch out creatively, but it also potentially elongated the process.”
Either way, Here in the Pitch is a superb halfhour of music, with production as precious and pristine as Pratt’s soprano voice. She makes a haunted world for herself on tracks like “Nowhere It Was,” an eerie song that could be about a deranged cult leader or a friend who is slipping into paranoia. The reverb-heavy percussion mimics the sound of water droplets in a dark cave. It induces chills, like a ghost running through you.
Here in the Pitch is a collage of universal themes from the pandemic mindset: loneliness, hope, cynicism and transformation. “Life Is” and “The Last Year” bookend the album, opening with: “Life is / It’s never what you think it’s for.” What is life for? Pratt doesn’t answer. She doesn’t force-feed ideals; instead, she explores the contours of human experience through her poetic lyrics, embracing the anxiety and leaving room for resolve, no matter how fleeting. On “The Last Year” she sings: “I think it’s gonna be fine / I think we’re gonna be together / And the storyline goes forever.” There’s not a lot of certainty in these lines, but there doesn’t need to be. The hope that it will be fine is enough.
When asked about her starting point for writing a specific song, Pratt chuckles and says:
NOT A SPRINT
BY RON WYNN
“That’s the age-old question, right? Where does a song come from?” For her, songs bring together influences that can’t — and shouldn’t — be picked apart. “My songs are a combination of fictionalized ideas or disparate parts of things I’ve read about or learned about, maybe even a character in a movie, combined with my own impulses. And it just comes out as a patchwork.”
To Pratt, the interesting thing is not where a song comes from, but where it leads the listener. “To dissect [a song] is maybe impossible, but I like that the process is unpredictable and not completely easy to parse afterwards,” she says. “As long as it has an emotional impact, that’s the most important thing.”
By writing cryptic and mysterious lyrics that don’t just center her own experience, she’s able to fit a whole world of feeling into her writing. It’s expansive and allows the listener to slot in their experience as well. And more listeners are responding. “I don’t know if it was kind of the right thing for the right time period,” Pratt says, “but it seemed like by the time I put out this record I had gained some fans.”
The past few years have been a time for quiet music that makes you think. In a noisy world, Pratt’s music makes you want to turn down all the other inputs and truly listen. ▼
Playing 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, at The Basement East
THERE’S NO SINGLE style or category that fully and accurately defines Charley Crockett, either as a performer or a songwriter. His exciting and consistently impressive concert Saturday night at the Ryman — the second in a two-night stand — reinforced the reality that Crockett easily operates in multiple idioms, sometimes even within the same song.
Backed by his tremendous five-piece band The Blue Drifters, Crockett gave a sold-out audience a dazzling show that ran over 90 minutes, plus a twosong encore. In the process, he also demonstrated his musical eclecticism as an instrumentalist, and versatility and acumen as a storyteller and lyricist. From the earliest strains of the opening number “$10 Cowboy,” Crockett sang with a mix of conviction and nonstop energy. His music is deeply rooted in traditional country, but there’s also lots of blues expressiveness in such songs as “Hard Luck & Circumstances,” “City of Roses” and his version of fellow Texan Country Willie Edwards’ “Midnight Cowboy.”
Throughout the performance, Crockett took the audience on a powerhouse journey through his extensive catalog. Occasionally he turned reflective or biographical, offering poignant tributes to being moved by finally playing the Ryman or reminiscing about his past life singing in New York subways or the streets of New Orleans. “I’ll never write a song as well as Hank Williams,” Crockett mused at one point. If that’s so, it’s certainly not for lack of trying: Five days before the show, the prolific songsmith surprise-released Visions of Dallas, his 14th studio LP since 2015 and a sequel to his April album $10 Cowboy. By the time he finished the evening’s marathon, Crockett had earned multiple standing ovations. Though the crowd was clearly eager for Crockett, opening act Vincent Neil Emerson was well-received and treated with courtesy through his 45-minute set that included both older tunes and new songs from a forthcoming LP. High points included “Rodeo Clown” and “Chipping at the
PHOTO: CATHERINE POWELL FOR THE RYMAN
LONESOME SOUNDS: CHARLEY CROCKETT
Stone,” both recent additions. But the finest tune was his closing number, the memorable “The Ballad of the Choctaw-Apache.” He credited the song to the stories his grandmother told him as a child, about how her tribe was uprooted from their home near the border between Texas and Louisiana in what’s now the Toledo Bend Reservoir.
Crockett decisively showed why he’s a repeat nominee for the Americana Music Association Honors and Awards — including his second nomination for Artist of the Year in the 2024 ceremony slated for September. He might have started his musical career in earnest a little later in life than some, but he seems determined to get the most out of every second.
BEING NEIGHBORLY
BY LOGAN BUTTS
ROCK ’N’ ROLL MAY be dead as a monocultural force, but it was alive and well Saturday night at American Legion Post 82 in Inglewood when Jack White came to play.
The East Side outpost of the veterans affairs organization might seem like an odd location for the first full show of the year from one of the world’s biggest rock stars, but the Legion has long been an integral venue in the local music scene. Plus, White is one of our foremost advocates for physical media and analog processes, so it’s fitting he would break his live-performance drought for a benefit concert to help upgrade the P.A. at an oldschool venue like the Legion.
That was one of several things that made this an extra-special occasion. Another was the live debut of songs from White’s new album, soft-released by nonchalantly slipping plain copies labeled “No Name” to Third Man Records customers on July 19. The show also marked the maiden voyage of the latest incarnation of his touring band, a trio of seasoned players consisting of his longtime bassman Dominic Davis, Raconteurs alum Patrick Keeler on drums and keyboardist Bobby Emmett who you’ll have heard or seen with Sturgill Simp-
son. The group and opening act Wolf Twin thoroughly tested the limits of the venue’s newly installed sound system — my ears are still ringing as I write this.
Fronted by Nashville songsmith and former Legion bartender Heather Gillis, Wolf Twin played a kickass 30-minute set of honey-and-sandpaper fuzz-rock jams. The simplicity of the setup — Gillis on vocals and guitar with Dallas Dawson on drums — harkened back to the early days of The White Stripes, adding to the night’s Meet Me in the Bathroom vibe. Judging by the in-unison head nods visible across the crowd during the set, Wolf Twin made new fans of a number of attendees who might have previously been unfamiliar with Gillis’ music.
Following a typically eclectic mix of pre-show tunes (with White’s love for both ’90s boom-bap and ’70s funk shining through), the men of the hour took the stage for a tight 50 minutes packed with brand-new tunes. I hadn’t heard the new record prior to the show, despite the prevalence of bootlegs thanks to White’s call for fans to “rip it”; when White announced that the album would be for sale on vinyl afterward, I thought I might get trampled as fans made a beeline for the merch table.
the
of
commercially available copies,
for more information about a wider release. Album opener “Old Scratch Blues” and deeper cut “Morning at Midnight” were played at the show, among a smattering of older songs that mostly skipped 2018’s Boarding House Reach and 2022’s Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive
The new songs are a throwback to the bombastic snarl of White’s early solo days. Following a run of increasingly experimental music over his past three albums, these fit right alongside standout cuts from Blunderbuss and Lazaretto; the crowd clearly loved the hard-charging energy. Before dismissal, White & Co. returned for a four-song encore consisting mostly of White Stripes songs: the duo’s breakout hit “Fell in Love With a Girl,” “I Think I Smell a Rat,” White solo staple “Lazaretto” and one of my all-time favorite songs, “Ball and Biscuit.” Fans got to hear a mix of hot-off-the-presses music and old favorites, and White got to help a beloved local institution carry on its mission. Chalk up Saturday night as a win for everyone. ▼
Per
jacket
the
the album is indeed called No Name; we’ll have to wait
’EM: CHARLEY CROCKETT
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IRISH ROGUES
Just like Kneecap the band, Kneecap the movie is lowbrow brattiness BY
CRAIG D. LINDSEY
CHEEKY (in every sense of the word), ill-tempered and over-caffeinated would be the best way to describe Kneecap, a hip-hop trio from Ireland. It’s also the best way to describe Kneecap, a new quasi-autobiographical film about how this group came to be.
Saturday, August 3
SONGWRITER SESSION
Joe Doyle
NOON · FORD THEATER
Sunday, August 4
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
Jon Corneal and Jim Lauderdale
1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Wednesday, August 7
LOUISE SCRUGGS
MEMORIAL FORUM
Honoring
Sally Williams
6:30 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, August 10
HATCH SHOW PRINT Block Party
9:30 am, NOON, and 2:30 pm
HATCH SHOW PRINT SHOP
LIMITED AVAILABILITY
Saturday, August 10
SONGWRITER SESSION
Clay Mills
NOON · FORD THEATER
Saturday, August 10
POETS AND PROPHETS
John Hiatt
2:30 pm · FORD THEATER
Sunday, August 11
MUSICIAN SPOTLIGHT
Eddy Dunlap
1:00 pm · FORD THEATER
Saturday, August 17
SONGWRITER SESSION
Kyle Clark
NOON · FORD THEATER
Saturday, August 17
NASHVILLE CATS
Bobby Wood
2:30 pm · FORD THEATER
WITNESS HISTORY
Local Kids Visit Free
Plan a trip to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum this summer!
Local youth 18 and under who are residents of Davidson and bordering counties are always free, plus 25% off admission for up to two accompanying adults.
The men of Kneecap — Mo Chara (the Elliot Page-looking Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh), Móglaí Bap (the Jemaine Clement-looking Naoise Ó Cairealláin) and DJ Próvaí (JJ Ó Dochartaigh, who looks like their parole officer) — got together with reporter-turned-filmmaker Rich Peppiatt for this hella fictionalized origin story. Not only did they co-conceive the story, they also do an adequate job playing themselves.
According to the film, the three met in the last decade, when the Northern Irish were marching to keep their Irish language alive. Chara and Bap are tracksuit-wearing drug dealers, trying and usually failing to get away from cops (or “peelers,” as they call them) and drug-hating Irish Republicans. Meanwhile, Próvaí is a mild-mannered music teacher whose past life as a beatmaker is tucked away in his garage.
With Próvaí itching to do something rebellious and Chara carrying around a notebook full of Irish rhymes, they convince Bap to join them in becoming a rap group, named after the punishment Irish paramilitaries used to give drug pushers. Próvaí, who rocks an Irish-flag balaclava to preserve his anonymity and keep his day job, comes up with the beats. Chara and Bap rap in their native tongue, which was taught to them by Bap’s revolutionary-fugitive dad, played by none other than Michael Fassbender. (Who better to play a stubborn Irish freedom fighter than the one who played Bobby Sands in Steve McQueen’s Hunger?)
The group has built themselves up as the License to Ill-era Beastie Boys of Belfast, crude-butproud hooligans who stick it to the fuzz, the Brits and other oppressive C-words (you’ll be hearing that word a lot) by rapping in indigenous Irish Gaelic — usually about drugs. Naturally, the movie, which won the NEXT Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is also a chest-thumping hot mess. (Subtitles hit the screen whenever characters talk in Gaelic, but I could’ve used subtitles when they spoke English
too.) People have already been calling it a cross between Trainspotting and 8 Mile. To me, it’s more like Ken Loach consumed a shitload of molly at a rave and decided to remake A Hard Day’s Night Kneecap rolls like a dated throwback to 2000s-era lowbrow comedies. (Much like dudebro auteur Todd Phillips, Peppiatt is a former documentarian whose filmmaking style melds visual stylishness with vulgar storytelling.) It’s also reminiscent of those bratty, Cool Cymru comedies that came out of the U.K. — like Twin Town and Human Traffic — in the late ’90s. The whole thing runs on cocaine and obnoxiousness, as our profane, hell-raising triumvirate seeks to become stars and maintain their heritage by being unruly, coked-up punks who toss drug samples to their fans. You certainly won’t see that shit in a Jim Sheridan film.
No matter how rude, snarling and morally reprehensible these lowlife scumbags (their words, not mine) get, they’re still surrounded by antagonists, from a bullying detective (Josie Walker) to the brutish, dunderheaded leader of Radical Republicans Against Drugs (Adam Best), who make them look like noble folk heroes in comparison. Almost cartoonish in their villainy, these barely fleshed-out caricatures are mostly there to keep our boys down. Even Fassbender’s character is a textbook deadbeat dad, too wrapped up in The Cause to notice how much of a shitty husband and father he’s become. I would’ve preferred to see an actual documentary about Kneecap’s strange, twisted journey. (As expected, the movie ends with footage of them performing live through the years.) But that wouldn’t have been as on-brand as Kneecap is. Seeing as how the boys are petulant, juvenile, indecipherable and not everybody’s cup of tea, it makes sense that a movie about them would give off the same divisive, dickheaded vibes. ▼
Kneecap R, 105 minutes
Opening Thursday, Aug. 1, at the Belcourt and select Regal and AMC theaters
SATURDAY, AUGUST 17
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ACROSS
1 Château : France :: ___ : Spain
5 Llama relative with prized wool
8 Steve of “The Office”
9 ___ Inn, “flowery” setting for a Nancy Drew mystery
11 Closely monitor
12 Parting words
14 Part of a row that might have a rho
16 Secret infatuation
18 Sounds from fans
19 Potential goal for a unicorn, in brief
20 Lose every last penny
22 Exude, as charisma
23 Thereabouts
25 Chop up, as ingredients
26 Pepperoni, mushroom or green pepper … or what each cluster of black squares represents in this puzzle
31 Jazz singer James
32 Certain spa treatment, informally
33 “That one’s mine!”
36 Laundry challenge for a mountain biker
39 Pet shampoo target
40 Hard to find
41 Feature of a deluxe pie … and of this puzzle?
47 Currency replaced by the euro
48 Flavoring in purple bubble tea
49 Morgenstern who wrote “The Night Circus”
50 Rough houses?
53 “___ Kapital”
55 Losing water by the minute
56 Pulsate
57 Sources of gossip
60 Spanish grandmother
62 Made noise after being stepped on, perhaps
63 First name of three lead actors playing Marvel superheroes
64 Gave one’s blessing to
65 Outdoes
66 Vixen, e.g. DOWN
1 Prepare, as a Thanksgiving turkey
2 Navigate
3 College team whose name is its home state minus two letters
4 Sucker
5 Assuage, as fears
6 Settled
7 Patchy cat
8 Supermarket lineup
10 Biting
11 Uruguayan soccer star Luis
13 Took by force
14 Become unruly, as hair
15 Singer Amos
17 One of two heard in “This Kiss”
18 “Sister Act” star, familiarly
20 Stare in amazement
21 Closely monitor, with “on”
24 [Is this still good?]
27 Apropos
28 Mixed bag?
29 Sappho and others
30 In 1492, it sailed the ocean blue
34 Set of books once awarded to winners of Britain’s “Countdown” game show, for short
35 Washington’s Sea-___ Airport
36 Artist whose work has a wide reach?
37 Famed sex therapist, familiarly
38 Prey for a moray eel
42 One of the official languages of Uttar Pradesh
43 Material for some trifold display boards
44 Reacted to a staggering blow
45 Russian range
46 Foul
51 Place to veg out
52 King of the fairies in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
54 Screenwriter of “Steve Jobs” and “The Social Network”
55 Double-tapped on Instagram, e.g.
57 Coarse files
58 Duane ___ (pharmacy chain)
59 Noted name with an Oscar?
61 Place
PUZZLE BY PAOLO PASCO AND SARAH SINCLAIR
of the foreclosure, in accordance with the terms and provisions of the loan documents and Deed of Trust.
FORECLOSURE
WHEREAS, Mustard Seed Living LLC executed a Deed of Trust dated September 30, 2021, of record at Instrument No. 202110010132439, Register of Deeds Office for Davidson County, Tennessee (collectively, the “Deed of Trust”) and conveyed to Richard A. Bynum, as Trustee, the hereinafter described real property to secure the payment of certain indebtedness (“Indebtedness”) owed to Studio Bank (referred to as “Lender” and sometimes as “Beneficiary”); and WHEREAS, default in payment of the Indebtedness secured by the Deed of Trust has occurred; and WHEREAS, David M. Anthony (“Trustee”) has been appointed Substitute Trustee by Lender by that Appointment of Substitute Trustee of record at Instrument No. 202406250047369, Register of Deeds Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, with authority to act alone or by a designated agent with the powers given the Trustee in the Deed of Trust and by applicable law; and
WHEREAS, Lender, the owner and holder of said Indebtedness, has demanded that the real property be advertised and sold in satisfaction of said Indebtedness and the costs of the foreclosure, in accordance with the terms and provisions of the loan documents and Deed of Trust.
NOW, THEREFORE, notice is hereby given that the Trustee, pursuant to the power, duty and authority vested in and imposed upon the Trustee under the Deed of Trust and applicable law, will on Thursday, August 8, 2024, at 1:00 o’clock p.m., prevailing time, on the steps of the historic Davidson County Courthouse, 1 Public Square, Nashville, Tennessee 37201, offer for sale to the highest and best bidder for cash and free from all rights and equity of redemption, statutory right of redemption or otherwise, homestead, dower, elective share and all other rights and exemptions of every kind as waived in said Deed of Trust, certain real property situated in Davidson County, Tennessee, described as follows:
Legal Description: The real property is described in the Deed of Trust at Instrument No. 20211001-0132439, Register of Deeds Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.
Land in Davidson County, Tennessee, being Lot No. 183, Block 9, on the plan of Heffernan Place as of record in Book 161, Page 138, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, to which plan reference is hereby made for a more complete and accurate description of said lot.
For reference: Said Lot No. 183 fronts 50 feet on the northerly side of Albion Street, and runs back between parallel lines, with the easterly margin of 24th Avenue North, 140 feet to an alley.
the easterly margin of 24th Avenue North, 140 feet to an alley.
Being part of the same property conveyed from Elizabeth Annette Essen, unmarried, to Mustard Seed Living, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company, by Warranty Deed dated October 4, 2016, recorded October 6, 2016, in Instrument No. 20161006-
0105798, in the Register’s Office of Davidson County, Tennessee. Street Address: The street address of the property is believed to be 2423 Albion Street, Nashville, Tennessee 37208-3207, but such address is not part of the legal description of the property. In the event of any discrepancy, the legal description herein shall control. Other interested parties: Kenco Distributors, Inc.
EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, CONDITION, QUALITY OR FITNESS FOR A GENERAL OR PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE.
As to all or any part of the Property, the right is reserved to (i) delay, continue or adjourn the sale to another time certain or to another day and time certain, without further publication and in accordance with law, upon announcement of said delay, continuance or adjournment on the day and time and place of sale set forth above or any subsequent delayed, continued or adjourned day and time and place of sale; (ii) sell at the time fixed by this Notice or the date and time of the last delay, continuance or adjournment or to give new notice of sale; (iii) sell in such lots, parcels, segments, or separate estates as Trustee may choose; (iv) sell any part and delay, continue, adjourn, cancel, or postpone the sale of any part of the Property;
interest, and costs) which exist as a lien against said property; any restrictive covenants, easements or setback lines that may be applicable; any rights of redemption, equity, statutory or otherwise, not otherwise waived in the Deed of Trust, including rights of redemption of any governmental agency, state or federal; and any and all prior deeds of trust, liens, dues, assessments, encumbrances, defects, adverse claims and other matters that may take priority over the Deed of Trust upon which this foreclosure sale is
conducted or are not extinguished by this Foreclosure Sale. This sale is also subject to any matter that an inspection and accurate survey of the property might disclose. THIS 18th day of July, 2024.
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Being part of the same property conveyed from Elizabeth Annette Essen, unmarried, to Mustard Seed Living, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company, by Warranty Deed dated October 4, 2016, recorded October 6, 2016, in Instrument No. 20161006-
THIS PROPERTY IS SOLD AS IS, WHERE IS AND WITH ALL FAULTS AND WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AND SUBJECT TO ANY PRIOR LIENS OR ENCUMBRANCES, IF ANY. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, THE PROPERTY IS SOLD WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, RELATING TO TITLE, MARKETABILITY OF TITLE, POSSESSION, QUIET ENJOINMENT OR THE LIKE AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, CONDITION, QUALITY OR FITNESS FOR A GENERAL OR PARTICULAR USE OR PURPOSE.
NOW, THEREFORE, notice is hereby given that the Trustee, pursuant to the power, duty and authority vested in and imposed upon the Trustee under the Deed of Trust and applicable law, will on Thursday, August 8, 2024, at 1:00 o’clock p.m., prevailing time, on the steps of the historic Davidson County Courthouse, 1 Public Square, Nashville, Tennessee 37201, offer for sale to the highest and best bidder for cash and free from all rights and equity of redemption, statutory right of redemption or otherwise, homestead, dower, elective share and all other rights and exemptions of every kind as waived in said Deed of Trust, certain real property situated in Davidson County, Tennessee, described as follows: Legal Description: The real property is described in the Deed of Trust at Instrument No. 20211001-0132439, Register of Deeds Office for Davidson County, Tennessee.
Land in Davidson County, Tennessee, being Lot No. 183, Block 9, on the plan of Heffernan Place as of record in Book 161, Page 138, Register’s Office for Davidson County, Tennessee, to which plan reference is hereby made for a more complete and accurate description of said lot.
For reference: Said Lot No. 183 fronts 50 feet on the northerly side of Albion Street, and runs back between parallel lines, with the easterly margin of 24th Avenue North, 140 feet to an alley.
Being part of the same property conveyed from Elizabeth Annette Essen, unmarried, to Mustard Seed Living, LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company, by Warranty Deed dated
As to all or any part of the Property, the right is reserved to (i) delay, continue or adjourn the sale to another time certain or to another day and time certain, without further publication and in accordance with law, upon announcement of said delay, continuance or adjournment on the day and time and place of sale set forth above or any subsequent delayed, continued or adjourned day and time and place of sale; (ii) sell at the time fixed by this Notice or the date and time of the last delay, continuance or adjournment or to give new notice of sale; (iii) sell in such lots, parcels, segments, or separate estates as Trustee may choose; (iv) sell any part and delay, continue, adjourn, cancel, or postpone the sale of any part of the Property; (v) sell in whole and then sell in parts and consummate the sale in whichever manner produces the highest sale price; (vi) and/or to sell to the next highest bidder in the event any high bidder does not comply with the terms of the sale. Substitute Trustee will make no covenant of seisin, marketability of title or warranty of title, express or implied, and will sell and convey the subject real property by Trustee’s Quitclaim Deed as Substitute Trustee only. This sale is subject to all matters shown on any applicable recorded Plat or Plan; any unpaid taxes and assessments (plus penalties, interest, and costs) which exist as a lien against said property; any restrictive covenants, easements or setback lines that may be applicable; any rights of redemption, equity, statutory or otherwise, not otherwise waived in the Deed of Trust, including rights of redemption of any governmental agency, state
(v) sell in whole and then sell in parts and consummate the sale in whichever manner produces the highest sale price; (vi) and/or to sell to the next highest bidder in the event any high bidder does not comply with the terms of the sale. Substitute Trustee will make no covenant of seisin, marketability of title or warranty of title, express or implied, and will sell and convey the subject real property by Trustee’s Quitclaim Deed as Substitute Trustee only. This sale is subject to all matters shown on any applicable recorded Plat or Plan; any unpaid taxes and assessments (plus penalties, interest, and costs) which exist as a lien against said property; any restrictive covenants, easements or setback lines that may be applicable; any rights of redemption, equity, statutory or otherwise, not otherwise waived in the Deed of Trust, including rights of redemption of any governmental agency, state or federal; and any and all prior deeds of trust, liens, dues, assessments, encumbrances, defects, adverse claims and other matters that may take priority over the Deed of Trust upon which this foreclosure sale is
David M. Anthony, Substitute Trustee EXO LEGAL PLLC P.O. Box 121616 Nashville, TN 37212 david@exolegal.com 615-869-0634
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Systems Engineer III. Support the development of material handling concepts and detail concepts into functional layouts. Employer: Designed Conveyor Systems, LLC. Location: Headquarters in Franklin, TN. May telecommute from any location in the U.S. Incidental domestic travel required. To apply, please mail a resume to C. Busch, 830 Crescent Centre Dr. Ste. 550 Franklin, TN 37067.
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